Knife News Wire

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Help full-time knifemakers whose shops have been damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Harvey through a program initiated by the folks at USA Knifemaker.

A leading supplier of knifemaking equipment, materials, tools and other products used to make knives, USA Knifemaker’s assistance program is designed to help full-time knifemakers—and with floodwaters continuing to rage in and around Houston, Texas, the effort comes not one moment too soon.

“We would like to help our knifemaker brothers that have been wiped out to get back on their feet,” notes Tracy Mickley of USA Knifemaker. “This isn’t about advertising. This isn’t about making us look good. This is about doing the right thing and about helping people in need. If I could do this quietly I would, but I can’t. These guys need your help and I am going to bang the drum as loud as I can to get some help headed their way.”

USAknifemaker.com will match donations up to $2,000 in knifemaking supplies for full-time knifemakers that have lost their shops to the hurricane and flood. “If I can manage more I will but right now it’s the best I can do,” Mickley writes. “If public donations do not reach $2,000 for the match, we will still give out the full $2,000 in the form of gift certificates to USAknifemaker.com. I hope we can max this out to $4,000 plus.

“We will give $250 gift certificates to eight—at the minimum, we hope for at least 16 or more—full-time knifemakers that have had their shops destroyed by floods. It’s not enough to restock a shop. I get that. I also understand there are hundreds, maybe thousands of part-time makers that also have had tragic losses and I wish we could help everyone. Those makers that depend on knifemaking as their primary income can use our help as a community.”

Send a check, cash, use Paypal or a credit card. “We will cover the Paypal and credit card fees,” Mickley notes. “We will total up the donations and match up to $2,000 to be given out as gift certificates to eight full-time makers. If the total of public donations exceeds $2,000, we will compile the extra and give out as many $250 gift certificates as the funds allow. One-hundred percent of donations will be given out. We will recap all activity on Knifedogs.com for full transparency here.

“We are asking you to provide names and contact information of full-time knifemakers in and around the Houston area that you know who have lost their shop or had significant shop damage. We do not need a list of random names of makers in the area. We need to know who got hurt in this. We will have to filter out opportunists so we will require proof of loss in the form of pictures of their shop and a short description of damage. To be clear, we aren’t ‘covering’ any other losses. There are other agencies for that. We are trying to help those that lost their knifemaking shop.

“I am hoping for a lot of interest and support,” Mickley continues. “I will have a thread on Knifedogs.com to track donations, candidates and awards, and to keep this transparent. I welcome your input and suggestions on how the knifemaking community can step up and lend a hand. Post your comments and suggestions here.”

Dellana shows you how she made her first goblin folder, read why Buster Warenski’s King Tut dagger changed knife history, school yourself on the hottest custom makers’ hottest knives and more in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands NOW!

Dellana is known throughout the custom knife industry for her ornate high-end folders and learned a lot under the great ABS master smith Jim Schmidt. Schmidt was known in no small part for his goblin folder, a style Dellana had never tried until approached by collector Larry Marton to complete one Schmidt had planned to before Schmidt passed away. Dellana accepted the daunting assignment. In her two-part story she outlines the challenges she faced in making the goblin folder she christened “Gryzzlesnick,” which includes a stag handle with a butt shaped into the grotesque face of a goblin. Read part one this issue.

A member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame and the top vote-getter in a poll of veteran industry observers for their “Mount Rushmore of Knifemakers” of the modern era—1960 through the May 2015 BLADE in which the applicable story appeared—Warenski spent five years (1982-87) making the reproduction of the gold dagger found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Phil Lobred commissioned Warenski to make the knife and liquidated his entire collection of handmade knives to pay for it. The knife featured 32 ounces of gold, the long-lost technique of granulation to embellish the knife’s handle and has been valued at being worth over $1 million. Get the full story on this landmark knife and the trials and tribulations of Warenski in its making in “A Piece of Buster’s Soul.”

Pinpointing the hottest custom knifemakers’ hottest knives is something all enthusiasts of the genre need to stay on top of, and BLADE helps you in the endeavor with the help of top industry observers in “Compound Your Cutlery Interest.”

There’s much more this issue, including:

•BLADE Managing Editor Erin Healy’s story on the period-correct knife-and-tomahawk combos by Don Shipman, “Edged Warrior Sets”;

•The best knives to take on summer vacation;

•Rick Barrett‘s custom folder based on and that salutes the legendary World War II Marine F4U Corsair fighter aircraft made famous by the equally legendary pilot Pappy Boyington of Baa-Baa Black Sheep fame;

•Tests/reviews of four of the latest factory utility fixed blades, four EDCs, three assisted openers and a pair of ample straight knives;

•The conclusion of Dexter Ewing’s three-part series on the latest knife sharpeners in “The Hone Zone.”

And much more, all in the latest BLADE, on newsstands now or subscribe to the print, digital, international or Canadian issues here.

See if bushcraft knives with fire steels can take the heat, meet a Marine Corps vet who helps spread the good word of Zac Brown’s knives, learn whether paying knife deposits on custom knives is for you and more in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands now!

BLADE field editor Abe Elias puts four new bushcraft knives, all equipped with fire steels, through a series of tests and critiques. See how they fare and what makes a good bushcraft knife—not what makes good hype—in “Bush The Envelope.”

Losing both legs from above the knee down would understandably destroy most people, but not veteran Marine Staff Sgt. Joey Jones. Fitted with prosthetic devices after the devastating effects of an IED in Afghanistan, he picked up the pieces in civilian life and has become a powerful motivator for individuals, corporations and charities. He also works with Zac Brown’s Southern Ground, which, in addition to the Southern Grind knife company, funds Camp Southern Ground for children, especially those with neuro-developmental disorders or in families with a parent deployed, wounded or lost. Erin Healy examines Jones and Brown’s Southern Ground in “Joined By Knives.”

Ordering a custom knife from a knifemaker and making a down payment—better known as a deposit—on the knife is something collectors have done for many years. But is paying deposits for you? Custom knife purveyor Les Robertson guides you through the do’s and don’ts of the practice in “Knife Deposits: Yea, Nay, Maybe.”

Also in this issue of BLADE:

•The latest in factory automatics, including the cover knife, an entry from Bear & Son Cutlery’s first-ever line of autos, the Bold Action V;

•Learn how the super-lightweight Gerber LST folder changed knife history in “Father of the EDC?”;

•MSG Kim Breed, retired 5th Special Forces, puts a couple of heavy-duty camp knives through the ringer in “Is Bigger Better?”;

•James Morgan Ayres tests four of the latest factory tomahawks in “Tomahawk Toughies”;

•BLADE field editor Ed Fowler recounts his lifelong addiction to knives in “Just Say Yes!”;

•In “A Linerlock On Roller Skates,” Leroi Price describes a new approach to the linerlock developed by Jake Hoback;

•BLADE field Dexter Ewing concludes his three-part series on 12 of the newest knife sharpeners in “The Hone Zone”;

•Reload your knife with sharp blades or simply discard them in “The Replaceables” by Pat Covert, and;

•You can almost hear the mosaic damascus “snakes” on Greg Cimms’ chef’s knife blade hiss in “The Dubai Vipers.”

You get all this and much more in the latest BLADE. Click here for the download edition. To subscribe to BLADE, click here for the domestic print edition, here for the international print subscription, here for the Canadian print subscription and here for the digital subscription.

“Shock and claw” karambits, the damascus knives that changed knife history and the complete lowdown on the 4th Annual BLADE University at the 36th Annual BLADE Show are but a few of the highlights of the latest BLADE®, on newsstands NOW!

Boasting a blade shaped like a sickle, the karambit has been adapted for martial arts use today. However, it remains an effective cutting tool as well. James Morgan Ayres tests four of the latest editions in his story, “Shock & Claw.”

BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Bill Moran changed the face of the custom knife industry in many ways, but it’s his damascus knives that first brought him not only national fame but worldwide acclaim as well. Join Mike Haskew as he studies Moran’s initial damascus models in BLADE’s latest installment of its “Knives That Changed Knife History” in “A Thunderclap of Steel.”

As the world’s biggest and most important knife event, BLADE Show 2017 attracts the best knifemakers and knife pros in existence. What better talent pool is there to select from as teachers for BLADE University, three days of knifemaking and other cutlery classes on a wide variety of sharp subjects? Check out who will be teaching what and how you can attend in “Back To Sharp School” by this writer.

Also this issue: Pat Covert’s test of four of the latest factory flipper folders; Dexter Ewing’s assessment of some of the newest factory machetes; part two of Frank Trzaska’s salute to the knives used by U.S. soldiers during World War I on the 100th anniversary of the USA’s entry into “the Great War”;  the latest paring knives just in time for Mother’s Day, by Daniel Jackson; some of the top drawknives and how to use them, by Abe Elias; a farewell to ABS journeyman smith Larry “The Hammer” Harley; and much more in the latest BLADE—on newsstands now or subscribe here.

Spyderco’s knife that changed knife history, Creek Stewart of Fat Guys In The Woods fame and his knives, the top knives of the SHOT Show and more highlight the latest issue of BLADE®, on newsstands now!

Spyderco is celebrated worldwide for its signature folders with the hole in the blade and also a pocket clip and serrations. The first-ever Spyderco knife with the hole and the clip was the Worker, which debuted in 1981. Mike Haskew visited with BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Sal Glesser for the back story on the knife that changed the way an industry made and used knives forever.

In addition to his TV show on The Weather Channel, Stewart is known for his survival skills—and what’s survival without knives? While Creek gave knives away to the top “survivor” at the end of each episode of his show, he decided he wanted to take things a step further and work with a small American business to produce a line of knives. Whiskey Knives from Hank Gevedon’s Reptile Toolworks are the result and the focus of Erin Healy’s “Samurai Woodsman” on page 12.

Along with the annual BLADE Show—which is set for June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta—the SHOT Show is the place where many factory knife companies debut their new knives for the year. Check out the hottest knives of SHOT, along with a number of new companies under new flags, in the story on page 26.

There’s much more in the latest issue, including tests of camp knives, custom hunters and the return of an old friend—the newest factory boot knives; the urban survival knife and whether yours meets the demands of your environment; those who forge and sell stainless damascus to knifemakers worldwide; on the 100th anniversary of the USA’s entry into World War I, the first of a two-part story on the knives carried by U.S. Army personnel, aka The Doughboys; and much more, all in the latest issue of BLADE, available in the digital edition and also by subscription.