Cutting Through the Costs: How Tariffs Are Reshaping the Global Knife Industry.
Tariffs. The simple mention of the word makes some folks tear their hair out. That’s not a problem for me because the word doesn’t upset me that much. Besides, most of my hair has already fallen out anyway.
As you know, a significant portion of American knife companies depend on China to manufacture some, most or all of their knives. As you also no doubt know, President Trump is addressing America’s tariff imbalance with other countries—including China—in no small part to help erase some of America’s $36 trillion debt. And, at press time, he was threatening to impose higher tariffs on China than any other country.
How will the President’s tariffs affect the knife industry? I asked one industry insider and he told me of a recent trip he made to China to talk business with those who make many of the knives for the company he represents.
He said the last time he went there was 2018 and he was amazed at all the changes in the interim. There wasn’t a bridge from Hong Kong to China seven years ago. Now there is one and they drove on it to the Chinese mainland. There are new superhighways all over with no cars on them.
“It’s crazy the money they’re spending on infrastructure,” he wrote. When he went to one city in 2018 there wasn’t a traffic light in sight. Now it’s a city of 2.6 million people with high rises everywhere.
“Maybe it was my imagination but the vibe wasn’t great,” he observed of the reception he received earlier this year. “A couple of factories seemed to blow me off. I used to get the golden carpet treatment. One of our guys who speaks Chinese said he was having a hard time getting answers from some of them. I think the tariffs have them scared.”
I wondered out loud if the Chinese manufacturers thought they’d gotten most all they could out of the company my friend works for and are looking at other revenue avenues.
“I don’t think so,” he wrote. “The other markets are small in comparison to the USA. The Chinese knife factories are so specialized that making knives is really all they know.”
He added that the big Chinese manufacturers are building factories in Vietnam to avoid the tariffs, though he predicted the President would close the Vietnam loophole soon if he hadn’t already by the time this story hits print. I asked if that would make it more economically feasible for those American companies who have knives made in China to have them made domestically, and he hit me with the cold, hard facts.
“Rough numbers: cost to make a folder in the USA, $100; cost to make the comparable folder in China, $25. Double the cost with tariffs and Chinese-made knives are still half priced,” he emphasized. “Knives are such a niche market and relatively low volume that even with automation it would be tough to match the price of knives made in China. Marketing, design and innovation can overcome that cost gap. Look at Benchmade. They are killing it.”
Concerning my earlier question of whether the Chinese manufacturers might be looking at other sources of revenue, he returned with a qualifier.
“I did see two factories that are now making manicure stuff like nail clippers. Ten years ago you would not have seen that. A knife factory was a knife factory. One factory was making Nite Ize® products, so I guess they are diversifying,” he wrote.
“One more thing,” he added. “I went to a big-name [Chinese] factory and the owner did not appear to be worried about tariffs. He is focused on making the best knife he can, so I think you could say the higher-end manufacturers aren’t as worried about tariffs.”
My insider friend, however, disagrees with that rationale.
“I think when the market goes bad even the billionaires slow down on impulse buys,” he opined.
On the domestic side, at least one U.S. company official says costs are increasing for steel and other knife materials even though the steel and materials are U.S. made. Meanwhile, by the time you read this, here’s hoping the President has been able to work out, or is well on his way to working out, deals with most if not all of the countries on which he imposed tariffs. Either way, as my insider friend summarized,
“The tariffs are going to have a big impact on our little industry!”
Largest class as HOF honors living and deceased legends.
The BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® is proud to announce its new inductees for 2025: Harvey Dean, Stanley Fujisaka, Rick Dunkerley, Dr. James Lucie, Alfred Pendray, James Schmidt, and Daniel Winkler and Karen Shook.
In a procedural change new for this year, the Hall of Fame has expanded the number of annual inductees from three to seven, the latter including four living and four deceased individuals. (The team of Winkler and Shook is count as one inductee.) They, along with Dean and Dunkerley, are this year’s living inductees, with the balance being the deceased ones.
The new Hall of Famers will be formally inducted, including the posthumous inductions of the deceased members, during BLADE Show 2025 June 6-8 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. The induction ceremony will commence the Saturday morning of the show, June 7, at 8 a.m., and will include a breakfast in the Kennesaw Room of the show’s host hotel, the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly. Tickets are required in advance and are limited. For ticket information email [email protected].
Harvey Dean
Harvey Dean
According to a nominator, “Harvey Dean earned his American Bladesmith Society master smith rating in 1992 and since then has taught an impressive number of students the art of bladesmithing. He became a member of the ABS Board of Directors in 2004 and served four years with distinction as ABS president from 2015-19. He continues to serve on the ABS board today. He was inducted into the ABS Hall of Fame in 2016. He has won an impressive number of judging awards for his knives, including at BLADE Show Texas, multiple times at the BLADE Show, from the Antique Bowie Knife Association and others. His knives have earned him membership in the prestigious Art Knife Invitational, limited to 25 of the world’s top knifemakers by a vote of the member makers.
He is a marvelous bladesmithing teacher, a master leader, a master administrator, and a master ambassador for the forged blade.” Along with award-winning knifemaker Johnny Stout, Harvey coordinated two annual knifemaking seminars in New Braunfels, Texas, for a number of years. He has also passed the knifemaking torch to his son Dillon, who creates utility fixed blades of his own. Concluded the nominator, “Harvey is among those named in the book Greatest Living Knifemakers written by Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Steve Shackleford. I know of no one man deserving of being named to the Cutlery Hall Of Fame more than Harvey.”
Rick Dunkerley
Rick Dunkerley
Rick Dunkerley began making knives in 1983 and started forging them in 1992. He specializes in mosaic damascus folders, winning judging awards for a number of them, as well as an occasional fixed blade. Among others, he’s won judging awards for his knives at the Oregon Knife Collectors Association Show, Montana Knifemakers Association Show, BLADE Show and BLADE Show Texas. His knives have earned him membership in the prestigious Art Knife Invitational, limited to 25 of the world’s top knifemakers by a vote of the member makers. He held many hammer-ins during the ’90s and brought in the best instructors of the time.
Rick has always been generous with information and is an excellent teacher. He’s taught at such venues as the Texarkana College/Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing, the Batson Bladesmithing Symposium, the Massachusetts College of Art, Saskatchewan Western Development Museum, Northern Minnesota Blacksmith’s Association, Northern Rockies Blacksmith’s Association and Western Canada Knifemakers’ Symposium. One of his students, Josh Smith, was the youngest ever to achieve both ABS journeyman and master smith status, and today runs the Montana Knife Co., a factory knife production operation with 80 employees. According to a nominator, “Rick has been on the board of the ABS and does the top shows worldwide. He has paid his dues, is a hell of a guy, always willing to share his knowledge, and makes world-class knives.”
Stanley Fujisaka
Stanley Fujisaka
Stanley “Stan” Fujisaka went full-time making knives in 1984 and was a prolific builder of award-winning folders and fixed blades. He was a beloved mentor in his Kaneohe, Hawaii, knife shop to a number of Hawaiian and other makers, including Scott Matsuoka, Les George, Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Ken Onion and many more. Stan played a key role in encouraging Onion to patent his famous SpeedSafe assisted-opening mechanism. As a result and as Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Dan Delavan wrote, “Ken went on to become the savior of Kershaw Knives.”
Stan also generously assisted knifemakers who fell victim to floods, shop fires, medical issues and more. He was a regular exhibitor at knife shows, donating many knives for door prizes. He collected custom knives and promoted them and the custom industry in general by supporting the Bay Area Knife Collectors Association Show, The Knifemakers’ Guild Show and other knife events. Together with his good friend, Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Jim Sornberger, Stan co-hosted dinners for knife collectors, area celebrities and others, all of which helped promote custom knives. Finally, when it came to being a goodwill ambassador to the custom knife industry, few if any could rival Stan for his many gifts—including flowers, Hawaiian coffee and boxes of chocolate-macadamia nuts—that he doled out to friends, customers and other patrons at the shows where he exhibited.
Dr. James R. Lucie
Dr. James R. Lucie
According to a nominator, “Dr. James R. ‘Jim’ Lucie was Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer William Scagel’s physician and signed Scagel’s death certificate in 1963. This was the beginning of Dr. Lucie’s Scagel knife-collecting avocation. Scagel is considered by many the father of the modern custom knife. Dr. Lucie discovered his passion for knifemaking in 1990 when he took a class on bladesmithing from Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bill Moran. Jim was a very talented maker and received several awards for his contributions to the knifemaking community. He assisted other makers often. In 2001, the ABS created the Dr. Jim Lucie Award, which it bestowed on Jim as its inaugural recipient. The award was ‘presented for the unselfish contribution to the preservation of the forged blade. The person receiving this award has gone far beyond the call … and exemplifies the type of person needed to keep … bladesmithing alive.’
Jim also received an ABS Special Service Award in 2002 ‘in recognition of his meritorious and unselfish services on behalf of … the forged blade.’ He also received the ABS Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Service more than once. He was a talented bladesmith, hand-forging mostly Scagel recreations of the highest quality. He improved on Scagel’s designs when it would enhance the knife. Jim dedicated three decades to researching Scagel’s life and collecting his works. Jim’s efforts culminated in Scagel Handmade, a massive hardbound book detailing Scagel’s life, with photos of over 200 knives and other Scagel items. Dr. Lucie hosted a hammer-in in 2001, with over 500 people in attendance. He shared his knowledge of Scagel’s techniques by giving speeches at many bladesmithing events. Late in life, Jim donated his blacksmithing, grinding and finishing equipment valued at $62,700 to the ABS. His actions consistently exhibited honesty, compassion for others and a dedication to the bladesmithing community.”
Alfred Pendray
Alfred Pendray
Alfred “Al” Pendray was a rock to the many bladesmiths he taught and influenced over the decades. “I learned so much from him,” noted ABS master smith Charley Ochs, “not only about knives and metallurgy but also about life and social interaction as a person.” Softspoken but never at a loss for words on the subjects that mattered to him, Alfred possessed an intricate knowledge of many things, including wootz steel, bladesmithing/knifemaking and knife history in general. He had a solid work ethic and led as much or more by example than the spoken word. He knew when to express his views and when not to, a trait sadly lacking in much of today’s discourse. Alfred is co-author—along with Dr. John Verhoeven, a former metallurgical engineering professor at Iowa State University—of articles appearing in eight scientific journals, four bladesmith publications and BLADE on the nature of “genuine damascus,” or wootz steel.
Pendray was granted patent number 5,185,044 on a “method of making damascus blades.” He was a speaker at the Symposium on Damascus Steel at New York University in 1984. He also spoke at the International Conference on Damascus Steel in Germany in 1985 and the same conference in 1992. He lectured at the Imperial College in London, England, in 1992. He joined The Knifemakers’ Guild in 1982 and was awarded his master smith rating by the ABS in 1983. He received the ABS award for the Bill Moran Knife of The Year in 1991 and was elected to the Guild board of directors in 1992. He received the ABS W.W. Scagel Award in 1998 and is a past recipient of the Guild’s Red Watson Award. He served as Guild president from 1998-2004. In September 2001, he was featured on the nationally syndicated Paul Harvey radio show. In 2003, he was inducted into the ABS Hall of Fame.
James Schmidt
James Schmidt
According to a nominator, James “Jim” Schmidt was instrumental in raising the level of knifemaking to compete with the finest crafts ever made. Most importantly, he elevated the pursuit to an art but never forgot the meticulous details of the craft. His knives are immediately recognizable and he influenced so many who came after him in meaningful ways. A spectacular book by BLADE® field editor Mike Haskew memorialized the man and his knives: JAMES A. SCHMIDT, The Great Master. A few passages from the book: “As a custom knifemaker he knew few peers. As a mentor and teacher, he was without equal”; “A man of few words, he allowed the results of his skill, precision, and limitless creativity to speak for him. In silent, stunning beauty, they thundered”; and “He welcomed those who were earnestly interested in improving their bladesmithing and knifemaking skills into his shop … and shared with them the light of precious knowledge that he realized should be readily and freely given rather than hidden.”
In the 1970s, along with Jimmy Fikes and Don Fogg, Jim formed the New England Bladesmith Society to promulgate the skills and techniques of knifemaking. Before long the groundbreaking Ashokan Bladesmithing Seminar was born. Jim was a principal organizer, lecturer and demonstrator. He was one of the earliest members of the ABS and one of the earliest ABS master smiths, and a member of the ABS Hall of Fame. He was a constant member of the Art Knife Invitational, a winner of the Red Watson Award from the Knifemakers’ Guild, the Beretta Award for Outstanding Achievement, and many other honors from a number of custom knife shows. In time Jim decided to let someone else win an occasional award and became a judge at many shows. His approach was to be meticulously but fairly critical and always encouraging. He was indeed the ultimate teacher, his profession for most of his life.
Daniel Winkler And Karen Shook
Daniel Winkler And Karen Shook
ABS master smith Daniel Winkler and Karen Shook first made their mark in the world of knives with custom reproductions of historical knives and tomahawks. Daniel made the knives and hawks and Karen made the accompanying authentic period sheaths, and the two became internationally known for their work. Daniel and Karen taught for the ABS for many years and Daniel was in the vanguard of the Society’s early cutting competitions. The two were at the forefront of early American historical arms and their period pieces were among those featured in the 1992 feature film, Last of the Mohicans. In 1994 a Navy SEAL Special Warfare operator asked Daniel to make a tomahawk because there was nothing on the market that worked for the SEALs at the time. According to a nominator, “Karen designed a sheath the SEALs liked and over the years she and Daniel did more special projects for the SEALs, ultimately inspiring the two to form Winkler Knives II.” Added another nominator, Daniel and Karen’s operation “soon became the cutlery armorer of many top Special Ops teams, from the SEALs to Delta Force, and to those of other nations as well.
For many years Daniel and Karen quietly made the knives, axes and sheaths without seeking glory or publicity for their work. In fact, they insisted that their generosity and unselfishness remain a secret among those who discovered it. It was only upon mention of their work in the book No Easy Day, in which the SEAL Team member on the Bin Laden take-down mentioned he was carrying a Winkler knife, that Daniel and Karen’s work became known to the general public. With such demand, they have expanded into a mid-tech operation and from there into that of a cutlery producer.” Today, Winkler Knives has a 35,000-square-foot facility employing one part-time and 28 full-time workers. “Few have transitioned into the changing markets as well as Daniel and Karen,” the nominator noted, “and none have done so with such humility and class.”
The first big knife show of 2025 also is the Longhorn State’s biggest—BLADE Show Texas.
What: BLADE Show Texas 2025 Where: Fort Worth Convention Center When: March 7-8 Days and Times: Friday, March 7, 10-10:30 a.m. Early Bird Pass Holders Only Friday, March 7, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. General Admission Saturday, March 8, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. General Admission
The first big knife show of 2025 also happens to be the biggest knife show in Texas—BLADE Show Texas, to be exact—where the world’s best knives and knifemakers await you March 7-8 in the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The show will host 420 exhibitors from around the world, including Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and elsewhere, not to mention top American custom knifemakers and ABS master smiths; all returning winners of the BLADE Show Texas ’24 custom and factory knife judging awards; and other of the world’s leading factory knife companies, including current and past winners of BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards.
Over 70 makers and companies that did not exhibit last year will do so this year, including though not limited to South Africa’s Bertie Rietveld; Winkler Knives; Sweden’s Anders Hogstrom; ESEE; ABS master smith David Lisch; GiantMouse; ABS master smith Steve Randall; Demko; Darrin Thomas; Dozier Knives; Liam Hoffman/Hoffman Blacksmithing; and Peter Kohler/Dark Timber Custom Knives.
South African Bertie Rietveld will help headline the international contingent at BLADE Show Texas in the Fort Worth Convention Center. His curvaceous integral features a blade of his Dragonskin damascus and black jade inlays. Overall length: 11.8 inches. (SharpByCoop image)
The Fort Worth Convention Center will be a hotbed of blades, with thousands of custom and factory knives—from low end to high end, stock removal to forged, fixed blade to folder—tomahawks, swords, sharpeners and more. And if the exhibiting makers don’t have what you’re looking for, the exhibiting custom knife purveyors and factory retailers probably will; and if they don’t, they can put you in touch with someone who does.
For knife hobbyists and novice and veteran makers alike, the show’s diverse selection of knifemaking supplies and suppliers will have the materials, tools and equipment you need to make the knife of your dreams. From the latest steels, handle materials, hardware, sheath materials to most every knife part extant, the show’s suppliers should have it.
Knife Awards
ABS master smith Mike Quesenberry returns to defend his titles in three categories—Best of Show, Best Bowie and Best Art Knife—of the show’s custom knife judging competition.
The knife judging competitions will recognize the best of the show’s custom and factory knives. The custom award categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses:
Best of Show: Mike Quesenberry
Best Bowie: Mike Quesenberry
Best Fighter: Franco de Souza
Best Damascus: Franco de Souza
Best Hunting Knife: James Rodebaugh
Best Folding Knife: Jared Oeser
Best Kitchen Knife: Harvey Dean
Best M.A.C.K.: Princeton Wong
Best EDC: Karis Fisher
Best Art Knife: Mike Quesenberry
Best of the Rest: Jason Knight and Mark Winburn
Best Slipjoint: Tim Robertson
There were also three Best Contender winners:
Franco de Souza (Bowie)
Peyton Ramm (hunting knife)
P.H. Jacob (slipjoint)
The factory award categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses:
Best Of Show: ESNYX/Reate
Best EDC: ESNYX/Reate
Best American Made: Heretic Knives
Best Imported: Les George and Allen Elishewitz design for Ketuo
Best Fixed Blade: Vero Engineering
Best Folder: Vero Engineering
Best of the Rest: Reate
As noted, all of last year’s winners are returning for this year’s show.
The custom and factory knife judging is reserved exclusively for show exhibitors, all of whom received packets with complete details on category descriptions, judging rules and more prior to checking into the show.
Leading Factory Exhibitors
The factory section looks to entertain knife enthusiasts of all interests and ages.
Included among the leading factory knife exhibitors will be:
Artisan Cutlery Bastinelli Knives Big Idea Design Boker USA Bradford USA Brighten Blades W.R. Case and Sons Chaves Knives CobraTec Knives Condor Tool & Knife CRKT Demko Knives Dozier Knives; Emerson Knives, Inc. ESEE; ESNYX Knives Fox Knives GiantMouse Glow Rhino Hawk Knife Designs Heretic Knives Hogue Knives Jack Wolf Knives Kansept Knives Ketuo KeyBar Knafs LATAMA Cutlery
Liong Mah Designs McNees Knives Medford Knife & Tool MKM/Maniago Knife Makers OCASO Knives; Olamic Cutlery Poikiloblade Pro-Tech QSP Knife Reate Knives Rike Knife RMJ Tactical Rosecraft Blades Santa Fe Stoneworks Smoky Mountain Knife Works Spyderco Squid Industries Stroup Knives Tactile Knife Co. Three Rivers Mfg. (TRM) TOPS Knives ULTICLIP Vero Engineering WE Knife Co. White River Knife & Tool Winkler Knives
Knifemaking Suppliers/Equipment
Scott Gallagher will be among a strong contingent of ABS master smith exhibitors. His Vest Bowie boasts a 4.5-inch mosaic damascus blade.
Included among the leading knifemaking/equipment suppliers will be:
Abrasives, Inc./Hog Brand Alabama Damascus Steel Alpha Knife Supply American Metal Xchange Inc. CamoCarbon Current Composites Damasteel AB Evenheat Kiln Fine Turnage Productions Imperial Leather Works Jantz Supply Knife & Gun Finishing Supplies Knifesupplies.com Knight’s Stabilized Woods Maker Material Supply
Jack Wolf Knives will exhibit its distinctive brand of slipjoints with such models as the Benny, here in the Fat Carbon Mars Valley edition. MSRP: $349.99.
Among the top custom makers exhibiting at BLADE Show Texas will be:
Allen Elishewitz Allen Newberry Ben Seward Bobby House Bruce Barnett Bertie Rietveld BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Bill Ruple Bob Merz Brad Zinker Lucas Burnley Peter Carey; Chuck Gedraitis Corey Dunlap Tanner Couch Bubba Crouch Peter Kohler/Dark Timber Custom Knives Darrin Thomas D. R. Davis Eric Fritz Dennis Friedly Duane Dwyer Evan Nicolaides Brian Fellhoelter Burt Flanagan Gary Langley Les George GTC Knives/Gustavo Cecchini Herucus Blomerus Liam Hoffman/Hoffman Blacksmithing Anders Hogstrom Jeremy Yelle
Johnny Stout Keanison Knives Kelly Vermeer Tom Krein Andrea Lisch Mardi Meshejian Erik McCright Messori Knives Mick Strider Customs Jared Oeser Nick Orr P.H. Jacob Enrique Pena Tom Ploppert Princeton Wong Jerry Moen Ricardo Vilar Peyton Ramm Scorpion 6 Stanley Buzek Suprlativ Knives Luke Swenson Tim Robertson Tobin Hill Tony Baker W.D. Pease Will Stelter Tom Overeynder Will Zermeno
BLADE Show Texas will be the first of three BLADE-Show-sponsored events for 2025, the other two being the grandaddy of them all, the 44th Annual BLADE Show June 6-8 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, and BLADE Show West 2025 at the Salt Palace Convention Center Oct. 10-11 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Let’s end the 67-year scourge of the Switchblade Act.
There are knives more American in terms of historic origin but none more American in terms of being persecuted by the federal government than automatics. As such, the effort underway by Knife Rights and its fellow plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Federal Switchblade Act should be of special interest to knife enthusiasts.
Originally enacted in 1958 with the help of Sen. Estes. Kefauver (TN) and other elected leaders apparently more interested in suppressing rights than upholding them, the Act restricts the introduction into interstate commerce of common automatically opening knives, popularly known as switchblades.
It also bans the knives’ possession on Native American reservations and in U.S. territories and on U.S. lands. The Act’s definition of a “switchblade knife” includes gravity knives and butterfly knives/balisongs, despite the fact that few if any balisongs operate according to the Act’s definition of doing so “automatically.”
In fact, since the original Act targeted knives that were blackballed at the time of the Act’s passage as those used by gang members, a significant percentage of whom were minorities, a strong case can be made that the Act is patently racist. Moreover, also racist is the Act specifically targeting the approximately 5 million people of color on 326 Native American reservations and in U.S. territories and U.S. lands that include Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In the two most recent developments in the case, on Dec. 9 KR and its fellow plaintiffs filed a Motion for Summary Judgement requesting the Court to find the Act unconstitutional, and that the portions restricting the knives in interstate commerce and on Native American reservations, U.S. territories and U.S. lands be permanently enjoined. Meanwhile, the Act’s existing import ban of autos would not be disturbed. In response, on Jan. 13 the Department of Justice filed a Reply Brief and Motion to Dismiss the plaintiffs’ federal lawsuit challenging the Act.
Among the DOJ’s reasons for the motion to dismiss is that the Plaintiffs’ claim has no standing because the Act “is not enforced.” This DOJ reason for dismissal is contradicted by the facts. As KR noted in an entry on its website dated Sept. 27, it was as recently as 2020 that federal agents staged a violent raid on a business, a raid that included forced entry into the home/business.
The upshot of it all: authorities seized/confiscated approximately $2.8 million worth of automatics and automatic parts and shut down multiple retail websites, forcing the business to close. Of course, even if the Act were not enforced, its mere presence serves to intimidate knife entrepreneurs who are or may be considering the manufacture or sale of automatics from doing so.
BLADE® will continue to follow the effort by KR and its fellow plaintiffs to rescind portions of one of the longest running federal acts of oppression and racism in U.S. history. While it is hoped the new administration will be more amenable to the effort, please take nothing for granted.
Contact your elected federal representatives—and anyone you know who may have pull with any and all federal reps—and urge them to help free automatics from the 67-year scourge that is the Federal Switchblade Act.
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!
