Everything at BLADE Show Texas just keeps getting bigger
More exhibitors—a whopping 100 more, north of 400 in all, plus an additional 28,000 square feet of space over last year—displaying the finest knives, knife accessories and all that cuts promise to make the burgeoning BLADE Show Texas the best rendition yet.
Mike Quesenberry takedown dogbone bowie features a 10-inch blade of a Turkish twist damascus and an ancient walrus ivory handle with 18k-gold buttons and escutcheon plates. (SharpByCoop knife image)
Set for Feb. 23-24 at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the show will host exhibitors from around the world, including those from Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, Russia, Sweden and elsewhere. Exhibitors will include top American custom knifemakers, ABS master smiths, returning winners of BLADE Show Texas ’23 custom knife judging awards and BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® members, and some of the world’s leading factory knife companies, including many current and past winners of BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards and returning winners of BLADE Show Texas ’23 factory knife judging honors.
BLADE Show Texas will be the first of three BLADE Show sponsored events for 2024, the other two being the grandaddy of them all, the 43rd Annual BLADE Show June 7-9 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, and BLADE Show West 2024 at the Salt Palace Convention Center Oct. 4-5 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
But first things first in Fort Worth, where knife enthusiasts will enjoy the complete gamut of custom and factory knives and accessories, including art, utility, bowies, EDC, slip joints, automatics, balisongs, kukris, daggers, tactical, tomahawks, swords, sharpeners and more, from low end to high end, stock removal to forged, fixed blade to folder. 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.
BLADE SHOW TEXAS AWARDS
TOPS Knives will display its extensive array of outdoor knives, including the Camp Creek Fire Edition in CPM S35VN stainless steel and a comfortably contoured handle of red/black G-10. Country of origin: USA. MSRP: $280.
There will be some changes in both the show’s custom and factory knife judging.
The change in the custom segment is small with the simple addition of a Best of the Rest category to provide an avenue for tomahawks, swords, innovative designs and other “specialty pieces” to win an award. Best of the Rest joins the existing stable of custom awards that also includes Best Art, Best Bowie, Best Damascus, Best EDC, Best Fighter, Best Folding Knife, Best Hunting Knife, Best Kitchen Knife, Best Slip Joint, Best M.A.C.K. (Machine Assisted Custom Knife) and Best in Show.
Returning to defend their custom knife award winning titles from last year’s show will be ABS master smiths (from left, with awards in parentheses): Josh Fisher (Best Bowie), Karis Fisher (Best Hunting Knife and Best Fighter), and John Horrigan (Best Damascus).
The shakeup in the factory categories includes eliminating Best Tactical and adding Best American Made, Best Imported and Best of the Rest. The addition of the former two addresses the top knives made both domestically and offshore, while the latter does the same for the factory segment that it does for the custom one.
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.
Final Cut
BLADE Show Texas seems to be growing exponentially, as are the show’s exhibitors and fans. Go exponential your own self and join the party in February!
After smashing years in the post-pandemic, knife buying has somewhat cooled for the time being.
While the outward signs of the pandemic—masks, shutdowns, etc.—that ravaged the world in the earlier part of the decade are largely gone now, the economic impacts remain. That includes in the world of knives.
Factory knife sales rolled right along in the first couple of years or so of the pandemic, due partly to the federal government stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits offered to many Americans. The checks and benefits eventually stopped but healthy knife sales continued unabated throughout much of the factory knife industry into mid-2022. That’s when one company experiencing record sales the first six months saw consumer spending “suddenly jerk to a halt in the second half” of the year.
“Dealers had loaded up with knives going into the summer because they expected the Covid spending wave to continue and were left holding a ton of inventory that’s been moving very slow ever since,” wrote the company’s spokesperson. Consequently, he noted, his company’s sales were down about 30 percent in 2023.
However, again according to the company spokesperson, as important a role as the end of the flow of the “free” government money to Americans would seem to have played in the knife sales downturn, it “was small potatoes” in comparison to two larger factors—a poor economy and a lack of consumer discretionary funds in general.
“Confidence is down, so people are being conservative with their discretionary spending,” he noted. “Second, not everyone has discretionary funds, so while the cost of pretty much everything continues to rise, income growth is stagnant for people who were already underpaid.”
Another company spokesperson who stated his company’s sales were down about 8 percent in 2023 cited another cause.
“There is also pent-up demand to go out to restaurants and clubs since the pandemic. People are spending money on experiences [instead of on knives],” he opined. “I see this as temporary and will subside as they realize hamburgers cost $18 and service stinks.”
Even though TOPS Knives’ sales were up 15 percent at BLADE Show West ’23 over the previous year’s show, company general manager Craig Powell indicated he still noticed a sign of conservative knife buying at this year’s show in Salt Lake City.
“We are seeing people tighten their belts and being a little more frugal than in years past,” he observed after the show. Rather than the belt-tightening being reflected in the prices paid for individual knives, Craig wrote, “We saw people that otherwise would have purchased two or three knives buy just the one.”
It should be noted that not every company BLADE® contacted experienced sales drops in ’23. For instance, Condor Tool & Knife reported sales were even compared to ’22, while Coast reported a solid increase of 12 percent in ’23. Officials of both companies indicated they would not be raising prices in ’24, though the aforementioned companies that suffered sales drops in ’23 will be.
“We have a few products going up in price in 2024,” one company spokesperson wrote, “somewhere between 3 and 5 percent, mostly to cover our increased costs in labor and fuel.” Another company spokesperson stated his company would be implementing a 5 percent increase across the board for similar reasons. “We’re hearing that other brands are raising their prices much more than that, so we’re doing everything we can to keep our knives as affordable as possible for consumers without reducing quality,” he observed.
It should be noted here that the companies cited in this story represent a small segment of the industry. Moreover, we at BLADE believe in the ebb and flow of knife sales as outlined by Chris Quinn of GP Knives, and that most of the players in the knife industry who experienced down years won’t be down for long.
Nonetheless, perhaps more than ever, BLADE urges you to monitor the prices charged for knives in 2024. Today’s knives are of higher production quality and materials than their predecessors but, as always, it’s up to you to ensure that you get the best knife with the best bang for your buck.
Chris Quinn of GP Knives gives his view of knife trends for the upcoming calendar year.
Chris Quinn of GP Knives is familiar with the ebb and flow of trends and styles in the knife industry and advises to approach the ’24 market with an appreciation of that ongoing phenomenon.
“The knife industry is quite the rollercoaster,” he related, “and what could be popular in the future is anybody’s guess and depends on a lot of things, but mostly the economy at the time. We are a disposable income industry. Over the past year, as inflation and interest rates continued to rise, our industry has had a noticeable slowdown. That said, items that continue to sell well are either hard to get, limited production and exclusive, or a good deal. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
Economical & Political Tides
Considering the economic influences and the fact that knife prices naturally rise in step with costs related to materials, production time, scarcity and maker branding, then keeping a keen eye on value is a watchword for the new year.
“2024 is an election year,” Quinn commented. “They are always tricky to navigate. Who’s next in office has a direct effect on the shooting and cutlery industries.”
Design Trends
With this influence, he looks forward to a couple of developing style aspects in the next year.
“The more fidgety the better,” he smiled. “A large percentage of knives aren’t used for more than fidget toys these days, or at least they need to function that way to impress the end user. Popular fidgety locks like Demko’s Shark Lock or WE Knife/CIVIVI’s SuperLock or Pro-Tech’s button lock are all the rage. The smoother and faster the opening and closing a folder can be the better. Traditional folders are hanging in there, but EDC is king. Also, the automatic category continues to grow as we see more and more states loosening their laws on ownership and carry.”
Summarizing, Quinn related, “I don’t have much in the way of predicting styles of knives and don’t see longstanding industry leaders lowering their prices soon, but I do see smaller makers getting more competitive to take the space the giants have abandoned.”
The award-winning knifemaker and designer passed at 82 after a life filled with adventure and craftsmanship.
Award-winning knifemaker and knife designer Grant Hawk of Hawk Knives passed away peacefully at his Idaho City, Idaho, residence on November 8. He was 82.
Born in Boise, Idaho, on Feb. 15, 1941, to Woodrow Allen “Kelly” Stroud and Dortha Bunce, Grant’s life was a remarkable journey of adventure, resilience and creativity. His early years were spent as a cowboy in Boise, where his connection with the outdoors and love for craftsmanship began. The 1960s saw Grant moving to California to make camper trailers, but he quickly became entangled in the revolutionary spirit of the era, leading to a brush with the law. This encounter prompted a pivotal decision in his life: to adopt a new identity and retreat to the Idaho mountains.
In his seclusion, living in a teepee, Grant’s interest in gold prospecting blossomed. This pursuit marked his gradual reintegration into society and laid the groundwork for his future endeavors. It was during this period of reflection and growth that he discovered his true calling in knifemaking.
Alongside his son, Gavin, Grant embarked on a remarkable journey in the world of craftsmanship. Together they forged a path in knifemaking, combining adventurous spirit with Grant’s innate skill and creativity. Their collaboration led to the creation of distinctive and innovative knife designs, earning acclaim in the knifemaking community.
His final accomplishment was completing his autobiography, which he delivered to the printer just two days before his passing. On the night of his death, he was in good spirits and feeling well, but unexpectedly fell ill and passed away gracefully within 15 minutes.
Grant’s life was a tapestry of diverse experiences, from cowboy to gold prospector, and finally to a revered knifemaker. His legacy lives on through his son Gavin and their shared creations, which continue to inspire and captivate knife enthusiasts around the world.
Grant’s story is a testament to the power of resilience, adaptation and the pursuit of passion. His memory will be cherished by his family, friends, and all who knew him as a man who carved his path, much like the knives he so skillfully crafted.
Hawaii has petitioned the Ninth Circut Court to overturn a recent decision making butterfly knives legal.
Knife Rights reported on September 22 that Hawaii had petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court for a rehearing en banc in an attempt to overturn a recent 3-0 panel decision that ruled the state’s balisong ban unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
The panel decision in favor of the appellants in Teter v. Lopez was a big win for Second Amendment (2A) supporters. However, the decision would be rendered moot if the Ninth Circuit grants Hawaii’s petition for the en banc rehearing and then the state is somehow able to have the decision overturned.
Among other unconstitutional assertions, Hawaii’s petition claims that only weapons “commonly used for self-defense” are 2A protected. As Knife Rights (KR) points out, such a claim was refuted by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which established that arms usable for “any lawful purpose” are 2A protected and not just those used “commonly for self-defense.”
Hawaii’s petition includes the dishonest claim, “If left undisturbed, the panel’s analysis will govern challenges involving many highly dangerous weapons that States quite reasonably seek to regulate or ban: assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and more.”
The state’s insinuation that a balisong is “a highly dangerous weapon” is ludicrous and unsupported by the facts. Where are all the instances and facts and figures of balisongs being highly dangerous? I’ve watched 13-year-olds-and-up flip balisongs for the past seven years at Blade HQ’s Battle for Bali-Champion at the BLADE Show, not to mention the West Coast Flipping Championships conducted by Squid Industries at BLADE Show West, and I’ve yet to see any “highly dangerous weapon” activity in any of them. Besides, if such contests were full of activity involving “highly dangerous weapons”—especially when youngsters are actively involved—not only would show officials cancel them but the venues hosting the shows would forbid them as well, something none of them have done.
BLADE Show 2017 hosted its first-ever balling competition coordinated by Blade HQ.
Adding to the absurdity of the state’s petition is its not-so-veiled attempt to include balisongs in the ambiguous world of “assault weapons.” “Assault weapon” is one of those anti-2A boogeyman catchall terms that has never been adequately defined for legal or legislative purposes by anyone or anything at any time—in large part because millions of items, from human fists to automobiles, are used as assault weapons. As a result, any law-abiding judge should reject any petition containing the term “assault weapon” as legally null and void due to its use of indefinable, overly inclusive language.
At press time, KR indicated the next step was for the petition to be circulated to all active Ninth Circuit judges and any senior judge who chose to participate. As KR noted, it was likely that the appellants would be required to respond to the petition about why the court should not rehear the case, though the judges could just vote on it instead. “Odds are that sooner or later the court will vote to rehear the case,” KR noted on its website, kniferights.org, “but we’ll see.”
If you live in Hawaii, contact your state officials and tell them to pull all the strings they can to uphold the panel’s decision asserting that the bali ban is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, stay tuned to KR’s website for updates. Considering the left-leaning history of the Ninth Circuit Court, this decision has huge precedent-setting implications.
When BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bill Moran reintroduced knives with damascus blades at the 1973 Knifemakers’ Guild Show, little did he know how much damascus would evolve, redefine itself, expand into new media, and no telling what other recreations and rebirthings it has experienced in the half-century since that fateful weekend in the Muehlebach Hotel in downtown Kansas City.
On this page are some of today’s reincarnations of the material in its various forms, methods, materials and more. What’s staggering to consider is there are so many more variations—not only now but also to come. It is a phenomenon that is truly unique to the custom knife industry and should be celebrated and promoted whenever possible.
David Lisch Templars Mosaic
David Lisch’s spectacular art dagger features a 12-inch blade of his Templars Mosaic Damascus, a blackwood handle with gold wire wrap and a guard of pure iron covered in melted gold. Overall length: 17.75 inches. The knife comes with a stand that includes an embellished templars’ cross and one carved in the base as well. (SharpByCoop knife images)
Sporting a pattern ABS master smith David Lisch christened Templars Mosaic, the blade for his dagger is one he forged from 15N20 nickel-alloy and 1080 carbon steels and etched in ferric chloride.
“I was aiming for a bold, bright pattern that had a cross-like shape but wanted it to be a bit organic,” he wrote. The Templars’ cross also is represented on the guard and the finial, and there is one on the stand that holds the knife as well. “All these parts are pure iron covered in melted gold,” he noted. The dagger also has a domed gold spacer between the guard and Dragon Thunder damascus spacer that the fluted-blackwood-with-gold-wire-inlay handle butts up against.
“I made this dagger out of the love I have for creating art with no concern about how long it took or how much money I would make from it,” David stressed. “I did the handle twice and I did the big finial twice. I sold the piece for $10,000 and will not be making another one like this. You can be sure that the love I have for creating will take me to a new dagger, sword or bowie knife that tries to fill the void in me that can only be filled by creating art.”
Jeremy Yelle Jellyroll Mosaic Turkish Twist
The steels for the jellyroll mosaic Turkish twist pattern damascus of the collaborative bowie by Jeremy Yelle (right) and Alex Houle (left) is forged from 1080 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels. Blade and overall lengths: 10.25 and 15.5 inches. Their list price for a similar knife: $2,600. (Jocelyn Frasier knife image edit)
The blade damascus of ABS journeyman smith Jeremy Yelle’s and SBK Cutlery’s stag bowie is a positively electric jellyroll mosaic Turkish twist pattern Jeremy forged in a collaboration with his friend Alex Houle of SBK. Alex forged the collaborative damascus into a blade and Jeremy made the handle.
“We began by welding a billet of alternate layers,” Jeremy wrote of the forging process. The pair drew the billet into a bar and jelly rolled it. “Then we squared it up and welded a four-way incorporating some 1-inch-square 1080,” he continued. They welded the billet, drew it out to ¾-inch square, cut and twisted it, and made a Turkish-twist stack that Alex forged into a blade. “You can also see the ‘fish mouth*’ weld Alex did so the edge bar and the spine meet properly,” Jeremy wrote. “He did a wonderful job making the blade.” Jeremy showed Alex how to work with stag and they finished the parts. Alex revealed the beautiful pattern via a two-step etching process using a solution of ferric chloride and finishing the etch with a coffee-darkening soak and hot wax finish.
Zane Dvorak Multi-Bar
The 4.25-inch blade of Zane Dvorak’s hunter is a multi-bar damascus of 1084 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels. Overall length: 9.25 inches. His price for a similar knife: $2,400. (SharpByCoop image)
The blade of Zane Dvorak’s hunter is a multi-bar damascus of 1084 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels. Zane forged the blade/tang of four twisted bars of a twisted-bar pattern, and forged welded the guards and bolsters on with the same pattern. He bird’s mouthed the blade tip and rewelded it back together to create flowing outer bars. For etchant he used Gator Piss Acid from Baker Forge & Tool.
Bird’s mouthing is a process done on multi-bar, mosaic or other types of damascus patterns. According to Zane, it involves cutting a triangle out of the end of the rectangular parent bar—the shape of which somewhat resembles a bird’s mouth—then bringing the steel of the edge and spine back together to form the point of the blade. By doing so the blade exhibits a better consistency and overall flow of the pattern.
Andrew Blomfield Alternate Pattern
The mosaic damascus for Andrew Blomfield’s sub-hilt fighter is a combo of two separate billets welded in an alternate pattern. Blade and overall lengths: 9.5 and 14.5 inches. Blade grind: flat. Andrew’s price for a similar knife: $3,000. (SharpByCoop image)
The material mid-blade of Andrew Blomfield’s sub-hilt fighter is a combination of two separate billets of mosaic damascus welded in an alternate pattern. The edge is a straight feather pattern forge welded around the edge. The blade is a combination of pieces from three separate billets. The steels are 1084 carbon and 15N20 nickel alloy etched with ferric chloride.
The integral sub-hilt is 1020 low-carbon steel hot salt blued to a deep black finish. The handle is desert ironwood. The knife is of a full takedown construction.
Frank Edwards Palm Leaf Mosaic Pattern
The Palm Leaf mosaic damascus by Frank Edwards is an interweaving river system of straight lines. The handle inlay is black-lip mother-of-pearl. Blade and closed lengths: 3 and 4.25 inches. His price for a similar knife: $1,900. (SharpByCoop knife image)
The multi-bar damascus of Frank Edwards’s folding dagger blade is in a Palm Leaf mosaic pattern. Starting with a billet of straight lines, he reduced it all into a square and then biased the squares, four-waying the billet into a 1.5-inch square.
As Frank explained his recipe, “Forge weld another billet of straight lines, keeping them straight as possible to .5 inch by 1.5 inches. Add that to the previous billet and forge weld and reduce to a 1×1-inch square. Then four-way it again. This will give you the frame around the palm leaves. Keep repeating that until you achieve the size of pattern for the knife you’re building.
“The key to getting good mosaics is a slower reduction [of the steel]. We have presses and power hammers that help but they can move too much metal too fast, which will destroy a mosaic in a hurry. The slower reduction allows the billet to stay uniform throughout the length of the bar.” To expose the pattern he etched the blade with a four-to-one mixture of water/ferric chloride in 10-minute cycles, using 2,000-grit sandpaper between cycles.
Jackson Rumble Stunning Pattern
The 8-inch blade of an integral chef’s knife by Jackson Rumble boasts a mesmerizing and at press time unnamed damascus pattern forged from 1084 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels. The handle is African blackwood. Overall length: 13 inches. The maker’s price for a similar knife would start at $2,500. (SharpByCoop knife image)
The technique for the stunning pattern on newly named ABS master smith Jackson Rumble’s chef’s knife is what he calls a “pretty standard process” of four-way welding and re-square cycles. Not bad for “pretty standard,” eh (page 28, top left)? The initial stack has large sections of both light and dark steels interspersed through the alternating layers, and Jackson added extra-light steel to the billet in the later stages of the forging process.
“Finally, I used the Filicietti Flip method to transfer the pattern to the face of the billet,” he wrote. “For the etching process I used ferric chloride followed by coffee.” OK, Jackson, so what’s the “Filicietti Flip method”?
“I’ve heard the Filicietti Flip called other names like the Ferry Flip, or just tile welding,” he explained. “Basically, after you’ve finished building the pattern in the end grain of the billet, you take it to a bandsaw and cut slices off the end at a 35-degree angle. This makes a bunch of pieces in the shape of parallelograms or tiles. The tiles can then be rotated and forge welded back together to form a new billet. Instead of having the pattern showing on the end of the billet, the pattern will repeat itself along the face of the billet.”
We’re glad we asked.
*Also called fish lips, fish mouth is when the tip of the billet begins to curl up on either side during rough forging to resemble a fish’s mouth or lips, thus the name. It is an easy fix for knowledgeable bladesmiths such as Alex Houle.
Cutlery Hall Of Fame ushers in a Hall Of Fame class at the 2023 BLADE Show.
There was much joy tempered by a tear or three as Devin Thomas, Bob Terzuola and Steve Schwarzer took monumental steps in their monumental knife careers with their formal inductions into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame® during BLADE Show ’23.
Celebrated with a combination breakfast/induction ceremony, the new inductees were saluted by an appreciative crowd of just over 100 that included family, friends, sitting Hall-Of-Famers, world-renowned knifemakers, knife collectors and various combinations thereof in the Kennesaw Room of the show’s host hotel, the Renaissance Waverly.
Providing induction speeches were those handpicked by the new inductees: Cutlery Hall-Of-Famers Bill Ruple and Ken Onion for Thomas and Terzuola, respectively, and award-winning bladesmith Neil Kamimura for Schwarzer. All, including the acceptance speeches, were genuine, entertaining and memorable.
Devin Thomas
While best known for his damascus steel, Devin’s first love was making knives. “The best kept secret about Devin is how good a knifemaker he is,” Bill Ruple said. “He’s known for his wonderful damascus steel, some of the best in the world, but he’s a heckuva knifemaker.”
A Devin Thomas blade of Devin’s stainless damascus. (image courtesy of Devin Thomas)
Using a set of instructions his uncle gave him, Devin made his first knife at 13. At 16 he worked the whole summer making knives with long-time maker Bob Lofgren in Arizona. Devin did so without pay but didn’t care because of his affinity for knives. At 18 he won most impressive knife by a new maker at the California Custom Knife Show. At 21 he married Jackie. “She knew me in high school and knew I made knives, so when we got married she knew about the knife thing, so I didn’t surprise her or anything,” he recalled. “And I told her at the time I’m going to be a world famous knifemaker one day.” Devin and Jackie recently celebrated their 37th anniversary.
One of Devin’s inspirations was Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Wayne Goddard. Devin read Wayne’s story on cable damascus in KNIVES ’86 and a career was born. “I thought I could forge-weld cable damascus, so I bought me some cable. I didn’t have any idea what I was doing, and I heated up the forge and got [the cable] to stick together,” Devin said. “That started my damascus career.”
His next great inspiration was Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Buster Warenski. “I kept trying to get him to try some of my steel,” Devin related. “Buster said, ‘I’m not trying any of your steel unless you try to make stainless damascus.’ I started making stainless damascus and Buster used a piece in one of his art pieces and I thought, ‘I can quit today!’”
On the contrary, Devin was on his way.
“At one time I think I was making more steel than the entire ABS put together, not certain, but I could really pump it out,” he said. “I was doing 50 bars of steel a day on a regular basis. That hammer was wide open all the time.”
Family, friends and customers—that’s what it’s all about for Devin. “My oldest son [Larrin] is developing new steel so fast the industry can’t keep up,” he noted. “He developed MagnaCut— which some like but a few don’t—but the industry can’t absorb his new developments fast enough.”
Better designs, better manufacturing, an upcoming generation of makers that has him very optimistic—Devin sees a rosy future for the industry.
“We have more talent than we’ve ever had before, and younger talent, and more excitement,” he opined. “We’ve got a lot of bad designs and bad knifemaking too, but we’ve got to tolerate the good and the bad. We need more domestic manufacturing and we need better abrasives—they’re not keeping up with the steel we’re producing. My only regret? I don’t know, maybe I shoulda bought a truckload of stag scales when they were only two or three dollars a pair.”
Devin Thomas at the helm. (image courtesy of Devin Thomas)
Ruple said he and Devin have a mutual respect based both on friendship and a shared desire to make the best the knife industry has to offer.
“Devin was always my go-to guy when it came to knowing anything about steel,” Bill said. “Anything I needed to know I’d call Devin. I learned a lot from the guy.”
Devin is nicknamed “Hoss” for his resemblance to the most endearing member of the Cartwright family on the long-running 1960s-’70s TV show, Bonanza. And, not unlike the TV Hoss, the new Hall-Of-Famer Hoss has never been beyond pulling a rabbit out of his 10-gallon hat. Bill recalled such a time at a long past BLADE Show.
“We were sitting at my table and this guy from Japan comes up and he’s trying to buy a knife from me and communication is not going well, and all of a sudden Devin’s talking Japanese to this guy and I’m thinking, ‘Hoss Cartwright speaks Japanese?’” Bill laughed at the memory.
Of course, the fact Devin is multilingual simply adds to his Hall-Of-Fame pedigree.
“Devin’s the guy who brought damascus steel to the masses,” Bill observed. “There were guys who made damascus steel but Devin aimed his steel at folder makers. He got it out there in dimensions that guys like me could use. There’s probably more of his steel in high-end collections around the world than anybody else’s. He’s been doing this a long time and he’s one of the best ever.”
Bob Terzuola
Bob Terzuola made his first knife in 1979, joined the Knifemakers’ Guild in 1981 and along the way served on the Guild’s board of directors for nine years. His relentless search for ways to improve his knives in terms of design, materials, mechanisms and more helped establish his place as one of the greatest knifemakers of his or any era, with his tactical folding knives at the summit.
BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® members Michael Walker and Bob Terzuola enjoy the 2019 Art Knife Invitational. (image courtesy of Bob Terzuola)
“In 1984 Bob moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and started making folding knives,” Ken Onion said. “Searching for a hard-use folder that could be used discreetly, Bob developed a model featuring Micarta® scales and bead-blasted titanium bolsters for which he coined the term tactical folding knife, which later evolved into his most popular model, the ATCF … which opened the market for the new category of folding knife, which arguably remains the largest and most popular category of knives in the industry.”
As Ken noted, Bob wanted to design a “robust knife as tough as he could,” so he set out to use G-10, carbon fiber, titanium and other advanced materials at a time when few if any were using them. He was a pioneer of the circular thumb disc for ambidextrous one-hand blade opening, multiple double grinds on folder blades, knives with laser-cut CNC parts and fine-tuned other areas that have molded the modern folding knife.
“Bob also focused a lot on the linerlock and did a lot of engineering advancements through a lot of trial and error, and then what does he do? He writes a book about it—The Tactical Folding Knife: A Study of the Anatomy and Construction of the Liner-Locked Folder—to teach the rest of us how to compete with him. How many of us have a copy of that book in their shop?” Ken asked the attentive audience. “How many have a dog-eared, highlighted copy, how many of us reference it regularly, and how many of us have read it more than once? It’s kind of like an important thing for all of us to have. All these contributions and advancements have earned him the affection of us all and title of the Godfather of the Tactical Knife.”
The Tactical Folding Knife is Bob Terzuola’s landmark book of which Ken Onion said to an audience of over 100, “How many have a dog-eared, highlighted copy, how many of us reference it regularly, and how many of us have read it more than once?”
Bob reiterated Devin Thomas’s comment about the importance of the human element. “I’ve seen a lot of changes and met a lot of people and made a lot of really good friends, and had to say goodbye to some of them,” he said. “There were friends who meant a lot to me over the years, people like Bob Loveless, Carolyn Tinker, Howard Viele, Frank Centofante, Wayne Goddard, Bob Lum, Alex Collins. A lot of these names don’t mean anything to a lot of younger makers, but they all helped build the structure that we all rely on to take care of our families.”
He also addressed some in the audience in particular, including Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Michael Walker. “He introduced me to the alchemy of the linerlock and working with titanium, which back in the mid-1980s was virtually unknown to knifemakers and now is so important not only to tactical folders but all sorts of pocketknives,” Bob noted of Michael. “And Ken Onion, who’s been a long-time friend and a guiding light … and I want to thank my children … but most of all I want to thank my wife, Susan, who has taken care of me over many years and … has been a powerhouse of the artistic critiquing of my knives, additions to design and so forth. And thanks to all of you for this honor and gathering here at the greatest knife show there is. Keep up the good work and let’s see where this winding, crazy, twisting road of surprises takes us in the craft of knifemaking.”
Steve Schwarzer
An ABS master smith, Steve Schwarzer and the ABS were meant for each other. The ABS is all about teaching and promoting the art of the forged blade, and so is Steve. “I want to say thank you to Billy Ray Hughes and the ABS that really helped me build a foundation,” he said. “They have a set of standards to follow and it really helped drive my business,” a business that includes a pioneering career in canister damascus, award-winning knives and teaching as many bladesmiths as he can how to forge blades
Steve Schwarzer speaks of “knife-shaped objects,” his teachers, students and other sharp things.
Like Devin Thomas, Steve got a taste of what would become his life’s work in junior high school when he forged his first hot steel. Not long after high school in the late 1960s, he went to work in the aircraft industry and started making “knife-shaped objects.” He called them knife-shaped objects “because we took a piece of stainless steel we found on the job somewhere with no idea how to heat treat it or what kind of steel it was, and we’d grind it to what looked like a knife and put a handle on it.”
In 1972, he moved to Florida and bought a book by Alex Bealer that had a page-and-a-half on forging knives. “When I turned that page and read it, it lit a fire that never went out,” Steve said. He made knives as a hobby and sold them to his fellow shop workers for $15 and $20 apiece. “They told me I was wonderful and I believed them,” Steve said to a chuckling audience. It was then he learned of Bobby Tyson. “He was my original teacher,” Steve said. “I loved the guy. He could make two beautiful pocketknives in a day that walked and talked. Tony Bose would’ve been proud of them.”
Tyson actually had books on making knives, a novel concept at the time. Steve visited Tyson and learned all he could. “He put me ahead five years in one weekend and that’s what I try to do with Neil Kamimura and these guys here,” Steve said, pointing to some of his students in the audience. “I surround myself with people doing great things.” It is an approach that inspires Neil.
“Steve says surround your yourself with people that know your value,” he observed. “He has helped a tremendous amount of people and everybody wants to know his tricks because he’s the wizard of steel. But for me it wasn’t his tricks of welding steel but it was the lessons I wanted to learn, such as how does he keep his passion for that many years? How did he keep his willingness to want to keep on wanting to learn?” To absorb those things from Steve, Neil noted, “is to listen to his struggles, his hardships and the balance he took to maintain such longevity in this industry.”
Meanwhile, Steve the teacher remains, and always has remained, Steve the student.
A Steve Schwarzer folding dagger sports a chevron damascus blade, canister damascus furniture and mother-of-pearl scales. (PointSeven image)
“At 75 I’m hurrying, I promise you,” he stressed. “I wake up in the morning and it’s, ‘Man, I’ve got another day. Let’s go do something!’ And that’s what I do and then [my students] explore and come back with information. So everyone you teach in this business doubles your life in the business is the way I look at it. And that’s why I love what I do.”
Neil brought it all into full focus.
“How many careers were started because of him and how many lives he’s touched, many in this room,” he mused.
“Steve Schwarzer has truly changed bladesmithing forever and I believe that … A lot of these young makers and a lot of these Instagram people, we’re nothing without people like Steve and people that have been inducted [today]. So if you don’t know Steve, you should get to know him, and if you do know Steve, you should treasure him like I do.”
