The BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame® is proud to announce three most-deserving inductees for 2022: the husband-and-wife team of Mr. and Mrs. Aldo and Edda Lorenzi and Bill Ruple.
All will be formally inducted in a special Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame ceremony and breakfast during BLADE Show 2022 June 3-5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
One of the most prolific, long-running supporters of custom knives in modern cutlery history, the Lorenzis forged a name known in knife circles far and wide while operating their G. Lorenzi retail knife store in Milan, Italy, where they sold knives of some of the greatest knifemakers of all time, including Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame members Buster Warenski, Bob Loveless, Michael Walker, Jimmy Lile, Gil Hibben, Ron Lake, Frank Centofante and many more.
Meanwhile, hailing from Pleasonton, Texas, Ruple is one of the most successful slip-joint makers of the 21st century, winning many awards for his traditional pocketknives, and also serving as a teacher and mentor to an entire generation of award-winning slip-joint makers from Texas and elsewhere.
Aldo and Edda Lorenzi (Francesco Pachi image)
Aldo And Edda Lorenzi
Aldo and Edda Lorenzi operated G. Lorenzi retail cutlery store in Milan from 1959 until its close in February 2014. The Lorenzis regularly attended the world’s most important knife shows, buying scores of knives for sale in their shop. They bought so many knives at shows, in fact, that the Lorenzis’ presence often determined a show’s success or failure. The support and exposure they gave to American makers in particular by selling their knives in their store in one of the most exclusive shopping areas in Milan was pivotal in introducing American custom knives to Europe.
In 1995 they won The Knifemakers’ Guild’s prestigious Nate Posner Award “in recognition for outstanding service in the promotion of handcrafted cutlery.” They also won the BLADE Magazine 2014 Industry Achievement Award for their decades of supporting the custom knife industry. For five years ending in 2019, they sponsored the Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award for the Guild Show and the BLADE Show, with each event’s award-winning maker receiving $1,000 cash and a plaque—10 awards and $10,000 in all. The Lorenzis also are most supportive of the William F. Moran Foundation and are one of the Foundation’s first chartered member couples.
An exterior display window (shown here in the background) from the original G. Lorenzi shop is a centerpiece of the Lorenzis’ new museum. It was one of the store’s six “eyes” that communicated with window shoppers in one of Milan’s most exclusive retail districts, the counters of which, over the years, displayed more than 18,000 types of items. In the foreground is a display case of some of the Lorenzis’ favorite custom knives. (Francesco Pachi image)
“More loyal ambassadors of the art cannot be found,” one sitting Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame member noted of the Lorenzis. “Their store was like a museum, always welcoming visitors and ready to educate them on fine cutlery and custom knives. Several prominent collectors got their start by buying a custom knife at the Lorenzis’ store.”
In fact, the Lorenzis have assembled their massive collection of over 2,000 knives (including 150 custom knives by the world’s best makers spanning the past half century), 700 books, 1,000 magazines and prints, and related items in a new state-of-the-art museum in Milan (December BLADE®, page 60). The museum contains the knives in elegant oak display cases, a recreation of the copper-paneled room that featured the small entrance door to the G. Lorenzi store in Milan, a wooden portable knife grinder used by Aldo’s father and the store’s namesake, Giovanni Lorenzi, almost a century ago, and much more.
Bill Ruple
Bill Ruple
In the eyes of one sitting member of the Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame, Bill Ruple, an award-winning custom knifemaker specializing in traditional pocketknives/slip joints and multi-blades, has done as much as anyone to promote the knife business. Bill served on the board of the Texas Knifemakers Association, taught many how to make traditional knives and is very free with his knowledge. In recognition of this fact, he was presented with the BLADE Show 2019 Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award. The award went to a knifemaker who excels in terms of teaching and mentoring his or her fellow makers in the art of knifemaking.
Having built knives for 34 years, Ruple is a premier maker of slip joints and possesses a selfless willingness to teach others how to do it, usually in his shop in Pleasanton, Texas, and also at BLADE University, the BLADE Show, BLADE Show West and other venues. He has helped many get started with the slip joint, one of the oldest yet most challenging folders to make. His kindness and patience validates something other makers know all too well—that he is most willing to share knowledge with and encourage, critique and mentor makers everywhere.
A selection of Bill Ruple’s slip joints in an array of open, closed and spine images show Bill’s awesome talent and versatility as a knifemaker. (SharpByCoop image)
Bill has taught quite a few who have become award-winning makers in their own right, including Rusty Preston, Luke Swenson, Tom Ploppert, Phil Jacob, Bubba Crouch, Toby Hill, Enrique Pena and others. A number have gone on to teach also, spreading Ruple’s knowledge to others who no doubt do the same as well. Bill does not limit his shared knowledge to just stock removal makers, receiving the American Bladesmith Society’s President’s Award for teaching ABS members how to make slip joints. Finally, Bill has donated some of his knives to knife shows and other cutlery organizations to raise funds for their various needs.
Hall Of Fame Criteria
Selected by a vote of sitting Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame members, the inductees are selected based on the following criteria: 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 latest inductees exhibit all these qualities and more and represent a most worthy Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame induction class of 2022.
Legendary Knife Designer of the M16 and M21 knives, Retired Sgt. Major Harold “Kit” Carson is inducted into the Cutlery Hall of Fame at 2012 Blade Show in Atlanta.
Long-time knifemaker and knife-thrower Bobby Branton will demonstrate how to throw knives at the 2013 BLADE Show May 31-June 2 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
As he has done at the BLADE Show for many years, Branton will bring his knife-throwing target and assortment of his custom Pro-Flyte throwing knives. He also has thrown tomahawks on occasion in his seminars. Word is he might be throwing some new factory hawks at this year’s BLADE Show, too.
Bobby Branton (left) discusses knife throwing with patrons during his seminar at the 2012 BLADE Show.
Branton’s seminars are always casual and impromptu. He chats informally with his audience and encourages questions, comments and other open dialogue. It’s a seminar suitable for the entire family.
In fact, you never can tell who might show up for one of Bobby’s seminars. Past special guests have included Ernest Emerson, among others.
Branton has been active administrating the American Knife Throwers Alliance over the years, and has hosted many knife-throwing events near his shop in Awendaw, South Carolina.
Branton will throw his knives during his seminar the Saturday of the BLADE Show at 10 a.m. in “The Courtyard”—otherwise known as the parking lot of the host hotel, the Renaissance Waverly. Admission is free to all BLADE Show ticket holders.
We Take A Look Inside The Shop Of ABS Master Smith Steve Schwarzer And See How He Makes His Mosaic Damascus Wonders
Of all the forgers of mosaic damascus in the knife industry, none stand out any more than American Bladesmith Society Master Smith Steve Schwarzer.
Steve began forging in the early 1970s. In 1981 he received his ABS master smith rating, his papers signed by none other than one of four ABS founders/BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bill Moran, and was officially recognized as an MS in 1983. Steve has an intense passion for forging mosaic damascus and his contribution to this steel niche over the decades has been immeasurable. Unselfish to the extreme, he has forged damascus for many custom makers and tutored many on forging and the making of pattern-welded steel over the years—which he continues to do to this day.
His awards over 50 years of knifemaking are too numerous to name, as have his appearances in BLADE®. BLADE is delighted to feature Steve once again, this time in a supersized edition of “Shop Dump” to give readers a deep dive into the equipment this modern-day master uses to achieve his magical works.
Inside Steve’s Shop
Steve rescued his Kent USA precision surface grinder from a knifemaker friend. In the process of retrieving it, Steve almost destroyed it while loading it. However, another friend restored it to better than new.
As you can imagine, Steve has acquired a lot of equipment over his many years of knifemaking and has honed his shop to perfection. We asked the artisan to give us an extended tour of his digs and he gladly obliged. He kicked the tour off with his forging hammer.
“The Chambersburg 2 Hammer was my first real game changer,” Steve notes. “I had owned several mechanical hammers before I found it. The control in forging set me apart from others. It also allowed me to work much larger masses of damascus. I have trained dozens of the current top makers pattern welding using this machine. I built my second shop around it. It’s now in my home shop.
“Next up is my custom-built 50-ton Coal Works computer-assisted C Frame press. This is a recent acquisition and is also a game changer for controlled forging. It has a return to 1/100 of an inch. Basically, it comes with millions of electronic stop blocks. It has the ability to swap dies to any configuration in minutes. I have built many presses over the years; this one has all the benefits and adaptability afforded by all the others combined. I worked very closely with the crew at Coal Iron to bring this beast to life. I’m still exploring its capabilities.”
Grinders are a must-have of any maker’s shop and Schwarzer has a passel of them.
“I own four Beaumont grinders—one for over 20 years—and they are great machines that track properly,” Steve states. “Three are 2×72 belt grinders, two with controllers. They’re constructed of steel, making it very easy to make tooling and various fixtures for any project. The disc grinder runs perfectly true, making grinding precision angles a breeze.”
Steve Schwarzer’s Forges
Steve’s ribbon burner is one of several forges in his shop. He designed it and a close friend built it. It’s purpose-built for working very large canister damascus.
Steve brings the heat to his steel with a forge of his design.
“My forge is one of several I run in my shop. It’s a ribbon burner designed by me and constructed by a close friend. It’s purpose-built for working very large canister damascus. I have built dozens of forges over the last 40 years. This is the latest version. My previous forges were all versions of a Don Fogg design.”
If you’ve read past installments of “Shop Dump,” you know it’s not at all uncommon for equipment to be passed down from one maker to the next. Such is the case with Steve’s mill and surface grinder.
“My Kent USA knee mill is my go-to for all precision drilling and milling. It was rescued from a retired knifemaker who took excellent care of it,” Steve relates. “It’s variable speed, making it handy for all types of tooling.
“I also rescued my Kent USA precision surface grinder from the same knifemaker. It had a history when I went to retrieve it. I made a rookie mistake loading it. Long story short, I, for all practical purposes, destroyed it. I broke about everything on it. I had in mind to scrap it. I called a friend who owns one and asked if he wanted it for parts. He said, ‘Let me look at it.’ I took it to his shop. He is a true wizard. He totally restored the machine I thought was lost to better than new. He also taught me how to properly grind with it. I will always be grateful.”
If walls could talk there is no telling how many amusing tales Schwarzer’s shop could tell.
“I have a shop full of machines, all with some story attached,” the affable bladesmith said. “My tool rack has dozens of hammers and tongs collected over 40 years. This is my happy place. I love teaching and sharing the stories with students and friends.”
For more information contact Steve Schwarzer through his website at steveschwarzer.com.
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.”
In addition to the M16, which has been one of CRKT’s most successful knives for many years and is available in a number of iterations, Carson is also known for his Model 4 folder and other custom knives, and his willingness to help most any aspiring knifemaker on how to make knives. Carson’s patience in answering questions from up-and-coming makers on the Internet and elsewhere approaches near legendary status, and he has helped guide the careers of such established makers as A.T. Barr, John Greco and many others.
A career Army man, Carson was inducted by his fellow Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame member and good friend, Ken Onion. In addition, CRKT head man Rod Bremer was on hand to add his observations on Kit and read a letter from Kit to the Blade Magazine Award Banquet, the site of the induction. Due to health concerns, Kit was unable to attend but he was definitely there in spirit.
A complete story on Kit’s induction will appear in an upcoming issue of BLADE® Magazine.
The entire process rekindles fond memories for this writer, most of which involve the Hall Of Fame ceremony itself that annually occurs during the BLADE Magazine Awards Reception the Saturday night of the BLADE Show.
Bob Terzuola (left) presents Sal Glesser (right) with his BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® plaque during the Hall-Of-Fame ceremonies 20 years ago at the 1999 BLADE Show.
The first such ceremony that stood out for me was in 1988 when A.G. Russell and Ken Warner inducted each other—with neither knowing at the time the other would be inducted as well! When each inducted the other the expression on the new inductee’s face was priceless, and that ceremony remains like no other before or since.
Hubert Lawell’s induction in 1989 was memorable for his bringing a copy of the old and now defunct EDGES pocketknife newspaper we used to publish up on the stage, holding it high in the air, and praising it and everything it/we did as the greatest thing for the knife industry since sliced bread. Never mind that many in the audience appeared unsure of what Hubert was saying in his low Tennessee drawl, at the end of his speech he had everyone on their feet cheering—though I’m not sure all of them were cheering because of what he said so much as he was finished saying it.
The 1993 inductions of Col. Rex Applegate, B.R. Hughes and Bruce Voyles were unique. They were the only inductions ever held outside the BLADE Show venue, specifically under a big canvas tent at Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta. Bruce became the first-ever member inducted by acclimation of the membership, which was a pleasant surprise to him. Not to be outdone, upon his induction B.R. uttered perhaps the best acceptance line ever.
“I don’t know that I deserve this Hall-Of-Fame plaque,” he deadpanned, “but I’m not giving it back!”
Following it all everyone retired to a giant fireworks presentation courtesy of the park.
Spyderco CEO Sal Glesser’s induction in 1999 was particularly memorable. Not only were we able to keep Sal from knowing until the last minute that he would be inducted, but Mrs. Gail Glesser was able to keep secret from him that she would be there, too.
Al Buck, M.H. Cole, Bill Williamson and Jimmy Lile receive their Hall of Fame awards from James F. Parker at the BLADE Show banquet.
Gail was supposed to miss the BLADE Show entirely that year due to a scheduling conflict. However, when we told her Sal was going to be inducted, unbeknownst to him she begged off on her other engagement and arranged to arrive at the show just before the ceremony began. So not only was Sal surprised to be inducted, he was equally tickled to have his wife there to share in the honor with him.
In recent years we’ve had to forego all the cloak-and-dagger stuff involving keeping the inductions secret because we have been announcing the inductions on our website well before the show, which we will do again for this year’s inductions sometime next month. Stay tuned to blademag.com for that announcement.
