Steve Shackleford

Learn how to make a cut ‘n shoot “pirate pistol,” what effect the federal ivory ban has on your knives, all about the BLADE Show’s groundbreaking new BLADE University and much more in the latest issue of BLADE®, on many newsstands today.

Steve Culver won “Best Of The Rest” in the 2013 BLADE Show custom knife judging competition with his “Laffite’s Revenge” cut ‘n shoot, and he takes you through the building of his award-winning knife pistol in this month’s issue.

On the ivory knife front, the federal government is targeting any and all items made of elephant ivory, including the very same knives that have been legal to sell for decades! Find out what the new regulations mean for you and your knives on page 10.

BLADE University is a brand new approach to knife show seminars. In fact, instead of seminars, BLADE University is a curriculum of classes, each concentrating on specific subjects and including some of the world’s best-known knife professionals as teachers, including knifemakers Jerry Fisk, Chris Reeve, Jerry Busse, Tony Bose and Bill Harsey, to name a few.

A chief concern among many in the knife industry is there are far too few young people making knives. In “Kids Just Want To Make Knives,” three young aspiring makers show off the knives they’ve made and tell how they make them, and also explain the support system of family and friends that has sustained their knifemaking endeavor.

Other stories in the new BLADE include: the heartwarming tale of how many in the knife community came together to help damascus maker Zoe Crist and family after he suffered a debilitating shop accident; the end of an era is saluted with a story on the closing of Aldo and Edda Lorenzi’s famous retail knife store in Milan, Italy; and much more, all in the new BLADE.

Russian Premier Vladimir Putin made world news today when he pulled Excalibur from a rock in Vladivostok.

The controversial Russian leader, who has ruffled international feathers lately with his taking of Crimea and bullying of the Ukraine, was salmon fishing near the ancient Russian city when he reportedly spied a flash of light from a river bank. “I rowed my kayak to the bank and there, stuck in a rock, was this beautiful sword,” Putin said. “I got out of my kayak, walked to the rock, grabbed the sword by the hilt and it practically slid out by itself.”

International reaction was swift.

“This guy has got to be kidding. First he rides a grizzly bear and now he’s pulled Excalibur from a rock?” an incredulous President Barack Obama observed. “The next thing you’re going to tell me is he’s drawn a red line with the sword tip!”

Those in the knife industry scoffed at Putin’s assertion.

“Putin pulled Excalibur from a rock?” questioned ABS master smith and BLADE® field editor Ed Fowler, Excalibur champion and proponent of the multiple quench heat-treating method. “I think King Arthur is doing backflips in his grave over this one.”

Meanwhile, sword manufacturers scrambled to see if they could get images and/or drawings of the sword from Russian officials to make a reproduction of the legendary blade.

“We’ve been in touch with the Kremlin and they tell us Putin can’t be bothered with such requests at the moment, that he’s being fitted for a suit of armor to go with the sword,” said Lois Southwick of Camelot Sword Makers. “We will continue to press for the images and drawings. After all, this sword belongs to the world, not Mr. Putin.”

Long before now, you’ve probably figured out that this story is completely bogus. After all, it’s April 1. Happy April Fool’s Day!

The new BLADE showcases the hottest knives of the SHOT Show—including the new Kershaw/Emerson CQC-6K on the cover—the inside scoop on knife lotteries, field tests of the latest skeleton knives and more.

Held this past January at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, the SHOT Show is the annual coming out party for the latest in knives, guns, deer stands, sharpeners and everything that has to do with shooting and hunting. The movers and shakers of the cutlery industry were there to present the newest in tactical, outdoor, kitchen, sporting, bushcraft and just about any knife you can think of. BLADE was there to scope it all out and you can be too in the pages of the June issue.

Knife lotteries are one of the hottest tickets in the industry. Knife enthusiasts who normally can’t even sniff buying the knives of some of today’s hottest makers due to long waiting lists have an equal chance at the makers’ new knives through the lotteries. But are the lotteries really all they’re cracked up to be? Find out the good and the bad of an industry juggernaut in the new BLADE.

Bare-bone cutters, skeleton knives are cool tools that offer a minimalist approach to design but maximum cutting output for blades their size. Find out how some of the newest models perform in this issue.

The Buck 110 is one of the icons of the knife industry and this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. Get the lowdown on the history of the famous folding hunter and all the various sweepstakes surrounding the knife’s golden anniversary in the new BLADE.

Open through June 22, “A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife In America” is a celebration of perhaps the world’s most famous American knife. Held at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, the exhibit features some of the world’s oldest and most valuable antique bowies from the 19th century. Read all about it this issue.

To subscribe to the digital edition of BLADE, visit

http://www.shopblade.com/blade-1-yr-digital-subscription. 

To subscribe to the print edition, visit

http://www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-u-s

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