The BLADE Blogs Archives

4th Great Smoky Mountain Bladesmithing Symposium – Clyde, NC

The BLADE Blogs

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January 12, 2011

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4th Great Smoky Mountain Bladesmithing Symposium

March 4, 5, and 6, 2011

Offered by the American Bladesmith Society, Inc.
Hosted by Haywood Community College

Location:
Haywood Community College
185 Freelander Drive
Clyde, North Carolina

For more information Contact:
Laura Simmons, HCC at (828)565-4244
or Bill Wiggins, ABS at (828) 226-2551 or Email Bill

Registration:
$65 Registration fee can be paid in “Event Registration” in the ABS Store or contact Cindy Sheely, ABS Store Manager at (419) 832-0400 or Email Cindy

Event Flyer and Mail in Registration Form:
Click to download – Smoky Mountain Flyer and Registration Form

Featured Demonstrators:

Joseph Keeslar – Blade Forging, Grinding & Heat Treament
James Rodebaugh – Damascus Steel
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Demonstrators:

Greg Neely – Fit & Finish & ABS Knife Judging
Jason Knight – Handles & Guards
Daniel Warren – Slip Joint Folders
Butch Sheely – Forging Tomahawks
BR Hughes – ABS Knife Judging
Carolyn Hughes – Promotion and Advertising
James Batson – Making Antique Bowies
Ronnie Boydston & Demonstrators – Hands-on blade forging
Col. Tim Ryan – Auctioneer

Event Schedule:

Thursday, March 3 ………………..3 to 6pm Check in and Registration

………………..6:30 pm Demonstrators Dinner (All invited)

Friday, March 4 ………………..8AM to 5pm Blade Forging & Demonstrations
………………..7 to 9pm *Battle of the Bladesmiths*

Saturday, March 5 …………………8am to 12am Blade Forging & Demonstrations
………………..1 to 3pm Knife Show (Free to the public)

………………..3 to 5pm Auction (bring items for auction)

………………..5 to 7pm BBQ Dinner (pay at site)

………………..7 to 9pm Cutting Demonstration

Sunday, March 6 ………………..8 to 12am Blade Forging & Demonstrations

How to Have Your Knife Design Reproduced

Steve Shackleford

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April 27, 2015

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How to Have Your Knife Design Reproduced

Bose/Case knives. — Learn how custom knifemakers and manufacturers join to make knife collaborations from two of the best at it: knifemaker Tony Bose and John Sullivan of Case at BLADE University.

Tony Bose, award-winning knifemaker. — Award-winning custom knifemaker Tony Bose.

Learn how to have your design turned into a custom/factory knife collaboration from renowned custom knifemaker Tony Bose and John Sullivan, marketing director at W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co., at BLADE University.

Held in conjunction with the world’s largest knife show, the BLADE Show, BLADE U. will be held the day before through show Saturday at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. The BLADE Show will be June 5-7.

In Bose and Sullivan’s “Your Knife Design Into Production,” you’ll learn the keys behind the decision to produce a particular knife pattern and what knife manufacturers are looking for in new production concepts. Additional topics will include how to plan for the production of the first knife samples and the steps involved in preparing for a larger-scale production run. Product packaging, promotion, marketing, sales and post-sales support also will be discussed.

Bose is an award-winning custom knifemaker of international renown whose custom slip-joint knives set the standard in the genre. Working out of Shelburn, Indiana, he has long been a proponent of traditional pocketknives, and few manufacturers have a better reputation for such knives than Case. Bose has designed knives for special collaborations with Case since 1998, including but not limited to a sowbelly pattern (2001), his Saddlehorn design (2004), a sway-back jack/gent’s knife (2008) and the BackPocket.

Based in Bradford, Pennsylvania, and owned by Zippo, the famous lighter manufacturer, Case is the leading name in collectible factory knives. Sullivan has worked hand-in-hand with Bose on the Case collaborations and will share his insight on the relationship from a manufacturer’s point of view.

For more on this class and the many others of BLADE U. visit BLADE University.

Benchmade: Eli Gonzalez Named Program Manager, Special Operation Forces

The BLADE Blogs

BLADE Staff

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June 11, 2010

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June 10, 2010, OREGON CITY, Ore. – Benchmade
Knife Company is proud to announce Eli Gonzalez as the new Program Manager of Special Operations Forces (SOF) on their Federal Government team.

Mr. Gonzalez
brings twenty years of U.S. Army Special Operations experience to Benchmade. For the past five years, he served as Business Development Manager for ATK Tactical Systems/Eagle Industries Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Gonzalez worked with SAAB Technologies, as the Program Manager for Special Operations in charge of Special Operations Signature Management initiatives.

“I
am honored to be part of the Benchmade team. I look forward to strategically expanding Benchmade’s brand within the federal government markets,” says Mr. Gonzalez.

“Eli comes to Benchmade with many
proven successes and a solid reputation in the industry,” says Mike Nack, Fed/Gov Sales Manager. “His knowledge and expertise will be strategic to Benchmade’s growth and development among our Federal Government team.”

Eli will reside in Fayettecille, NC
outside of Fort Bragg, home of the 18th Airborne Corps and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

Black Orchid Equity Buys Moteng

Joe Kertzman

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May 11, 2011

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The private equity company, Black Orchid Equity, LLC (a South Dakota company), has acquired the assets of Moteng and has plans to grow the company’s volume dramatically. “We are thoroughly capitalized and in the process of doing three things – stocking up on inventory, selling at the most competitive prices allowable and becoming the largest knife distributor in the country,” says Blake Whitney Thompson, one of the new owners. The new owners of the company, based in San Diego, plan to use Moteng as a platform to acquire other distribution companies in the industry and to fund/invest in certain manufacturers that they represent.

Moteng has launched its new look at www.Moteng.com <http://www.Moteng.com> and plans a major dealer/vendor show in the fall for all of its customers.

Forging A Future For Orphans

Joe Kertzman

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November 22, 2013

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Sometimes a story reaches the mainstream media that actually makes one proud to be in the knife industry. The following was reported by the Archdale-Trinity News, Archdale, North Carolina, on November 13, 2013:

“A recent mission trip to Uganda demonstrated not only the skill of a knifemaker, but also his ability to forge a future for orphans and at-risk youth from the village of Bamba. George Icard, who owns and operates GI Custom Knives, lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with his wife Katie. He returned from his 10-day trip Oct. 16.”

“The trip came about through his association with fellow knife maker Tim Troyer of Sugarcreek, Ohio, also a director and founder with The Reckoning International. The nonprofit provides individuals struggling with chronic poverty with the opportunity to work, grow and thrive and to be generous in return.”

“When Troyer invited him to accompany him on a trip to Bamba, Uganda, to teach knifemaking skills, Icard jumped at the chance. Journeyman knifemaker Jesse Hemphill of Fyffe, Alabama, also traveled with them.”

“The small village of Bamba is in central Africa, just west of Kenya.”

“Ugandan youth face difficult circumstances such as widespread HIV or AIDS, child trafficking, sexual abuse and poor facilities. In Uganda, orphans and widows face a cultural prejudice which makes it difficult or impossible to get a high-paying job regardless of their education level.”

“‘Bamba Forge did not come into existence until The Reckoning International stepped in,’ said Icard. ‘The Reckoning provided the initial capital to purchase the equipment and basic materials to get Bamba Forge started.'”

Click here to read the rest of the story.

BLADE Show Preview in New BLADE

Steve Shackleford

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May 17, 2016

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New BLADE Show BLADE on newsstands today! — BLADE Show preview highlights the latest issue of **BLADE® Magazine**, on newsstands today!

The knives, knifemakers, events within the event, the people, awards—these and much more are the focus of the BLADE Show preview in the latest BLADE® Magazine, on newsstands today.

Boasting a cover knife made circa 1965 by BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Bill Moran that will go to the highest bidder in the ABS Auction during the 35th Annual BLADE Show, the new BLADE features it and a whole lot more, including:

•A selection of the hot new factory knives that will debut during the show’s three-day run June 3-5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta;

•The highlights, instructors and complete class schedule of the 3rd Annual BLADE University;

•The BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, the factory industry’s most coveted individual knife honors;

•The 14th Annual BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition sponsored by BladeSports International, which also will include the first-ever Women’s World Cutting Championship;

•The annual custom knife judging competition, which annually entertains 200 or so of the world’s finest custom knives, with this year’s Best Of Show winner slated to receive special recognition during the BLADE Magazine Awards reception the Saturday night of the show;

•The show’s extensive slate of seminars and demos, and;

•BLADE field editor and High Performance Endurance Knife Mastersmith Ed Fowler’s eight keys to having your best BLADE Show yet.

Also this issue: ABS master smith Wally Hayes shows you how to bring out the hamon on folder blades; how to introduce your kids to knives, including the latest knives designed especially for them, collecting clubs for children and more; tests of the latest in bowies and affordable tactical folders; how to use clay as a teaching aid in making outstanding damascus; and a whole lot more in the latest BLADE.

Ray Appleton Passes Away at 88

Steve Shackleford

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September 27, 2011

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Ray Appleton, maker of the “I.Q.” and other puzzle-type, “multilock” custom knives, passed away Saturday. He was 88.

The tall, lanky, likable Appleton caused quite a sensation with his puzzle/multilock knives in the late 1980s. Beautifully carved, anodized titanium folders, they were way ahead of their time (see “Ray Appleton Redefines the Folding Knife,” January/February 1988 BLADE®). One of their main endearing features is that Ray would build them with hidden mechanisms, etc., so you had to figure out how to open them.

BLADE field editor Ed Fowler, a long-time acquaintance of Ray’s, had nothing but good things to say about the talented maker. “Ray was my hero when I was a kid in high school and remains a hero to me,” Fowler observed.

According to Ray’s son, Ron, an accomplished maker in his own right who will display his knives at the upcoming Art Knife Invitational, Ray had not been in a knife shop in at least seven years. Ray had moved to Montana to live with his daughter and spend time with his grand kids and play on the computer.

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4th Great Smoky Mountain Bladesmithing Symposium – Clyde, NC

How to Have Your Knife Design Reproduced

Benchmade: Eli Gonzalez Named Program Manager, Special Operation Forces

Black Orchid Equity Buys Moteng

Forging A Future For Orphans

BLADE Show Preview in New BLADE

Ray Appleton Passes Away at 88

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