BLADE Staff

We received news just now that Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer© Bob Loveless passed away today at 11:30 a.m. He was 81.

Jack Lucarelli, author of the book “James B. Lile The Arkansas Knifesmith,” informed BLADE by e-mail at 4:50 p.m. of Bob’s passing. Jack, who is also an actor, stuntman and long-time collector of Loveless knives, said Bob’s health had declined rapidly the past two months. Loveless had suffered from lung cancer. Lucarelli said despite his declining health, Bob was in good spirits and mentally sharp up to the end.

There will be special stories in BLADE on Loveless in the coming months. Meanwhile, please join us in remembering the man who is probably the most important knifemaker in modern cutlery history.

And here you thought you were so modern with that plastic fork! A discovery in Israel points to the use of disposable cutlery by ancient peoples. Here’s the article from the AP. You can read the rest at Breitbart.com.

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli archaeologists believe thousands of ancient shards of flint found scattered around a fire pit in a cave near Tel Aviv might be the world’s oldest known disposable knives.

Dating to the Stone Age, the tiny knives are believed to be at least 200,000 years old. A Tel Aviv University excavation team found the tools around a fireplace littered with charred animal bones.

Archaeologist Ran Barkai said he believes Stone Age hunter-gatherers used the rough, round-shaped cutlery—ranging from the size of human teeth to guitar picks—for slicing through cooked meat because they were found next to the animal bones. The bones were used to determine the age of the knives.

The number of knives found, coupled with the fact that they had no signs of sharpening, indicates they were disposable because they would have dulled after several uses, he said.

The knives were made from recycled material—parts of larger knives and tools designed for other uses such as butchering animals and scraping hides, he said.

Click here to read the rest.

Greetings From KnifeBroker.com

With all the excitement of the Johnny Stout knife give away, we have decided to extend the free listing period for an additional 30 days, but that’s not all.
KnifeBroker.com is going to give away another knife in September, each time you list a knife in the month of September you will automatically be entered into a drawing to be held October 1st 2010.
We are giving away a custom made knife by legendary knife maker Gil Hibben with a retail value of 400.00 dollars. The contest starts September 1st and ends September 30th. It’s that simple, just list your knives and your in the drawing, the more you list the better your chances of winning this beautiful Gil Hibben custom made knife.

Thank You,
KnifeBroker Staff

Nothing quite says “retirement” like a pig-chasing contest, and Jerry Lawhorn celebrated his last day of 27 years with Frost Cutlery by being feted with a “pig-chasing contest” this past Friday.

According to Frost’s Patrick Shipley, “Now, since you have seen this, you won’t find it too hard to believe that last week Jim [company owner Jim Frost] put a goat in Bob Johnson’s office as a birthday prank, and I will leave the rest to your own imagination.”

Anyhow, best of luck and happy retirement to Jerry. And soo-eee-eee pig!

Get ready for hunting season! Check out Buck’s new knives on the New Products page. Selected knives on sale!