Knife collecting is an extremely rewarding experience for knife enthusiasts. There truly is a knife for everyone. Many increase or hold their value throughout the years, making collecting knives something to pass on to the next generation of knife collectors.
Plunge cuts should reflect each other in terms of symmetry on each side of the knife blade. The plunge cuts at left do so and the ones at right do not. (B.R. Hughes image)Note the symmetry of the satin finish flowing from the plunge cut to the tip of the blade on John W. Smith’s SD-2 tactical knife. (SharpByCoop.com image)The blade should be centered in the handle when the knife is closed, as on Brian Nadeau’s folder. (SharpByCoop.com image)There should be a correspondence in shape, size and lines between both sides of the knife’s blade and handle, as on these fighters made by Charles Vestal for members of the Custom Knife Collectors Association. (SharpByCoop.com photo)
Fit and finish is a term used to identify the earmarks of a quality made knife. In a nutshell, fit and finish is an arrangement of balanced proportions and symmetry in the entire piece.
With the dividing line being the knife’s spine, there should be a correspondence in shape, size and lines between both sides of the blade and handle. The blade tip must be centered, as should the grind as it moves along the blade toward the ricasso. The blade must have no warping, nor should it exhibit bends where there should be none. The entire run of the blade’s bevel lines, whether primary or secondary, must be even and straight. There should be no flaws, imperfections, wrinkles, creases or cracks in the blade’s surface, nor, in the case of a forged blade, can there be any bad welds. The blade’s finish, whether bead blast, satin, mirror polish, stonewash or what have you, must be consistent throughout the area of the blade to which it is applied.
There should be no gaps between the handle material and the bolster, nor the blade and the guard. The handle sides must have equal thickness and be contoured evenly and smoothly. All materials should be rich and vibrant. For example, if ironwood, it must have nice striations instead of just being a blank piece of wood.
In addition to the above, if the knife is a folder there should be no gaps or differences in elevation between the backspring and the blade when the knife is open. There must be smooth opening and closing of the blade, and the blade should snap both open and closed—known as “walk and talk” among old-time pocketknife collectors. The blade must exhibit little to no vertical or horizontal wiggle, ride dead center in the handle when the knife is closed, and, if a multi-blade, the blades should not rub against each other upon opening and closing.
HOW to LOOK for PROPER FIT and FINISH
There should be no gaps in the knife’s joints, such as between the guard and blade. Mark Knapp’s fixed hunter exhibits a nice guard-blade fit. (SharpByCoop.com photo)
•A loupe/magnifier is unnecessary. Average eyesight is fine. Check the knife in standard light conditions;
•Rotate the knife slowly and study it from all angles;
•Examine folders with them in both the open and closed positions. Feel how smoothly the blade opens, closes and locks into place;
•Remember, no knife is perfect. Each one will have at least one minor imperfection. Learning to recognize the differences between such a knife and one with poor fit and finish requires attending knife shows and handling and studying as many knives—with each individual maker’s permission, of course—as you can.
Finally, while checking for proper fit and finish is a great way to identify a well-made knife, the fact that a knife has proper fit and finish does not necessarily mean that it will cut, feel right in your hand or even be all that attractive to you. The latter three are things you must be determine for yourself.
Taking great photographs of knives is no easy task—unless you’re a professional, in which case you can stop reading. Essentially, you’re taking a highly detailed shot of something that fills the entire frame, not something small like a bee in the center of a background of blurred petals, but a long, thin item that needs to be in focus from point to butt. But there’s so much more. Every line must be fully revealed and a depth established to convey thickness or thinness. I know close to zero about the mechanics of the art. There are plenty of videos and online courses out there that’ll give you the science of the “study of light.” They can speak to you of aperture, ISO and shutter speed in infinite combinations. All I know is a good photo when I see one, and how I have tried to improve my own photography. Here are the 6 things BLADE looks for in a knife photo. It’ll be up to you to make it happen. Why? Because there are “5 Ways To Get Your Knives Featured In BLADE” and you want to be ready.
Dan Eastland of Dogwood Custom Knives used professional photographer Chuck Ward to take this exquisite image of his Hawkins knife. Chuck will be the official photographer at the 2017 BLADE Show. Contact www.dogwoodcustomknives.com for more about this outdoorsman’s knife.
Hire A Professional
Knife manufacturers, like good real estate agents, know that great photos will close a sale. They understand that the investment in a professional photographer pays off. When BLADE asks for a photo of their latest release, for example, some even allow high-resolution downloads right from the consumer website without having to go through a media relations person. That can be a time-saver at deadline. I’ve even experienced a large company resubmitting photos with even better ones. There’s nothing that says a one-man-show can’t learn from that level of perfectionism. It’s the same effort you put into crafting your knives.
Hiring a professional photographer will cost you some money, and it’s worth every penny. But like all professionals, some are more versed in what we’re trying to accomplish than others. A portraitist, wedding photographer or photojournalist may or may not be able to give you the results you’re looking for. You want to make sure you chose someone who can show you a portfolio of knives, guns, tools or similar items that looks…well…perfect.
The handle on Tim Tracey’s everyday performer doesn’t stand out as much as it could against the similarly colored background. The caramel color ends up saturating everything in the photo. Also, although the focus on the blade is crisp, the topline on the handle is a touch soft.Tim Tracey took his knife outside and got not only a good image of the blade and handle, but good contrast and a better depiction of the piece’s fullness. The recurved blade is made of 1095 steel and sports exhibition grade curly maple scales. Makers list price: $220. Contact [email protected], Timtraceyknives.com on Facebook or @TimmTracey on Instagram.
You will want two kinds of photos. Photos for your website and social media will create an emotion, an atmosphere. Instagram is full of examples of survival, bushcrafting and hunting knives being photographed outdoors and tactical knives being shot in gritty workshops or light-painted in darkness. Makers create everyday carry still lifes with folders, wallets and watches. Typical? Sure, but each one tells a story that has been told a thousand times before in a slightly different way. Nobody reads just one novel, and nobody looks at just one knife photo. They are all beautiful in their own way. The other kind of photos you will need are those of just the knife itself on a simple background, what is often referred to as glamour or beauty shot.
The question you have to ask yourself is: Are you willing to put as much study and effort into your photography as you are your knifemaking? Answer honestly. There’s no shame in shelling out cash for stunning work. Fill your website with those choice images and have them on hand for BLADE, and then you can practice your own photography skills for social media. Even on social media, though, take the time to post only your best images. Plenty of knife-related Facebook Groups out there are looking for banner photography and have to reject knifes they’d like to showcase because the image is, say, out of focus.
Although this image clearly shows the blade on this skinner by Bobby Toerck, the multicolored handle gets lost in the textured bark.In this image, the handle on Bobby Toerck’s drop-point skinner is nicely contrasted against the still-textured, but now single-colored burlap. And the 80CrV2 blade still looks terrific. The handle is triple-dyed box elder burl by Terry Dunn. Maker’s list price: $175 with Kydex sheath. Contact T4 Custom Knives on Facebook or call 903-812-1173.
Do-It-Yourself
Let’s say you can’t justify the expenditure at this point in your knifemaking journey. Or, more likely, by the very nature of your interest in crafting, you’re determined to take quality photos of your knives yourself. You think, How hard can it be? Very. It can be very challenging to produce the kind of photos needed for a glossy magazine.
“Real” Camera Vs. Camera Phone
You can take the cost of a few sessions with a photographer and buy yourself a decent camera, for starters. Keep in mind, however, that lenses that come with a camera are usually not very good. Be prepared to buy a decent mid-range lens at a minimum.
In this vertical image of a horizontal knife, the butt is cut off. There is also glare on the handle and the blade looks dull. Will Thompson decided to get some help for the reshoot.Even though Will Thompson’s handle has to work to stand out against the tree bark, it succeeds. The pattern is now discernible and the blade looks great. This drop-point finger skinner is made of 1095 steel and the Plantstone (stabilized pine branches with aluminum flakes) scales are from Robert Belcher. Maker’s list price: $75. Contact [email protected] or on Facebook at Dusty’s Cutlery.
Then again, there are some excellent photos being taken with newer camera phones. Do NOT attempt this with an older model. You will only frustrate us both because they do not allow for high enough resolution of the images. Be sure if you submit a photo from your phone that you email it at its largest size. If there are settings on your phone that need to be changed to allow for taking photos at higher resolution, then you’ll need to set those accordingly. Those settings will apply only to photos you take going forward; you cannot retroactively apply them to photos already taken. Whether you use your phone or a “real” camera, the same fundamentals of photography apply.
Tip: If you smoke or if you have your phone in your shop, there could be resin or dust on your lens. You’ll want to clean that—gently—before you begin.
Be sure to take great photos of all your work before they are sold, and to back them up, either in the cloud, through an online backup service or on a thumb-drive.
6 Things BLADE Looks For In A Knife Photo
Focus
The entire knife must be in focus, from point to butt. Are there some artsy shots of crystal clear blades and blurred handles or vice versa? Sure, but that’s not what we’re looking for in print. Online, we’re more open to considering some of those shots, provided we have some conventional full-focus shots to accompany the story as well.
If you are taking what we call a “using” shot where you’re photographing the knife in use for an online story or if we are working on a story together for print, be aware of where your camera is focusing. I have seen crystal clear shots of a leaves on the ground while the knife and the hand it’s in are both blurry. Focus is probably the single most important aspect of a good photo.
Contrast
Be aware of the color of your background. A grey knife on gray pavement, a black knife on a blackened tree stump, camouflage your knife. It’s like a silver or gray car against gray pavement on a gray winter day—you can’t see it. No contrast. This applies to multicolored handles against multicolored backgrounds as well.
In this image of Andrew Griggs’ knife, the blade looks dull and the focus on the handle is somewhat soft. Also, if this image were being used for a BLADE Magazine section that required a cutaway, the prop would be in the way of the blade.Andrew Griggs got outside to reshoot his knife. Now you can see the pattern-welded steel! The Southern Comfort gentleman’s fixed blade has a Vintage Paper Micarta handle. Maker’s list price: $300 with leather sheath. Contact Griggs Knives on Facebook.
Composition
For two of BLADE’s sections, “What’s New” and “Knifemaker Showcase,” only cutaway images of the knife are used. (See the “5 Ways To Get Your Knives Featured In BLADE.”) This means that you don’t need to worry about the background at all. In fact, white paper is fine, but watch for any shadows. It’s fine to have a slight shadow, provided the lines of the knife are clearly visible. If the edge or spine of your knife bleeds into the shadow to the point where you can’t tell where the knife starts and the shadow ends, that’ll need to be reshot. Our designers need to able to see those lines.
Mood images are fine for both a feature in print and for online stories. Feel free to get as creative as you want, but ensure that the knife is the main attraction. Photographing knives is one of those times when the rule of thirds really isn’t applicable. The knife is the main attraction and we’re not going for proportional sharing with a background. If the image you’re submitting for consideration is for a section of the magazine that uses cutaways and there’s moss or grass, fabric or fur encroaching on the blade itself, that’ll impede the designers in their work.
Make sure no part of the knife is cut off, and don’t crowd the point or butt. If you place the knife in a stand and that stand encroaches on the knife, it can’t be used for a cutaway, but it could possibly still be used for an online story or in print.
Devin Bliss has taken a very good photograph here. However, there is shadow at the handle, which would make it challenging for the designers to see where to make the cutaway image for inclusion in say, BLADE’s “What’s New” or “Knifemaker Showcase” sections.In Devin Bliss’s second attempt, the handle is more visible, but looks less rich in the harsher lighting. The inclusion of the pinecones makes a nice vignette without encroaching on any line of the knife, so it could still be used for a cutaway or as is. As a side note: Artists will tell you that the eye finds odd numbers more pleasing. I did not tell Devin that. I simply told him the truth: He had surpassed my level of being able to offer suggestions for improvement. He contacted another knifemaker for guidance.At this point, knifemaker Devin Bliss has reached a level of photography that serves his knives well. What did he do? “I changed the direction, propped up the handle onto the antler, moved the lighting around and used a foil reflector to get…a bit more light on the handle and a white reflector to mask off some glare on the blade and bolster.” This modified pronghorn is made of CTS-XHP steel with a curly koa handle. Maker’s list price $300 with stamped leather sheath. Contact [email protected], 903-736-3052 or on Facebook at DB Custom Knives.
Depth and Angles
In layman’s terms, you need to ensure your knives don’t look flat. You’re trying to capture something that’s three-dimensional in a two-dimensional medium. This is where some knives can look disproportionate because you’re focusing on the handle and the blade is in the fuzzy background, so to speak. A shallow depth of field is fine as long as your knife is standing out crisply from point to butt.
Finding the right angle will also help prevent your knife from looking flat. Prop up your knife somehow. Even just leaning it against a pebble allows you to move and capture the thickness or thinness of the piece. Laying it on your hand can work as long as your flesh doesn’t obstruct any of the knife’s lines.
Tip: Take dozens of photos from many different angles and distances and pick the best one of the bunch. If you don’t nail it, don’t compromise, don’t settle, get back there and take dozens more. Pros will take hundreds of impressions to deliver 30. Seriously. Take more shots. No, more. Get a ladder and shoot down, circle your quarry and shoot multiple shots from each hour of the clock, and get down and shoot at eye level. Shoot at morning, noon and night, but mostly late afternoon, to see how different types of sunlight affect your knife images. It’s what the pros did when they were starting out. Now, after years of experience, they can judge the sun’s angle and know how to get what they need.
Charles Hawkins has a hard time taking a bad photo, but he pulled out all the stops on this one. That is a stovetop background, complete with streaks and a red glow. The glare on the handle deadens the handle and the pattern in the steel also appears dull. Note the photographer’s hands reflected on the cooktop. Analyze the entire photograph closely.Charles Hawkins took his knife outdoors, and now the focus is as sharp as can be. The background adds interest while still allowing for plenty of contrast. The 3.5-inch blade is made of pattern-welded steel from Alabama Damascus Steel. The handle is ironwood. Maker’s list price: $300. Contact www.hawkcustomknives.com.
Lighting
Natural light is easiest for the amateur to master. A cloudy day is good to reduce blade glare but sometimes it will dull colors. Try a sunny day, but shoot in the shade. Avoid glare on either the handle or the blade whether you’re shooting indoors or out. You also don’t want dappled light coming through the leaves of a tree to interfere with the hamon, for example, so try to find a solid overhang. You also don’t want reflection to make your blade look different than it is in reality.
Indoor lighting is infinitely more challenging. Low light, fluorescent light, light-painting in a dark room—they all have the potential to become “noisy,” grainy, soft. I will leave it to the articles and videos you’re going to pour over to explain why, but trust me, it’s not easy. Sometimes, in light-painting for example, the pins might absorb all the light and they take over the picture. Or the handle’s too dark, or the handle’s visible, but the blade looks dull. Changing the countless variables on this project will help you get the right shot out of your many attempts. It can help to take notes so you know what you’ve tried and whether or not it worked.
Avoid using the flash inside your camera. It will only give you an overlit image that makes your work look flat. An external flash, shot off a wall or ceiling or even a white T-shirt, or an extra light diffused with a white paper bag, may help, but now your knifemaking shop has turned into a spaceship and you’re behind in your orders.
Specs
Images need to be 300 dpi for print with the photo at least 8 inches on the longest side, preferably 10. The image size should be at the very least 600 KB. It’s not that we’ll run it that large, but we need to have the option to do so, especially if we’re doing a cutaway and the knife doesn’t fill the frame.
We prefer .jpg format, and that you attach the image file rather than dragging it into the email. Sometimes that can make a difference in resolution quality, though it admittedly shouldn’t. Also, for similar reasons, submit originals and not versions scraped from Facebook or other social media platform, even for online stories.
Remember, it’s all about the knife here at BLADE. Oh, and makers and manufacturers, too. But without a fantastic photo of a knife as a starting point, how are we ever going to get to know you better?
“101 Knife Designs” is not only filled with great comparisons of blade designs and design theory, but offers terrific examples of exceptional knife photography by Hiro Soga.
Knifemakers of all skill levels will enjoy comparing knife designs in this book by Murray Carter. The photographs by Hiro Soga are exquisite! There is even a discussion on the theory of knife design to help you better understand your craft. Save 35 percent off the cover cost of $29.99 for a total of $19.99.
1. This everyday carry folding knife by Tim Lambkin is lightweight at 3.2 ounces. It measures 4 inches closed and is 3/8 inch thick. Tim welded the pattern, did the filework inside and out and flame-anodized the titanium scales to add the wow factor. The screws are the types used in hip replacements, anodized for color! The thumb stud is mother of pearl. Makers List Price: $900-$1000 Contact http://chopsknives.com, [email protected],903-926-7447. (Ericka Lambkin image)
Has a card, flowers and brunch become the routine for Mother’s Day? Maybe you’ve tried getting creative with gift-giving but it wasn’t well received, so you’re sticking with what works. Dull! Where’s your sense of adventure? What about giving the mothers in your life something sharp and pretty? Just like her! Let’s look at 20 custom knives moms want for Mother’s Day, or any day for that matter.
Isn’t that like giving a vacuum cleaner or an iron?
Yes and no. We’re not talking boxed sets of table cutlery or mass-produced blades, regardless of their quality and usefulness. We’re talking 100-percent hand-crafted custom knives. If you decide on a chef knife, for example, it could be construed as encouraging cooking, but the knife will be so beautiful, so smoothly made, so significant in her hand, she’ll overlook the “get cooking” aspect and start searching for things to julienne. You may find her looking for ways to display her knife not only as an easily accessible tool, but as a work of art. It’s not going to be tossed carelessly into a drawer, that’s for sure.
Hmmm. I’m not so sure.
Ok. What about knives for self-defense? Or engraved knives in pearlesence or vivid colors that mom will want to hold, admire and show off? Knives for shaving? The cowgirl in your life could use a custom livestock castration knife.
Excuse me!
Just look. These 20 custom knives will be well received by all types of mothers. Trust me. Now these knives take time to make, so if you see something you like, contact the maker and if he or she doesn’t have one ready, put in an order for a birthday or the holidays. It’ll be worth the wait. I promise.
Neck Knives
Neck knives are compact blades that are drawn in a downward motion from a sheath on a necklace-length lanyard or looped onto a bra like a gun holster. Moms can use this for self-defense or as an everyday carry knife. Various blade styles are frequently offered.
2. This necker by James Huse has a 2 1/8-inch drop-point-style blade made of A2 tool steel. Overall length is 5 1/8 inches. The handle is pink and black G10 with matching Kydex sheath. You release the knife with light thumb pressure and a downward draw. Maker’s List Price: $165. Contact www.huseknives.com, [email protected] or message to Huse Knives on Facebook, @huse_knives on Instagram.3. Pete Sloan’s neck knife is made from 440C stainless steel with a cleaver-Wharncliffe blade design. The handle was crafted using stabilized pink curly maple. Maker’s List Price: $150. Contact www.sloancustomknives.com, [email protected], 731-225-9209 or message on Facebook at Sloan Custom Knives.4. This neck knife by Travis Fleming has a trailing-point tanto blade design made from Nitro-V, an AEBL steel by New Jersey Steel Baron. A pink sheath completes the set. Makers List Price: $160. Contact [email protected] or message at Fleming’s Fabrications on Facebook.5. Denny Furey makes these three-finger Quick Defense Knives with an index finger ring for sure pistol-grip draw from under a top or from between buttons on a blouse. The 2.5-inch blade is made of high carbon 1095 with a blued and polished finish. The handle is made out of Voodoo Resins with brass pins and lanyard tube. Makers List Price: $160, includes sheath. Contact [email protected], 405-642-2198 or message on Facebook at Furey’s Urban Combat Knives.
Pretty Knives
Sometimes it’s all about the eye candy. Holding something pretty, showing it off, is a luxury mom is unlikely to allow herself either in time or cost. But, hey, beautiful knives can also cut a piece of string or open a box, and every time she studies the engraving, the jewel- and pearl-like finishes, the intricate designs in the pattern-welded steel, she’ll be reminded of how much she is treasured.
6. This Johnny Stout LeGrande Fine Folder has a 2 1/2-inch pattern-welded blade, gold lip mother of pearl handle scales, engraving by Alice Carter and a precious rubies inset in the backspacer and in the thumb stud. Closed, the knife measures 3 3/8 inches. Makers List Price: $3200. Contact http://stoutknives.com, [email protected] or 830-606-4067.7. Karen Jones made the 3-inch blade on this Work Pony out of raindrop-patterned steel. The bolsters are green abalone, the spacers are brass and the scales are elk antler. The 7-inch knife is “made to be used and abused in real life. Pretty is as pretty does,” Karen added. Makers List Price: $250-$275. Contact [email protected], 682-777-1193 or message at ThunderHorse Blades on Facebook.8. This Devin Bliss Bobcat has a 3.75-inch blade made of 1095 steel, walnut handle with mosaic pins and silver wire inlay and a nickel silver bolster. Its overall length is 8 inches. Makers List Price: $560. Contact [email protected], 903-736-3052 or message at DB Custom Knives on Facebook.9. Ben Kabisch made this for an emergency room nurse who works the night shift. She wanted something “cute, light and concealable.” The blade was made from 1084 carbon steel and the scales are an acrylic abalone. The blade is 3.5 inches and the overall length is 7.5 inches. Makers List Price: $175 Contact 940-733-6404 or message on Facebook at Ben Kabisch.10. This Raymon Earl Hunt Swayback Jack has a 2 3/4-inch Wharncliff-style blade, hand-finished and with a swedge. The handle scales are pre-ban elephant ivory with gold pins and stainless bolster. The inlaid engraving is by Bruce Christiansen. Maker’s list price: $1800 with sheath or purse pouch. Contact 214-507-0896, [email protected], or visit www.3hsknives.com.
Kitchen Knives
Whether the kitchen is in an urban apartment or at a campfire in the woods, chef knives that make food preparation more enjoyable, either by their ergonomics or their beauty, preferably both, are welcome gifts at Mother’s Day or on any holiday. This category also includes skinner/meat processing knives for the huntress in the family.
11. Mike Jeffries’ set of chefs knives includes two in AEB-L stainless steel, one in vintage Westinghouse Blue Micarta (rare stuff) with green Shadetree Burlap bolsters and the other in spalted maple burl. The paring knife is made of 52100 high carbon steel with dyed boxelder burl. Makers List Price: $900/set. Contact [email protected], 502-592-4240, on Facebook at 2Birds Metalworks and on Instagram @2birdsmetalworks.12. Nichole Lindstrand’s Modoc model knives are made from 15N20 steel with a drop-point blade, ideal for skinning and processing game. Overall they measure 7.25 inches with a cutting edge of just under 3.5 inches. The handles on these two are made of olivewood and Bone Micarta with blue G10 liners and carbon fiber pins. The makers list price is $165. Contact [email protected], 530-515-6082 or message on Facebook at Lindstrand Custom Knives.13. These 7 1/2-inch kitchen/camp knives by Carson Riley Marquis are made with 1095 steel with a differential heat treatment, acid etched/stonewashed finish and hammered-texture flats with flat grinds. The handles are dyed and stabilized zebra wood bolsters with Ivory Paper Micarta laid atop and divided by Natural Linen Micarta. Pins and lanyard tube are also Natural Linen Micarta. These are right-sized for meat processing and food prep. Makers List Price: $195 each with leather sheath. Contact http://crmarquisknives.bigcartel.com, 903-316-2824 or on Instagram @C.R.Marquis.Knives.14. This Thai-inspired kitchen knife by Todd Stracener is similar to a Japanese bunka. The 6 1/2-inch blade is made of 1095 steel and the handle is made of wenge wood with a resin inlay, The knife is 11 1/2 inches overall. $250. Contact on Instagram @thezeep or message on Facebook at Stracener Knives.
Everyday Carry Knives
Everyday carry, or EDC, knives are ones that you carry on your person or in your purse for both self-defense and general common use. They can be of the fixed-blade variety that you keep in a leather, Kydex or other molded-plastic sheath. Or they can be of the folding type and come with a clip that you can use on your pocket or inside a skirt or pant waistband. EDC makers strive for thin, small and light. They’re often tactical looking, but mom-friendly models come in everything from natural tones to bold and subtle colors.
15. Brian Nadeau’s Cyclone Bowie Flipper has a 3.5-inch blade made of CPM S35VN steel. The pivot is constructed with a stainless ball thrust bearing with AEB-L lock. It has a textured, anodized-titanium frame and aggressive gimping for a secure grip in any weather. The pocket clip is 410 stainless steel. Makers list price: $995. Contact www.knifelegends.com, www.sharpbydesign.com or [email protected].16. Shane Hill made this knife for a woman who wanted to have a knife in her car with her. The 3-inch drop-point hollow-ground blade is 1095 steel; the handle is make of cocobolo wood. Overall length of just short of 8 inches. Makers list price: $165. Contact [email protected] or message Hill Knife Works on Facebook.17. These Mini Me knives by Charles Hawkins have 2-inch hollow-ground blades made of pattern-welded steel from Alabama Damascus Steel. The top one has an Alumilite resin and wood handle with carbon fiber bolsters. The bottom one has a terminate wood with box elder handle with Alumilite resin bolsters. Although these knives are technically skinners, at 4 1/2 inches overall and with a clip-on sheath, something tells me they’re more likely to be used as an everyday carry. Maker’s list price: $100-$125 each. Contact www.hawkcustomknives.com, 325-947-7875.
The Right Knife For The Job
To do the job right, you need the right tool. You wouldn’t use a router to mix cake batter, right? (I can tell you’ve thought about it though.) You wouldn’t use a flat brush to curl your bangs, right? OK, maybe. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Well, it’s the same with knives. Aside from a survival situation, you wouldn’t bushcraft with a paring knife or filet a fish with a tomahawk. Here are just a few of many specialized knives that might be perfect for a mom in your life.
18. Eland Green made this GOLIATH chopper from 5160 tool steel and left the flats black after the heat treatment. The handle is a wood-resin combination. This is a worker for the gardening mom or for chores around a camp, farm or ranch. Makers list price: $600. Call [email protected], 940-736-8333 or message on Facebook at Lost Wood Knives.19. Becky McFall Rodriquez made this teardrop-handled livestock castration knife from a Travis Payne idea. Its 3-inch blade is acid-etched O1 tool steel. The handle is fashioned from blue-dyed box elder burl. The knife is 6-inches overall. When a lady’s doing dirty work, she should have a pretty tool. Makers list price $220-$250. Contact [email protected] or message on Facebook at Rafter M Custom Knives.20. Wet shaving is making a comeback, mainly for men, but also for women. Bruno van Dooren makes a 7/8-plus-inch wide round-point blade from O2 carbon steel with a half hollow grind. The length of the cutting edge is just under 2.5 inches. This shorter edge makes the razor more maneuverable for female shaving. The point is rounded to prevent accidentally poking through the skin. The scales are Kirinite Starlight Pink with Kirinite Glow in the Dark spacers. The pins and washer are brass. Makers list price is $325; pattern-welded or wootz steel versions are higher. Contact [email protected], www.snailforge.be or message on Facebook at Snailforge.
Bonus
Inside the heart of that special mom there lurks both a queen and a warrior princess, a diplomat and an avenger. She’s a lady with a hard edge and a soft inner core. She may be just the one to wield the Tactigal.
Bonus: Tobin Nieto forged his Tactigal out of 1084 steel to an overall length of 8.75 inches. The blade is a 3.25-inch drop-point style. The pink underlay is 550 paracord while the black cord has had the inner strands removed to allow for a flat Mongolian-style cross wrap. Maker’s list price: $175 with sheath. Contact Stonehaven Knife Works on Facebook or on Instagram @stonehavenknifeworks.
The CRKT Homefront is the Official Knife of the 2017 BLADE Show. This is a highly collectable item and the run is limited to 300. At $70 you can save $29.99 off the $99.99 price, if you order now. The field-strip technology allows you to disassemble without tools. The Ken Onion design won Most Innovative Imported Design award at the 2016 BLADE Show. Here’s where to order your Official 2017 BLADE Show CRKT Homefront Knife.
Custom knifemaker Don Shipman’s edged-weapon set is on auction until June 30, 2017 to benefit the Green Beret Foundation. In addition to a Rogers’ Rangers bonnet, a knife and sheath, and a tomahawk, the set also includes a war club. These are all items a Ranger during the French and Indian War might have carried.
Don Shipman of Shipman Knife & Hawk and Longfear Forge in Waco, Texas, has made a Rogers’ Rangers III edged-weapon set for auction to benefit the Green Beret Foundation, which helps Special Forces members and their families. This new set includes items that the precursor to today’s U.S. Army Ranger would have carried with him in the eastern woodlands of North America during the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. The kit includes a knife and sheath, a tomahawk, a Rogers’ Ranger bonnet and an item stirring interest: a war club. If you would like to bid on this hand-crafted and meticulously researched collection, you only have until Jun 30 to do so. As of this writing, the highest bid is $1310. You can read about Don’s decision-making process for this set in detail in the October issue of BLADE magazine. Be sure to subscribe.
Don is nothing if not thorough. Whether in love, service to country or researching and assembling his edged-weapon Heritage Sets, he strives to honor the spirit of the warrior, the frontiersman and the gentleman.
This Rogers Rangers II set by Shipman Knife & Hawk included items a young Ranger serving under Major Robert Rogers might have carried in 1755 during the French and Indian War: a Scottish bonnet, pipe hawk and a dirk and sheath.
Take, for example, the name of his forge. In Irish Gaelic, “long” means “ship” and “fear” means “man.” But The Ship Man, as his Special Forces friends sometimes refer to him, doesn’t stop there. “I use the analogy that ‘long’ gets its meaning from the Norse ‘longships,’ which raided medieval Ireland,” Don explains. “‘Man,’ especially ‘strange men,’ is frequently associated with ‘danger’ in languages. So, ‘man’ equals ‘danger’ equals ‘fear.’ Thus, Longfear forge equals Shipman Forge. All of the above works especially well with my Norse and Irish ancestry,” he concludes.
So, on his blades, you will find the crossed-arrow Shipman logo, and if Don forged the item, you’ll also see the Longfear stamp. “The stamp is…wait for it…a Viking longship prow! Totally badass!” And that’s what it’s like talking with Don. You’re going to get an education, and you’re going to enjoy the lesson because he makes it entertaining.
This kit included a pipe hawk, a Joe De La Ronde-designed spike hawk, a roach-belly blade with sheath, the family tartan, and an caubeen, or Irish beret, with three badges.
Don makes edged weapons that could have been used or made by the common man on the American frontier, no matter where that frontier may have been at that point in history. Sets can include a knife and a tomahawk, or more than one of each, along with usually a bonnet, blanket or piece of clothing. He’s working on one now that may include a gun. Each item in the set is researched thoroughly, from handle woods to clan tartans used in the headgear cockade—think rosette on a prize-winning ribbon.
First, if you don’t already know your family’s origins, Don will research your family’s heritage using Ancestry.com, the online genealogical site that assists in tracing your family tree. He establishes where your family came from and where your family settled or migrated to when they arrived in America. The frontier may have been upstate New York at the time, or Ohio, or Kentucky as westward expansion continued. If you’re of Irish or Scottish descent, for example, he’ll determine, to the best of present-day knowledge, to which clan your family belonged. Similarly, if you think you may descend from Vikings, he’ll investigate your Nordic heritage.
This roach-belly blade was forged out of 1095 steel by Longfear Forge. The ferrule is comprised of beaten copper and poured pewter. The handle is whitetail antler and “JK42” is engraved into the pommel using Colonial (Allegheny) font in recognition of the client’s service in Special Forces Operational Detachment (ODA) 542.
Next, he’ll research available materials in the region where your family lived once they arrived in the New World. Was that variety of maple tree growing in the area where and when your family settled? Yes. Then Don may use that wood to fashion a knife handle. What styles of knives or tomahawks were being used in that region and for what purpose? For instance, there’s the tomahawk that has a bowl in one end used for smoking tobacco and passing around, what we would think of as a peace pipe. There’s the ’hawk with the spike opposite the cutting edge, which our ancestors used in times of combat for striking their opponents. And, hawks with nubs on the back were often used as a mallet or hammer, making the weapon double as a utility tool.
The tomahawk in the Rogers’ Rangers II set has a 22-inch curly maple shaft with a pewter inlay. The copper butt cap has a 2-inch brass mouthpiece. The head is an R.E. Davis blade in 4140 steel. Patina added to all metals.
Every facet of the collection is thus researched. If Don wants to use a turkey feather, for example, to adorn a bonnet, he first confirms if turkeys were plentiful where your family lived and at that time. The woolen bonnets are supplied by reenactment companies such as Jas. Townsend & Sons out of Pierceton, Indiana. In Scottish versions, the headgear is larger and of thicker material, but the Irish renditions are precursors to the berets used by U.S. Special Forces. And like our elite warriors wear what’s called a flash—think a shield-shaped patch adorned with symbols from their unit—on their berets, Colonial-era warriors would wear a cockade made with their clan’s tartan, say, or other emblem representative of their heritage.
A tattered Forrester tartan cockade was one of three cockades for this bonnet.This bonnet came with tattered, bow and rosette cockades in the client’s Forrester tartan. Due to the client’s service in elite forces the red-tailed hawk, wild turkey, ring-neck pheasant and mallard feathers are prominently displayed, his family hailing from an area where the species were prevalent.
Don will educate his clients on the proper time and place to wear certain emblems. For instance, your set may include one bonnet with multiple cockades or other adornments. There may be a tattered cockade appropriate for everyday wear, or one that should only be worn at formal occasions. The headgear may include a feather, which, Don explains, would only be appropriate for a chief of a Native American tribe to wear. However, he acknowledges that his clientele may correctly believe they have earned the honor and they will wear the feathers to military galas, for example.
Don knows more than a little something about warriors of many nations and their weaponry. He ended up serving 30 years in the U.S. Army. “All I wanted to do was not embarrass my father and be a good soldier,” Don said. His father was an Army sergeant major, and Don was born and raised in Wurzburg, West Germany (at the time) until he was 13 years old. His dad’s final duty station was at Ft. Hood, Texas, where his parents went through the process of naturalizing Don. At the time, Germany had compulsory military service. This entailed sacrificing his dual citizenship, but saved him from possible conscription into the German army.
When his father retired, the family moved back to the home state of both his parents: West Virginia. So, Don was a high-school kid in a very foreign world. How foreign? “This kid got on the school bus and he had a fat bottom lip. I’m thinking, ‘It isn’t even 9 o’clock yet and this kid’s already been in a fight.’” Thus was young Don’s introduction to chewing tobacco. On the very same day on the very same bus, a few stops along the route, three redheaded sisters get on the bus. “My eyes immediately go to the tallest one, ’cause that’s how I roll,” Don said. “She had wire-rimmed glasses, and I thought, I’m cool with that.”
The sheath for this 18-inch Scottish dirk has a 14-inch basswood shell wrapped in rawhide with a sinew running stitch. It is adorned with sinew fringe and green and red padre beads and a 2-inch Celtic cross.
Fortunately, through an old-timey bus driver who lined the students up by sex and height, eventually the tall girl and older boy ended up sitting beside each other. Don barely said a word. Unbeknownst to him, however, the future Mrs. Shipman, Diane, or Annie as Don calls her, took matters into her own hands, putting the word out that the seat beside her was always reserved for Don. She knew right from the get-go that he was “the one.”
Don was dating his best friend’s sister, and although he got to the point where he could talk to Diane—a lot—and wanted more than anything to be with her, he couldn’t figure out a way to break it off with his friend’s sister without hurting her. “Next thing I knew, I was in basic training,” Don says, laughing. The other attachment dissolved naturally during the separation. In another example of his thoughtfulness, when Diane wanted to skip the hassle of a wedding, he told her he understood and that she could scale the event back, but that a wedding was bigger than both of them. “I told her I couldn’t do that to my parents, and that if she thought about it, I didn’t think she could do it to her parents either.” The Shipmans have now been married 37 years. They have a son, Isaac, born when Don became a Green Beret, and a daughter, Samantha, whom Don delivered.
Don’s favorite picture of him and Annie was taken on Oahu in 2000 with Diamond Head in the background.
Following a long family tradition, Don joined the U.S. Army in 1977 as an armored reconnaissance specialist, completing basic and advanced training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Although he hadn’t intended to stay, he did well and acted on the guidance of superiors, continually accumulating the schooling and assignments that allowed him to advance. When he wanted to join Special Forces, he was advised to take drill sergeant school. He did, and soon got accepted to qualify for Special Forces. The only problem was, he would have to wait for a slot in his preferred specialty: engineer, “because, yeah, I wanted to blow things up.” Or, he could go in immediately as a physician’s assistant, and have a marketable skill when he transitioned back to civilian life.
Qualifying on both the physical level and being required to “drink from a fire hose” medically speaking, Don made it through. “I was never afraid of the academics.” Because medics are limited in number and a Special Forces unit cannot deploy without one, Don deployed frequently. Honduras, twice; Somalia, pre-involvement; Kenya, four times; Tanzania; Djibouti; Egypt; Pakistan and Afghanistan, pre-involvement; Bosnia-Kosovo; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; Iraq…in other words, he was exposed to the warrior tradition of many cultures.
In November of 1989 Don Shipman was a sergeant first class with 5th Special Forces Group on guerilla operations in Kenya.
But it was when he was face-down in the sand during Desert Storm, yelling at the next closest man, who was yelling back because neither could hear the other that Don began bargaining with God to get him and his brothers out of this. “God, family, country. I’d done a lot for my country. It was time for more God and family.”
Stateside, Don accepted a research position with a special operations medic from the Vietnam era who would encourage him to accept the Army’s offer to get his doctorate. Don finished out his career teaching at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In the course of his medical training he was made an officer and retired as a major.
In all those years, aside from an occasional fishing trip, Don had never had a hobby. Now with time and resources he could indulge his creative side. About seven years ago he was on the Military Times Hall of Valor website where you enter your surname and up pops a database of recipients of the Silver Star up to and including the Medal of Honor. There were more Shipmans than Don could count. He’s a firm believer in the line that Rudyard Kipling made famous in his poem “Recessional”: “Lest we forget—lest we forget!” No soldier truly dies unless he is forgotten.
Don wasn’t even drawn to knifemaking, not right away anyway. But in feeding the home fires, it began to bother him that hardwoods like black walnut were being burned. “It’s practically a sin,” he said. So, he fashioned a hawk handle out of one piece and enjoyed the process. He gave it away. Then representatives from the Ranger Lead The Way Fund asked Don if he would make something for them to auction off at their 2013 gala. He made Rogers’ Rangers I, a set including a bonnet with a Roger’s Ranger badge, a 23-inch tomahawk and an 18-inch Scottish dirk with sheath. In 2016, he was asked to make Rogers’ Rangers II for a Green Beret Foundation auction. He had found the perfect outlet for his love of history, his brethren and the various streams of humanity that forged our country’s beginnings.
Don’s pieces look old and homespun, in keeping with both the available technology of the era and the skill level of the common men who fashioned them. If he doesn’t forge the blade himself, he uses The R.E. Davis Company in Woodville, Ohio, which specializes in weapon reproductions. Pieces from Shipman Hawk and Knife are pitted, worn and sometimes slightly warped, because that’s what a centuries-old edged weapon should look and feel like.
‘Knives of War’ Reveals Elite Forces Use of Knives in Combat
“Knives of War” is the “International Guide to Military Knives from World War I to the Present,” and costs $25.
Compiled by two British and one American author, “Knives of War” is a guide to edged-weapon use from World War I to the present. Of particular interest is behind-the-scenes information on the use of the Marine Raiders Gung Ho Knife, the Gerber Mark II Combat Knife as well as the most famous fighting knife of all time, the Fairbairn-Sykes. This is a must-have for any knife lover’s library.
Aka “Dr. D2,” Bob Dozier long has been a proponent of D2 tool steel. Here he holds one of his specially made “over-sized” folders at a past BLADE Show.
D2 tool steel just keeps cutting. It’s been around a long time and enjoys a solid reputation among custom and factory knifemakers and knife users. As with many high-performance steels, it experiences a range of highs and lows in popularity, and at the moment seems to be enjoying a high.
While D2 may not be stainless, it remains a top performer due in no small part to its high wear resistance/edge-holding ability. “It will hold an edge for a very long time before it will go dull,” says Paul Tsujimoto, director of engineering at Ontario Knife Co. Combined with its relatively inexpensive price, this makes D2 a favorite of manufacturers and custom makers alike. “For us, it’s the perfect combination of performance and an affordable price,” notes Dietmar Pohl of Pohl Force Knives. Agrees Devanna, “It’s the best bang for the buck because it’s priced reasonably and works well.”
Pohl Force Knives uses D2 blade steel for the Hornet, a Spencer Reiter design.
On the down side, D2’s ample wear resistance also means it is difficult to sharpen. However, a diamond abrasive sharpener should do the trick. Also, the steel’s impact toughness suffers in comparison to some other steels, so D2 is not the best choice for a blade used for chopping and other impact-type cutting chores. And, since it’s not a true stainless, you should wipe it down after use to help keep corrosion to a minimum.
Nonetheless, D2 is an outstanding choice for a hard-use knife and remains popular among custom knifemakers and manufacturers, and knife users as well.
Help us fill in our BLADE calendar. Send us the details and we’ll help spread the word.
We’ve added a calendar to BLADEmag.com. Now, we need your knife events to fill in the BLADE Calendar. We’ll take anything to do with knives: shows, seminars, workshops, hammer-ins, demonstrations, shop tours, classes, throwing competitions, open meetings at your knife club. You supply the details below. We’ll enter it onto the site and send you a link when it goes live so that you can use it on your Facebook Page, Instagram account, forum, blog or other social media outlet.
But wait, we want manufacturer and distributor events too: retail location grand openings, factory tours, celebrations. Anything the public is welcome to attend or sign up for is acceptable.
Be sure to include a photo: It can be of a past occurrence of your event; your company, show or club logo; or an image of the venue. Attach the photo to your email that provides all of the following information:
Complete name of event
Date or dates of event
Start time and end time on each day of the event
Event website or page
Event admission cost
Event organizer’s name
Event organizer’s phone number
Event organizer’s email
Description of event
Complete name of venue
Complete address of venue
Venue phone number
Venue website
Send your email to [email protected]. Be sure to submit your listing a minimum of two weeks prior to the event. We’ll do our best to help you get the word out, and we hope you refer people back to the BLADE Calendar.
On a pocketknife blade, the knife choil is the notch between the cutting edge and the blade tang and serves to notify you where to stop sharpening the blade.When you think knife choil and pocketknives, Case immediately comes to mind.A classic example of a knife choil on a fixed blade is the notch here between the cutting edge and the ricasso or the blade tang of the Baja 3.0 by TOPS Knives.
Is a knife choil a nick, a notch, a finger groove or something else? And besides, what’s the difference between a nick and a notch?
What it is is one of those knife-specific terms that seems to evade proper definition by many, everyone from knife newbies to knife aficionados.
To expand on the definitions of both A.G. Russell Knives and Mr. Collins, while a knife choil may have enough space to accept a finger for certain types of cutting operations, such a capability is not the choil’s stated purpose. In some instances you may hear the term for such a feature called a finger choil. According to Russell’s definition above, such a reference is “improper.” In fact, sometimes what is incorrectly referred to as a finger choil is really more of a finger groove that spans the undersides of both the handle and the ricasso or the blade tang. Meanwhile, some new factory knives seem to be downplaying the knife choil if not eliminating it entirely.
Be that as it may, the chief purpose of the knife choil, as noted by the definitions of both Russell and Collins, is to allow the full length of the cutting edge to be properly sharpened. In other words, it is simply a small notch between where the cutting edge ends and the ricasso or the blade tang begins that indicates where you should stop when sharpening the blade with a stone, diamond-coated abrasive or what have you.
