The Gentac ‘Pappy Reserve’ features beautiful bolsters in hand-forged 'Twist' damascus by Chad Nichols, inlaid with barrel wood from Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon. The blade is hand-forged 'Boomerang' damascus, also by Chad Nichols; the one-hand button lock and the thumb stud are set with spinel gemstones.
The ‘Pappy Reserve’ features the craftsmanship, unique materials, and forged metals that are the hallmark of William Henry's collections; a distinctive personality statement to be worn and used for a lifetime.
This wood is from a white Oak barrel from the world-famous Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve whiskey, produced by the Buffalo Trace distillery, founded over 200 years ago in Frankfort, Kentucky.
These extraordinary barrels are made from naturally aged, center-cut wood from white oak trees, typically 70-80 years old. The wood is air-dried for 6 months, and each barrel is charred for 55 seconds from an open flame.
This process draws the natural sugars from the oak to the surface and enables the whiskey to penetrate deeply, and draw flavor from the wood. These barrels are the highest standards in the industry and help create the finest whiskey in the world.
The Buffalo Trace aging warehouses date back to as early as 1881, and the variety of warehouses is unmatched, which each warehouse having unique aging properties that allow the whiskey to age differently and create a vast array of flavors. During the winter, steam is pumped in the warehouse, allowing the whiskey additional time to mellow in the oak barrels.
The Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve is a limited edition bourbon that takes generations of distilling know-how to produce. Only the most careful and expensive distilling method can be used to create a whiskey as special as this one. Each barrel ages 23 years and is carefully selected from the heart of the warehouse.
Hand-forged damascus
Damascus steel was a term used by several Western cultures from the Medieval period onward to describe a type of steel created in India and used in sword making from about 300 BC to 1700 AD. These swords were characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water. Such blades were reputed to be not only tough and resistant to shattering, but capable of being honed to a sharp and resilient edge. William Henry's damascus is made from several types of steel welded together to form a billet. The patterns vary depending on how the damascus artist works the billet. The billet is drawn out and folded until the desired number of layers are formed. William Henry damascus billets are forged with a minimum of 300 layers. William Henry works with a handful of the very best damascus artists/forgers in the U.S.
Spinel
Natural spinel is a gemstone that has become a great favorite with gem dealers and gem collectors; one might even say that spinel is for gemstone connoisseurs only.
It is a hard glassy mineral occurring as octahedral crystals of variable color and consisting chiefly of magnesium and aluminum oxides. Some spinels are among the most famous gemstones in the world: among them are the Black Prince's Ruby and the "Timur Ruby" in the British Crown Jewels, and the "Côte de Bretagne", formerly from the French Crown jewels.
