Annual ABS meeting filled with memorable moments.
BLADE Show not only plays host to a hotbed of unadulterated cutlery merchandising. The annual edgy shindig also rings in a new generation of certified smiths, ready to forge new paths in the craft. Running concurrent to the show is the American Bladesmith Society’s annual meeting, one of select events where journeyman and master smiths are officially minted.
In all, nine smiths earned their stamps at the Cobb Convention Center in Atlanta, Georgia, but of the batch only one earned the coveted title of ABS master smith. The honor went to Tyler Hackbarth of Weyauwega, Wisconsin. The smiths earning their journeyman’s stamp were an impressive collection of creators from the Western Hemisphere, and included Cody Adolphson (North Dakota), Jordan Buckley (Washington), Kale Cope (Texas), Ronaldo Franceschi (Brazil), Patrick Harp (Nevada), Jessica Peterson (Washington), Renan Scariot (Brazil) and Jeff Schafer (Arkansas).
Smithed Steel Recognition
In addition to christening smiths, the ABS meeting also plays host to some of the most rarefied steel on the planet with the organization’s knife awards. Some of the awards are reserved for those earning stamps and are judged against the class of incoming journeyman and master smiths. Others are pitted against veteran masters, of which there is no shortage at BLADE Show and the meeting. The award winners included:
- Joe Keeslar Award: Renan Scariot
- Antique Bowie Award Journeyman: Mathew Parkinson
- Antique Bowie Award Master: J.W. Randal
- William Moran Award: Patrick Harp
- W.W. Scagel Award: Rodrigo Sfreddo
- Distinguished Service Awards: Robert Wilson, Jennifer Evans
- Chairman’s Award: Jennifer Evans
Joe Keeslar Award
The award goes to the best knife submitted by a successful journeyman. The winner this year was Brazil’s Renan Scariot, who wowed the judges with a fully integral bowie based on what the smith said was several classic examples of the knife.
Blade Length: 9.45”
Blade Material: 52100
Blade Thickest: .20”
Blade Grind: Full flat
Guard Material: Mild steel
Handle Material: Mammoth ivory
Ferrule And Butt Material: Mild steel
Ferrule And Butt Embellishment: Hand-filed and mirror polished.
Overall Length: 14.57”
Special Features: Full integral knife forged from a single bar of steel. The blade features a fine hand-satin finish, contrasting with the mirror-polished fittings. It also received selective heat treatment.
Maker’s Price For A Similar Knife: $3,000
Maker’s Comment: “I believe this knife represents an important milestone in my career. It combines everything I’ve learned over the past years about forging, heat treatment, fit and finish, and design. This is the level I strive to achieve in every project, always seeking improvement.”
William Moran Award
New journeyman smith Patrick Harp of Nevada won the William Moran Award for the best knife in the Moran style for his interpretation of a Moran fixed blade. Especially eye-catching—aside from the immaculate lines of Harp’s knife—is the delicate silver-wire scroll inlay in the toasted curly maple handle.
Blade Length: 11.125”
Blade Material: 52100
Blade Width: 2”
Blade At Its Thickest: .188”
Blade Grind: Full flat
Guard Material: Steel with file work
Handle Material: Toasted curly maple
Overall Length: 16.625”
Special Features: Silver wire scroll inlay on the handle
Maker’s Price For A Similar Knife: $2,000
Antique Bowie Award (Journeyman Smith)
Matthew Parkinson netted the award in the journeyman section of antique bowies with a very interesting rendition of a little-known style of the knife. He noted, “This knife is based on a piece in a local museum I was lucky enough to document. The original was made in Hartford, Connecticut, I am guessing around 1850, by a maker named Henry Wilkinson.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: These specs are estimations as Matthew Parkinson did not record them before selling the knife.
Blade Length:10″
Blade Material: 1084/15N20 (180 layer)
Damascus Pattern: Random
Blade Width: 1.25”
Blade At Its Thickest: .185″
Blade Grind: Flat dagger grind with false edge on spine transitioning to a sharpened clip
Guard Material: Nickel silver
Handle Material: Ebony Ferrule And Butt Material: Nickel silver
Overall Length: 15″
Special Features: Closely based on a knife made by Henry Wilkinson of Hartford, Connecticut, made between 1835 and 1860.
Maker’s Price For A Similar Knife: $2,500
Maker’s Comment: “I made this knife specifically for the antique bowie award. I have been spending more and more effort on making a knife to enter into the award over the last several years. I have a bit of a friendly rivalry with my buddy Mace Vitale over it; he has won like seven times, I think, and this was the first time I have been able to beat him out. It felt pretty good!”
Antique Bowie Award (Master Smith)
In the master smith division of the antique bowie competition, J.W. Randall walked away with top honors for his dogbone bowie. The technical aspect of what on the surface seems like a straightforward handle even pressed an accomplished smith such as Randall. “The handle is quite complex,” he commented. “It has 43 individual pieces that make up the assembly.”
Blade Length: 10”
Blade Material: 15N20 and 1084
Damascus Pattern: Lightning Storm
Blade Width: 1.813”
Blade Thickness: .25”
Blade Grind: Flat
Guard Material: Lightning Storm damascus
Handle Material: Nickel-silver escutcheons and core mammoth Ivory
Frame: Twist damascus with nickel-silver spacers and file-worked
Guard Spacers: Damascus and nickel silver
Overall Length: 14.938”
Special Features: Two Spanish notches
Maker’s Price For A Similar Knife: $10,000
Maker’s Comment: “The most challenging aspect of this piece is the faceted handle with six facets, and plunge grinds that have to be perfect. Also, the making of 18 domed caps and nine pins is quite tedious.”
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