The Timberline SOC folding knife uses thumb studs to open the blade.
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.
Any discussion of the greatest custom knifemakers of the modern era must include the late Buster Warenski, a member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame.
While best known for his reproduction of the King Tut Dagger in the late 1980s, Warenski’s influence on custom knives, knifemakers and the Knifemakers’ Guild was immense and, in many ways, continues to this day. One of the early Guild voting members, he was considered among the best custom makers from the get-go. He excelled not only by the example of his workmanship but also by his leadership, serving on the Guild’s board of directors for a number of terms, including as president (1977-79).
A member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame, Buster Warenski was one of the greatest knifemakers ever. (SharpByCoop.com photo)
The workmanship of his knives pretty much spoke for itself. He could make just about any fixed blade, folder or sword, and make it extremely well, though it is his art daggers for which he is most remembered. He taught himself how to engrave and although he may not have been the best engraver, the early examples of his engraving held up among other knives of the time.
But then it always seemed that Buster found a way to make his knives the best—and one way was marrying Julie, who learned how to engrave and became one of the best, lending her talents to Buster’s knives and making them even more fabulous. (Julie Warenski-Erickson continues to engrave today and is married to knifemaker Curt Erickson.)
Perhaps the greatest tribute to any knifemaker is one from one of his peers who also happens to be one of the world’s best makers—in this instance, Steve Johnson. As Steve noted, “Putting myself in even the same sentence as a ‘fellow knifemaker’ with Buster makes me uncomfortable. No one will ever attain the skill and ability as a knifemaker as this great man did.”
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NOBODY APPRECIATES A SHARP UTILITY TOOL LIKE MOM—and all the better if it’s pretty. The Case abalone peanut is just the ticket for Mom on Mother’s Day.
The swirling abalone scales are very attractive and the clip blade and scissors—all in a 2 7/8 inches-closed package that weighs in at a scant 1.2 ounces—will give Mom all the cutting and snipping power she needs on her special day.
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To mark the special military issue of BLADE on newsstands now, here are my picks for four of the best military knives of all time. For the full list, be sure to pick up the December 2012 issue, or watch your mailbox if you’re a subscriber.
BLADE salutes all who serve, as well as the heroes who made a difference 11 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001.
U.S.N. Mark 2/U.S.M.C. Fighting-Utility Knife
Known by many simply as a “Ka-Bar” or, generically, “kabar,” it was made not only by Union Cutlery/KA-BAR but also, among others, Pal, Case, Camillus, Utica, Conetta and Robeson Shuredge during World War II.
To me, it is the quintessential military knife of all time. The iconic picture of it on the hip of the U.S. Marine on the black sands of Iwo Jima tells it all. It was there and so were the Marines. The only thing missing is Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.
Though I cannot imagine having to insert four fingers into such a knife and using it—the possibility of breaking my fingers if the blade were somehow stuck into something and/or wrenched away awkwardly is too likely for my tastes—I love the knife’s looks. It reeks of Doughboys, Over There and Jimmy Cagney’s The Fighting 69th.
Randall Model #1-8 with Leather Handle
Though the leather reportedly did not hold up well later in the jungles of Vietnam, the stacked-leather-grip Randall Model #1-8 has some of the most beautiful lines of any knife ever made.
The thin, slightly dropped handle, double guard and narrow tang opening into a magnificently ground clip-point blade does it for me in aces.
Case V42
Classic Skull Crusher, cylindrical/swell-center handle, double guard, dagger blade and the clincher, the thumbprint indentation with grooved lines on the ricasso, alone would guarantee the V42 a place in my pantheon of military knives, but the fact it was tailor made for the First Special Service Force of World War II, the forerunner to today’s U.S. Special Forces, steps its already impressive bona fides up yet another notch.
Frost Cutlery’s new retail knife store will host a Duck Dynasty celebrity Saturday, Dec. 14.
Frost Cutlery’s new retail store will host Duck Dynasty celebrity “Mountain Man” Saturday, Dec. 14. In addition to its own brand, Frost sells a wide range of brands, including Buck and others. This is the iconic Buck 110.
Tim Guraedy, better known as “Mountain Man” from A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” TV show, will be at The Knife Shoppe to meet and greet customers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free to the public.
Mountain Man is one of several guests Frost will have in the coming months to help promote The Knife Shoppe located by the company’s headquarters and warehouse in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Boasting 9,000 square feet of space, the new store features a wide range of knives and knife brands—not only Frost knives but also those of Buck, Schrade and many others. Swords, hatchets, sharpeners and a wide assortment of other edge-related items also are on the menu.
Frost opened the story this past Black Friday. Company officials decided the store was long overdue to attract the millions of motorists that pass by Frost Cutlery on Interstate 75 each year.
Owned and operated by Jim Frost, Frost Cutlery generates $30 million in annual revenue, including $18 million from Cutlery Corner, a four-hour live knife show the company films and broadcasts four nights a week. The show reportedly reaches 90 million viewers in weekly replays. Frost Cutlery is known for a wide range of knives in its own brand, perhaps most famously the line of Dale Earnhardt knives it has done for many years.
The Knife Shoppe’s store hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It’s closed on Sunday. For more information call 423-305-6911.
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The Hunter Pro from Victorinox is hard to miss in the new orange handle.The Kershaw booth was abuzz with activity at the SHOT Show.
The latest in factory knives and accessories were among the surest of bets at the recent Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor, Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas.
New automatics—no doubt spurred in part by the recent repeal of antiquated switchblade bans in a number of states, a move led by pro-knife groups Knife Rights and the American Knife & Tool Institute—were introduced by such companies as Buck, Kershaw, Hogue, Timberline, Pro-Tech and Benchmade. Tomahawks/hatchets were also a hot item, with new versions offered by Spyderco, Puma, 5.11 Tactical, Hogue, Kershaw, SOG and Camillus. Big knives, including machetes, bowies, bolos and camp models, also sizzled, with DPx Gear, Benchmade, CRKT, HK, Steel Will, Outdoor Edge and Condor Tool & Knife among those in the mix.
There were a number of other knives of note, including a new lightweight tactical fixed blade designed by ABS master smith Jerry Fisk based on a longer, flattened out version of his Sendero hunter for White River Knife & Tool. Canal Street Cutlery, in a departure for it, also offered a new tactical fixed blade with slabs provided by VZ Grips and models named after battles of the Iraq War.
With its Impact model, Buck was among the companies introducing new automatics at the SHOT Show.
“Celebrity steel” also proliferated, including a new Utica/Kutmaster knife inspired by the Pigman TV series, tactical fixed blades designed for Camillus by retired Green Beret Grady Powell and retired Navy SEAL Jared Ogden of TV’s Ultimate Survival Alaska, and a chopper from Condor used by survivalist Matt Graham on TV’s Dual Survival.
Meanwhile, Buck presented the 245 Matt Would Go knife based on the design of Navy SEAL Matthew Leathers. Leathers gave his life for his country in 2013 when he was lost at sea during open ocean training exercises.
Smith’s Edgesport 10-N-1 Suvival Multi-Tool offers 10 different survival tools in one.
Mora introduced what for it is a higher-end kitchen knife set—three models in birch handles and 14C28N Swedish Sandvik steel at an MSRP of $299. Zero Tolerance offered new, smaller folders in the $200 MSRP range, and Kershaw introduced a new, larger version of its CQC-4 Ernest Emerson collaboration. Spyderco presented a number of new models, including a Craig Douglas (aka “Southnarc”)/Michael Janich “two-way” fixed blade called the “Reverse” in which the handle slabs can be detached and the knife flipped/reversed and the handles reattached, resulting in mirror-image “edge-out” ergonomics, or two knives in one. Meanwhile, ESEE announced the debut of its long-awaited bushcraft line of fixed blades.
Case introduced its “reborn” version of the V-42 with a special hollow grind based on the original blueprint of the knife made famous by the First Special Service Force, the father of today’s spec ops units, of World War II. A special treat was two surviving members of the FSSF—90-year-old Del Stonehouse and 93-year-old Eugene Gutierrez—on hand at the Case booth. Look for a special story on them in a future issue of BLADE® magazine.
For the complete rundown on the knives from the SHOT Show, see the June BLADE in March.
See the latest knives, swords, and edges of all types, and explore the latest trends in blades, steels, styles, and materials. Gaze upon a “State of the Art” section parading engraved, scrimshawed, jewel-inlaid, carved, etched, sculpted and forge-welded, and Damascus and mosaic-damascus knives. Click here.
Our knife—make that knives—of the day for Dec. 16 are Jeff Hall’s stylish framelock folders in a choice of blade finishes and plain and partially serrated edges, the serrations being especially dramatic as far as serrations go. The frames feature carbon fiber inlay and skeletonized pocket clips.
