A pending New Jersey bill would outlaw fossil ivory in addition to elephant and other ivories. Steve Johnson’s subhilt features “crackle” mammoth ivory. (SharpByCoop.com image)
A pending New Jersey bill that needs no more than the governor’s signature would ban all ivory, even the fossil ivory of animals long extinct.
Not only would it be the first bill to target fossil ivory in addition to elephant and other ivories, if passed, it reportedly would be the first state bill to ban both the import and sale of ivory.
Meanwhile, in an unseemly effort to smear owners of legal ivory, bill co-sponsor and Jersey City Assemblyman Raj Mukherji went so far as to link them to poaching profits that he said funds the operations of terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab, the Lord’s Resistance Army and Janjaweed. Linking the owners of legal ivory with poaching and Al-Qaeda not only is blatantly false but an example of just how far mealy-mouthed politicians and pro-ivory-ban extremists can go to further their corrupt agenda.
Anyone and everyone with any connection to New Jersey who values their ivory items, from knives to pianos and much more, is encouraged to contact New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie immediately and urge him not to sign the bill. As noted, it would appear to be the first bill to ban fossil ivory—the ivory of animals of mammoths, mastodons and other creatures long extinct. It would, of course, have no impact on animal populations that no longer exist but would impact the legal owners of items made of such materials, including knives.
The Elephant Protection Association has contacted Christie to urge him not to sign the bill. For more information on how to do so, send a message online, call Christie at 609-292-5000, email him at [email protected], or write him at Office of the Governor, PO Box 001, Trenton, NJ 08625.
So you’re tooling down the highway with a bunch of screaming kids in the back seat on your way to DisneyWorld, and the wife says let’s pull this puppy over at the next rest area and feed the brood. What better way to chow down on those cans of beanie weanies than with the Team Realtree 16-piece flatware set from Kutmaster? Whether vacationing, camping or what have you, this set prepares you for whatever tasty morsels may cross your, the wife’s or the kids’ palates.
Knives with keyhole handles are hot and in the new BLADE®, on most newsstands NOW!
Keyhole integrals, knives made in the USA, movie fantasy swords and much more highlight the new BLADE®, on most newsstands now!
ABS master smith Rodrigo Sfreddo appears to have been the first to make knives with the integral-style handle in the shape of a keyhole where the handle material and fittings meet, and other ABS bladesmiths have taken the concept and run with it. ABS master smith Ron Newton’s modified keyhole integral graces the cover of this issue and Mike Haskew’s story examines the concept in detail.
With Independence Day a couple of weeks away, we thought a story on some of the knife companies who make their knives in America would be a great way to celebrate the 4th. And, in the realm of blade grinds and finishes, we offer stories on what to look for in the best blade grinds and the latest look in blade finishes—including those used on the swords of the hit movie, The Hobbit™: An Unexpected Journey.
We continue our “Riddles Of Steel” series with a story on the mystery of the kukri notch, and Bill Simmermacher details how he had a 21st century sheath made for a 19th-century antique bowie. If you like knife tests, Kim Breed compares the Ammo Daddy Alpha and KSR Field/Camp knife, and on the slip joint front, Pat Covert studies models that include both the traditional and those tailored to be “global legal.”
There’s much more, including part two of both Ed Fowler’s “Quest For Cut” and the series on Plaza Cutlery observing its 40th anniversary of selling knives in the South Coast Plaza Shopping Resort in Costa Mesa, California; some of the latest in damascus patterns on custom knives; Eric Ochs’ chute knife flipper; “The Knife I Carry”; and much more, all in the latest BLADE.
The sword Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee wore when he surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant is returning to a new museum about a mile of where the surrender occurred in Appomattox, Virginia, according to reports.
Slated to be the centerpiece of the new museum outlining the post-Civil War struggle to heal the nation, Lee’s French-made ceremonial sword is leaving a Richmond museum where it had been for nearly a century.
The sword is seen at Lee’s side in many paintings of the scene when he met with Grant to sign the document of surrender on April 9, 1865.
According to reports, it is a myth that Lee offered the sword to Grant as part of the surrender and that Grant subsequently refused the traditional surrender gesture.
The sword has been “conserved” after years of polishing had erased much of the golden luster from the brass. The nearly 3.5-foot sword now “sparkles,” from the lion-head pommel to the blade’s gilded-relief blade. The hilt is ivory.
The sword was intended for ceremonial use and there is no evidence Lee used it in battle.
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+ssfb032612#BL1SU.
Watch those who know how use a selection of swords to recreate the way they actually were employed in combat in the days of yore in the fast-paced “Historical Swordplay Techniques” by the Reinhardt Legacy Fight Team at the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) May 31-June 2 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
The team will present seminars on both European and Asian swordplay techniques. The European rendition will be Saturday, June 1, at 12:30 p.m., and the Asian version will be Sunday at 10 a.m. Both seminars will be conducted in “The Courtyard”—the parking lot of the BLADE Show’s host hotel, the Renaissance Waverly.
Led by such team members as Pembroke “Whit” Williams, David Lanyon and others, the Reinhardt Legacy Fight Team is named in honor of Hank Reinhardt, swordplay guru and genius behind Museum Replicas, a long-time sword, armor and accouterments retailer out of Conyers, Georgia. Hank searched the world over for the finest swords and armor for sale in the MR catalog. He was legendary for his ability to spar with swords, and retained much of his quickness and technique well into his later years. His swordplay seminars at the BLADE Show beginning in the early 1990s and up until his death in 2007 were replete with fast action, lavish costumes and the best in sparring swords.
Today, the Reinhardt Legacy Fight Team carries on Hank’s legacy, training those interested in historic swordplay techniques and conducting seminars at any number of events, including the BLADE Show. Equipped with the latest in safety equipment, masks and more, members of the team take turns squaring off in spirited sparring sessions, demonstrating the techniques used in days gone by. Some of the sessions get quite frisky and are always entertaining to watch.
Get there early to secure a bleacher seat.
Whit Williams explains historic swordplay to patrons at last year’s BLADE Show.
You’ve heard all about BLADE Show 2017 but you can get the inside scoop on the show’s hottest knives and knifemakers and what and who will be hot in the future as a result in BLADE®’s special 2017 BLADE Show Recap issue, on newsstands now! Or, if you prefer a digital copy, click here.
The world’s largest and most important knife event enjoyed its longest lines ever of patrons queuing up to get in, and the patrons packing aisles for much of the three-day event enjoyed the best knives and knifemakers the international cutlery industry has to offer.
Why was the show among the best if not the best ever? What were the demographics of the patrons who attended? What nationalities were represented most in
Wally Hostetter showed students how to do the Japanese handle wrap in his BLADE U. class during BLADE Show 2017.BLADE Show 2017 hosted its first-ever balisong competition coordinated by Blade HQ.
what has become a show teeming with knife enthusiasts from all corners of the globe? Did more women attend than ever before, marking a new, unprecedented wave of knife enthusiasts from the female side? How many patrons actually bought knives instead of kicked tires, and how much did they spend?
Speaking of knives, which patterns sold most? What sub-categories of exhibitors—knifemaking suppliers, acc-
BLADE Show 2017‘s BLADE University featured instruction for young and old, including Zander Nichols, 13, of Clovis, California.
essory makers and others—emerged in terms of high numbers of sales? And what does it portend for the future of the BLADE Show and the knife industry in general? These questions and others are addressed in “BLADE Show Stands Tall & Delivers” on page 12.
Of course, the BLADE Show is much more, including the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, the BLADE Show Custom Knife Judging Competition and the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame inductions. Get all the specs and fantastic images of the knives by new Official BLADE Show photographer Chuck Ward in the respective stories “Best Blades of Both Hemispheres” and “BLADE Show Custom Kingpins,” the latter including this issue’s cover knife, the CAS/Sam Lurquin Sub-Hilt that won the Hugh Bartrug Best In Show Award.
The announcement that Benchmade CEO Les de Asis and American Bladesmith Society master smith Jim Batson had been elected to the Cutlery Hall Of Fame was made earlier in the year, but why they were elected was revealed in detail during their official inductions during the BLADE Magazine Awards reception the Saturday night of the BLADE Show. Get the lowdown on their career accomplishments, their induction speeches during the reception and more in the special story on page 42.
The BLADE Show is also the place where factory knife companies introduce their latest knives, though this year’s show may have seen more new knife debuts than ever. Check out the fantastic array of production pieces in “All Blades Pointed to Atlanta.”
There’s more this issue, including a salute to Alfred Pendray, tests of locking folders and drop-point hunters, the new Case/Daniel Winkler collaboration, a retrospective of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Michael Walker’s landmark linerlock that changed knife history forever and much more, all in the latest issue of BLADE.
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.
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.
