Our Knife Of The Day is Sean O’Hare’s tanto. It sports a flat-ground, 3.75-inch blade of CPM-154 stainless steel, a stabilized buckeye burl handle with a bird’s-beak butt, and a 416 stainless steel guard. Sean also made the leather pouch sheath. His price for a similar piece: $395.
“This one is a bit of a departure from my norm as it is a tanto style,” Sean noted. “I was very pleased with the way it turned out. So far this is the only [tanto] I have made. It sold right away at the New York Custom Knife Show.”
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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.
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The ABS will open a new bladesmithing school in Belgium in October. The Hurak is by Belgium’s Samuel Lurquin, who earned his ABS journeyman smith stamp at the 2013 BLADE Show. (SharpByCoop.com photo)
The American Bladesmith Society (ABS) will offer its first-ever bladesmithing school outside the USA beginning in October.
Operated in partnership with The Forge at Ostiches, Belgium, the school’s first class will be “Introduction to Bladesmithing.” Limited to seven students, the class will have as its primary instructor ABS master smith Jean-Paul Thevenot of Dijon, France. Belgium’s Dirk Bourguignon and Frederic Taquet, both ABS bladesmiths, will assist.
The school site is in a beautiful village south of Brussels. Accommodations are nearby within two to three miles. English will be spoken.
The first ABS school of bladesmithing outside the USA was approved in a vote of the ABS Board of Directors during the ABS annual meeting at the 2013 BLADE Show & Living Ready Expo (www.bladeshow.com) May 31-June 2.
The Belgian facility is the fourth ABS school of bladesmithing. The others are the original—the Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing in Old Washington, Arkansas—and the Haywood Community College in Clyde, North Carolina, and the New England School of Metalwork in Auburn, Maine.
“We now have members in 18 countries,” noted ABS Webmaster Dan Cassidy, “and it is not unusual for my wife Sally and I to communicate with our ABS members around the world in Spanish, Portugese and French on a routine basis. The Internet makes all of this possible today.”
Cassidy credited ABS master smith and new ABS president Joe Keeslar with making the new school possible. Winner of the 2013 BLADE Magazine Industry Achievement Award, Keeslar has been a groundbreaker in bringing modern bladesmithing to both France and Belgium. “Joe was the one who made all the arrangements for the new school,” Cassidy noted, “and it was done over the course of more than a year.”
Veteran knifemaker Joe Kious, popularizer of the “Pocket Locket” style of high-end art folder and long-time Knifemakers’ Guild member, passed away Dec. 5 as a result of injuries suffered in a vehicle accident.
A resident of Kerrville, Texas, Kious was a full-time knifemaker who sold his first knife in 1969. He specialized in investment-quality interframes and bolstered folders, some bringing up to as high as $10,000 apiece.
However, it is his Pocket-Locket models for which he may be best remembered. Featuring elaborate engraving, the folding knives include a small compartment in the handle with a sliding panel that slides back to reveal another engraved scene inside.
“Joe was a staunch supporter of the Knifemakers’ Guild and believed in handmade knives,” said knifemaker and fellow Guild member Edmund Davidson. “Joe had a wonderful personality, was very easy to speak with and would tell you anything you wanted to know. He held nothing back and had no secrets. His knives reflected a great deal of thought, craftsmanship and artistry. He was a true master and genuine person. He will be sorely missed. When we lose a man of his caliber, we are all diminished.”
“Joe was a gentleman who loved his family, friends, enjoyed shooting, fine scotch and making knives,” noted Michael Donato of KnifePurveyor.com. “Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.”
A member of a close-knit group of Texas-based Guild knifemakers that includes Warren Osborne, Tom Overeynder and others, the stately Kious was liked and respected by most everyone who knew him in the industry. A lean, handsome man with a full head of grey-white hair, he was soft-spoken but never at a loss for words or a well-thought-out opinion.
Though he did not make BLADE® Magazine’s 40th anniversary list of top knifemakers—he received enough votes to make honorable mention—his Pocket Locket was chosen No. 6 among the most important custom knives of the period from 2001-2012 in the magazine’s 40th anniversary list of top custom knives.
“Joe’s Pocket Locket is important because it is the most flexible engraving platform ever offered,” noted custom knife purveyor Paul Shindler of KnifeLegends. “It includes many models and styles but offers pretty much endless possibilities for the imagination of any collector. The Pocket Locket may be the most important engravable knife ever conceived.”
Added Donato, the Pocket Locket “has a very high ‘cool factor’ to it and has served as a canvas for many of the best engravers to work their magic. Joe’s Pocket Lockets are featured in many books, magazines and great collections worldwide.”
Joe Kious, popularizer of the “Pocket Locket” art folder, was killed in a vehicle accident Dec. 5. His “two-door Pocket Locket” in a King Tut theme with Ron Skaggs engraving won Best Knife Collaboration at the 2007 BLADE Show and served as the cover knife for the December 2007 BLADE®.
The Blondie Man’s Blades, the latest in filework, the hottest knives of the hottest custom makers and much more highlight the new BLADE®, on newsstands now!
ABS master smith Wally Hayes was an up-and-coming maker when he first met Chris Stein at a late 1990s New York Custom Knife Show. The co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie featuring lead singer Debbie Harry, Stein has collected knives for decades and added another one to his collection when he bought Hayes’s first double-edged wakizashi at the show. Get the story on Stein and his knife collection in “Blades of the Blondie Man.”
The Blondie Man’s Blades are in the latest BLADE®, on newsstands now!
Filework is one of those understated yet elegant bits of embellished finery that many of today’s leading makers incorporate onto the spines of their knives. Daniel Jackson picked the brains of some of the top practitioners of the art in his story, “Cutting The Tool That Cuts”—which includes the Panama Trapper cover knife by Luke Swenson.
Staying abreast of the hottest knives of the hottest custom knifemakers is something the leading custom knife purveyors must do on a continuing basis if they want to keep bringing home the blade bacon. BLADE polled seven of the industry’s top purveyors to see which knives of which makers apply in “Top Of The Food Chain.”
Tactical knives have enjoyed varying degrees of popularity since the mid-’90s, but they never really go away for long before getting hot again. One of the reasons for their popularity is that they seem to constantly evolve to meet market needs. Get the lowdown on what is, isn’t and what’s to come in the genre in “Is It Tactical?”
The latest installment in our “Knives That Changed Knife History” is on the Buck 110. When the iconic folding hunter first appeared in 1964, lockback folding knives had pretty much faded into the background. The Buck 110 was big and strong and worn on a belt. It was much more a hardcore using knife than a pocketknife and it changed knives forever. Learn about the groundbreaking cutter in “The Buck That Went Bang.”
There’s much more in the latest BLADE. Get it on newsstands now!
The Adventure Flipper by Lee Williams features a “pivot-less” build. Closed length: 5 inches. (Dave Stark image)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.
Michael Walker is still going strong after all these years and his folders remain hotter than ever. (Dave Ellis image)Kirby Lambert named his flipper folder after his son, Augustus. (SharpByCoop image)Brian Nadeau’s “Cyclone” appears here in three different versions. (SharpByCoop image)Tashi Bharucha’s “Machine” features a 3 5/8-inch blade of CPM 154 stainless. (Dave Stark image)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:
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.
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Larry Wayne “The Hammer” Harley, friend, knifemaker, bladesmith and knifemaking teacher to anyone who showed an interest—especially kids and “wounded warriors”—passed away in his sleep Feb. 12. He was 66.
A lifelong resident of Bristol, Tennessee, Larry made knives under the business name of Lonesome Pine Knives. An American Bladesmith Society journeyman smith, he was the chair of the ABS Youth Program and was involved with the Wounded Warriors Project. He was best known outside the knife industry as one of the stars of the National Geographic television show Lords of War, on which he went simply by the nickname of “The Hammer,” specializing in identifying and judging the worth of assorted knives, swords and other edged weapons.
Though not a tall man, Larry was large with burly arms and a massive chest—which was no doubt needed to contain his huge heart. He conducted bladesmithing symposiums at his shop in Bristol, entertaining youths, veterans and anyone and everyone who wanted to make knives. He also taught at the Batson Bladesmithing Symposium, youth programs at the BLADE Show and Smoky Mountain Knife Works, and just about anyplace he could find that would allow him to teach the craft, and interact with the people involved, that he loved so much. “Larry always felt that the real payment for teaching a youngster of any age was the irrepressible smile that was always on their face when they realized they could do it,” wrote ABS journeyman smith Wes Byrd, who, along with Larry, taught kids how to make knives in the ABS Youth Program.
Larry learned to make knives from his father, the late B.L. “Pap” Harley. “It just so happened that my daddy made knives and that’s how come I’m a knifemaker,” Larry said in the February 2015 BLADE®. “I remember my daddy working on bowie knives on the kitchen table when I was 4 or 5 years old. He also read me books by Raymond Thorp, author of Bowie Knife and Crow Killer, for bedtime stories, and I remember we saw the Alan Ladd movie about Jim Bowie, The Iron Mistress.”
Larry “The Hammer” Harley talks with young knife fans at a past BLADE Show seminar.
Larry’s friends were too many to count. In fact, if you met him he probably counted you as one of his friends and you counted him one of yours. His infectious laugh and twinkling eyes immediately broke the ice. A regular exhibitor at the BLADE Show in the early years, he was known then for his “hog-killing knives” and excursions on which he would take customers to hunt wild hogs in the Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee and the surrounding area. He was also known as a top competitor in the early years of the ABS cutting competitions, winning at least one championship before the competitions became more organized and eventually evolved into today’s events conducted by BladeSports International, including the BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition, the 15th annual rendition of which will be held at this year’s BLADE Show June 2-4 in Atlanta.
Larry is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Kristine; sons Richard and Nicholas; goddaughters Sarah and Julia Denton; aunts, uncles, cousins both in the Holbrook and Harley family; and many friends.
The family will receive friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 15, at Oakley-Cook Funeral Home in Bristol. The funeral service will follow at 7 p.m. with the Rev. Steve Playl officiating. The committal and inurnment service will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 16 at Glenwood Cemetery in Bristol.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, POB 758517, Topeka, KS 66675-8517 woundedwarriorproject.org.
Our Knife Of The Day is Sean O’Hare’s tanto. It sports a flat-ground, 3.75-inch blade of CPM-154 stainless steel, a stabilized buckeye burl handle with a bird’s-beak butt, and a 416 stainless steel guard. Sean also made the leather pouch sheath. His price for a similar piece: $395.
