Record crowds, unbelievable knives, the world’s best makers, the BLADE Magazine 2016 Knife-Of-The-Year Awards and so much more highlighted the 35th BLADE Show June 3-5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Featuring almost 1,000 exhibitors covering all segments of the cutlery industry from over 20 countries in the world’s largest knife show, the event kicked off Thursday with the 3rd Annual BLADE University. The comprehensive school of knifemaking began by featuring Knives The American Bladesmith Society (ABS) Way, including how to forge and heat treat knives, how to make a cut ‘n shoot knife, pattern making and making a leather sheath, and how to make the dogbone bowie handle, all taught by some of the world’s top bladesmiths.
The show proper kicked off noon Friday with VIP ticket holders pouring into the show hall after waiting for hours—some as long as from the day previous—in long lines that snaked all though the show lobby and beyond. And once the patrons flooded the show hall, the race was on to get to their favorite exhibitor’s/exhibitors’ tables and booths. All told, more people attended the show the first two days of the event than for the entire show last year—and last year’s show enjoyed the highest attendance ever until this year’s rendition. A number of exhibitors commented on the large crowds, with many selling out of knives the first day.
The custom knife competition was conducted Friday, with Mike Quesenberry and Saign Charleston winning for both Best Collaboration and Best In Show to highlight the 16 awards in total. BLADE University also continued Friday with such classes as how to grind a knife, building and tuning a flipper folder, bushcraft knives survival school, how to build a knife from a kit and how to make a spike tomahawk. Friday night the ABS announced the new inductees to its Hall Of Fame, including ABS master smiths Harvey Dean, Jim Crowell and Greg Neely. They will be formerly inducted along with others in Little Rock, Arkansas, Aug. 6.
With enormous crowds continuing to swarm through the show hall, Saturday saw knives bought and sold by the score. BLADE demos included knife and tomahawk throwing, Japanese sword-cutting and others. Nicole Warden won the first-ever BLADE Show Women’s World Championship Cutting Competition and Dan Keffeler took the 14th Annual Men’s World Championship Cutting Competition—winning an unprecedented fourth title and fourth in a row. BLADE University presented classes on how to make knives on a budget, how to make a combat dagger, how to get your knife design put into production, how to be a contestant on Forged In Fire and more.
Saturday evening witnessed the BLADE Magazine Awards Reception highlighted by the Knife-Of-The-Year Awards, CJ Buck’s induction into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame©, Mel Pardue winning the Edda and Aldo Lorenzi Award, and BLADE Magazine/F+W Media being presented the inaugural American Knife & Tool Institute Industry Integrity Award for aiding in the battle to fight counterfeit knives.
Sunday saw more activity—even by Sunday standards it was a busy day—and show patrons left with their knife bags full and wanting more. They will have to wait another year for the next show, though, which will be held June 2-4, 2017, once again at the Cobb Galleria Centre. Make plans now to attend. If you love knives, you’ve got to go!
Knifemaker Steve Fecas Passes at 66
The world of knives lost a class act when knifemaker Stephen John “Steve” Fecas passed away Feb. 1. He was 66.
A long-time member of the Knifemakers’ Guild and one of the original members of the South Carolina Association of Knifemakers (SCAK), Steve operated out of Anderson, South Carolina. He sold his first knife in 1977 and started making knives full time in 1980. One of the many disciples of Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member George Herron, Steve made tight, clean folders in the stock-removal style and also designed knives for Benchmade.
A Vietnam War-era veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Steve was easy going and always had a joke or kind word to impart in his deep South Carolinian drawl. He and Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Frank Centofante were good friends and often were seen hanging out together at knife shows.
Steve is survived by his wife, Mary, six brothers, one sister and a number of nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice. Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or visit www.legacy.com/obituaries/charleston.
How Do You Open Your Knife?
So which do you like best to open the blade on your folding knife? Are you a fan of the “Spyderco hole” or do you prefer the thumb studs of such knives as the Timberline SOC Folder? How about a disc atop the blade? Or do you simply grasp the blade between thumb and index finger and snap the knife open? Do flippers do it for you or are you one of those rugged individualists from the 1960s who can open your Buck 110 folding hunter one-handed by the nail nick? Or do you go back even further and prefer opening your traditional slip joint with two hands? Or do you shun all folders and use fixed blades only?
Opening folding knives is one of those things that seem to galvanize Americans everywhere. From the anti-switchblade hysteria of the 1950s caused by Hollywood’s sensationalizing the knife through such film fantasies as The Blackboard Jungle, Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story to today’s assisted openers, methods for opening folding knives have been miscast as the root of all evil, the means of corrupting our nation’s youth and other social pariahs. Meanwhile, those who use knives for 99.9 percent of what most are used for—cutting—have hailed them for their convenience, utility and, at times, ability to save lives in situations where the user had only one hand to open his blade and cut his way out of danger.
Yes, the one-hand folder is one of the most sensible tools on the planet, and we want to know what your favorite version is. Tell us in words, pictures or however you want to do it. Here’s your chance to set the record straight and maybe even convert some poor miscreant who really thinks one-hand knives are the modern equivalent of the apple in the Garden Of Evil.
Click here for more on the Timberline SOC Folder in coyote tan in our store.
Tomahawks Are Top Chops in BLADE
Tomahawks large and small continue to take the world of knives by storm and four of the latest models are top chops in the new BLADE®—on newsstands now!
Featuring the Hardcore Hardware Australia CTT-01 on the cover, the issue also includes the diminutive Micro Hawk from TOPS Knives. Sandwiched in between is the versatile EX-T01 from Hogue Knives. All four get in their licks and the once over several times from Pat Covert in “4 Hawk Hoedown.”
The talent level of today’s best custom knifemakers is better than ever, but what about the ones that offer some of the sharpest blades anywhere but nobody knows of them? Mike Haskew smokes out today’s most underrated cutlers in “Under-The-Radar Knifemakers.”
Every knife has its “sweet spot”—the spot on the blade that cuts better than any other, on the handle that feels better than any other and more. Some knives even have more than one sweet spot. High-endurance performance knife master smith Ed Fowler shows you how to find them in “The Sweet Spots.”
A child’s rite of passage comes in many forms, including his or her first experiences with knives. What makes that rite even more meaningful is when it includes teaching the child how to make knives. See how ABS master smith Timothy Potier and the folks at the New England School of Metalwork help usher kids through the keenest of rites in “Life Skills Meet Knife Skills.”
Also this issue: the latest in factory neck knives and a test of four of the latest Japanese-style Santoku kitchen knives; the Case Collectors Club and the festivities at its recent 35th annual reunion at the Case factory in Bradford, Pennsylvania; the latest in knife kits and how to best assemble them; President Theodore Roosevelt’s knife that brought a record price of $414,000 at an American auction; and much more, all in the latest BLADE—on newsstands now, or buy the digital edition or subscribe!
EX-03: More Than Just Another Black Handle Tactical
Sometimes it’s easy to denigrate the many black-handle tactical folders on the market, but Hogue Knives’ approach to the grip material for its EX-03 sheds new light on black.
The handle material for the EX-03 is a polymer known as Polyphenylene Sulfide. The trade name is PPS.
“This material was selected for its high-tensile strength—29,000 psi—along with many other strength categories which are superior to a more commonly used reinforced nylon such as Zytel®,” noted Jim Bruhns, president of Hogue. “PPS is also much more thermally resistant than nylon, which is more of a big deal that you would expect.
“In most applications reinforced nylon, also known as glass-filled nylon, works very well through a wide range of temperature. We have seen occasion where polymer products fail as a result of extreme temperature in some obvious places, such as the trunk of a car where extreme highs and lows can occur. Again, PPS wins in this category with a much higher deflection temperature than nylon.”
The internal components that make the EX-03’s mechanism are 17-4 stainless steel. The real trick, Bruhns stressed, was getting such a robust assembly staged into an injection-mold tool in a way that the blade could be added and adjusted as part of a final assembly after molding.
“This was something that was met with quite a bit of skepticism, as the problem is quite challenging,” Bruhns continued. “This really goes to the root competency of what we do here at Hogue.”
Bruhns was able to develop the needed tooling for the task and the results speak for themselves.
“We now have a single-piece polymer frame folder with all of the best-known materials available in a rock-solid assembly,” he stated. “This knife is the best bang for your buck available today.”
For more on the Hogue EX-03, see the May BLADE®, on newsstands Feb. 25.
Knifemaker Tony Bose on TV Tonight
Knifemaker Tony Bose, one of the world’s leading crafters of custom slip joints and a long-time knife collaborator with Case, will be the featured attraction of “Handcrafted America” at 9:30 EST tonight on the INSP Network.
Hosted by Jill Wagner, “Handcrafted America” travels the USA to find the very best of what is made domestically, “seeking out extraordinary American artisans dedicated to crafting fine products the traditional way … with their own two hands.”
Tonight’s episode will originate from the Bose “Wilfred Works” knife shop in Shelburn, Indiana, where Tony has made some of the top traditional single and multi-bladed custom folders for many years. Bose, who recently entertained Case fans in the Case booth at the annual Shooting,
Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas, was soft-spoken and humble as usual talking about tonight’s program. He said he thought the show would come out well, though he admitted he was not comfortable having to sit still for a makeup session and wear the makeup for the program’s filming.
It will be just the latest in the acclaim the talented maker has received over the years. He has been collaborating with Case on new factory knife designs and modifying old ones for over two decades and shows no signs of slowing down. His Case collaboration for 2017 is the Case Bose Tribal Lock, a single-blade lockback folder that comes in a choice of nine different handle materials. A regular exhibitor at the BLADE Show, Bose always sells out of knives at the show. His knives are so popular there, in fact, that his customers have to enter their names in a drawing for the right to buy one.
Knifemakers to Watch in 2012
Bladeart.com’s Larry Brahms includes Todd Rexford among the makers who employ exceptional design, materials, and fit and finish, and yet never deviate from the knife’s ultimate purpose—to cut. “Injection” features Chad Nichols’ Fade stainless damascus and Mokuti accents throughout. (SharpByCoop.com photo)
Here are a few to add to your list of those “moving on up”
By Stephen Garger
Technological and design advances in the knifemaking arena seem to have come quicker over the past couple of years. This may be due, at least in part, to the increasing number of makers—including those outside U.S. borders—exploding on the scene. In addition, steels, patterns and handle materials are evolving within a context of quickened networks of communication that allows information to be shared instantly.
Taken as a whole, this may make it difficult for the average knife enthusiast to keep up—not only with advances in knifemaking, but with the makers who bear watching in the coming year. Such a group includes not only new makers but also experienced ones who may just be coming into their own, or have developed a new style or technique.
Bladeart.com’s Larry Brahms lists knifemakers Brad Southard, Jeremy Marsh, Todd Rexford, Michael Burch, Sal Manaro and Aaron Fredrick among those to watch, noting that over the past year all six have grown dramatically in the craft. “Each utilizes exceptional design, materials, and fit and finish, and yet they never deviate from the piece’s ultimate purpose, which is to cut,” Brahms noted.
Frederick also is one BladeGallery.com President Dan O’Malley tabbed to watch in 2012. “Aaron was one of the first tactical makers to really hit the market and was becoming very well known when, in 2004, he went into the military to serve his country,” O’Malley said. “When Aaron returned to the U.S. and knifemaking toward the end of 2010, his designs were highly influenced by his overseas experiences, and his melding of tactical styles with gent’s folders is spectacular—combining an exceptional fit and finish with brawn.”
Frederick’s 3PS model is a good example and combines materials such as lightning-strike carbon fiber with damascus bolsters and a stainless blade for a BladeGallery.com price of $525. “Aaron’s work was on the forefront of the movement toward using the flipper mechanism,” O’Malley stated, “and his smooth action makes this opener a fantastic choice for quick tactical deployment.”
Price Competitive
Two other makers O’Malley said to study are Andre DeVilliers and Michael Quesenberry. DeVilliers is a self-taught member of the South African Knifemakers Guild O’Malley described as “a maker who is going places. His distinctive knives are innovative, dependable and beautiful.” The relatively lower cost of living in South Africa allows DeVilliers to be price competitive in the U.S. market while keeping pace with the coolest and hottest materials.
“Most of his knives are designed for hard use but also have a refinement that is rarely found in knives of that type, which creates a category I like to call ‘dress tactical,’” O’Malley said. “Andre is using hi-tech steels like 19c27 and Damasteel stainless damascus, and is a big fan of ‘nightmare grinds,’ and does some of the best of those grinds in the business.” O’Malley indicated DeVilliers’ “Pathfinder” is a well-thought-through folder featuring strong construction, with aggressive geometric lines and a BladeGallery.com price of around $550, depending on materials.
“Michael Quesenberry is a part-time knifemaker, a self-confessed hobbyist, but an extraordinarily talented one,” O’Malley began. Most of Quesenberry’s knives are forged, though he will grind stainless steel on customer request. “Michael considers it a point of pride that he does all his own leatherwork and damascus, as well as heat treating and cryogenic treatment,” O’Malley reported. “He does everything from field-use hunters to dramatic art knives, and his control over damascus is particularly exceptional—even creating mosaic damascus knives with integral bolsters, which is a particularly difficult technique.”
Quesenberry credits Roy Holt with getting him started on the right path to knifemaking, and also values the friendship of makers Gary Iames and Buz Johns for inspiring him to craftsmanship levels he never dreamed possible. BladeGallery.com’s price for a Quesenberry damascus integral with a stag handle is around $1,100. O’Malley also mentioned Andre Thorburn, Daniel Winkler (specifically the Winkler II line), and Sniper Bladeworks (Lance Abernathy and Jody Muller) as makers to watch.
Guild’s Field
The makers purveyor Don Guild deems those to keep an eye on in 2012 are all well known: Emmanuel Espinosa, Stephen Olszewski, Ken Steigerwalt, Juergen Steinau and Wolfgang Loerchner. An award-winning maker, Loerchner has crafted many fixed blades. According to Guild, though, Loerchner is concentrating on art folders that display exceptional fit and finish.
“An art knife of superior, velvety mechanical operation that also has the eye appeal that drives [Loerchner’s] work is not being done by another maker I know of,” Guild opined. “To combine art and mechanics [Guild’s emphasis] in the same knife is a rare talent only a few makers possess, and that combination serves to provide an understated beauty of form and function. Everything he creates is truly handmade and has been sought by top collectors for years, and now the international trade is chasing his work.”
The proliferation of makers renders the field increasingly hard to chart—a challenge that merely adds to the fun of buying and collecting knives. The makers described herein only scratch the surface of those to watch in 2012. However, they give you some to be on the lookout for while balancing the search with your own experience and subjective taste.
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. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb021312#BL1SU
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