See what the highlights, low lights and everything in between were for the knife world in the past year.
Like most years, 2024 had more than its share of ups, downs and continuations of the same. From the promising developments in American-made factory knives to the harmful effects of Hurricanes Milton and Helene on knifemakers and at least one knife show, there were the goods, the bads, gains, losses, victories, debuts, swan songs and more. Among them:
Original portions of the hull, deck and other parts of The Battleship Texas are distributed to artisans around the country, including bladesmiths and knifemakers such as Harvey Dean, Jason Fry, J. Neilsen, Jack Stottlemire, Greg Coker and many others, to make items they specialize in and donate them to raise money to restore the pre-World War I dreadnought (https://battleshiptxartisans.com/catalog/);
A boom in the number of international countries (35) with exhibitors at the BLADE Show, led by France (21 exhibitors), South Africa (18), Italy (14) and Brazil (13), reflect the continuing recovery from the devastating effect of the worldwide pandemic;
Spartan Blades headlines the BLADE Magazine Knife-of-the-Year® awards at the BLADE Show with the company’s first Overall Knife of the Year, the Bill Harsey designed Clandestina. It was company’s first ever win in the prestigious category;
Speaking of Harsey, he, along with Ted Dowell and Don Fogg, become the 72nd, 73rd and 74th members of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame®;
In what promises to be the first of several, Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bill Ruple and Case debut their inaugural collaboration, the Bill Ruple X Case Axe Handle;
CPM MagnaCut stainless continues its run as the No. 1 blade steel among factory knives;
After almost 30 years with Spyderco, including stints in customer service and as marketing manager and coordinator of all things public relations, past BLADE Magazine Publisher’s Award winner Joyce Laituri calls it a career;
ABS master smith Kevin Cashen is named new chairman of the American Bladesmith Society, succeeding ABS master smith Steve Dunn, who passed away unexpectedly May 21;
After its original lawsuit was dismissed in June on “absurd standing grounds,” Knife Rights files a new federal lawsuit in September challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Federal Switchblade Act;
Hurricanes play havoc not only with the Southeast USA but knife industry members in the affected areas, with Milton postponing the Louisiana Knife Show and Helene flooding and/or temporarily shutting down at least two North Carolina knifemaking operations, including Winkler Knives and Dogwood Custom Knives, and no doubt others elsewhere;
Companies/knives celebrating anniversaries include: Boker (155th); Tru-Bal Knives, aka Tru-Balance Knife Co., (75th); Kershaw (50th); Fallkniven (40th); and the Emerson Knives, Inc. CQC-7 (25th);
Finally, a number of friends of the knife community pass away, including: scrimshander Gary “Garbo” Williams; bladesmith/mokume gane guru Phillip “Phil” Baldwin; knifemaker/past National Knife Collectors Association president Bob Cargill; ABS master smiths Steve Dunn and Hanford Miller; long-time custom knife collector Walter Hoffman; veteran knifemaker Dave Ricke; Mrs. Lori Buck (wife of Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Chuck Buck); Mrs. Sallie Bos (wife of Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Paul Bos ); Mrs. Betty Dowell (wife of Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Ted Dowell); Cutlery Hall-of-Famer B. R. Hughes; and past BLADE art director Jim Sasse. God rest their souls—and please forgive me if I’ve omitted anyone.
Ethan Becker and Dan Eastland collaborate on a sharp tool for the kitchen.
Long-time knife designer Ethan Becker and Dan Eastland of Dogwood Custom Knives have collaborated on a chef’s knife that combines each of the principals’ vision of exactly what such a knife should be.
Introduced at BLADE Show 2024, the Joy of Cooking 8-inch K-tip chef’s knife is a mix of Japanese and Western styles and premium stainless steel and synthetic handle materials.
It also has the iconic Joy of Cookinglogo on the blade, Joy of Cooking the internationally renowned cookbook originally written by Becker’s mother, Irma Rombauer, and edited in some subsequent editions by Ethan. He handed those duties off and today the book is co-edited most ably by his son, John, and Megan Scott.
The heel of the blade curves toward the rear and sits flat on the surface for controlled cutting.
With extensive experience as both a knifemaker and a cook, Eastland brings the kind of know-how to the project that gives it edged gravitas.
“Dan is pretty much the perfect person to do this because he’s been in a commercial kitchen and knows his way around that,” Ethan said.
Dan also spent a number of years as an apprentice maker to Georgia Knife Makers Guild member Andy Roy of Fiddleback Forge in North Georgia, and now builds knives at Dogwood Custom Knives in Greenville, South Carolina.
Handle materials come in a choice of natural (shown here; note the texture and grain) and black Micarta® and blue, red or black G-10.
As for the Joy of Cooking knife and its features, Dan approaches it all from the maker/cook perspective.
“The blade has a Japanese influence. I always liked Japanese blade geometry and balance, but I didn’t like their handles. Ethan and I both like a little palm swell,” he noted, “so we wanted more of a Western-style handle.”
In Joy of Cooking, Ethan writes about a grip for home cooks that’s comfortable, Dan said, so the handle has rounded corners to eliminate hot spots and an overall design that helps promote a pinch grip. The blade is weighted toward the front for balance and has the K tip for precise tip work.
The K tip gives the knife a piercing feature lacking in such Japanese designs as the santoku.
Ethan said he’s a big fan of the santoku style and has designed santokus and used them in the kitchen almost exclusively for 20 years.
“The one problem with the santoku is it really doesn’t have a good piercer,” he noted. “You can get by without a piercer if you keep the knife really sharp but guess what—most people don’t keep their knives sharp enough. But for such jobs as taking off the top of a tomato, for instance, the K tip works pretty good.”
Dan lauded the utility of the K tip for other tasks as well, adding, “My grandmother opened all the packaging with the tip of a kitchen knife. No matter what knife you gave her, she sliced the top of the package open with the tip and went to work.” The K tip is tailor made for such chores, as well as others.
The collaborators prefer a Western-style handle and gave the Joy of Cooking Knife grip a palm swell as a result.
The edge has a nice curvature for rock chopping and push cutting meats and vegetables. The heel of the blade also curves toward the rear and sits flat on the surface for controlled cutting.
“The neat thing is when the blade comes down [at the heel during a rocking cut or chop], it stops,” Ethan explained. “It’s also good for a push cut,” Dan added, “so it’s good for both a rock chop and push cut. And having that heel down a little bit it will bottom out, so you cut all the way through something and don’t wind up with little partially cut bits at the end.”
Joy Of Cooking Knife Details
The 8-inch blade is CPM S35VN stainless steel. The Rockwell hardness is 60 HRC and the blade is 3/32-inch thick at the thickest. Along with the contoured handle the knife weighs in at a scant 5.5 ounces.
A hard plastic cover with plastic snaps contains and protects the knife.
“I’m of the opinion the Greeks told us everything we need to know about a double-inclined plane—the longer the plane and the lower the angle, the more efficient it is,” Dan said. “A knife blade is a double-inclined plane, and I wanted to make this knife as light as possible.”
He returned to his grandmother’s experience.
“And again, my grandmother used to complain that Henckels and Wusthof, she loved the knives, but they weighed almost as much as she did. By using the S35VN we’ve been able to thin it out and get a mechanically better cutting blade, but also a lighter blade.”
Ethan agreed that most kitchen knives are too heavy.
From left at BLADE Show 2024: John Becker, co-editor of Joy of Cooking, Dan Eastland of Dogwood Custom Knives and long-time knife designer Ethan Becker.
“The wrist gets tired easy and to be able to not have very much weight that you’re working with, hey, what’s wrong with that?” he observed. “Most traditional kitchen blades were thick because they were forged before they were ground … The cutlers in Europe were very, very concerned that the housewives would use the blades for things they weren’t supposed to, so they used soft steel so it wouldn’t nick and if they opened bottles with it it wouldn’t hurt it. The result was blades that didn’t hold an edge worth a damn and were not terribly efficient.”
Dan said the S35VN has good corrosion resistance and the edge retention is phenomenal.
“We tested the knife extensively in an industrial kitchen to ensure edge retention and durability, and I like S35VN because it’s a good balance of durability and edge retention. And we can get that 60 Rockwell so it can take a nice, keen edge and we don’t have to worry about it chipping out.”
As noted, Dan and Ethan wanted a Western-style handle with a palm swell and offer it in a choice of G-10 and Micarta®. The Micarta is available in black and natural versions, both with texture and grain for purchase. The G-10 comes in red, black and blue.
“Those colors will always be the same over time as we introduce other knives in the lineup, so you can buy a knife that will match whichever color knife you previously bought,” Dan said. The intent is for there to be a complete set of Joy of Cooking knives, though nothing was set in stone in that regard at press time.
Pros
Collaborative Expertise
Versatile Blade Design
Premium Blade Material
Cons
Higher Price Point
Plastic Snap Cover
Joy Of Cooking 8” Chef’s Knife Specs Designers: Ethan Becker and Dan Eastland Company: Dogwood Custom Knives Blade Length: 8” Blade Steel: CPM S35VN stainless Rockwell Hardness: 60 HRC Blade @Thickest: 3/32” Handle: Black and natural Micarta® and blue, red and black G-10 options Overall Length: 13” Carry: Plastic snap cover Knife to Know: K tip blade; lightweight design; hidden handle pins Country of Origin: USA MSRP: $200
In on the ground floor of the damascus knife movement, Daryl Meier has left an indelible mark forging and teaching.
I haven’t seen Daryl Meier for a number of years but there was a time when he was a regular at the BLADE, Guild and other knife shows. Sporting a cross between a goatee and a van dyke, glasses and his ever-present octagonal cap covering longish hair, Daryl stood out in a crowd. He looked equal parts World War II French Resistance fighter, 1950s beatnik and Vincent van Gogh (minus the red hair). In fact, it almost would have been more fitting if his name were Daryl van Meier. I can see him looking at me now, shaking his head in mild disgust at such a notion.
Daryl has a soft, laid-back way of talking that has kind of a hypnotic effect. Then, just when you think you’re going into a trance, he makes an observation that snaps you back to reality, elicits a laugh or otherwise makes you think. He has a great sense of humor and never takes himself too seriously. There is no ego in Daryl. He’s just Daryl.
BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Steve Schwarzer has known Daryl much longer and much better than me. When I asked Steve to write a story about Daryl, he jumped at the chance, and the result is very enlightening as to Daryl’s impact on damascus and the teaching of bladesmithing in general.
Steve writing the story was more appropriate than I thought at the time. In researching Steve and Daryl, I rediscovered that they each have entries in the top 13 custom knives from the years 1989-2000: Schwarzer’s groundbreaking Hunter’s Dream in mosaic damascus at No. 3 and Meier’s American Spirit Bowie at No. 9. The knives were selected in a poll of industry authorities and appeared in the June 2013 BLADE® story, “A Decade of Excellence.” Daryl presented the American Spirit Bowie in person to President George H.W. Bush in the White House in 1990.
Daryl Meier forging steel in 1976.
Daryl’s contributions to damascus are legend.
As early as 1976 he was teaching a four-week course on forging damascus steel, no doubt one of the first such courses in the modern custom knife era. He was one of the first if not the first to write a regular column on damascus steel called—surprise!—“Damascus Steel” for BLADE in the early 1980s. One of the columns was titled “Wootz Revisited” and featured an image of a misspelled “Stephen Swertzer”—aka Steve Schwarzer—doing the ancient silk scarf-cutting test.
As important as Daryl’s contributions to the forging of damascus have been his dissemination of his damascus in general he probably has had more impact on the knife industry. Call him the Sensei of Steel. He was among the first if not the first to make damascus for use by other knifemakers, and helped inspire others to do the same, including Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Devin Thomas, Mike Norris, Bob Eggerling, Chris Marks, Gary House and others.
Today, making damascus for use by other knifemakers has long been a sub-industry unto itself—and Daryl was there at the beginning of it all. For these and other contributions, he was awarded the BLADE Magazine Industry Achievement Award in 2008.
The last time I talked to Daryl was about a year ago by phone. He sounded chipper and upbeat as ever. In fact, even in his early 80s he remains physically active and was all excited about a new pursuit—dancing—and how he was attending local dances on a weekly basis. Always ready to try new things, even in the fourth quarter of life—that’s Daryl. And I bet he can beat a mean rug, too!
Blade Magazine‘s Editor-in-Chief reflects on why receiving the Posner Award proves so meaningful.
I was talking to knifemaker Edmund Davidson at his table during the BLADE Show when he and Gary Langley handed me a white cardboard box and told me to open it. When I did so, I found it contained a most beautiful plaque. It was the Nate Posner Award, and on it in big letters was my name as the latest recipient.
I must admit, I was equal parts astonished and delighted. Presented by The Knifemakers’ Guild, the Posner Award is one I’ve always wanted. The list of those who have won it is long and among others includes Mrs. Betty Dowell, Admiral Steel’s Terry Summers, photographer David Darom, KNIFE editor Mark Zalesky, knifemaker Bill Herndon, French knife writer Francis Anglade, BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Dan and Mrs. Pam Delavan, and Cutlery Hall-of-Famers Bruce Voyles and Edda and Aldo Lorenzi.
Steve Shackleford proudly mugs with his Nate Posner Memorial Award at the 2024 BLADE Show in Atlanta. Photo: Gary Langley
As the words on the plaque read, the award recognizes “outstanding service in the promotion of handcrafted cutlery.” And those words pretty much say it all in terms of why I’ve always wanted the Posner, because promoting handcrafted cutlery has been a monumental part of what I’ve been doing for BLADE® for almost four decades now.
Who exactly was Nate Posner and why did the Guild name an award after him? If you reference the December 1981 American Blade, the original name of BLADE, you will find a most informative story by Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bernard Levine about the San Francisco Gun Exchange and its proprietor, Nate Posner.
Mr. Posner started his business in 1948. Through the years he built it into what he called the “Firearms Center of the West.” It had most everything firearm-related, including inexpensive rifles and shotguns, collector’s cartridges, reloading equipment, rare and unusual guns, a whole wall of de-activated submachine guns, posters, cartridge boards and more. He even had an authentic Gatling gun in the back of the store.
As all-encompassing as his array of firearms and equipment was, it was his displays of knives, both factory and custom, that pertain here. At one time he had over 350 custom knives on display, with at least that many others in stock. (In subsequent years those numbers no doubt grew even more.) At first, in 1975 or ’76, he ordered knives from dozens of makers, most either active or past Guild members. Eventually he culled his list to about 25 or 30 makers, including one of his favorites, D. E. Henry, whom Posner reportedly called “the Van Gogh of knifemakers.” Others included Tommy Lee, Jess Horn, Herman Schneider, Corbet Sigman, the-then-team of Scott Sawby and Steve Mullin, and Cutlery Hall-of-Famers Frank Centofante, Jimmy Lile, Bob Loveless, George Herron, Bo Randall and more.
Nate Posner in his San Francisco Gun Exchange circa 1980 leaning on his authentic Gatling gun and admiring a D. E. Henry bowie.
Along with Dan Delavan at Plaza Cutlery, Bob Gaddis and Dave Harvey of Nordic Knives, and Cutlery Hall-of-Famer A.G. Russell, Posner was among the first custom knife purveyors. His approach was a most honest and forthright one. He was known for telling his customers that to get the best price, instead of buying custom knives from middlemen such as him, they should buy directly from the maker. Of course, if the customers wanted the custom knife in question immediately, they often had to buy it from Nate to avoid spending what might be months or even years on a maker’s waiting list.
However, it was being up front that put Nate in good stead not only with his knife customers but the Guild, too—for both buying/selling the makers’ knives and treating what often were the makers’ customers/prospective customers in a professional manner. Add the high store profile he gave custom knives and knifemakers to knife buyers and gun buyers alike, and Nate became one of the most important custom knife promoters of his or any time—and thus the Guild award in his name.
To be mentioned in the same breath as those who have won the award before me and, of course, Nate Posner himself, is a privilege and an honor. To any and all who were involved in my selection, I cannot thank you enough.
And thanks to Nate Posner for setting a standard for all in the knife community to emulate.
Cutlery Hall of Fame enshrines three icons of cut in Atlanta.
The BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® brought three groundbreakers of the world of knives into the fold June 7 with the formal inductions of premier knifemakers Ted Dowell and Bill Harsey and ABS master smith Don Fogg.
About 75 patrons were on hand for the breakfast/induction ceremony held in the Kennesaw Room of the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel the Saturday morning of BLADE Show 2024. For the first time in recent memory for the Hall-of-Fame ceremony, none of the inductees were on hand. Fogg and Harsey were unable to attend for health reasons, while Dowell passed away in 2012.
However, somehow it didn’t seem to matter so much as friends, family and acquaintances of the inductees and others took up the slack to produce a memorable induction event. Present to formally induct the new Cutlery Hall of Famers were Jeff Dowell (his father, Ted); Anne and Tim Reeve of Chris Reeve Knives and Curtis Iovito of Spartan Blades (Harsey); and Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Steve Schwarzer (Fogg).
T.M. “Ted” Dowell
Ted Dowell examines his handiwork in his backyard knife shop. (image courtesy of Jeff Dowell)
As a founding member of The Knifemakers’ Guild, Ted Dowell played a key role in helping to organize the Guild, the grandaddy of all modern knifemaker organizations, in 1970. Along with fellow Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Bob Loveless, he wrote the Guild’s original bylaws.
A veteran of the United States Navy, Ted resigned his position as a full-time mathematics professor in 1974 to go full time making knives. As Guild president in 1975, overcoming opposition from some in the Guild’s ranks, he coordinated the organization’s first custom-knives-only-no-guns show. He also helped Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Phil Lobred establish the Art Knife Invitational in the early 1980s. Lobred credited Dowell with making the first modern integral knife, a design Ted introduced in 1972 in his basic hunters and which eventually evolved into some of the most ornate of integral art knives. Integral knives became a category of their own and remain popular to this day.
As Jeff noted, his father was passionate about the Guild and “all the foundations that set the pace and the tone for a lot of us that sit here today and reaped those rewards.” Jeff said much of the credit for his father’s success was due to the support of Mrs. Betty Dowell, who, while unable to attend the induction ceremony, was there vicariously through her son.
“Mom had her 93rd birthday a couple of days ago,” Jeff said to cheers and applause from those in attendance, “and she’s doing pretty well for 93. She still lives in the house that she and Dad bought in 1962 in Bend, Oregon, and the shop is still in the backyard. It’s not as completely outfitted as much as it was when he was working but a lot of the core stuff is still there. I go out there and tinker around quite often, and his presence is still very much there.”
Phil Lobred credited Ted Dowell with making the first modern integral knife, a design Ted introduced in 1972 in his basic hunters and which eventually evolved into some of the most ornate of integral art knives. (SharpByCoop image)
Jeff and his brother, Scott, worked in the shop making sheaths for their father’s knives before tragedy struck in 1975 when Scott was killed in a car accident. He was only 19. “That was a tough day,” Jeff recalled, “and it took both my dad and mom a while to recover.” Jeff soon assumed the sheath-making duties and Ted and Betty soldiered on with life, with Betty taking more of a lead role than ever.
“My mom was galvanized and determined to have a family to take care of and a household to run,” Jeff said, “and she ran every bit of the business. [Dad made the knives] but everything else she did. She attended to every detail of the business. She had two kids to take care of and she had a grieving husband and a knifemaker and a business to support, and she did so for another 40 years.”
Meanwhile, Ted continued to establish a reputation as one of the finest makers of custom knives. “During that time Dad produced some great hunting knives and was best known for his integral designs and Funny Folders and those types of things,” Jeff remembered. “It was really Phil Lobred that pushed him and got him into art knives, and Dad produced some absolutely stunning art knives over the years.” Many of those images are on the impressive tmdknives.com website for which Jeff provides updates when warranted.
Still, Jeff said, his mother loomed large in every knife her husband made. “I don’t know that Dad could have made all those knives if not for her,” he noted. “She was that influential and resolute in seeing this through. I was fortunate enough to be a big part in working in the shop before heading off to college, and I visited quite often during that time to see some of the great knives Dad was doing. They both felt he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame and it’s wonderful that he finally is.
“I thank everybody here who voted him in and the other inductees as well. It’s a great honor.”
William “Bill” Harsey, Jr.
Bill Harsey (Ronald S. Smith image)
Bill Harsey has made and designed knives for 38 years, during which time he has been one of the most prolific and recognizable names in the industry, working behind the scenes and designing for Al Mar Knives, Beretta, Chris Reeve Knives, CRKT, Gerber, Ruger and Spartan Blades. He worked and consulted with and designed for Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Col. Rex Applegate, including the British SAS Collaboration Knife. Bill designed the U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret Knife, aka The Yarborough, for Chris Reeve Knives, a serialized version of which was presented to each graduate of the Special Forces Qualification Course. He also designed the official knife of the Canadian Special Forces and the U.S. Navy SEAL Silver Trident knife, and worked on the Neil Roberts knife project.
A fourth-generation lumberjack, Bill was born into a family of lumberjacks that, as Anne Reeve put it, was kind of a working ranch. “His grandparents taught him the importance of a knife,” Anne read from notes Bill had prepared beforehand. “His grandfather taught him very much, including how to hand sharpen tools for work.”
As Anne noted, Special Forces soldiers guided Bill’s knife work from the beginning. Bill met and was advised by Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Al Mar, and they worked together on knife projects for many years. “Bill credited Al Mar with teaching him to recognize good design,” Anne noted. It was Mar, a Green Beret in his own right, who introduced Bill to Col. Applegate, and the two struck up a working relationship that lasted 14 years. Among the fruits of that relationship was the Applegate-Fairbairn combat knife for which, Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bob Terzuola noted, Harsey did the prototypes and grinding of the blades.
Curtis Iovito explained how and why Bill fulfilled the requirements (see sidebar) for Hall-of-Fame membership. “In an industry where trust is paramount, Bill exemplifies honesty, character and integrity,” Curtis said, citing how Spartan Blades and Harsey consummated their numerous collaboration agreements. “Every deal we’ve done with Bill Harsey has been sealed with a handshake,” he said as Anne Reeve nodded in agreement. “People are just supposed to do things right,” Curtis observed. “Bill set a standard for ethical conduct in the knife industry.”
Bill Harsey has designed knives for many companies, including the Tactical Trout for Spartan Blades. Bill’s Clandestina design for Spartan is the BLADE Magazine 2024 Overall Knife Of The Year® (page 12).
Demand in one’s area of expertise is almost always a sure sign of success, and the demand for Harsey’s design skill is high—not only domestically but internationally as well.
“He is an ambassador of American knives. His collaborations have transcended awards as demonstrated by the Special Ops community seeking his work throughout the world,” Curtis observed of the new inductee. “Through his contributions he has elevated the status of American knifemaking but also positive relationships around the world. [Spartan Blades] is located near Fort Bragg and I’ve had people from the Italian Special Forces, German Special Forces, GSG 9, and a plethora of others visiting Fort Bragg to call our shop and ask for Bill.
“Finally, I believe Bill is more than worthy because of his dedication to the craft. He sets the example for everyone else to follow and that reaches far beyond the U.S. border, which I find really cool, and in the relationships he builds. His legacy is one that’s shaped our industry and continues to inspire future generations of knifemakers.”
Donald L. Fogg
Don Fogg (Eric Eggly/PointSeven image)
A United States Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, Don Fogg long has shared his vast knowledge of steel and making knives and swords. He helped further the art of Samurai and Viking sword making and developed the W’s damascus pattern. He shared the drawings of his best gas forge and his gas heat treat oven for swords. He built one of the first 20-ton hydraulic forging presses for making damascus. Today the press is as popular as a power hammer. He also was instrumental in starting the American Bladesmith Society-sanctioned bladesmithing school in Auburn, Maine. In 2005, he won the BLADE Magazine Industry Achievement Award. In 2006, he was inducted into the ABS Hall of Fame.
Steve Schwarzer said Don is like the “original Yoda of bladesmithing” and is “a genius in the knife business.” The new inductee has been a guiding light of bladesmithing instruction, including teaching classes at the Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing, damascus and swordsmithing at the J.C. Campbell Folk School, and at Montgomery College, to name but a few. He has written many stories on bladesmithing that have been published in magazines and books worldwide. Steve said Don was one of the first to spread bladesmithing information on the Internet, including hosting an international chat group that flourished for years teaching and spreading the good word of the forged blade.
Like Harsey did for Anne Reeve, Don wrote a timeline of his career to help guide Schwarzer’s induction speech. Don’s “knifemaking adventure” started in 1976 when he met and befriended Jimmie Fikes, a master blacksmith who “really knew his stuff.” Don soon met Jim Schmidt and they gathered at Fikes’ shop to forge weld a damascus billet. “It became apparent if we were really going to grow we were going to have to expand the market and the number of people making blades,” Don wrote. Added Steve, “And that’s what Don did. He was one of the few knifemakers early on that approached it as a business.”
The Ashokan seminar in New York in 1980 was a pivotal moment that brought together the few leading smiths of the day, including Don, from all over the country. The hammer-in was a way of teaching and sharing knowledge that each smith had learned individually, exploding the growth of bladesmithing. “There’d been a lot of discussion about creating standards for the craft and a ratings system was developed,” Don wrote. Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bill Moran, who together with Bill Bagwell, Don Hastings and Cutlery Hall-of-Famer B. R. Hughes formed the American Bladesmith Society in 1976, announced the first ABS master smith ratings at the 1982 New York Custom Knife Show. Fogg was one of those ABS master smiths.
Together with Murad Sayen, Don Fogg comprised the knifemaking team known as Kemal. Their pivotal knife was a dragon-handle damascus model that appeared in BLADE® and Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Jim Weyer’s Points of Interest, Book IV. (Weyer International image)
Don’s main interest was steelwork, which soon exceeded his ability to make handles. Enter Murad Sayen, with the two forming the knifemaking team of Kemal. Don learned so much from Murad it opened his eyes creatively and he learned a whole new line of form, texture and contrast, which in turn changed his approach to making steel. One of their knives was pictured in the highly influential Esquire Magazine, which helped bring the beauty of art knives to the world outside the knife industry.
Don moved to Alabama, where he befriended Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Jim Batson. Fogg became a regular at Batson’s hammer-ins, sharing knowledge and also meeting bladesmith Chuck Patrick. Don and Chuck taught swordsmithing and worked together for years. In the interim Don dropped out of the ABS and lost his MS rating, but had grown and was “representing bladesmithing to the world.” With Batson’s encouragement he retook the MS test and passed it again.
“I feel privileged to have been at the beginning of what was to become a global rebirth of this ancient craft,” Don wrote. “I used to joke I have a well-developed set of archaic skills, but in truth I was so fortunate to have found my community and one that challenged me for my entire life and educated me in so many ways.”
Hall-of-Fame Requirements
To be inducted into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame®, prospective members must have practiced all of the following during their careers:
Demonstrated extraordinary service to the knife industry;
Displayed honesty, character and integrity;
Advanced the industry by the creativity and originality of their works or contributions;
As ambassadors or outstanding contributors, have furthered the positive impact of the knife industry on the world at large, and;
In summary, have demonstrated a worthiness to be a member of this prestigious group.
The company’s long-time marketing manager retires after nearly 30 years of service.
Spyderco has been one of the most successful factory knife companies of the past half century, and a not-so-secret key to its success over almost 70 percent of that stretch has been Joyce Laituri.
Joyce’s last day at Spyderco, June 1, will be only slightly in the rearview mirror when you read this, but that’s probably the way she likes it. That’s because she’s not into personal glorification and wouldn’t want anyone to make a big fuss over her departure—which is just one of her many admirable traits.
Spyderco makes great knives. However, like all products, if not promoted correctly, the knives would not have sold like gangbusters the way they have over the decades. Such promotion has been Joyce’s bailiwick for most of the nearly 30 years she’s been with the company. From customer service circa 1995 she soon went to marketing, eventually becoming marketing manager in charge of all Spyderco catalogs, most of the ads, public relations, and most of the company’s relationships with writers, editors and many other industry pros.
Joyce Laituri
The Spyderco catalogs and ads under Joyce’s direction are industry standards. Chock full of detailed color images and incisive information about the knives, their backstories, materials, designs, collaborators and more, the catalogs in particular are among the best of any knife company ever.
As super as Joyce is at promoting Spyderco knives, it’s her ability to be friendly, funny, informative and genuine in her dealings with folks that stands out. A former airline stewardess from a time when all airline stewardesses had to be pleasing to the eye, Joyce is very pretty—though there’s much more to her than that. Her sparkling eyes and engaging smile and manner immediately put people at ease and make them enjoy working with her.
She is a master of customer relations and excels at keeping a running tab on everyone’s likes and dislikes. For instance, she and I share a love of dogs, and when we communicate we almost always talk about them. She adores her boxers, emails images of them and always asks about our animals, too.
A highlight of any SHOT Show was visiting the Spyderco booth and having a sit down with BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame member Sal Glesser to go over the latest Spyderco knives. Running interference for Sal would be Joyce, all smiles and ready to provide the inside scoop on all the new knives, provide quality zippered bags full of samples and, of course, a few pieces of chocolate to satisfy the savage sugar beast in all scribes.
Joyce is a fountain of knowledge not just on Spyderco knives but knives in general, and BLADE® depended on her for conveying that knowledge. A veritable quote machine, she covered everything sharp, from knives for kids, the kitchen, rescue and more. She is a knife person and it shows. “If you live an out-of-doors Colorado lifestyle you own a pocketknife,” she once noted of Spyderco’s location in Golden, Colorado. “Most likely, you own several.”
She provided a much-needed feminine perspective for the male-dominated field of sporting knives, one she indicated wasn’t all that much different from the male viewpoint. “Honestly, my personal opinion is that women don’t vary much from men when choosing a knife,” she said, adding, “Sal has a saying that when you buy a drill you really don’t want the drill. What you want is the hole.”
Good times or bad, Joyce always adapted. The pandemic was no exception. Speaking of the adjustments the industry had to make to cope with the shutdowns, quarantines and the like, she related how Spyderco emerged from the storm as strong as any knife company. “These past months have been a testament to the leadership and health of our business,” she said toward the north end of the crisis. “Whoever could have imagined shifting literally overnight to work systems not used before in knifemaking? I raise my hat to all of us! We’re a feisty bunch, aren’t we?”
Yes—though none are feistier than Joyce. She educated many thousands of people on the utility and value of Spyderco knives, and by extension enhanced the popularity, importance and relevance of the entire cutlery industry. In her field of endeavor, none have done it better.
New Knife-of-the-Year Awards rules, categories and protocol announced!
Other updates include how the awards are determined, where they are presented and more
The 43rd Annual BLADE Show is proud to announce several updates to the BLADE Magazine 2024 Knife-of-the-Year® Awards, including the addition of five new awards and the termination of two old ones.
The Knife-of-the-Year Awards are, of course, for factory knives only and submitted only by eligible exhibitors at BLADE Show ’24.
The new awards for 2024 are:
American-Made Fixed Blade of the Year
Imported Fixed Blade of the Year
American-Made Folding Knife of the Year®
Imported Folding Knife of the Year®, and
Automatic Knife of the Year® presented by PVK.com.
The new awards join the holdovers of Overall Knife of the Year®; Most Innovative American Design; Most Innovative Imported Design; Best Buy of the Year; Investor/Collector Knife of the Year®; Manufacturing Quality Award; Accessory of the Year; Knife Collaboration of the Year; Kitchen Knife of the Year®; Publisher’s Award; and Industry Achievement. (The latter two are picked from individuals in the knife industry by the staff of BLADE Magazine.)
The updates increase the overall number of awards from 13 to 16.
The old awards that have been discontinued are American Made Knife of the Year® and Imported Knife of the Year®, though in actuality they have simply been expanded to include individual awards for fixed blades and folders, both American made and imported.
Procedural Changes
There are also changes in the way certain awards are determined. Those modifications include:
Overall Knife-of-the-Year Award: In the past, the winner of this category was determined by the leading vote getter between the American-Made and Imported Knife-of-the-Year categories, the latter two which have been discontinued in 2024. This year, whichever knife receives the highest number of votes of ALL categories is the Overall Knife of the Year.
Best Buy of the Year Award: Unlike in the past, there will be no specific spot in the display area for entries in this category. Instead, ALL entries in ALL categories must be accompanied by the correct manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). As a result, ALL knives in ALL knife categories accompanied by the correct MSRP are eligible and considered by the judges for the Best Buy of the Year.
Manufacturing Quality Award: Like Best Buy of the Year, there will be no specific spot in the display area for entries in this award category as in the past. As a result, each entering exhibitor must submit a list of each knife and category he/she enters so the judges can check the lists, view/evaluate the applicable knives, and vote for the exhibitor of his/her choice for the Manufacturing Quality Award.
PVK Auto Award
Presented by PVK.com, the Automatic Knife of the Year goes to the best knife that opens automatically by the push of a button, slide, concealed release (scale, bolster, etc.) and so on. The knife can be conventional or dual action (opens as both a manual and an auto) out the side, single- or double-action (both opens and closes by the operation of a slide, button, etc.) out the front, and so on.
Award Venue Moved
Along with the BLADE Show Custom Knife Judging Awards, the Knife-of-the-Year Awards will be presented Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Garden Court area of the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel on the floor above The Pit. This is a change from last year’s award venue, which was next to The Pit in the hotel lobby.
Display Area
Entries for the BLADE Magazine 2024 Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards will be on display in the front lobby beginning show Friday. As noted, the awards are for factory knives only and submitted only by eligible exhibitors at BLADE Show ’24.
New Rules For Exhibitors
Complete copies of the new rules for the BLADE Magazine 2024 Knife-of-the-Year Awards were emailed to all eligible exhibitors in packets well before June. All eligible exhibitors are advised to go over those rules with a fine-tooth comb to ensure they do not miss out on any of the new rules and thus possibly miss out on winning one or more awards as a result.
Entry Deadlines
Entries will be accepted at the display area beginning at 9 a.m. June 7. No entries will be accepted after Noon the same day.
