Except in “a very limited number of circumstances,” the federal government has announced a ban on the commercial trade of elephant ivory, according to a report from the office of the secretary of The White House.
A new federal ban will require documentation proving antique ivory is over 100 years old. Landon Robbins used fossil ivory on his fixed blade here. (Ward photo)
How the ban will affect existing knives with handles of elephant and fossil ivory and existing supplies of elephant and fossil ivory held by knifemaking suppliers, knifemakers and others is not exactly clear at this time. However, if past experience is any barometer, knife professionals and enthusiasts should expect the worst.
Announced yesterday, Feb. 11, the ban prohibits, except under the aforementioned very limited number of circumstances, the import, export or resale of elephant ivory within the United States.
To implement the new controls, federal departments and agencies will immediately act to:
•Prohibit the commercial import of African elephant ivory, including antiques;
•Prohibit the commercial export of elephant ivory, except for bona fide antiques, certain noncommercial items and in “exceptional circumstances permitted under the Endangered Species Act”;
•Clarify the definition of “antique” so that the ivory must be more than 100 years old and meet other requirements under the Endangered Species Act. It will be up to the importer, exporter or seller to prove the item passes muster;
•Limit the number of African elephant sport-hunted trophies an individual can import to two per hunter per year; and, lastly;
•Finalize a proposed rule that would “reaffirm and clarify that sales across state lines are prohibited, except for bona fide antiques, and will prohibit sales within a state unless the seller can demonstrate an item was lawfully imported prior to 1990 for African elephants and 1975 for Asian elephants, or under an exemption document.”
In the coming months, the report noted, the federal government will take further steps to implement the “National Strategy,” and will work with Congress to strengthen existing laws and adopt new ones to enhance its “ability to address this global challenge.”
In other words, the federal government has declared war on all things ivory.
Stay tuned to www.blademag.com for further developments.
Gene Osborn, the head man behind Center Cross Instructional Videos of Fort Worth, Texas, passed away Nov. 9. He was 51.
As noted on the company’s website, www.centercross.com/cciv/, Osborn remained the “UNKNOWN KNIFEMAKER” by choice, and proudly displayed the Center Cross as the signature on all his work. For the last 30 years he made “‘one-of-a-kind knives,’ custom-made damascus steel for other knifemakers across the globe, and built the most complete and comprehensive video library of instructional guidance designed to take you to the next level in custom knifemaking.”
Center Cross is known for a wide range of knifemaking videos featuring such leading makers as Steve Johnson, Harvey Dean and others. The company is also known for the “Ultimate Knife Kit,” a kit that provides all the parts to build a knife with any number of different materials.
Among Osborn’s survivors is his wife, Mellanie, who will continue to run Center Cross.
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Jay Hendrickson and the husband-and-wife team of Billy and Beverly Mace Imel are the 2021 inductees into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame®.
Nominated by, and then elected in a vote of, sitting members of the Cutlery Hall Of Fame, the three comprise the 63rd, 64th and 65th members of the world’s only shrine recognizing all segments of the knife industry.
The Imels are the first-ever husband-and-wife team—or any pair, for that matter—to join the Hall simultaneously. A.G. and Goldie Russell are Hall-Of-Fame members but were inducted in separate years.
Along with the 2020 inductees, Joe Keeslar and Jim Sornberger, the 2021 inductees will be formally enshrined the Saturday of the BLADE Show, June 5, in Atlanta. Joe and Jim could not be formally enshrined last year because the BLADE Show was canceled due to the pandemic.
Jay Hendrickson
Impeccable fixed blades in the Moran style with matching sheaths are a Jay Hendrickson staple. (Eric Eggly/PointSeven image)Jay Hendrickson
Jay is an American Bladesmith Society (ABS) master smith who succeeded Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame member Bill Moran as ABS president in 1991—as a nominator noted, “a trying task to be sure, and Jay succeeded Bill very well.” The nominator went on to write Jay is a good bladesmithing teacher who has taught at many venues in the USA and France, and also served as director of the Moran Foundation for 10 years, helping to preserve Bill’s legacy.
Early on, Jay and Bill conducted a forging demonstration that was one of the longest running of all BLADE Show demos. The first installment was in 1987 on the sidewalk outside the show’s former Holiday Inn & Convention Center site in Knoxville, Tennessee, and continued at each succeeding BLADE Show in Knoxville and then at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta until Bill passed away in 2006. Not only was it one of the BLADE Show’s longest running demos, it was also one of the most popular.
In 1995, Jay was presented with the ABS’s highest honor, the Don Hastings Award. The annual honor goes to an individual “who has performed outstanding service on behalf of the forged blade in the tradition of Don Hastings,” one of the founders of the ABS. In 2004, Jay won the William Wales Scagel Award, presented by the ABS to a bladesmith “for longtime service to promote the forged blade.” Another Cutlery Hall Of Famer, Scagel is considered the grandfather of custom knifemaking.
Jay was voted into the ABS Hall Of Fame in 2006 and a year later wrote the how-to guide, Introduction to Bladesmithing, with tips on how to forge various blade styles “exhibiting balance and aesthetic appeal,” how to understand the basic metallurgy of popular blade steels and more. Concluded the nominator, “Jay is a fine bladesmith, a fine teacher helping to preserve the art of bladesmithing, and a splendid ambassador of knives and knifemakers.”
Last but certainly not least, Jay forges magnificent fixed blades in the classic Moran style, including expertly ground bowies, camp knives, fighters, hunters and more, often in curly maple handles with intricate silver wire inlay, all accompanied by superb leather sheaths.
Beverly and Billy Mace Imel
An example of Billy’s premier dagger work is this collaboration with Mace Vitale. (SharpByCoop image)Beverly and Billy Mace Imel
Beverly and Billy Mace are the first pair of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famers ever to be inducted simultaneously. They also join A.G. and Goldie Russell as the only husband-and-wife team in the Hall.
Billy makes fantastic fixed blades yet is perhaps best known for his sleek daggers with stainless steel blades in clean, crisp grinds and slender handles in a variety of gorgeous materials. To augment that knifemaking talent is his many hours of service to The Knifemakers’ Guild.
“What can you say about those who have worked so many hours and years to help so many?” wrote a nominator. “Billy was the secretary of the Guild during a huge building phase of the longtime maker association. Every year many new applicants had to be processed. Those of us who sat on the Guild’s board of directors during many of those years can testify to the energy and effort Billy put forth. The heavy load of accounting, stopping his own work to help discuss an issue—and those issues were many—and still be able to arrive at the Guild Show venues two days early with his own knives and to help set up each show’s exhibition room was a remarkable achievement. I think Billy is a gold standard for the Cutlery Hall Of Fame in terms of working hard for others.”
Beverly, meanwhile, served with distinction for many years on the Guild board as the organization’s secretary-treasurer.
“You can’t mention Billy’s name without mentioning Beverly’s,” the nominator continued. “The Guild board of directors was a large wheel, with every director a spoke in that wheel, but it was Beverly who kept the wheel’s hub lubricated and in motion. She maintained the Guild’s records in perfect order, and if there was a question about something from the past, she either looked it up or could recall it from memory—often smack dab in the middle of a Guild business meeting.”
Beverly’s familiarity with and recollection of Guild bylaws was legendary. Indeed, anytime a Guild president was asked a question he didn’t know the answer to during a Guild business meeting, he would often turn from the microphone and say, “Beverly, do you know?” Invariably she did and more than a few members in attendance would smile and wink at each other as a result.
The nominator went on to state that he wanted the Cutlery Hall of Fame to step out of the mold and do something different in considering Billy and Beverly for enshrinement. “It would be honorable for us to induct both of the Imels as one,” he wrote. Enough sitting Hall Of Famers agreed and the Imels are now members of their august group.
Will computers put knife sharpening services out of business?
Coming to a Knife Sharpener Near You: Artificial Intelligence
You’ve got to hand it to the robots when it comes to knife sharpening. Literally. Hand over your knife to an artificial intelligence for sharpening, human.
That’s what the future may hold, if the “Knife Robot” offers any hint. This video posted on Twitter lays it all out.
It doesn’t look like the company is ready for business yet, if at all. Its website URL, kniferobot.com, directs back to the Indiegogo page, and its social media handles haven’t been updated since early 2017.
Even if that means this device is dead in the water, don’t count out similar products. AI is popping up all over the place, and false starts are to be expected.
The First New Knifemaking Innovation in 200 Years?
Speaking of crowdfunding, a new knife company, Habitat Housewares, catching eyes on Kickstarter is promising a knifemaking innovation so revolutionary, it will change the world of knives forever. It’s the “first knife-making innovation in over 200 years,” as Tech.ly quoted the makers here.
Adam Ackerman, the name behind the operation, raised $319,000 to prime the pump for the latest incarnations of this ground-breaking knife.
Blade edge is extra-sharp and stays sharp 5 times longer than other knives
Edge is made with patented alloy, developed by Caltech and tested by NASA
Alloy is twice as strong as titanium
Our patent-pending process bonds the alloy to a stainless steel knife body
Each knife priced under $100, yet better than most professional knives costing hundreds of dollars
Let’s be clear about one thing: this is not the first new innovation in the last 200 years of knifemaking. That is objectively false, and that the line gets repeated throughout the marketing for these knives does not represent the pinnacle of insincerity, not transparency.
Yes, marketers make hyperbole a part of the business, because that’s just business, but to present such a statement as fact disrespects the scores of innovations knifemakers and knife companies contributed in the past few decades alone. Or were the Buck 110, the pocket clip and the assisted opener really that forgettable?
Knife Retailer Clarifies Knife Laws by State
Hobanco, a knife retailer, recently launched a new initiative to put knife laws across the country into plain English on its blog.
The company originally posted a knife laws page using AKTI links, but this appears to be an effort to help its customers even better understand the nuances. So far, the company put together summaries for Arizona, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia, Illinois, Oregon, Colorado, Alabama, Texas, Ohio, California, Florida and Michigan.
It’s always encouraging when companies take the time to educate their customers about knives. Many companies and small makers offer information on steel types, designs, history, proper care and, of course, laws. And BLADE gives them a big thumbs up when they do.
A knife for disabled vets is the cover knife for the latest BLADE®, on newsstands NOW!
A knife for disabled vets, behind the scenes of the hit TV show Forged In Fire, World War II Japanese swords and much more highlight the annual military issue of BLADE®, on newsstands NOW!
L.T. Wright’s H.E.R.O. (Helping Everyone Reach the Outdoors) knife is specially designed to accommodate people with finger and/or hand injuries. Join Abe Elias as he examines how the knife came about, how it’s designed, how it works and more in his story on page 12.
Forged In Fire has been one of The History Channel’s hottest shows in recent months and has brought the skill required to make a forged knife into full view of a wide-ranging television viewing audience. Go behind the scenes of this fascinating, action-packed show with our special story on page 84. In addition, on page 10, see if you agree that FIF may be the “Eureka moment” the knife industry has been waiting on for these many years.
The Japanese signed the formal World War II surrender on the U.S. battleship Missouri 70 years ago this month. But what of all those Japanese swords carried by those in the Japanese Army and Navy? Who made them and whatever became of them? Leon Kapp gives you the poop in part one of his “The Sun Rises On Them Still” on page 80.
There’s much more in the annual military issue, including a visit with two surviving 90-something members of the First Special Service Force that fought so well in World War II; three military veterans who are new to the knifemaking game in Pat Covert’s story on page 20; the best-selling military knives in the factory realm on page 36; a test of four military-style autos by James Morgan Ayres on page 44; “How To I.D. A True Combat Knife” by BLADE field editor Ed Fowler on page 52; the “Ultimate Survival Knives” of special-operations veterans Grady Powell and Jared Ogden, stars of National Geographic’s action TV series, Ultimate Survival Alaska; a test of two tomahawks by BLADE field editor/retired Green Beret Kim Breed on page 48; and much more in the latest issue.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s knife bill veto at the end of 2016 targets minorities and others who carry pocketknives.
Flipper folders such as the CRKT Acquisition, pocketknives, linerlocks, framelocks and other folding knives remain subject to the definition of switchblade and/or gravity knife as a result of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s veto of S. 6483-A.
According to Knife Rights, Cuomo vetoed the Gravity Knife and Switchblade Reform Bill, or S. 6483-A. If he had approved it, the bill would have excluded the vast majority of pocketknives, linerlock and framelock folders, flipper folders, assisted openers and other one-hand-opening folding knives from being designated as gravity knives or automatics (aka switchblades) under existing law. As a result of Cuomo’s knife bill veto, those who carry pocketknives, flipper folders, linerlocks and framelocks, and other one-hand-opening folders in New York remain subject to violating the state’s ban on automatics and gravity knives.
Since many minorities in New York City and others throughout the state carry pocketknives and folders and are the ones most likely to be targeted by the law that stays in place as a result of Cuomo’s knife bill veto, they remain subject to a fine and jail time if arrested for carrying said knives. As BLADE® field editor Ed Fowler notes in his story in the upcoming issue of the April BLADE, on newsstands Jan. 24, “The ultimate display of bureaucratic stupidity are the thousands of knife laws that serve no purpose other than to turn law-abiding citizens, usually minorities, into criminals in the name of public safety.”
According to the Knife Rights news release, Knife Rights will return when the New York legislature convenes this year to the job of fixing “the state’s Gravity Knife law to prevent these arrests and prosecutions. This bill passed with such large majorities in both houses of the legislature that an override of a veto is theoretically possible.”
As Knife Rights noted, Cuomo effectively thumbed his nose at a New York legislature that had overwhelmingly passed S. 6483-A, as well as at other New Yorkers, many of whom include his own constituents, who had supported the bill. In so doing, he joined the “Nexus of No” that includes New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill and District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., in being virtually the only ones who oppose S. 6483-A.
The defeated bill would have added wording excluding knives with “a spring, detent or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist or arm to overcome the bias toward closure and open the knife” from the existing bill’s definition of switchblade. In other words, knives such as pocketknives, linerlocks and framelocks, assisted openers and others could not be defined as switchblades in New York if Cuomo had not vetoed S. 6483-A. Similar wording would have excluded pocketknives, etc., from the definition of gravity knife as well.
The Arkansas Knife Show took place Feb. 17, 2018, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The annual event, owned and operated by Logan Pearce of Pearce Knives, features awards for achievement in custom knifemaking and a cutting competition.
Here are 55 knives that made waves at the show, as photographed by SharpByCoop. Be sure to click on an image for a larger view.
