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New Measure Will Revamp Alaska Knife Law

Steve Shackleford
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New Measure Will Revamp Alaska Knife Law

With the stroke of a pen, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has signed a new measure known as HB33 that will result in sweeping reform of Alaskan knife law.

Northern Knives retail knife store in ??????, Alaska, will be among the many who benefit from Alaska's sweeping new knife reform law. (Northern Knives photo)
Ray Thibault, owner of Northern Knives in Anchorage, Alaska, was among those who witnessed the signing of Alaska’s sweeping new knife law. (Northern Knives photo)

The new law will go into effect Sept. 18. Until then, however, existing Alaska knife laws remain in place.

According to Knife Rights, HB33 will legalize the possession, transfer and carry of automatic knives, aka switchblades, and also enact knife law pre-emption, which repeals all local knife laws and prevents new ones from being enacted—in this case, in Alaska.

Alaska will become the 7th state to enact knife law pre-emption, Knife Rights reported.

The new law will be particularly beneficial to the state’s outdoor and hunting industries, both of which rely heavily on hunters and outdoors people—and most hunters and many who spend time outdoors use and carry knives.

Knife law pre-emption, meanwhile, prevents the oppressive practice used by many towns, cities and counties within states whereby the knife laws are contradictory and you may literally be legal, illegal and then legal again when you carry a knife and pass from town to city to county.

Gov. Parnell invited Todd Rathner, Knife Rights director of legislative affairs, to the signing ceremony in Palmer, Alaska. Also in attendance were Ray Thibault of Northern Knives retail knife store, Sen. Charlie Huggins, HB33 Sponsor Rep. Mark Neuman, House Speaker Rep. Mike Chenault, Rep. Wes Keller and Rep. Bill Stoltze.

For more information on the new law and pro-knife laws in general, contact Knife Rights and/or stay tuned to www.blademag.com.

Tomorrow’s Knife Trends Today

Steve Shackleford
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Tomorrow’s Knife Trends Today
Adventure Flipper by Williams.
The Adventure Flipper by Lee Williams features a “pivot-less” build. Closed length: 5 inches. (Dave Stark image)
Thorburn's L46.
The L46 flipper in Bohler N690 stainless steel and an earth-brown G-10 handle is hot from Andre Thorburn. (BladeGallery image)

If you’re looking for what the knife trends are in custom blades or what the knife trends are going to be later on in the factory cutlery industry, some of today’s hottest custom folders is a great place to start.

 

Just about every current knife trend in both the custom and factory industries can be traced to a custom folder. LinerLocks™? BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Michael Walker revamped the design circa 1980 and has continued to improve it and build evermore creative folding mechanisms ever since, but it was his LinerLock design that revolutionized the custom knife industry in the late 1980s and the factory industry followed, with the locking mechanism appearing on scores of folders worldwide ever since. Flipper folders? BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Kit Carson popularized them in the 1990s and flippers seem to be appearing in droves in both the custom and factory industries to this day.

Walker still going strong.
Michael Walker is still going strong after all these years and his folders remain hotter than ever. (Dave Ellis image)
Augustus by Kirby Lambert.
Kirby Lambert named his flipper folder after his son, Augustus. (SharpByCoop image)
Nadeau's Cyclones.
Brian Nadeau’s “Cyclone” appears here in three different versions. (SharpByCoop image)
The Machine by Bharucha.
Tashi Bharucha’s “Machine” features a 3 5/8-inch blade of CPM 154 stainless. (Dave Stark image)
McNees' Copper Baby Bolt Flipper.
Johnathan McNees makes the Copper Baby Bolt Flipper. Closed length: 4 inches. (Andrew Delavan image)If you’re looking for what the knife trends are in custom blades or what the knife trends are going to be later on in the factory cutlery industry, some of today’s hottest custom folders is a great place to start.

These are but two examples. There are many more. There are also some really cool custom folders on today’s market, some of which no doubt will inspire other custom and, later, factory makers to emulate them in some form or fashion. A few of those sharp studies in standout steel would include:

Arnold's Tactical Front Flipper.
The Tactical Front Flipper by John Arnold. Closed length: 5 inches. (BladeGallery image)

•John Arnold’s Tactical Front Flipper. “He creates some of the most elegant daily carry folders, yet with collector-grade quality, that I have come across,” noted Daniel O’Malley of BladeGallery;

•The Copper Baby Bolt Flipper in CPM 154 stainless by Johnathan McNees;

•The Adventure Flipper by Lee Williams with Lee’s “Kick Stop” flipper mechanism;

•Kirby Lambert’s “Augustus” flipper, named after the Lamberts’ newborn son;

•Brian Nadeau’s “Cyclone,” termed by custom knife purveyor Les Robertson as “a great EDC, compact and lightweight”;

•The aforementioned Michael Walker and his large folder in Damasteel damascus;

•Andre Thorburn’s L46 flipper. “Of all the knives that I open and close each day,” O’Malley noted, “Andre Thorburn’s have the most consistent, smooth action of any”;

•Tashi Bharucha’s “Machine” with frames of blasted titanium and a blade-tip-up pocket clip.

Also Check Out:

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Beer Knives Cap Off National Drink Beer Day

Steve Shackleford
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Beer Knives Cap Off National Drink Beer Day
Trekker beer knife
Troney Troler of Knives Plus likes the Victorinox Trekker as a fish knife—and it also has a bottle opener for your favorite ale.

Opening your favorite beer will be on tap Thursday, Sept. 28, for National Drink Beer Day, and you can cap off the festivities with one of the latest in beer knives.

Boker Tech Tool
Boker’s Tech Tool takes the traditional bottle-can opener approach to beer knives.

There are a number of new beer knives, from the traditional combo bottle/can-opening tools on Swiss Army and other multi-implement knives, to the more recent trend toward knives with the bottle opener in the butt of the handle or otherwise incorporated into the body of the knife. Examples of the latter style include the TOPS Pit Stop 3 and F.O.R.K. IT, Timberline Javelin BOK, the Kershaw Shuffle, Hops and Malt, Boker Plus Toucan, Coast FX200, DPx Gear HEST 2.0, White River Knife & Tool GTI 2.5 and Knucklehead, and Buck Selkirk Firestarter, Examples of the former include the Boker Tech Tool, Victorinox Walker and Trekker, and Great Eastern Cutlery Beer Scout Knife (a tip of the hat goes to the latter for the title of the knife category).

Since it provided the fizz for the headline, let’s start with the Great Eastern Beer Scout Knife. It employs a bottle opener of 1095 carbon steel to accompany a highly utilitarian sheepfoot blade. Since it’s carbon steel, be sure to wipe your bottle-opening implement and knife down after use and corrosion should be held to a minimum.

White River Knucklehead
The White River Knife & Tool Knucklehead makes a great beer knife with a bottle opener in the butt and has a blade of CPM S30V stainless.

While we don’t think White River Knife & Tool was trying to insinuate anything about beer drinkers in general with the name of its Knucklehead beer knife, we DO like the name—Moe Howard of Three Stooges’ fame problem would, too—and we also like both the Knucklehead’s 2.875-inch blade of CPM S30V stainless steel and the bottle-opener in the butt. As Curly Howard might intone, get yourself a Knucklehead and “whoop-whoop-whoop” on down to National Drink Beer Day.

The preceding two are but a sampling of the latest beer knives. Check out those herein and be sure to drink responsibly and let someone else drive on National Drink Beer Day!

Kershaw Shuffle
The Kershaw Shuffle has the bottle opener in the butt of the handle for easy opening.
TOPS Pit Stop 3
The bottle opener on the TOPS Pit Stop 3 is on the handle spine and should be used when the knife is sheathed.
Javelin BOK
The Timberline Javelin BOK has a long handle for great leverage in popping your top.
Four beer knives
Four beer knives, from left: the TOPS Pit Stop 3, Boker Plus Toucan, Kershaw Shuffle and Timberline Javelin BOK (Bottle Opener Knife).
Great Eastern Beer Scout
The Beer Scout from Great Eastern Cutlery has a traditional bottle opener and a sheepfoot blade of 1095 carbon steel.
Quartet of beer knives
Cap off your day with the bottle openers of, from left, the Victoinox Walker, TOPS F.O.R.K. IT, Buck Selkirk Firestarter and White River GTI 2.5.
DPx Gear HEST 2.0 beer knife
KnifeCenter’s Jason Kunkler used the bottle opener on the blade spine of the DPx Gear HEST 2.0 while on vacation in Peru. He did not mention whether he opened a cold one at Machu Picchu, however.
Coast FX200 beer knife
The Coast FX200 is one of the new breed of beer knives with the bottle opener in the butt.

“Art of the Knife” Starts July 10

Steve Shackleford
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“Art of the Knife” Starts July 10

The Art of the Knife, an exploration of the history of the handmade knife as a tool of value in both function and aesthetics, will run July 10 through Aug. 18 at the Guilford Art Center in Guilford, Connecticut.

Mace Vitale, a journeyman smith in the American Bladesmith Society and also a blacksmith and coppersmith, will jury the invitational event. An awarding-winning bladesmith and a regular exhibitor at the BLADE Show & Living Ready Expo (www.blademag.com), he also serves as an instructor at the Guilford Art Center.

Juried by ABS master smith Mace Vitale, maker of this damascus dagger, the Art of the Knife will run July 10-Aug. 18.
Mace Vitale, maker of this damascus dagger, will jury the Art of the Knife exhibit beginning July 10.), Vitale also serves as an instructor at the Guilford Art Center.

Vitale started out working with his father in a pre-cast concrete business that specialized in architectural reproduction. Mace learned a lot from his dad, from how to use tools to “how to make something from nothing.”

Mace bounced from job to job after the family business closed in the 1990s until he found work as a coppersmith. “Its effect on me was less than subtle,” he writes on his website. “I was hooked!”

 

He attended a blacksmithing class at the Guilford Art Center and subsequently found out about the ABS. He took the ABS “Introduction fo Bladesmithing” class and has been making knives ever since, obtaining his ABS journeyman smith stamp in 2006.

 

“I pride myself on my attention to detail,” he observed. “The way I see things, the only way I’ll possibly be able to garner a customer’s satisfaction is through my own satisfaction. I fashion everything I make as if it will be my own.”

 

The opening reception for the exhibit will be Wednesday, July 10, from 5 to 7 p.m. It is free to the public, as is admission to the exhibit. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m.

New Alliance Foundation sponsors the exhibit in part.

For more information contact the Guilford Art Center 203-453-5947 or visit www.guilfordartcenter.org.

The Gathering 5 In Las Vegas This Weekend

Steve Shackleford
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The Gathering 5 In Las Vegas This Weekend
Join Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ken Onion and others at The Gathering 5 Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas. (SharpByCoop.com photo)
Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ken Onion will be among the exhibitors at The Gathering 5. (SharpByCoop.com photo)

 

Knifemakers, knife manufacturers, knifemaking suppliers, purveyors—anything and everything to do with knives, gear, lights and toys, particularly of the tactical kind—will party down this Labor Day weekend for the Usual Suspect Network’s Gathering 5 in Las Vegas.

Held at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and billed as the “Ultimate Party for USN Enthusiasts,” The Gathering is set up in “quads,” where a novice and two established makers or suppliers join a major maker. A circular traffic flow ensures you won’t miss any exhibitor and makes it easy to re-locate them as well.

One of the world’s fastest growing knife shows begins Friday, Aug. 30, at 9 a.m. The show closes at 6 p.m. and many show exhibitors and patrons will reassemble at 7 p.m. until the wee hours in Traders’ Cove, a watering hole and gathering spot. The same show hours apply for Saturday, Aug. 31, with the reassembly in Traders’ Cove at 7:30 p.m. to late. Thursday is registration day for all exhibitors, though the show will unofficially kick off that night at 7 p.m.—yes, until very late again—in Traders’ Cove.

Though subject to change, the lottery schedule includes exhibiting knifemakers Brad Southard, Todd Begg, Pete Carey, Rick Hinderer (he will have two), Ernest Emerson, Jeremy Marsh and Todd Rexford, Derek Munroe and Sal Manaro, Gerry McGinnis, and Brian Fellhoelter.

A short list of exhibitors includes Benchmade, Bob Terzuola, Burchtree, Charles Marlowe, CRKT, Daniel Winkler, DPx Gear, Allen Elishewitz, Greg Lightfoot, Hawk Knives, KAI USA, Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ken Onion, Kirby Lambert, Lee Williams, Luc Burnley, Matt Cucchiara, Mel and Joe Pardue, Microtech, Plaza Cutlery, Pro-Tech, Richard Rogers, Rick Barrett, RMJ Tactical, Sniper Bladeworks, Spartan Blades, Spyderco, Strider Knives, Tim Britton, Tom Ferry, Tom Krein, Tom Mayo, True North Knives and many more.

For more show information visit http://usngathering.com/info/moreinfo.htm or call 305-255-9176 ext. 215.

For the latest knife news, stay glued to www.blademag.com.

Bag Hot Big Blades ‘n Edges

Steve Shackleford
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Bag Hot Big Blades ‘n Edges
Big Blades 'n Edges
Bag Big Blades ‘n Edges in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands now!
Big blades by Chris Amos
Big blades can be fun to make and Chris Amos shows you how to make a big bowie in part one of his story this issue.
Big blades from Boker Arbolito.
Big blades go hand-in-hand with Thanksgiving and turkey carving. The Boker Arbolito Carving Set is big bird ready!
Fremont big blades
A hatchet may not fit into your classic definition of big blades but it definitely can act like one, such as the Farson from Fremont Knives.
Hoffman's big blades
In the realm of big blades, kukris are large and in charge—even compact ones such as this one by Liam Hoffman.
Burns's big blades
As far as big blades go, Robert Burns’s Joe Musso Bowie is a cutting behemoth.

Big Blades ‘n Edges, including reviews of the newest factory hatchets, some of today’s top custom bowies and four top turkey carving sets, highlight the latest BLADE®, on newsstands NOW!

The latest BLADE leads off with “Big Bad Blades,” Daniel Jackson’s assessment of some of today’s hottest bowies and their makers, including Mike Quesenberry, James Huse II, Jason Fry and Robert Burns. Each has an approach to “America’s Knife” sure to stir your bowie blood. Speaking of which, if Daniel’s story makes you want to “take the next step,” check out part one of “How To Make a Bowie” by Chris Amos.

In “Chop Shop,” join Abe Elias as he takes four contemporary hatchets—the Tomahatchet cover piece, Condor Tool & Knife Greenland, Browning Outdoorsman and Fremont Knives Farson—and subjects them to a round of hacking and cutting exercises. And in “Turkey Cuts,” James Morgan Ayres not only tests a quartet of the latest factory turkey carving sets from Victorinox, Santa Fe Stoneworks, KAI Shun and Boker Arbolito, but he shows you how to prepare your bird for Thanksgiving, too!

Kim Breed tests two custom straight knives with wharncliffe blades by Ryan Sprinkle and Michael Jarvis in “Little Knives, Stout Cutters. In the latest installment of the Knives That Changed Knife History, Mike Haskew outlines how BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© members Blackie Collins and Ken Onion spearheaded the revolution in assisted-opening knives.

Speaking of history, Pat Covert examines the over six decades of making Rambo and Star Trek knives, reproducing Paul Ehlers‘ fantasy knife designs, terms as president of The Knifemakers’ Guild, holding a private audience with Elvis Presley and much more of the fascinating life of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Gil Hibben.

There’s more, including a new breed of modern slip joints, the very first story of the very first issue of BLADE (then the American Blade), Liam Hoffman‘s compact kukri and scintillating scads of sharp stuff, all in the latest issue of BLADE.

Knives of TV’s Grimm in New BLADE®

Steve Shackleford
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Knives of TV’s Grimm in New BLADE®
Grimm TV knives.
GRIMM — “Bad Luck” Episode 414 — Pictured: Richard Brake as Nigel Edmund — (Photo by: Scott Green/NBC)
Grimm knives in new BLADE.
The knives of TV’s Grimm help highlight the latest BLADE®, on newsstands now!

Knives on television and in the movies have a way of both mesmerizing audiences and giving a knifemaker’s career a much-needed boost—and such could be the case with the double-bit axe bladesmith Arnon Kartmazov made for the hit TV show, Grimm. Read all about Kartmazov’s cutter and other knives of TV’s Grimm in the new issue of BLADE®, on newsstands now.

Kartmazov’s piece on Grimm is a rare double-TV coup for the Oregon-based maker, who also appeared on The History Channel’s Forged In Fire earlier this year. Where it will take his career is anyone’s guess but it sure as heck can’t hurt any.

Speaking of Forged In Fire, ABS master smith Joe Szilaski examines the show’s format of requiring contestants to make a knife in three hours. Can such a format really result in knives that “will cut,” as the show’s Doug Marcaida likes to say? Szilaski gives you his expert opinion on the subject in his story, “3-Hour Knives: Are They Legit?”

Job 1 of knives is to cut and, as Spyderco notes on one of its old steel charts, “Steel is The Heart of The Knife.”  (Right below that slogan on the same chart is “And Heat Treating is The Spirit.”)

Japanese swords of World War II
Check out the conclusion of Lonnie Kapp’s story on Japanese swords of World War II in the new BLADE®.

The latest in steels is always a hot topic in the knife industry, but, when it comes right down to it, it’s the steels the companies use most on their newest models that should tell you which steels are most popular at the moment. Find out in chart form what those steels are and which companies are using them in “5 Hottest Blade Steels.”

Also this issue: the conclusion of Lonnie Kapp’s two-parter on Japanese swords of World War II; how tactical custom daggers are making a comeback; how its latest award-winning knives are transforming the American Bladesmith Society into an International Bladesmith Society of sorts; tests of big camp knives; and the latest in knives for law enforcement officers. Get it all and more in the new BLADE, on newsstands now.

The latest issue of BLADE is on newsstands now!Recommended:

Stay abreast of the latest developments on this and many more knife rights issues with a subscription to BLADE.

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