When I lived on the farm, 110 acres, I carried a knife with a gut hook. Handy! But now that it’s a collectible, it’s stashed away. I cut down an Osage Orange tree, and sliced up some of the nice crotch branchings into handle sized pieces. Dried them for a year near the wood burning furnace. I bought a very nice quality 440 stainless blade, and custom-made my own sheath knife. Polished that stainless like crazy. Took it to a gun/knife show, and was astonished by what I was offered for it! So,,, it’s stashed away too. Osage orange is such a lovely wood. Hard as a rock too. Came up with a design for hidden rivets. Shoulda made some more of them! Maybe I’ll hit the second hand/junk stores looking for an old carving set with Damascus blades. Just might be a nice Winter project! I still have enough wood for a couple more......
As you've found, a problem with making/buying something really nice is the almost insurmountable hesitance to use it ! LOL
I will trade you all the Osage orange you can carry for one of those fine knives.