The BLADE Blog w/Steve Shackleford

Knives, knife people, knife news, knife use, knife collecting, knifemakers, knife events, the BLADE Show, BLADE Magazine, and more.

Can Fire-Steel Bushcrafters Take the Heat?

BLADE and Bold Action
Bear & Son Cutlery’s Bold Action V is the cover knife for the new BLADEĀ®, on newsstands now!

See if bushcraft knives with fire steels can take the heat, meet a Marine Corps vet who helps spread the good word of Zac Brown’s knives, learn whether paying knife deposits on custom knives is for you and more in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands now!

BLADE field editor Abe Elias puts four new bushcraft knives, all equipped with fire steels, through a series of tests and critiques. See how they fare and what makes a good bushcraft knife—not what makes good hype—in “Bush The Envelope.”

Losing both legs from above the knee down would understandably destroy most people, but not veteran Marine Staff Sgt. Joey Jones. Fitted with prosthetic devices after the devastating effects of an IED in Afghanistan, he picked up the pieces in civilian life and has become a powerful motivator for individuals, corporations and charities. He also works with Zac Brown’s Southern Ground, which, in addition to the Southern Grind knife company, funds Camp Southern Ground for children, especially those with neuro-developmental disorders or in families with a parent deployed, wounded or lost. Erin Healy examines Jones and Brown’s Southern Ground in “Joined By Knives.”

Ordering a custom knife from a knifemaker and making a down payment—better known as a deposit—on the knife is something collectors have done for many years. But is paying deposits for you? Custom knife purveyor Les Robertson guides you through the do’s and don’ts of the practice in “Knife Deposits: Yea, Nay, Maybe.”

Casstrom bushcraft knife
Can Casstrom’s Woodsman bushcraft knife with fire steel take the heat? Abe Elias shows the way in the latest BLADEĀ®,

Also in this issue of BLADE:

•The latest in factory automatics, including the cover knife, an entry from Bear & Son Cutlery’s first-ever line of autos, the Bold Action V;

•Learn how the super-lightweight Gerber LST folder changed knife history in “Father of the EDC?”;

•MSG Kim Breed, retired 5th Special Forces, puts a couple of heavy-duty camp knives through the ringer in “Is Bigger Better?”;

•James Morgan Ayres tests four of the latest factory tomahawks in “Tomahawk Toughies”;

•BLADE field editor Ed Fowler recounts his lifelong addiction to knives in “Just Say Yes!”;

•In “A Linerlock On Roller Skates,” Leroi Price describes a new approach to the linerlock developed by Jake Hoback;

•BLADE field Dexter Ewing concludes his three-part series on 12 of the newest knife sharpeners in “The Hone Zone”;

•Reload your knife with sharp blades or simply discard them in “The Replaceables” by Pat Covert, and;

•You can almost hear the mosaic damascus “snakes” on Greg Cimms’ chef’s knife blade hiss in “The Dubai Vipers.”

You get all this and much more in the latest BLADE. Click here for the download edition. To subscribe to BLADE, click here for the domestic print edition, here for the international print subscription, here for the Canadian print subscription and here for the digital subscription.

 

BLADE Show Focus: The Future of Knives

The BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) will embrace the future of knives with the special seminar “SharpKidz: A Cool Knife Club For Kids.”

The BLADE Show will host the seminar "SharpsKidz: A Cool Knief Club For Kids."
The BLADE Show will host a special SharpKidz seminar geared toward teaching young boys and girls the importance of knives and their safe use.

The BLADE Show will be May 31-June 2 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. The SharpKidz seminar will be conducted by Pete Cohan show Sunday, June 2, at 11 a.m. in Room 109 of the Cobb Galleria. The seminar will stress basic knife knowledge, including newsletters and other giveaways, displays of kids’ knife collections, question-and-answer sessions and more, all on a level pre-teen boys and girls can relate to.

Former curator of the National Knife Museum and a long-time board member of the National Knife Collectors Association, Cohan is one of the most respected names in knives. His ability to communicate the importance of knives in today’s society is easily understandable on all levels. If you’re coming to the BLADE Show and bringing the kids, this seminar is a must-see for both you and your children.

Nathans Knife Kit
Another way to get kids into knife enthusiasm is with a CRKT Nathan’s Knife Kit. It’s easy and fun to work together to make a wooden knife. Click the image for purchasing information.

Sponsored by Smoky Mountain Knife Works, SharpKidz teaches young boys and girls how to handle and learn about the history and usefulness of pocketknives, including all about safety tips, how to sharpen, how to maintain and otherwise relate in a responsible way to man’s oldest tool.

It provides a carefully structured and fun-filled opportunity for all youths to experience the joy of having their own knife while becoming conscious of how, why and what a knife is for in today’s fast-paced world. Your kids do not need any batteries, solar or wind power, or an app—just their eyes, hands and imagination.

SharpKidz members receive a bi-monthly newsletter that features historic knife information, safety tips, age-appropriate cartoon presentations, enrollment information and the promotion of special SharpKidz events.

For more free SharpKidz membership info, call 800-251-9306 or e-mail [email protected].

 

Act NOW on Ivory Comment Extension

Request an extension on the comment period for the punitive proposed federal ivory regulations NOW! Jean Louis Regel uses ancient walrus ivory for the handle of his bowie. (SharpByCoop image)
Request an extension on the comment period for the punitive proposed federal ivory regulations NOW! Jean Louis Regel uses ancient walrus ivory for the handle of his bowie. (SharpByCoop image)

To help save all ivory from proposed punitive federal regulations, request an extension for the comment period on the regulations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service NOW!

Among other unreasonable stipulations, the regulations would require you to prove that the ivory on your knife or other item was imported prior to Jan. 18, 1990—a near impossibility for most people to prove about such items. The regulations also claim that the USA continues to play a role as a destination and transit country for illegally traded elephant ivory. However, as Sandra Brady of the Elephant Protection Association noted, the regulations offer no proof of this claim and no figures as to what percentage of illegal ivory is “laundered” here.

The proposed regulations were released on July 29, and concerned citizens were given only 60 days to contact the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) with any objections the citizens might have to the regulations. Since there are 27 pages of proposed regulations, regulations the government had over 13 months to research and write, it seems only fair that concerned citizens get more than 60 days to respond. In fact, the law provides for up to a 90-day comment period, which is especially appropriate for regulations that are so voluminous and affect so many Americans.

The Elephant Protection Association has composed a form letter for you to use to request the extension. The letter is located here. Keep your request short and simple. Amend the letter to fit your association/group but don’t try to make a substantive case of why the extension should be granted so much as simply let FWS know the extension must be granted. The more people, associations and groups that request the extension, the better. In this instance, it’s more a matter of the quantity of requests than the quality of them.

The Elephant Protection Association strongly advises that you send your letter via priority or overnight mail with a means of confirming receipt.

For more information visit elephantprotection.org.

 

BLADE Show Will Feature Steampunk How-To

The BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) will feature a seminar by ABS master smith Wally Hayes on how to make a steampunk tanto.

The BLADE Show will have a seminar on how to make a steampunk tanto.
The BLADE Show will feature a seminar by Wally Hayes on how he makes his steampunk tanto.

Slated for May 31-June 2 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, the BLADE Show is the world’s largest and most important knife show. Hayes, meanwhile, is one of the world’s hottest makers, and his Steampunk knifemaking how-to will be the Sunday of the show, June 2, at 11 a.m. in Room 103 of the Cobb Galleria Centre.

Steampunk knives are inspired by the science fiction genre that features steam-powered machinery from such novels as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne. “I first saw a Steampunk knife made by Van Barnett and talked to him about it at the 2012 BLADE Show,” Hayes writes in his how-to story in the May BLADEĀ®. In fact, Barnett’s Steampunk folder won Best Art Knife at last year’s BLADE Show and was voted one of the top 14 custom knives of the 21st century in the current July BLADE. A number of other makers have made the style as well.

An accomplished guitarist as well as an award-winning knifemaker, Hayes made a Steampunk tanto for Richard Fortus of the rock band Guns N Roses. Fortus requested it as a gift for a friend. A similar model served as the cover knife for the May BLADE.

In addition to his upcoming Steampunk seminar, Hayes has conducted a number of BLADE Show seminars in the past, including one of his most popular on how to wrap a Japanese knife handle. He will have a table showing his knives at the BLADE Show, and so will Van Barnett, among scores of others.

For the latest in BLADE Show and other knife industry news, subscribe to BLADE

www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us?icid=SHBLNCF2BL1SU-030613?lid=ssfbbl042513

Man’s Oldest Tool Just Got Older

New research suggests ancient humans made tools with edges “like a stone-age Leatherman or Swiss Army knife,” according to one anthropologist, much earlier than previously thought.

Using a sophisticated technique to date the dirt surrounding the tools, researchers calculated the more advanced tools to be 1.76 million years old. That compares to the 1.4-to-1.6 million-year-old such tools previously thought to have been the oldest.

Identified as “hand axes, cleavers and picks,” the tools required “a good deal of forethought as well as dexterity to manufacture,” one paleoanthropologist said. The axes were suited for butchering animals or chopping wood, while the picks were used for digging holes.

http://www.shopblade.com/product/blademagazine/1/?r=blssfb090211BL1SU

Ballerina’s Knife Dance

A remarkable video entitled ā€œEn Puntasā€ (ā€œOn Pointsā€) featuring ballerina Amelie Segarra and her “knife dance” is on www.boredpanda.com—and it is worth a watch.

At just over three minutes in length, the video starts with a ballerina putting on her leg wraps and then a pair of ballerina slippers with ā€œkitchen knifeā€ blades at the toe ends. She proceeds to somehow gain her balance atop a grand piano and then ā€œdanceā€ā€”though it’s more like a drag and stick of the blade shoes into the surface of the top of the piano. It’s really very good and about how you might expect such a venture to unfold—the ballerina wobbling, gasping and shouting at times as she does her best to keep her balance. The knife blades appear to be real, as the scratched surface of the piano top would attest. In fact, the top of the piano appears to get quite marred/carved up in the process.

Segarra dances what is called the ā€œen pointeā€ ballet technique, the classic style in which the ballerina dances on her toes. According to the accompanying copy on the site, Segarra’s performance is “a testament to the intense dedication and sometimes physical suffering required of ballet performers.” The knives look pretty sharp, too. Exactly who made them or what brand they are we have no idea. They get to the point, though.

To see the full video, visit http://www.boredpanda.com/ballerina-with-knife-shoes-performs-en-pointe-javier-pere

Props to BLADEĀ® contributor Stephen Garger for turning us onto this video.

For the latest in knives, knife news and the sharpest stuff anywhere, stay tuned to www.blademag.com.

 

Watch as a ballerina dances atop a grand piano in her knife shoes. The chef's knife is by Kershaw. (Kershaw photo)
In a remarkable video, a ballerina does a “knife dance” with shoes sporting kitchen knife blade tips. This is the Kershaw chef’s knife. (Kershaw photo)

Michael Krein and Tom Burch—er, Make That Michael Burch and Tom Krein

For the record: that is Michael Burch at top and Tom Krein below him. (Krein photo by Mike Searson)

    Two of the most important things about a person are his/her name and likeness. As Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-FameĀ© member Bruce Voyles stresses, ā€œI don’t care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right.ā€

    A person’s likeness is equally—some might even argue more—important than his/her name. All of which came crashing down on me on page 42 of the April BLADEĀ®.

    On that page is the likeness of knifemaker Tom Krein. Only problem is, the caption identifies him as maker Michael Burch. The knife on the page is by Michael and, for some reason I cannot quite fathom, I gave instructions for our graphic designer to insert the likeness of Tom with the knife, thinking it was Michael’s likeness. I know Tom when I see him and I know Michael when I see him. Again, I can’t explain my mistake.

    I could blame it on Mom. I have two sisters, Chris and Juli, and a brother, Pat, and, for as long as I can remember, Mom has often called each of us a smorgasbord combo of all four. ā€œUh, Chris-Juli-Pat-Steve,ā€ she goes through a checklist of all four names before finally arriving at mine, ā€œtuck your shirt in, stand up straight,ā€ etc. On the other hand, she has never mistaken me/my picture for any of my siblings/their likenesses (though on more than one occasion during my misspent youth she made me wish she had).

    Similarly, at last year’s BLADE Show I saw Gavin Hawk, talented knifemaking son of talented knifemaking father Grant, walking into the show, and for some reason I called him Grant. ā€œThat’s Gavin, Steve, Gavin!ā€ he stressed. I sheepishly ducked my head and muttered, ā€œOops! Sorry.ā€ Of course, I can understand Gavin’s frustration. He no doubt is called Grant from time to time, it being natural for people to associate him with his father, and he is no doubt extremely proud to be the son of such a creative dad. At the same time, Gavin wants to be recognized for his own achievements, and understandably so.

    In case you think I am getting old and forgetful—which, of course, I am—there have been a number of times over the years when I wasn’t so old that I misidentified people in person, too. There was the time at a Guild Show when I stopped at knifemaker Dennis Bradley’s table and carried on a conversation with him for several minutes, calling him Gayle (after knifemaker Gayle Bradley) repeatedly. Finally, when we were through talking, he said, ā€œAnd oh, by the way, I’m Dennis.ā€ Ugh. I slinked away.

    Another is production knife guru Vince Ford. On more than one occasion I have called him Paul, thinking he was knifemaker Paul Fox. Each time Vince has been gracious enough not to lose his temper, just shaking his head and giving me that funny little look he gives so well.

    On the other hand, some people in the knife industry simply look like others. I always thought in his later years Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Bob Loveless resembled the older, heavier Peter Lorre. (And no, I never told Bob that. What, do you think I have a death wish or something?) I also think our managing editor, Joe Kertzman, looks like retired Major League Baseball catcher Mike Piazza. Heck, one time Mrs. Debbie Voyles told me I looked like Tom Hanks. Of course, that was a long time and many hair follicles ago. Or maybe it was just that I reminded her of Forrest Gump.

    Anyhow, I caught my mistake with Michael and Tom, though it was a day late and a dollar short—the day after the April BLADE went to the printer. I immediately fired off an e-mail with the subject line, ā€œMan, did I screw up!ā€ to Michael and Tom, as well as Mike Searson, the photographer of Tom’s picture that we used. Both Michael and Tom were equally gracious. ā€œNow that will be funny!ā€ Michael replied via e-mail. ā€œI always wanted to be Tom for a month.ā€ Not to be outdone, Tom e-mailed, ā€œNo worries! Michael never looked so good!ā€

    Thank you, Michael and Tom, for being good sports. And thank you, BLADE readers, for putting up with a well-meaning but often all-too-imperfect editor.

For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADEĀ® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. Click on http://www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us for more information.

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