Remembering Ed Fowler’s 80 Years of Knifemaking.
Editor’s Note: Chris Amos is a kifemaker, writer and close compatriot with the late Ed Fowler. He perhaps knew the knifemaker better than anyone in his golden years and has an interesting perspective in the life of the memorable craftsman.
On January 17, 2026, Ed Fowler left the world of mortal men to take his place with the legends of bladesmithing. The High Endurance Performance Knife master smith’s passion for true working men’s knives of history was insatiable. It was the one true love of his life, second only to a good Labrador.
The flyer for his school when I met him 30 years ago, and to this very day, still reads, “Ed Fowler, Author, Cowboy, Friend to All.” This is how Ed approached the world of knives. If we are being honest, it wasn’t necessarily everyone’s experience with him; but it was his intention. No matter what your personal Ed Fowler experience was, I think we can all agree his love of lady knife, his undeniable passion for performance and total commitment to his craft were both impressive and contagious.
The quest for his own personal Excalibur—the High Endurance Performance Knife—was a lifelong adventure that led him to cross paths with many on a similar journey. That’s how I came to know him so many years ago. I didn’t see his vision at first; I only knew knives as things, not an ideal. But he saw lady knife as so much more.
From his first meeting with ABS founder Bill Moran and BLADE® Magazine legend Wayne Goddard—who would become his lifelong friend and co-conspirator—his path to a 52100 ball bearing steel obsession was sealed. He and Wayne collaborated on the first 52100 knife, and the rest is history. Another longtime friend and BLADE writer, the legendary smith Joe Sizlaski, led him down the road to true skill with a hammer. They collaborated for decades through countless letters and phone calls. Most are still in the filing cabinet waiting to become a book. Over the years in his column Knife Talk, BLADE readers across the world waited patiently for the next nugget of wisdom or anecdote from these great representatives of the world of knives.
As fate would have it, he soon crossed paths with some men who would bring his dreams to life.
Testing His Metal
When Ed first shared his ideas with the conventional world of knives, they met with less than thunderous applause. This changed when metallurgist Rex Walther stumbled on one of Ed’s articles about his multiple-quench method. Intrigued, he contacted Ed, asked a few questions, proposed a few experiments and offered true scientific analysis. As Ed said of this collaboration, “We went from 0 to 100 overnight.” Rex’s feedback became the foundation for all of Ed’s advancements and achievements to come.
At the time, the industry considered a steel grain size as fine as 10* to be possible. Ed reported achieving 15 and finer through his methods, the limit of measurement possible with Rex’s equipment. Later, Kevin Grey, a student at the South Dakota School of Mines, would again not only test Ed’s methods but also write his graduate paper on them, getting them both invited to speak at the Artist-Blacksmith’s Association of North America conference in South Dakota.
One of his happiest moments in recent years was finding out, to his surprise, that he was mentioned in Dr. Larrin Thomas’ book The Story of Knife Steel: Innovators Behind Modern Damascus and Super Steels. Another was his amazement at receiving the 2022 BLADE Magazine Publisher’s Award at BLADE Show.
Ed’s Classroom
I met Ed in the mid 1990s at a knife show in California. I took his class on his ranch near Riverton, Wyoming, around 2007. After that, I traveled several times a year to help him teach, only missing three since that first one. About 15 years ago, I moved to the ranch to apprentice full-time, and the rest is history.
I hope to be here teaching and sharing his legacy and dream of 52100 steel and Excalibur for another 15 years.
Of the countless students who came to learn Ed’s mysterious ways with metal, a few stand out in my mind. The first is a very early student, Jeff Davidson. Jeff is currently an ABS journeyman smith and a passionate forging instructor.
The second is a knife collector and great future maker, whom we will just call “Stan.” He made his way to Wyoming from Taiwan after years of reading Ed’s articles. He is a great ambassador for Ed’s vision of the HEPK around the world.
Ringing The Anvil
I have written many articles for BLADE over the years. As I sit here in Ed’s silent shop, with his last good dog and write the final Knife Talk article from his computer, it’s important you know this isn’t the end.
Ed made his first knife, a small wooden knife, at about six years old. He still had that knife. His last completed knife, a light camp in what has become his iconic and signature style, was finished this fall at the age of 86. He didn’t even bother to take a picture of it, just sent it on its way to have its own adventures, never thinking it would be his last. As Willie Nelson said, “The road goes on forever, and the party never ends …” I think that’s the way he saw it.
For the moment, out of respect and because it could use a little rest, his hammer sits in silence. But soon enough, his forge will be lit again, his anvil will ring and the knife talk will go on. Ed would have wanted it this way—as it should be.
*ASTM grain size quantifies the average grain size of metallic materials using a number, where higher values indicate finer, smaller grains.
Remembering Others The Knife Industry Has Lost:
- Betty Dowell, Driving Force Behind Knifemaker Ted Dowell, Passes
- B. R. Hughes, Pioneering Writer And Bladesmithing Teacher, Passes Away
- ABS Lose Two Long-Time Leaders In Passing Of Steve Dunn & Hanford Miller
- Bob Cargill Knifemaker, Company Founder And NKCA BOD President Passes
