The BLADE Blogs Archives

Halligan, K.I.S.S. Designer, Passes At 81

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November 12, 2014

Halligan, K.I.S.S. Designer, Passes At 81

The CRKT K.I.S.S. designed by Ed Halligan. — Ed’s K.I.S.S. design for CRKT was the BLADE Magazine 1998 Imported Knife Of The Year® and is widely considered one of the most copied knives in modern cutlery history.

Edward Francis Halligan—better known as Ed—designer of the revolutionary K.I.S.S. folding knife and long-time custom knifemaker, passed away Saturday. He was 81.

Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 22 at Hillcrest Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, under the direction of Gamble Funeral Service of Savannah.

An aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Air Force from 1953-57, Ed also worked for Delta for 37 years. He founded Halligan and Son Knives in 1985 and became a member of the Knifemakers’ Guild in 1990 and the American Bladesmith Society in 1992. He received his ABS master smith rating in 1996 and the B.R. Hughes Award for the best knife submitted by a master smith applicant the same year.

Ed’s K.I.S.S. custom folder took the world of knives by storm in the late 1990s at such venues as the Guild Show and the BLADE Show. Halligan signed a collaboration deal with CRKT to reproduce the K.I.S.S.—”Keep It Super Simple”—and the knife won the BLADE Magazine 1998 Imported Knife Of The Year®. CRKT officials heaped praise on the K.I.S.S., calling it one of the knives that put CRKT on the map, and the neat little folder became one of the most popular and most copied knife designs in the world. It also spawned any number of designs based on the K.I.S.S. in the CRKT line, including the Delilah’s P.E.C.K., Sweet K.I.S.S. and others.

According to a CRKT release, “Ed’s passion for knifemaking and his zest for life were an inspiration to all. He will be profoundly missed. Our thoughts go out to his wife, Beverly Ann Halligan, and the rest of his family during this difficult time.”

Ed had an outgoing personality and a lively, quick wit. He made many friends in the industry and stayed active into his later years, including riding his recumbent bike.

He was the second custom knifemaker designer for CRKT to recently pass away, the other being BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Kit Carson.

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KNIVES 2015

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Carry-On Knife Ruling Needs Your Support

The BLADE Blogs

Steve Shackleford

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April 2, 2013

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Carry-On Knife Ruling Needs Your Support

The Transportation Security Administration’s recent ruling allowing small pocketknives and multi-tools on airliners is under fire from all anti-knife sides and needs your help.

According to Knife Rights, Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey (D) and New York Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R) introduced the “No Knives Act” (HR 1093) that would stop the new TSA rules, freezing the permitted items list as it stands now. New York Sen. Charles Schumer (D) and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) introduced an amendment that would prohibit the TSA from allowing knives on planes.

According to the new TSA rules, small pocketknives and multi-tools would be allowed in carry-on beginning April 25. Such knives/multi-tools could not have blades over 2.36 inches long nor over a half-inch wide, could not have locking blades, and could not have “molded handles,” which apparently means finger-grooved or contoured handles and not all handles made via the molding process (though even that is not entirely clear as per the new rules).

The American Knife & Tool Institute, Victorinox Swiss Army and the Leatherman Tool Group were instrumental in getting TSA to adopt the change. According to reports, the new rules are very similar if not identical to the rules adopted earlier by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the international equivalent of the TSA.

A special story on the new TSA rules will appear in the July BLADE®, on most newsstands April 23. The June BLADE (www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us?lid=ssfbbl040213) is on most newsstands now.

Please contact your legislators and let them know you support the TSA ruling (for more on what’s legal and not legal to carry, visit www.tsa.gov).

For more information contact www.kniferights.org or www.akti.org.

What Are The Hottest Custom Knives Today?

Joe Kertzman

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February 20, 2013

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What Are The Hottest Custom Knives Today?

Identifying the hottest custom knifemakers’ hottest knives for you is something BLADE® takes pride in doing. And one of the best ways we have found of doing it is to tap the knowledge of those who must do it well because it is their livelihood—custom knife purveyors. So, in the April 2013 issue of BLADE (on newsstands as of Jan. 29), we tapped into that knowledge.

Here’s part of the story from the April 2013 issue:

At Knifeart.com in Little Rock, Arkansas, Larry Connelley has his eye on Maciej Szczerbiak and Crusader Forge. A custom knifemaker since 1996, Szczerbiak is based in St. George, Utah. “His FIFP [Fear Is For Prey] is an overbuilt tactical folder,” Connelley said, “and is stoutly made with a thick titanium handle and Integral lock. The blade is CPM S30V stainless and prices start at around $900.”

The purveyor indicated Brian Tighe is another favorite among Knifeart.com customers, and the Nirk Tighe, designed in collaboration with Glenn Klecker, features Klecker’s Nirk locking mechanism that allows the lockback to function as an integrated component of the handle. “These knives start at $525 with BG-42 steel blades and titanium handles, each of them 3-D machined,” Connelley observed. “Brian has several designs that involve collaborations, and each one of them is innovative. He can deliver them with precision.”

According to Connelley, the knife market is steady and recovering with the slow turnaround of a sluggish overall economy. To read the rest of the story, pick up the April 2013 issue of BLADE off the newsstand, or click here.

Dellana’s First Goblin Folder in BLADE

Steve Shackleford

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July 12, 2017

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BLADE and goblin folder — Dellana outlines the challenges of making her first goblin folder, including the goblin face on the butt.

King Tut dagger and BLADE — Read how Buster Warenski’s King Tut dagger changed the knife industry forever in the latest **BLADE®.**

Dellana shows you how she made her first goblin folder, read why Buster Warenski’s King Tut dagger changed knife history, school yourself on the hottest custom makers’ hottest knives and more in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands NOW!

Dellana is known throughout the custom knife industry for her ornate high-end folders and learned a lot under the great ABS master smith Jim Schmidt. Schmidt was known in no small part for his goblin folder, a style Dellana had never tried until approached by collector Larry Marton to complete one Schmidt had planned to before Schmidt passed away. Dellana accepted the daunting assignment. In her two-part story she outlines the challenges she faced in making the goblin folder she christened “Gryzzlesnick,” which includes a stag handle with a butt shaped into the grotesque face of a goblin. Read part one this issue.

A member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame and the top vote-getter in a poll of veteran industry observers for their “Mount Rushmore of Knifemakers” of the modern era—1960 through the May 2015 BLADE in which the applicable story appeared—Warenski spent five years (1982-87) making the reproduction of the gold dagger found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Phil Lobred commissioned Warenski to make the knife and liquidated his entire collection of handmade knives to pay for it. The knife featured 32 ounces of gold, the long-lost technique of granulation to embellish the knife’s handle and has been valued at being worth over $1 million. Get the full story on this landmark knife and the trials and tribulations of Warenski in its making in “A Piece of Buster’s Soul.”

Pinpointing the hottest custom knifemakers’ hottest knives is something all enthusiasts of the genre need to stay on top of, and BLADE helps you in the endeavor with the help of top industry observers in “Compound Your Cutlery Interest.”

BLADE on newsstands — Dellana details the making of her first goblin folder and much more in the latest **BLADE®**, on newsstands NOW!

There’s much more this issue, including:

•BLADE Managing Editor Erin Healy’s story on the period-correct knife-and-tomahawk combos by Don Shipman, “Edged Warrior Sets”;

•The best knives to take on summer vacation;

•Rick Barrett‘s custom folder based on and that salutes the legendary World War II Marine F4U Corsair fighter aircraft made famous by the equally legendary pilot Pappy Boyington of Baa-Baa Black Sheep fame;

•Tests/reviews of four of the latest factory utility fixed blades, four EDCs, three assisted openers and a pair of ample straight knives;

•The conclusion of Dexter Ewing’s three-part series on the latest knife sharpeners in “The Hone Zone.”

And much more, all in the latest BLADE, on newsstands now or subscribe to the print, digital, international or Canadian issues here.

Read the Paul Ryan Hunter Interview

Joe Kertzman

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August 29, 2012

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Paul Ryan Hunter, Outdoorsman, Vice Presidential Hopeful

BLADE‘s sister magazine, Deer & Deer Hunting, is receiving a ton of big league attention for its interview about Paul Ryan hunting deer. It’s offering the full Paul Ryan hunter Q&A as a download from this page on Deer & Deer Hunting.

That’s Paul Ryan deer hunting with a bow in his home state, Wisconsin, in the photo at left. It shouldn’t come as any surprise, since the area has a long tradition of hunting deer and other game species. Here’s a snippet from Paul Ryan deer hunter himself:

“I’m just pretty typical for a Wisconsin guy. I love hunting and fishing,” Ryan said. “Bowhunting is my passion. Studying the strategy, preparing food plots, the strategy of where a dominant buck is living or will be moving and then being in position to get a shot, that’s really exciting. Half of it is getting ready for the shot.”
A good deal of the Paul Ryan hunting interview covers everything before the shot. BLADE would’ve liked to sneak in a few questions about the knives he uses, but the time allotted for the Paul Ryan hunter interview was brief. We suppose he had just a littlebit on his plate.

Still, BLADE celebrates Deer & Deer Hunting‘s Paul Ryan deer hunting interview. It shows how mainstream hunting is with a lot of people. It must only follow that knives play a role with these folks, too.

Click here to read the Paul Ryan deer hunter interview with Deer & Deer Hunting.

Do You Have Your Hunting Knife?

Joe Kertzman

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August 29, 2013

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There is no single profile that fits all hunters, and there isn’t a specific hunting knife that fulfills all needs. That’s a good thing for the knife industry. Some guys like a standard fixed-blade, drop-point hunter that comes in a leather belt sheath, maybe even with a slight hump near the tip of the blade where they can rest their finger and choke up on the blade. One of custom knifemaker Russ Kommer’s favorite packages is the 2-Shot. He has used it daily in the field as a hunting guide in Alaska and around the world. Russ says, “I’ve always preferred a smaller semi-skinner, even for the biggest of game. You just use the hump near the end of the blade to locate your index finger. And the blade is short enough that you can work inside the animal and feel where you are at all times.” The CRKT Kommer 2-Shot Skinner Knife has a 3.15-inch full-tang 12C27 Sandvik stainless steel blade, stainless bolsters, orange G10 handle scales and stainless steel pins.

Some ever-prepared hunters aiming for big game opt for a hatchet/skinner combination pack such as the Timberline Hatchet/Bush Guide Skinner Combo. It includes Kommer’s Alaskan Bush Pilot Ha tchet and Alaskan Skinner. Expertly crafted from polished 440 stainless steel, the Alaskan Bush Pilot Hatchet boasts a 4-inch, full-tang head, while the Alaskan Skinner sports a 3.625-inch 440A stainless steel skinner blade. Each handle is precision machined Zytel for a non-slip grip and ease of use. The Alaskan Combo includes a ballistic nylon sheath with belt loop, and weighs 2.28 lbs.

Gut hooks come in handy for skinning game animals, and a Realtree-pattern handle is a plus. The Kutmaster Team Realtree Guthook Knife dons a 420 stainless steel blade with sharp gut hook on the spine, a Realtree camo handle pattern, and a nylon belt-loop sheath.

For many more quality options, visit ShopBlade.com, and stock up for the hunt!

Oregon Public Radio Recognizes Benchmade’s Successes

Joe Kertzman

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September 9, 2011

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Les de Asis of Benchmade was interviewed by Marketplace.org (http://marketplace.publicradio.org) for a feature article on small-to-mid-sized companies that have actually continued hiring through the economic recession.

For the full story, follow this link:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/09/08/pm-knife-maker-hires-amid-us-economic-woes/

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Blackie Collins Memorial Service Aug. 20

Researchers Find Ancient Disposable Cutlery

Halligan, K.I.S.S. Designer, Passes At 81

Carry-On Knife Ruling Needs Your Support

What Are The Hottest Custom Knives Today?

Dellana’s First Goblin Folder in BLADE

Read the Paul Ryan Hunter Interview

Paul Ryan Hunter, Outdoorsman, Vice Presidential Hopeful

Do You Have Your Hunting Knife?

Oregon Public Radio Recognizes Benchmade’s Successes

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