Both will be formally inducted into the Cutlery Hall Of Fame the Saturday night, June 3, of the BLADE Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta during the BLADE Magazine Awards Reception (tickets required). The BLADE Show will be June 2-4.
According to a fellow Cutlery Hall Of Famer, de Asis has been a major pillar in the knife industry for more than 35 years. He founded Bali-Song, Inc., which later became Benchmade Knife Co. From a fledgling business in a garage to a major force in the cutlery industry, Benchmade is among the top knife manufacturers in the world. Les was a major influence in the renaissance of the butterfly genre of knives, which continues to enjoy a large following of knife fans. He was a founder of the American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI), one of the earliest and most successful of the organizations protecting the rights of knife enthusiasts and the knife industry, and remains a driving force in the organization. He raised the bar significantly on the quality and function of automatic knives for military, law enforcement, first responders and general use, and Benchmade remains a leading manufacturer of autos today. The AXIS™ Lock designed by William McHenry and Jason Williams and introduced into production by Les helped maintain the revolution in locks for folding knives that persists today.
James L. “Jim” Batson is one of the world’s most noted bladesmiths and authorities on both bladesmithing and Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer James Bowie and bowie knives. The Batson Bladesmithing Symposium near Bessemer, Alabama, is one of the world’s most respected and best attended annual hammer-ins, attracting bladesmiths, knifemakers and knife enthusiasts from around the world, and has been doing so for almost 30 years now. Through his symposium and his many nationwide seminars teaching the art of bladesmithing, Batson is a standard bearer of the American Bladesmith Society’s stated goal of educating any and all on how to best make knives of forged steel. He has scoured the countryside in Texas, Arkansas and the Southeast, and combed through the archives of dozens of libraries and city and town halls in search of information on bowie knives and the life and times of James Bowie. He also has written extensively on both subjects.
Batson is an award-winning master smith in the American Bladesmith Society (ABS) and two-time ABS chairman. He led the ABS through some of its most successful times in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down. In the February 2014 BLADE®, he was ranked No. 9 among the top 13 knifemakers from 1989-2000. “Jim is a great bladesmith, a great leader, a great historian, a great bowie authority, a great writer and a retired rocket scientist,” wrote one Cutlery Hall Of Famer. “I challenge anyone to match that record!”
Gabe Fletcher/knifemaker ale collaborations lead to the official BLADE Show Beer.
It’s a winning combination, no doubt—a blend of brews and blades.
Three years ago, Gabe Fletcher began making knives. Then, somewhere along the way he had a brilliant idea. The dynamic combination of his finest craft beers with the custom knives that could be developed in collaboration with friends who appreciate both, just as he does, was too tempting not to try.
Fletcher had been in the brewing business since 1988, and the joint venture of beverage and blade just seemed to fit. “I ran another brewery here in Anchorage for 13 years,” he recalled, “and decided to start my own brewery after so many years. I’m coming up on 27 years of professional brewing, and I started when I was 21.”
Gabe Fletcher (above at his Anchorage Brewing Company) and Salem Straub collaborated on a chef’s knife (facing page) in mosaic damascus and carbon fiber paired with a “niche” beer—a bold, crisp IPA with a low alcohol content.
Gabe knew that the collaboration opportunity was alive and well in the brewing industry, and it just seemed a natural progression. “I do many collaborations with other breweries and I’m pretty well known in the beer world,” he observed of his Anchorage Brewing Company*. “I thought in the beginning that it would be a fun way to get my name out there as a knifemaker. The first collaboration was with award-winning bladesmith Neil Kamimura. He was the person that got me into knifemaking.”
Seeing the knives in Neil’s shop a few years ago provided inspiration for Gabe to give it a try at the forge. At first, he did only beer collaborations as he refined his own knifemaking skills.
“Eventually, I started to get good enough to start actually making knives with these makers. I owe a lot to Mareko Maumasi [page 16]. I would consider him my mentor, and I’ve learned so much from him,” Fletcher reflected. “Working with him so much has really propelled my skills much faster than if I was learning on my own. Now Anchorage Forge and Anchorage Brewing are very connected, and I use it as a way to have fun, collaborate and excel in my knifemaking journey.”
Gabe Fletcher/knifemaker ale collaborations lead to the official BLADE Show Beer
To date, Gabe has completed at least nine knife/beer combos, and there are more to come. Naturally, he gravitated toward one with Mareko. The resulting knife was a dazzling chef’s tool with damascus blade, handle of white oak from the barrel in which the accompanying beer was aged, carbon fiber and G-10 spacers. Respective blade and overall lengths: 10 3/8 and 14.8 inches. Mareko’s price for a similar knife: $3,000.
“Gabe posed the challenge to me to see if I could design a steel that looked like a devil’s skull,” Maumasi explained. “I already had a design for a pattern that looked like a skull, which I hadn’t made yet but had sketched out in a notebook. At that point, all I had to do was figure out how to add horns to the skull. The devil skull came together nicely with the detailed elements for the teeth, cheekbones, eyes and horns. A lot of people who see it assume that it’s a canister damascus steel, but it’s actually a combination of several pattern-welded elements that started out as plate steel. For the forged design, we added a crushed ‘W’s’ flame along the edge of the blade.”
The damascus chef’s knife paired nicely with the latest in Fletcher and Maumasi beer offerings. The pair have actually done more than one brew, and the most recent is a synthesis of tropical flavors to honor Mareko’s Samoan heritage. The first was a Maumasi oak-aged imperial stout, which had a base aged eight months in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels. It was then transferred to freshly emptied Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon barrels for six months before moving to emptied Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels for four months, and was finished with toasted coconut and coffee from the Olympia Coffee Company in Mareko’s hometown. The second is the Maelstrom IPA, a smooth and light beverage with grapefruit, passion fruit, papaya and lechee hints.
GABE’S GREAT IDEA
Another example of Gabe’s great idea translated into a chef’s knife collaboration with Salem Straub. It includes a 10.5-inch mosaic damascus blade with a handle of copper/coral carbon fiber that features carbon fiber and G-10 spacers. Overall length: 14.9 inches. The knife sold for $5,850 through Eating Tools.
Plant Eater, a hefty chef’s knife with an 11.1-inch carbon steel blade, carbon-fiber handle with G-10 spacers, and 15.8-inch overall length, is a Gabe Fletcher/Josh Prince collaboration. The beer that accompanies it is a “dank, strongly fragranced IPA.”
“I forged a bold mosaic pattern of ‘distorted finger-type layup’—that’s Steve Filicietti pattern language—and sent Gabe a big chunk sawed from a loaf of that,” Straub related. “He worked his magic and forged a big sleek integral chef’s knife in an angular Western profile from it, and finished it up with some of his signature-style faceting applied to a hidden-tang handle of crazy carbon fiber. The steels in the blade are 15N20 and 1080.”
Salem has been making knives for 22 years and expressed real gratitude for Gabe’s initiative. “He always kills it at what he does, and this was no exception,” Salem observed. “I’ve had a lot of fun sharing his brew with family and friends.”
The Anchorage Brewing product Fletcher and Straub created found a niche among beer lovers. “Our idea was to come up with a bold, crisp IPA with a low alcohol content,” Salem said. “It’s what I would term a ‘performance IPA’ since you can have one or two and still get stuff done. It’s a real challenge apparently to make a beer to these specs, but Gabe is quite a talented and skilled brewer, as well as knifemaker.”
A hefty chef’s knife with an 11.1-inch carbon steel blade, handle of carbon fiber with G-10 spacers, and overall length of 15.8 inches was the result of Fletcher’s collaboration with Josh Prince. The knife sold for $5,850 on Eating Tools.
“I knew Gabe from interacting over Instagram and a few phone calls to talk about pattern and material processes around knives both carbon steel and stainless,” Josh noted. “Slowly, we developed the idea of working together on a knife/beer release. We worked on a chef’s knife in carbon steel in Gabe’s design with a plug-welded element. I provided the damascus plug element and Gabe did the rest. We dubbed it ‘Planet Eater’ after the classic Star Trek episode “Doomsday Machine,” where a mechanical entity consumes entire solar systems.”
In addition to running the internationally known Anchorage Brewing Company in Anchorage, Alaska, Gabe Fletcher is also an ABS apprentice smith.
Based in Rhode Island and making knives since 2016, Prince commented, “It’s just inspiring to work with another maker of such a high caliber and level of motivation and creativity.”
That motivation led to a discussion that brought back a pleasant memory for Josh. “I talked to Gabe about another beer that he made with Ben Kamon of Austria and how much the aroma reminded me of cannabis,” Prince remarked. “Oddly enough, Gabe told me that the hop and cannabis plants are very closely related and could even be grafted together! I asked for a dank, strongly fragranced IPA, and Gabe delivered.”
BLADE SHOW BEER
Adventures in knives and beers with Fletcher and friends doesn’t stop there. Recently, Gabe engaged with representatives of the BLADE Show to craft a unique brew just for the greatest show in knives.
Gabe Fletcher’s chef’s knife/beer collaboration with Austrian knifemaker Ben Kamon resulted in a striking combo.
“It’s an IPA that will be lighter at around 4.5 percent alcohol by volume—very floral and smooth drinking—and the BLADE Show beer will be available at the show in the Cobb Galleria of Atlanta at every bar on the floor and also on the main hotel floor, i.e., in The Pit!” Fletcher advised of the iconic sunken bar in the lobby of the show’s host hotel, the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly.
“We will also have some of the beer available online through one of my distribution partners, Tavour, where a person can have the beer mailed directly to their home in 23 states in the USA. I went to my first BLADE Show last year and ended up having dinner with some friends and a few people I hadn’t met yet. Henry Wu from the BLADE Show was sitting next to me. We got to talking, and later that year I had the idea of having a beer made just for the show. I pitched it to Henry and he was all about it.”
With his fine pairings of blades and brews already offered and more coming in the future, Gabe melds his two great passions, connects and collaborates with friends, and presents the resulting creations to the world. His love of both brewing and knives shines through in every aspect of the ongoing project.
Mareko Maumasi’s gyuto chef’s knife in a san-mai construction serves as the model for the knife second from right at top in the artwork for the BLADE Show Beer.
“The beer is sold through my distribution network and is mainly free advertising for the maker,” he said. “Also, it’s just a fun thing to do. I mean, who wouldn’t want a beer brewed in honor of them? As far as the knives are concerned, most of them are sold through Eating Tools. Abe Shaw and his crew over there do an amazing job of taking beautiful pictures and telling the story of the knife and beer as a whole.”
It’s a powerful, flavorful and altogether refreshing combination of brewer and bladesmith. Raise a glass. Slice and dice. And feel the fine craftsmanship in both.
*In 2024, Gabe Fletcher’s Anchorage Brewing Company was ranked among the country’s elite beer makers. According to Untapped, an app that allows drinkers to rate their beers, his company was ranked No. 6 nationwide in terms of producing the highest number of brews at a state or national level. The ratings are by nearly 11 million beer lovers covering over 26,000 of the world’s top-rated beers, as reported in Forbes.
It’s only eight days to the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, where Ernest Emerson fans everywhere will once again get their chance to see his knives and the man himself.
For those of you who don’t know Emerson, he is a pioneer in tactical folders and his custom knives are in demand about as much as any other maker’s anywhere. He has taught his Emerson Combat System to combat operatives all over the world, and has appeared on any number of cable television and radio shows and written for several leading websites, sharing his views on his knives, his Combat System and any number of other topics. The Usual Suspect Network, a leading Internet knife discussion group, is populated mostly by Emerson fans. He also has an expanding line of apparel, has made electric guitars and much more—though in the end it always seems to come back to his knives, which includes an extensive line of factory models, too.
Emerson, shown above in a photo by Mike Searson, attends only a few choice shows, and the BLADE Show is one he never misses. (OK, maybe he missed one or two BLADE Shows somewhere in the distant past, but those don’t count.) In addition to displaying his custom and factory knives at the show, he also holds a lottery and will conduct the seminar, “Becoming The Warrior,” show Saturday at 1 p.m. in Room 104.
All BLADE Show ticket holders can attend the seminar free of charge. For more information on Emerson’s lottery, visit his booth (No. 98) at the show.
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication.
Forged In Fire made a different kind of history when it won the BLADE Magazine 2016 Publisher’s Award. (Miller Mobley/HISTORY)
When Forged In Fire won the BLADE Magazine 2016 Publisher’s Award during this year’s BLADE Show, it was the first time a television program of any kind was recognized by BLADE® Magazine in such a manner. Selected by the BLADE staff, the Publisher’s Award honors a person or organization that has furthered the knife community in a fashion that bodes well for the future of that community, both inside and out. Forged In Fire on History answers that requirement—and then some.
It’s rare that knifemaking of any type is given the high-profile exposure of television coverage, much less a weekly program of its own. However, Forged in Fire has done just that and much more. Those who watch it are familiar with the group of bladesmiths it gathers each week, each group different from the last, with the bladesmith in each charged with forging a knife—often in a very exotic style—in a stated time limit under the watchful gaze of a panel of judges and millions of TV viewers. Meanwhile, the winner of each episode earns a grand prize of $10,000.
As with most high-profile endeavors, there are those who criticize the program for portraying knives in a so-called negative way and creating an atmosphere that is not conducive to making the best knife possible—but then making the best knife possible is not necessarily the goal. The goals include to demonstrate not only how tough it can be to make a quality knife under a short deadline but also to entertain—and Forged in Fire does that quite well. Meanwhile, bladesmiths, knifemakers and the knife industry in general are getting more exposure before more people than ever before. And that is a great thing.
Now on the cusp of entering its third season, Forged In Fire will have a different look with ABS master smith Jason Knight filling in for ABS master smith J. Neilson. We fully expect the show to enjoy yet another banner season, and for bladesmithing and the knife community in general to continue to benefit from the unprecedented exposure such a TV show brings to knives the world over.
Want to Get Started in Knifemaking?
For those new to knifemaking, BLADE put together a special collection just for those starting out. The Complete Knifemaking Collection gathers great knifemaking books and tutorials to get you up to speed in no time. The price is unbeatable, too.
Goddard considers it all part of paying your dues to go to knife shows, spend countless hours getting ready and perhaps not even selling enough to cover your expenses. But what you will come away with is contacts. You’ll meet people who can help you better your knifemaking skills, get you better materials to work with, photograph your work or help you get it publicized.
Thousands of knife enthusiasts from all corners of the globe will descend on the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta June2-4 for the BLADE Show. (PointSeven image)
I say, come prepared. Professional business cards are cheap to make up, like less than $10 for 500 at Vista Print, for example. Make sure you triple-proof your phone number and email address because those are the primary ways people get in touch with you. Include how your professional Page is listed on Facebook, and if you’re still mixing business with pleasure, it’s time to start driving folks to a professional page. Include your Instagram handle. You can have one of your photographed knives as a background image one side of your card and a photo of yourself on the other side. A little space on the front or back allows either you or whomever you’re conversing with to jot down something to prompt them to remember how to follow-up with you.
2. Gain Perspective On Your Work
Goddard’s second reason to go to a knife show is somewhat dated. You can clearly see what knives are being made in the industry through magazines like BLADE®, online through visually focused Facebook and Instagram, and through websites. There are books to read and endless hours of You Tube videos to absorb. However, the only thing none of these outlets will provide is touch.
Shows offer you a chance to pick up knives, open them, close them, weigh and balance them in hand. You’ll be able to get ideas on what you can do to improve your work, or in which direction you want your style to head.
3. Establish A Broad Customer Base
You can indeed stay quite busy just through website or Facebook orders, but Goddard brings up a good point about making sure you bring some of everything you offer to a show so there will be something for everyone. A collector may never know about you unless he sees you at a show. He has to hear about you before he can look you up online. Sometimes we only expand our tastes if we are forced to. At a show, buyers will at least glance at knives that normally they’re not drawn to. Every once in a while, they stop and buy something out of character for them, and you’ve just sold a fixed hunter to a guy who thought he only liked tactical folders.
I would add that you might want to consider bringing a few knives to a show that would fit a youth or woman. Sometimes finger placement isn’t comfortable for smaller hands. There could be an extra sale or two for you in a sometimes overlooked segment of the knife-buying population.
4. Show Off Your Art
If you have a wild and crazy, beautiful and bejeweled, historic or psychedelic piece of artwork that people admire but are hesitant to spend money on, the knife show is your outlet. Chances are someone just might buy it, but you’ll also get the accolades such work so richly deserves.
5. See The Country, The World
The Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, is the site of this year’s BLADE Show, but there are many other knife shows all over the country. Get to a few.
Not only is a knife show an excuse to travel the country, but it’s a chance to meet people from all over the world. You just never know. You could meet someone from the Netherlands, strike up an online friendship and the next thing you know, you’re ordering a plane ticket to attend your new buddy’s local show.
6. Sell Knives
This is the last thing you should be thinking about if you’re just starting out. Goddard explains that it’ll take a while to figure out what sells for you and what doesn’t. Don’t get discouraged. Keep at it. If there’s a waiting list for the show you want to get into, then put your name on the list and wait.
I would add to practice going to local or regional shows first. Let’s be honest, shows can be exhausting. You’re on your feet all day, always “on” and having similar conversations with many people. It’s hard to take breaks to refresh yourself, but it’s probably one of the best things you can do. Go visit a few booths that have something you’d be interested in buying. Figure out what works for you and what doesn’t so that you stay refreshed and positive for your customers and yet get something for yourself out of the show too.
And although it’s tempting to start packing up early, resist. There’s nothing worse than thinking you can hit the last hour of a show only to find vendors packing up. That last customer may be your best one of the day.
Learn From A Master
There’s so much to learn, and you can’t learn it all in one day, but Wayne Goddard’s “The Wonder of Knifemaking” is a great place to start.
Wayne Goddard not only shares his suggestions for getting the most out of attending knife shows in “The Wonder of Knifemaking,” but he also shares his experience in setting up workshops, accumulating tools and, of course, making knives. Right now you can save $10.17 off this knifemaking library essential.
BLADE Show preview highlights the latest issue of BLADE® Magazine, on newsstands today!
The knives, knifemakers, events within the event, the people, awards—these and much more are the focus of the BLADE Show preview in the latest BLADE® Magazine, on newsstands today.
•A selection of the hot new factory knives that will debut during the show’s three-day run June 3-5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta;
•The highlights, instructors and complete class schedule of the 3rd Annual BLADE University;
•The BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, the factory industry’s most coveted individual knife honors;
•The 14th Annual BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition sponsored by BladeSports International, which also will include the first-ever Women’s World Cutting Championship;
•The annual custom knife judging competition, which annually entertains 200 or so of the world’s finest custom knives, with this year’s Best Of Show winner slated to receive special recognition during the BLADE Magazine Awards reception the Saturday night of the show;
•The show’s extensive slate of seminars and demos, and;
•BLADE field editor and High Performance Endurance Knife Mastersmith Ed Fowler’s eight keys to having your best BLADE Show yet.
Also this issue: ABS master smith Wally Hayes shows you how to bring out the hamon on folder blades; how to introduce your kids to knives, including the latest knives designed especially for them, collecting clubs for children and more; tests of the latest in bowies and affordable tactical folders; how to use clay as a teaching aid in making outstanding damascus; and a whole lot more in the latest BLADE.
BLADE Show is the can’t-miss event of the year. This is where you’ll find the best in EDC, bushcraft, tactical, and chef’s knives, plus tomahawks, sharpeners, knifemaking supplies and equipment and everything else that makes up the wide world of blades. Learn more and purchase tickets at BladeShow.com.
