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The Gunny’s Back and The BLADE Show’s Got Him!

Steve Shackleford
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The Gunny’s Back and The BLADE Show’s Got Him!
The 2013 BLADE Show will once again welcome R. Lee "The Gunny" Ermey."
R. Lee “The Gunny” Ermey will sign autographs and pictures at the 2013 BLADE Show.

The BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) will host R. Lee “The Gunny” Ermey as he returns to sign autographs, pose for photos and chew the fat with show patrons at the SOG Specialty Knives & Tools booth show Saturday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The BLADE Show will be May 31-June 2 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.

At press time, SOG was conducting a contest to win one of two pairs of tickets to dinner with SOG personnel and The Gunny the Saturday night of the BLADE Show. The contest was slated to run on the SOG Facebook page through May 22, with the winner chosen and confirmed on May 24. The Gunny also will be the keynote speaker at the Knife Rights banquet the Saturday morning of the BLADE Show.

It will be The Gunny’s second tour at the BLADE Show for SOG. The retired Marine, veteran motion picture and television actor, and all-around supporter of the U.S. military—especially the Marines—also appeared at the SOG booth during the 2011 BLADE Show to sign autographs and pictures and otherwise interact with BLADE Show patrons.

The Gunny’s credits include History Channel’s Lock N’ Load with R. Lee Ermey, Mail Call and his breakthrough role as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. In addition to being a spokesperson for SOG, The Gunny also designed knives for the company: the Gunny Folder and Gunny Fixed Blade.

The Gunny enlisted in the Marines in 1961 and medically retired as a staff sergeant in 1971 for injuries incurred during his tours, which included 14 months active duty in the Vietnam War. He also served as a drill instructor.

For more on The Gunny’s BLADE Show appearance and the BLADE Show in general, subscribe to BLADE® www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us?icid=SHBLNCF2BL1SU-030613?lid=ssfbbl041713

ABS Master Smith John White Passes Away

Steve Shackleford
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ABS Master Smith John White Passes Away
ABS master smith John White (left) holds his Best of Show and Best Damascus from the 2013 BLADE Show as the knife's owner, Preston Gough, enjoys the moment.
ABS master smith John White (left) holds his Best of Show and Best Damascus from the 2013 BLADE Show as the knife’s owner, Preston Gough, enjoys the moment.

Award-winning ABS master smith John White of Valparaiso, Florida, passed away Oct. 4 after a sudden illness. He was 71.

One of the most talented smiths in the ranks of the ABS, John was known for his elegant fixed blades in his beautiful damascus steel blades, natural handle materials and exquisite embellishment. He was also quite adept at such fixed blades in a take-down construction—that is, the knife was specially built to be easily disassembled and reassembled.

As John’s friend and fellow ABS master smith Terry Vandeventer noted in the American Bladesmith Society’s Express Email, “This is not only the greatest loss to Jill, [John’s] wife of 40 years, but to the knife community. Those who knew him saw a vivacious, smart, funny, and highly skilled artisan.” Vandeventer added that there would be no services and John’s ashes will be spread on the bayou near the Whites’ home.

The little man with the big smile enjoyed a meteoric rise in the fraternity of ABS smiths, winning a number of awards for his work, including several at the BLADE Show. Among them: Best Fixed Blade, 2014 BLADE Show; Best of Show and Best Damascus (see accompanying picture), 2013 BLADE Show; Best Bowie and Best Damascus Knife, 2011 BLADE Show; and Best Damascus, 2010 BLADE Show. Somehow it seemed fitting that John enjoyed so much success at the BLADE Show, as he was among the most vocal supporters of the event.

If you wish to make a comment on John’s passing and your memories of him, Click Here. A visit there will show you how many great makers and collectors thought the world of John. He will be missed.

New Knives From Ruger/CRKT

Steve Shackleford
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New Knives From Ruger/CRKT
The tactical folder in the line is the 2-Stage, a Robert Carter design with a tanto blade.
The tactical folder in the line is the 2-Stage, a Robert Carter design with a tanto blade.
Steigerwalt Crack Shot Compact.
Ken Steigerwalt’s new Ruger/CRKT design is the Crack Shot: Compact.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. and CRKT announce new knives designed by a selection of award-winning custom knifemakers.

The designers include Ken Steigerwalt, Ryan Johnson of RMJ Tactical, Bill Harsey, Matthew Lerch and Robert Carter.

CRKT has the knives produced under license from Ruger. They include a selection of EDC, tactical, hunting and utility patterns in an assortment of sizes and materials.

Of the five designers, Harsey designed the most knives: three. His are the “Go-N-Heavy” folder highlighted by a hard-anodized, sure-grip handle and a 3.5-inch blade, the “All-Cylinders” folder with a black, stonewashed 4-inch blade and a “revolver cylinder-style” pivot, and the “Accurate,” a fixed-blade hunter with a reinforced nylon-fabric sheath. The folders have drop-point blades with a choice of plain edge or Veff serrations. The Go-N-Heavy stores in a nylon-fabric sheath.

Go-N-Heavy Harsey
Bill Harsey’s Go-N-Heavy is highlighted by a hard-anodized sure-rip handle.

Johnson’s designs are the “Cordite: Compact” straight knife sporting a 2.5-inch drop-point blade and a paracord-wrapped handle with a “revolver cylinder style” bead, and the “Powder-Keg” fixed-blade survival knife featuring a 4.75-inch blade and rubber overmold full-tang handle with an inset Ruger medallion. The former has a glass-reinforced nylon sheath, the latter a leather sheath.

Cordite: Compact
The Cordite: Compact has a 2.5-inch drop-point blade and paracord-wrapped handle.

Lerch’s design is the “Follow-Through” flipper folder with a Ruger-inspired, diamond-checkered, glass-reinforced nylon handle.

The locking liner knife has a 3.75-inch drop-point blade and a two-position pocket clip. Steigerwalt’s design is the “Crack Shot: Compact” assisted opener with a 3.5-inch drop-point blade and a Ruger American Rifle-inspired, glass-reinforced nylon grip with pocket clip.

The blade is stonewashed and available in a plain or serrated edge. Carter’s design is two sizes of the “2-Stage,” a tactical flipper folder with a choice of a 4- or 3.58-inch (the “2-Stage: Compact”) tanto blade in a plain edge or with Veff serrations. Each knife has a machined/hard-anodized aluminum and stainless steel handle, and four-position pocket clip.

Follow-Through Ruger/CRKT
Matthew Lerch’s Follow-Through flipper folder includes a Ruger-inspired, diamond-checkered glass-reinforced nylon handle.

For more information visit Ruger.com/micros/crkt.

The Living Knife Highlights New BLADE®

Steve Shackleford
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The Living Knife Highlights New BLADE®
On many newsstands today, new BLADE will literally grab you!
Living Knife by Jean-Marc Laroche highlights new issue of BLADE, on many newsstands today!

The Living Knife by Jean-Marc Laroche will literally grab you from the cover of the new BLADE®, on most newsstands today.

Featuring a damascus blade forged by Sweden’s Roger Bergh, the Living Knife includes a mechanical “hand” for a handle, the fingers of which will grasp your hand in return when you grip it! Find out more about this ingenious creation by Laroche, a French knifemaker and sculptor well known for his otherworldly approach to knives.

Speaking of out of this world, ABS master smith Lin Rhea visited Steve Arnold, one of the stars of the Discovery Channel’s “Meteorite Men” TV show, and obtained some meteorite material from Arnold for use in the damascus blade of a special bowie. Get the complete story on the meteorite material and its origin, how Lin made the knife and much more in this issue.

Speaking of damascus, it is one of the most fascinating materials for knife blades, among both knife neophytes and aficionados alike. How did this storied material first come about? How many different versions have there been? Get the inside scoop on this ancient material in the new BLADE.

The American Bladesmith Society traces its creation to the man who reintroduced damascus to the modern custom knife movement—Bill Moran. One of if not the largest organizations of knifemakers in the world, the ABS presented its annual best knife and bladesmith honors at the 2014 BLADE Show. See what those top knives and who those premier smiths are this issue.

Hunting season is in full swing and hunting knives are in hot demand. But is just one enough? Find out why two hunting knives are better than one in the new BLADE.

There’s much more, including a test of two automatics, the latest ceramic kitchen knives, a Nordic knife for every budget, the sharpest Christmas gifts anywhere, how Dan Keffeler won the BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition and much more in the January BLADE, on newsstands NOW!

Knife Of The Day: Bartlow Award Winner

Steve Shackleford
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Our Knife Of The Day for Feb. 22 is John Bartlow’s utility hunter in a 4-inch blade of ATS-34 stainless steel and a handle of bark elephant ivory.

    Winner of “Judge’s Choice, Hunting/Utility Knife” at last year’s Professional Knifemakers Association Show in Denver, the knife is 8 5/8 inches overall and boasts Bartlow’s trademark line cutter/choil where the edge of the blade begins.

    For more information e-mail John at [email protected].

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+ssfb022212#BL1SU

Knife Supports Military Veteran Students

Steve Shackleford
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Knife Supports Military Veteran Students

Ten dollars from each Arkansas Veterans knife sold by A.G. Russell Knives will go toward an emergency fund for military veterans who are students at the University of Arkansas.

Military veteran students at the University of Arkansas will benefit from sales of the Arkansas Veterans Folder.
A.G. Russell Knives’ Arkansas Veterans knife will support military veteran students at the University of Arkansas.

The mid-lock Arkansas Veterans Folder is based on what BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member A.G. Russell stated is the most popular knife he’s ever designed—the K-93 “one-hand knife.” A.G. reduced the handle length from the K-93’s 4 inches to 3. The blade pattern is what A.G. calls “general purpose” with a one-hand opening hole, and the steel is the same 8Cr13MoV stainless that appears on the company’s regular catalog knives that sell in the $45 to $95 range. Blade length: 2.5 inches.

The handle material remains the same—molded fiberglass re-enforced nylon. The handle color is the U of A’s school colors—cardinal red, with the center of the Arkansas flag inlaid in the grip’s front side. The knife does not have a pocket clip. The words “Arkansas Veteran” are etched on the blade’s obverse side. A.G. Russell Knives’ price: $19.95.

The project adds to A.G. Russell Knives’ history of supporting the U.S. military. Its “War On Troop Boredom” sent over 20,000 care packages containing books, magazines, tools and other useful items to units in Iraq and Afghanistan—and also garnered A.G. and Goldie Russell the BLADE Magazine 2004 Publisher’s Award for their efforts.

In fact, it was the War On Troop Boredom program that led A.G. and Goldie to be invited to sit on a board for the Veterans Resource and Information Center (VRIC) at U of A. The VRIC did not have an emergency fund to help its military vet students facing economic woes. Enter A.G. and Goldie and the Arkansas Veterans Folder.

 

Knives Will Rule 36th Annual BLADE Show

Steve Shackleford
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Knives Will Rule 36th Annual BLADE Show
36th Annual BLADE Show
36th Annual BLADE Show preview highlights the latest issue of BLADE®.

Sneak a peak at next week’s 36th Annual BLADE Show in all its sharpened glory in the latest issue of BLADE® Magazine, on newsstands now!

June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, the world’s largest and most important knife show will feature over 1,000 domestic and international exhibitors of custom and factory knives and the people and companies who make them, thousands of worldwide knife fans and much more—and it’s all in the latest BLADE.

The hottest in factory debut knives, the world’s best knifemakers pitting their knives against one another in the show’s custom knife judging competition, the inductions of Jim Batson and Les de Asis into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame©, the selection of the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, extensive knife and knifemaking instruction in the 4th Annual BLADE University, the BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competitions for both men and women conducted by BladeSports International, demos of knife grinding, knife throwing, Japanese sword cutting—all are but the tip of the iceberg of the 36th Annual BLADE Show.

New features include a balisong-flipping competition conducted by Blade HQ, a survival skills demo by one of the stars of the Alone™ TV series on HISTORY®, Larry Roberts, the BLADE Show 2017 Photo Contest in which patrons enter their favorite BLADE Show 2017 photos with a prize going to the one selected the best of the bunch, how to make a Brut de Forge knife—these and more are among the highlights of the 36th Annual BLADE Show outlined in the latest BLADE.

Also this issue: a retrospective of a knife that changed knife history in “Rambo Revisited”; part one of a three-part series on the latest sharpeners in “The Hone Zone”; how to make a Viking camp knife; New Zealander Jared Wihongi’s new Maori-inspired combat knives for Browning; a review of the handforged knives that will be auctioned—including this issue’s cover knife, a stunning damascus D-guard bowie by Veronique Laurent—by the American Bladesmith Society at the BLADE Show in “John White Will Be Watching”; and much more, all in the latest BLADE.

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