Fabulous forged knives, new smiths, new chairman top ABS annual meeting.

Some of the finest forged knives of the year, the newest American Bladesmith Society master and journeyman smiths and a brand new chairman helped highlight the annual meeting of the ABS held during BLADE Show 2024 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

ABS master smith Kevin Cashen officially began his first term as ABS chairman at the annual meeting, succeeding ABS master smith Steve Dunn who passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. It was a bittersweet transfer of the office for all concerned, though a sparkling array of award knives and an impressive group of new master and journeyman smiths that includes those from Brazil, Europe, China, New Zealand and the USA were an appropriate way to greet the new chairman and pay tribute to the former one.

ABS Annual Awards

Award Winners

• W. W. Scagel Award: Butch Sheely 
• Paul Burke Award: Robert A. Wilson
• Distinguished Service Awards: Karen Cashen, Joel Worley 
• W. F. Moran Award: Matthew Parkinson
• Antique Bowie Award, JS: Mace Vitale
• Antique Bowie Award, MS: Karis Fisher
• Joe Keeslar Award: Jason Chen
• B. R. Hughes Award: Fabio Barros 
• Chairman’s Awards: Kevin Cashen, James Rodebaugh

Fabio Barros

It was a weekend Brazil’s Fabio Barros probably will never forget. Not only was he the sole applicant to gain the coveted rating of ABS master smith, he also won the B. R. Hughes Award for the best knife submitted by such an applicant. In the eyes of some, that he was the only successful MS applicant might have detracted from his Hughes Award—if not for the fact that the same knife also won Best Art Knife at the concurrent BLADE Show.

B. R. Hughes Award
Winner: Fabio Barros
Knife name: Leidi Barros Dagger
Maker/designer: Fabio Barros
Blade material: Apricot pattern mosaic damascus w/four-sided roughing
Construction: Take down
Handle: Fluted ebony with gold-braid wire wrap Guard, shim and pommel: Black oxidation with gold appliqué
Pommel stone: Onyx
Sheath: Shark leather w/gold inlay
Display: Ebony case w/exquisite finish
Knife to know: The knife is named in honor of Leidiana Barros, wife of Fabio Barros; the handle design is inspired by the queen in a chess set

Karis Fisher

Karis Fisher added to her trophy case by winning the Antique Bowie Award for the best bowie in a 19th-century style by an ABS master smith. It was another feather in the cap of the young smith, who won for a reproduction of the Searles/Fowler bowie—with it being her first attempt at a repro to boot. Added Karis, “I’ve always wanted to try and make a reproduction, and I was drawn to the Searles bowie due to the mix of complexity and clean and timeless design.”

Antique Bowie Award, MS
Winner: Karis Fisher
Knife: Searles Reproduction
Blade length: 9.25”
Blade material: 52100 carbon steel
Blade width: 2”
Blade @ thickest: .25”
Blade grind: Double ground
Guard material: Stainless steel
Handle material: African blackwood
Ferrule and butt material: Stainless steel
Ferrule and butt embellishment: Coined liners
Overall length: 14.5”
Special features: Half-moon cutout in blade and raised checkered panels on handle
Knife to know: The knife is based on the Searles-Fowler bowie made by Daniel Searles in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1828
Maker’s price for a similar knife: $2,500

The Challenge: “The most challenging part of this build was definitely the planning of the knife and trying to stay true to the original while building it solely off pictures.” 

Matthew Parkinson

ABS journeyman smith Matthew Parkinson won the W. F. Moran Award for the best knife in the Moran style for his interpretation of a Moran fixed blade. “It wasn’t based on any one knife of his but more a general sort of impression of his body of work,” Matthew wrote. “That is to say, it is my design trying to work within his style—an interesting challenge!”

Mace Vitale

Mace Vitale captured the Antique Bowie Award for the best bowie in a 19th-century style by an ABS journeyman smith for a knife inspired by an antique piece made by Otto & Koehler of New York around 1850. The unusual knife features a markedly upturned blade tip and an ever-so-slightly downturned handle with a modified coffin-style butt featuring two carved lines and two rows of individually carved oblique divots that run its length. “The carving on the handles I’m positive were for extra grip. The knife has an excellent feel in the hand,” Mace observed. “There has been a bit of discussion as to the purpose of the original. As a knifemaker it was pretty clear to me when I picked up the original that it was very purposefully built to be a fighting knife.”

Antique Bowie Award, JS
Winner: Mace Vitale
Knife: Inspired by an antique fixed blade from New York makers Otto & Koehler from around 1850
Blade length: 6.5”
Blade material: W2 tool steel
Blade width: 1.25”
Blade @ thickest: 3/16”
Blade grind: Flat
Fittings and pins: Nickel silver
Handle: Mammoth ivory
Overall length: 11”

The Challenge: “The most difficult part of building this knife was trying to keep all the parts going the way I wanted. When making a knife like this, it is put together and taken apart many, many times, and I found myself constantly putting the handle or guard on upside down. I was glad once it was done.”

Jason Chen

Newly minted ABS journeyman smith Jason Chen of YunNan, China, won the Joe Keeslar Award for the best knife submitted by a successful JS applicant for a spotless reproduction of a bowie not unlike the antique L. Kimball knife. The fact Jason prevailed over the best knives of 13 other successful JS applicants adds to the difficulty of his winning this year’s Keeslar Award. He is to be congratulated—as are all of those receiving top honors at the annual ABS meeting.

New ABS Masters & Journeymen

Five applicants presented for ABS master smith and one passed. Twenty-four applied for ABS journeyman smith and 14 were approved. The panels of judges were chosen by the ABS. The smiths who made the grade were:
ABS master smith: Fabio Barros, Brazil;
ABS journeyman smiths: Cameron Alarcio, California; Jason Chen, China; Pieter-Paul Derks, Netherlands; Zane Dvorak, Ohio; Robin Gagchian, France; Chris Gardner, Nevada; Aidan Garrity, Connecticut; Erik Greiner, Texas; Tony Lewis, Arizona; Dan Lewis, New Mexico; Tony Severio, Louisiana; Warren Thacker, Tennessee; Thiago Vidotto, Washington; and Liam

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