The blogs of the BLADE editors, Steve Shackleford and Erin Healy.
The knife Bob Loveless built for Schrade features a stainless steel blade and synthetic molded handle with no guard. The top piece is the Schrade knife, and the bottom is the Loveless semi-skinner prototype from which the Schrade knife was developed. Note the finger-grooved handle, a feature seldom seen on a Loveless knife.
The photo is by Hiro Soga and ran across a two-page spread in the book Knifemaking With Bob Loveless.
Buck Knives has added survival instructor Ron Hood to their growing Pro Staff, bringing new focus on a key aspect of the knife market. This new agreement also will incorporate Hood’s skills as a knife designer, working with Buck in the development of new survival/tactical knives.
Hood has taught courses at UCLA, and has produced and published numerous award winning survival training videos. He has been featured on many TV shows and assisted with the training that goes on behind the Man vs. Wild TV show on Discovery Channel. He also has taught many military operatives the skills they need to survive in harsh outdoor conditions, based on first-hand knowledge and skills from his days in the Military Intelligence Community while in the Army Security Agency.
Hood says he bought his first Buck knife when he returned from Vietnam in 1967.
The best knives under $50, how to make one of the industry’s hottest folders, and two custom knife industry veterans doing their best to protect elephants and your legal ivory are among the highlights of the new BLADE®, on newsstands now!
Budget concerns are at the top of most people’s lists these days, including those of knife enthusiasts. Dave Rhea shows you how to save a few bucks and still get an outstanding knife at a reasonable price in “Best New Knives Under $50.”
Sandra Brady and Linda Karst-Stone are known throughout the custom knife industry as two of the best scrimshanders. They have a vested interest in the nationwide attack on legal elephant and ancient ivory by the federal and state governments. If you think all Sandra and Linda care about is their livelihoods and not the plight of elephants and the state of legal ivory, you would be wrong. Find out what the federal and state grab on legal ivory is really about in the “Dynamic Duo of Ivory” by Pat Covert.
Popularized by the late BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Kit Carson, flipper folders remain one of today’s hottest knives in the custom and factory industries. ABS master smith Wally Hayes shows you what goes into making one of these fast-opening models in “How To Make A Flipper Folder.”
Protecting a knife from the physical degradations of hard use, the elements and more is one of the reasons many companies coat the blade and sometimes even the handle in a variety of different finishes. Find out what the finishes are, how they are applied and more in Mike Haskew’s “Coats of Many Colors.”
Also this issue: tests of the latest hatchets, neck knives and two new folders, those who forge damascus in quantity for use by other knifemakers and companies, 41 reasons you may be an edgeneck and much more in the latest BLADE.
KA-BAR Knives created a Military Appreciation Program to give thanks to the heroes of the U.S. Armed Forces, and will give one KA-BAR Fighting/Utility knife to an active-duty service member each month. To be considered for the drawing, military personnel should send an email to [email protected] from a .mil email address. The email should include a name, shipping address and a brief summary of how the knife will be used. Shipping addresses must be stateside.
Winners will be selected at random the last Friday of each month. The first drawing will be held September 28th. Good luck!
The 31st BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) is only six days away—June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta—and, among others, it will be the site of the annual induction into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame©.
Last year, Carl Elsener III (above), mastermind behind the runaway success of Victorinox and its Swiss Army knives, joined the Cutlery Hall Of Fame, the world’s only shrine to the giants of the entire knife industry. This year’s inductee will be honored at the BLADE® Magazine Awards Banquet the Saturday night of the show (tickets required). Living Hall-Of-Fame members elected the inductee by a vote prior to the show. Those already in the Hall include (listed in order of induction):
Uncle Henry Baer
Dewey Ferguson
Bo Randall
James B. Lile
M.H. Cole
Al Buck
William R. Williamson
Pete Gerber
Bob Loveless
Bill Moran
Jim Parker
George Herron
Frank Buster
Dr. Frank Forsyth
A.G. Russell
Ken Warner
Jim Bowie
Maury Shavin
Hubert Lawell
William Scagel
Gil Hibben
Harry McEvoy
Buster Warenski
Albert M. Baer
Col. Rex Applegate
B.R. Hughes
Bruce Voyles
Bernard Levine
Houston Price
Bill Adams
Jim Weyer
Chuck Buck
Blackie Collins
Frank Centofante
Ron Lake
Sal Glesser
Joe Drouin
Bob Schrimsher
Rudy Ruana
D’Alton Holder
Michael Walker
George “Butch” Winter
Tim Leatherman
Dan Dennehy
Ken Onion
Al Mar
Paul Bos
Carl Elsener III
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.
“That’s not a knife. That’s a knife!”
In a fun online article, GlobalFlare.com named the 5 Knives Crocodile Dundee Would Own. On top of that list was the TOPS Knives Tom Brown Tracker.
Find out what the other four knives made the list.
For more knives like the TOPS Tom Brown Tracker, and even those Crocodile Dundee might carry, click here.
What knife would you choose for Mr. Dundee?
Knifemaker Les George, who will exhibit his knives at the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com), holds one of his EOD fixed blades while he was on active duty in Iraq. (photo courtesy of Les George)
Two weeks from today, the 31st Annual BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) will descend upon the environs of the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. In addition to the world’s greatest knives, knifemakers, knife manufacturers, knife accessories and much more, the show will have a special “Welcome Home Troops” theme to celebrate the recent homecoming of our gallant service personnel from the war in Iraq.
All active military will be offered a discounted entry ticket rate to the show of $8 (regular price is $15). The discount applies to law enforcement personnel, too. An active identification card must be presented onsite to receive the discount.
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.
