Randy Madan, known as JR on social media, served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1992 to 1996 as a combat engineer. “I blew things up,” he said, laughing. Now, at 43, he has been a federal correctional worker for 20 years.
Randy Madan of Patriot Horde Knives hopes to be able to keep making knives when he retires from his job in the federal correctional system. Randy is supportive and encouraging of other veteran makers.
He always loved and carried knives, but he got his start in knifemaking in October 2016. “The knifemaker that I idolize, Michael Cleveland from Half Lives Knives, afforded me the opportunity to join a knife build-off for a veteran charity. Me being a vet myself, I jumped at the opportunity,” he explained. He has continued to make knives and to encourage other veteran makers.
Randy Madan of Patriot Horde Knives served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1992 to 1996 as a combat engineer.
“I am just a small-time maker, wanting to perfect my knives so that when I retire in a couple of years I can make more,” he said. Other makers who have helped along the way include John Savage, Ryan Schreiber, Denny Furey and Mark Wagoner.
Favorite blade steels: 1095 with plans to start using O1 and 80CrV2
Blade grinds: flat with plans to add hollow
How he tests his knives: shave hair, skive 7- to 9-ounce leather, cut ¼-inch bolts, chop 2-by-4s
Favorite handle materials: Voodoo Resins, Rob Carper Innovations, 8th Dimension Concepts and J Hue Customs. “I am a big fan of the hybrid materials,” Randy noted.
Price range: $250 and up
Forums he participate in: The Real Knife Makers of America, Global EDC and other Groups on Facebook
DaCleva has a 4-inch flat-ground blade made of 1095 steel with an acid-washed finish for a battle-worn look. Overall length is 9 inches. Scales are by Norman Robbins at 8th Dimension Concepts. Maker’s list price: $250 with Kydex sheath; $325 with leather.The Lil Chubby drop-point is 8 inches overall, with a 3.5-inch flat-ground blade made with random pattern Alabama Damascus Steel from Lacy Smith. The handle scales are from Norm Robbins from 8th Dimension Concepts. Maker’s list price: $300 with sheath. In 1095 steel at $200. Contacts listed at the bottom of this article.
Randy uses All Star Abrasives in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, for his abrasive supplies, which is what he puts to his hybrid scales to bring out their color.
Contact Randy Madan at [email protected], 760-885-9370 on Facebook at Patriot Horde Knives and on Instagram @the_patriot_horde.
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When Jerry Davis was a baby he was scooting across the floor and his grandmother dubbed him Scooter. He is a third-generation welder and fabricator. His dad made knives as a hobby, and by the time Scooter was a teenager, he, too, was making knives.
Schooter Davis, a Desert Storm US Marine Corps veteran, specializes in small everyday carry knives, skinners and survival knives.
At 19 he entered the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a heavy equipment engineer during Desert Storm. The Gulf War veteran served four years then returned to West Virginia.
Scooter Davis served in the U.S. Marine Corps during Desert Storm. The Gulf War vet then returned to his native West Virginia.
When he isn’t making knives, he’s attending rendezvous, living history gatherings that bring early American frontier days to life. He makes many items in his kit and, of course, period-appropriate knives.
“A primitive rendezvous is a living history event,” Scooter Davis explained. “I have enjoyed them since I was a child. It’s like taking several steps back in time and I enjoy crafting knives and other items that represent that time period [early American frontier].”He’s also a singer and musician, playing weddings, parties and other events, equally comfortable with Sinatra or Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The quintessential Renaissance man, Scooter Davis of Rough Run Forge, can also perform anything from smooth jazz to country.
“I’ve always been an artistic feller, always making things. I can make just about anything,” Scooter said. But what really inspired him was the quality of the work he saw coming out of other knifemakers. John Savage has been a good friend along the way. “My goal is to create blades worthy of being used in the outdoors.”
Best-selling knife patterns: small everyday carry, skinning, survival
Favorite blade steels: 1095 for ease of forging, toughness; 52100 for toughness, edge retention
Blade grinds: flat for deep cutting and skinning, convex Scandi for durability in hard use
How he tests his knives: field use, chopping mountain laurel, slicing paper, cutting small bolts, shaving
Favorite handle materials: Micarta for toughness and durability; wood and bone for beauty and value. “I am partial to rare and hard-to-find materials,” Scooter noted.
Price range: $150 and up
Online purveyors: Pendleton County Outdoors, www.pendletoncountyoutdoors.com
Knife shows he attends: Greater Shenandoah Valley Knife Show, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Member of: American Bladesmith Society
Forums he participate in: Facebook Groups, Knife Dogs, BladeForums.com
This bowie has a 13 1/2-inch blade made of pattern-welded steel by Zoe Crist Knives. The handle is comprised of elk antler, stainless steel and G-10 spacers. The maker’s own pattern-welded steel was used on the guard. Maker’s list price: $800. Contacts listed at the bottom of this article.Scooter Davis’ seax is 10 1/2 inches long with a 5 1/2-inch blade made from W2 steel with hamon. Avocado Micarta scales were used for the handle. Maker’s list price: $250. Contacts listed at the bottom of this article.The W.A.C.K.-1 (Wilderness Area Camp Knife) has a 5-inch blade forced from 1095 high-carbon steel. The scales are fashioned from OD green canvas Micarta with hunter orange G10 liners and a ½-inch stainless steel lanyard tube. Contacts listed at the bottom of this article.
Contact Scooter Davis at 540-560-1672, [email protected], on Facebook at Rough Run Forge and Instagram @roughrunforge.
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Forged knives are the focus of the latest BLADE®, on newsstands now!The Ikoma Korth Bearing System developed by Flavio Ikoma and Ricardo and Paulo Lala—here on a Korth Carved Reptile—helped revolutionize flipper folders.J.T. Oldham shares his views on whether you should reboot your knife collection in this issue.Find out where art knives such as this model by Dennis Friedly are headed in this issue of BLADE®.
Hot knives don’t get any hotter than those hammered to shape in the forge, and the latest BLADE® focuses on forged knives in all their radiant glory.
Chris Amos provides tips for novices on how to forge knives in this issue of BLADE®.Harvey Dean‘s damascus beauty won the Antique Bowie Knife Association Award for best period bowie by an ABS master smith. (Chuck Ward image)
How do you get started forging knives? High Endurance Performance Knife master bladesmith Chris Amos covers the basics every newbie bladesmith should know in “Top Tips for Novice Bladesmiths.” Attending hammer-ins is another must for those serious about forging knives, and BLADE Managing Editor Erin Healy tells you about one of the top centers of bladesmithing instruction, the New England School of Metalwork, in “Hammah-Time!”
Sometimes you need to start all over again, including with the knives you collect. Pat Covert interviews some top collectors for their views on the subject in our lead story, “Is It Time To Reboot Your Collection?” Throwing knives have been enjoying a resurgence lately, and James Morgan Ayres tries his hand at flinging some of the latest ones in “Bull’s-Eye!”
Art knives were among the hottest custom knives anywhere in the 1980s and ’90s but in recent years have been overshadowed by tactical and other knives. Dave Rhea examines the current state of the genre and where it’s headed in “Where To Now, Art Knives?” Gent’s knives have an across-the-board appeal for their looks, style and utility. Abe Elias tests four of the latest in “Steel-ish & Stylish.”
There’s much more in this issue, including how the flipper folder changed knife history, tests of two hunting knives, sharp holiday season gift ideas and much more in the latest edition of BLADE, on newsstands now or available in the digital edition. Or, you can subscribe to the domestic print, digital, Canadian print or international print editions.
“I was born a tinkerer,” Dwayne Horvath of Aku-Strike Knives of Pittstown, New Jersey, related. He was always taking things apart, from his father’s reel-to-reel video recorder to his car. By his own admission he was not great at school, but it was during those moments looking out the window, daydreaming, when ideas came to him—lots of ideas. It carried over into his car-racing days, his career as a successful fix-it man and now in retirement as a full-time inventor who daydreamed a trainer knife.
The Aku-Strike Mimic T-16 confirms contact with a red or green LED light and different tones for daytime use when lights are not as visible. Available in nickel or clear. MSRP: $41.95-$43.95. Contacts for Aku-Strike Knives appear at the bottom of this article.
The Aku-Strike Mimic T-16 came to Dwayne in a vision driving home one night from a training session at Alex Wilkie’s Martial Arts Academy in Bridgewater, New Jersey. “It was not a thought before it was a vision. The vision was possibly stirred by an emotion or feeling from training that night,” Dwayne explained.
Dwayne knew about the Shocknife, which is indeed useful for inducing fear in combatives training, but it’s is not something you want to learn on or use every day. Chalking the edges of training knives indeed leaves a mark to inform you and your training partner of a strike, but it’s messy and may not fully wash out of some shirts. There was a real need for another alternative.
Carlos Pipo Lopez and Samuel Yaron Brill, on the left, and Ray Dionaldo, on the right, all of FCS (Filippino Combat Systems) Kali, give Dwayne Horvath’s (second from right) Aku-Strike Mimic 16-T, an LED training knife with tones, resounding thumbs-up.
“I noticed some students going through the motions of training with the knife and wondered if they realize how deadly a knife can be. I then asked myself, ‘How could I be more aware of being cut and the danger of the blade and also convey to my partner that he is in danger or is being cut? We need something to alert us when contact is made, or what I coin, ‘confirmation of contact,’ while training,” Dwayne explained.
When you take away shock and chalk, you have light or sound left. “Now how do I make this work?” Dwayne asked himself. He had some knowledge of patents. He knew that if he designed something simple, he could get a broad patent. That would in turn mean he would need to minimize parts and keep the construction of the training knife simple. That is a challenge with all the patents out there. He knew he needed at least one switch to turn it on. Any more and he might be infringing on someone else’s design.
Then Dwayne asked himself, “What would be the best way to make the blade send a signal to the electronics? I started drawing and one hour later I figured out the basics. Of course, there were many thoughts and designs in between,” he added.
With the Aku-Strike in the sheath, the battery tray angle also serves to register your fingers to hook the handle for a quick draw. This is one feature that attracted Ray Dionaldo, of FCS Kali, as the feel was similar to his quick-draw knife. The knife also has a secure feel when your hands sweat. Contacts for Aku-Strike Knives are listed at the bottom of this article.
Dwayne was on his last chance with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. After reading many patents and going through a few attorneys, he got the patent worded appropriately. He then contacted an attorney who secured a patent. Two months later, Dwayne received the kind of broad patent he had hoped for. Then he got an additional patent.
The Aku-Strike Mimic T-16 has received endorsements from law enforcement agencies whose members must be thoroughly trained for whatever they might find on their beats, including an aggressor with a knife. Martial artists like Ray Dionaldo of FCS (Filipino Combat Systems) Kali, Doug Marcaida of “Forged in Fire” fame and Funker Tactical, the home of all kinds of fighting videos, have all given the Aku-Strike their nod of approval. Even, Setcan, the company that invented the Shocknife, has endorsed the Aku-Strike. The two training knives are not really competitors since one can be used on a more regular basis, while the other can be used periodically to maximize the intensity of a particular training session.
Dwayne had originally envisioned an aluminum blade. “I took it to an Airsoft range. Kids were swinging for the fences. OK, not safe with aluminum for teens, plus you know it hurts—that’s a given,” Dwayne commented. He moved on to polycarbonite. “The polycarbonite had limitations with flex and strength, but overall it was a win, and much more forgiving,” he emphasized. “As a matter of fact, it hurt much less than many rubber trainers and, of course, aluminum.”
Dwayne’s goal was to appeal to a wider, younger demographic that was just starting out with their combatives training to hardcore adult players of Airsoft and paintball. He also wanted to reach law enforcement and martial arts professionals. He finds the inventing to be easier than the marketing. But without that creativity, there would be nothing to market. Dwayne received the kind of encouragement and validation he needed throughout his life, later when his business was a success, but also earlier around the race tracks of New Jersey.
Dwayne Horvath of Aku-Strike Knives spent his formative years on the dirt-track speedways of New Jersey. He was given the encouragement and leeway to tinker, to daydream and now in his retirement he has invented a training knife that gives instantaneous pressure-based feedback through LED light and tone during combatives training. (Photo by Bob Snyder)
“At an early age, I loved racing and would go to Flemington Speedway, a local dirt track…It was a family event every weekend, consisting of fast cars sliding around the dirt track and a bucket of fried chicken,” Dwayne recalled.
“One night my favorite driver crashed real bad, destroying the starter’s stand,” Dwayne felt terrible and wanted to help. He got his father’s permission, and Howie Cronce took Dwayne to his house and let him help. “After school I would ride my bike about 10 miles to his shop, work to the wee hours.” Dwayne would eventually fall asleep and Howie would wake him, put his bike in the back of his pickup and take him home.
“In high school I wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I usually wanted to look out the window and daydream, but I did rebuild a teacher’s engine on his Studebaker and built go-carts from scratch.
“In my racing days, I had what some would call some crazy ideas (probably from daydreaming) about the workings of a car suspension,” he explained. He needed to learn more, but from where? In those days, access to the Internet wasn’t readily available. He decided to sneak into the library at a technical college and hit the books and microfiche to research the effects of tire-slip angles and G-force on race cars.
“I then saved money to buy a G-meter to put in our dirt car, which had never been done before. When uploaded to a laptop, this would show all the forces of breaking, acceleration and cornering in real time so we could see what and when things were happening.” Then adjustments could be made to the shocks, springs and geometry on the car. “I was invited to the Penski shop to study the new shocks we used and got to know Ray Evernham before he teamed up with Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports.”
And it’s been like that ever since. If grades were given out in daydreaming, Wayne would score an A-plus.
You can read your digital issues of BLADE Magazine anywhere you have your phone, tablet or computer, and there’s no need to find storage for all your old issues.
If piling-up issues of magazines seems like a waste to you… If you feel like you don’t have time to read a magazine… If you like the stories we offer in BLADE, but want a more economical option, then a digital subscription is the answer. An annual subscription to BLADE is $17.98, $4 off the print price.
Grand prizes include a free knife and pass to the 2018 BLADE Show in our Best Carved Jack-o’-Lantern Contest.There will be two Best Carved Jack-o’-Lantern Contest categories: Reader Favorite and Editor’s Choice.
Win your share of “ghoul’s gold” in Blademag.com’s first-ever Best Carved Jack-o’-Lantern Contest.
Halloween will be here soon, so now’s the time to break out that pumpkin and get to carvin’! While you’re at it and to add to the fun, you might as well enter our contest for the chance to win a ghoul’s gold in free prizes.
There will be two categories: Reader Favorite and Editor’s Choice. The grand prize winner in each category will receive a free knife and a free pass to the 2018 BLADE Show, the world’s largest knife show, June 1-3 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. Three honorable mentions will win free tuition to the 5th Annual BLADE University, which is held the day before the 2018 BLADE Show begins and on show Friday and Saturday, also in the Cobb Galleria Centre. BLADE University is the most comprehensive array of educational classes on all things knife offered by any knife show.
The rules are simple: Carve a pumpkin in a manner that you think will get the most votes from our voters. And feel free to get creative! Though many choose to make scary looking jack-o’-lanterns, you can carve a pumpkin in just about any design you like. Take pictures of your carved jack-o’-lantern and a picture of the knife you use to carve it, include the knife’s model name and brand, and email it all to us. Visit the site daily to view the entries and vote for your favorite. Meanwhile, tell your family and friends to go to our page and vote, too. Remember: One vote per person only please! We will announce the winner on Halloween, Tuesday, Oct. 31.
BLADE Show 2018 will host the 5th BLADE University with instruction from such teaching pros as ABS master smith Timothy Potier (right), here giving a few tips to budding knifemaker Zander Nichols.David Broadwell won Best Art Knife at BLADE Show 2017 for The Wanderer. (Ward image)The BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards will be named at BLADE Show 2018. The BLADE Magazine 2017 American-Made Knife Of The Year is the Kranos by Spartan Blades. (Ward image)BLADE Show 2017 hosted the Men’s and Women’s World Champtionship Cutting Competition. Nicole Worden shows her championship form in winning the Women’s Title for the second consecutive year.
BLADE Show 2018 will return to the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, June 1-3 for the 37th annual rendition of what has become the seminal event in the world of knives. More exhibitors and patrons attend the BLADE Show than any other knife event. Every continent in the world with the possible exception of Antarctica will be represented. Custom and factory knives in all categories—tactical, kitchen, EDC, art, utility, combat, commemorative, antique, bowies, hunters, skinners, daggers, camp knives, assisted openers, flippers, balisongs, neck knives, folders, multi-tools, swords, tomahawks, sharpeners, knifemaking equipment, displays—if it cuts, BLADE Show 2018 will have it.
BLADE Show 2018 will be many events within the event. The most comprehensive array of classes on how to make, use, appraise, collect, sharpen and otherwise do most everything concerning knives will be presented in the 5th Annual BLADE University held the day prior to the show and show Friday and Saturday. Free demos including a balisong-flipping competition, the BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition coordinated by BladeSports International, on the use of swords, knife and tomahawk throwing, what to look for in custom knives and many more will be offered show Saturday and Sunday. The annual meeting of the American Bladesmith Society, a special knife collection
BLADE Show 2018 will welcome back the balisong-flipping competition.
Make plans to attend the 37th Annual BLADE Show now. For hotel and other information click here. For the BLADE Show newsletter with regular show updates, click here.
Survival instructor and host of The Weather Channel’s new series “SOS, How To Survive,” Creek Stewart is releasing a new addition to his line of Whiskey Knives. The 7.75-inch-bladed tanto in A36 carbon steel is designed by Hank Gevedon of Reptile Toolworks with continual input from Creek.
Creek Stewart of “Fat Guys In The Woods” fame is hosting a new Weather Channel series: SOS, How To Survive. He is also adding The Rising Sun to his line of Whiskey Knives.
Creek runs Willow Haven Outdoor in Anderson, Indiana, where he teaches survival skills, provides some survival supplies and especially enjoys partnering with American artisans to offer items of high quality craftsmanship at affordable prices. His Apocabox is a subscription-based collection of survival items that arrives at your door every two months. He also offers a monthly survival skill program. Creek was the star of “Fat Men In the Woods,” and is again working with The Weather Channel on the new series. He is the author of an young adult survivalist romance titled “Rugosa.” A follow-up to that is also in the works.
In “SOS, How To Survive,” Creek and other survival experts analyze a series of real-life survival situations. They discuss what happened, what was done correctly by the survivors or what went wrong. The show started Sunday, August 20 and is ongoing. Throughout Creek offers tips that can be used in survival situations.
Creek Stewart Hosts The Weather Channel’s New SOS Series
Meanwhile back in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, Hank and his crew are gearing up to roll small batches of The Rising Sun into production by early 2018. Like all Whiskey Knives, The Rising Sun marries the early American frontier spirit and looks with the precision of Asia’s strong cutlery tradition. All of the knives are asymmetrically ground (so remember to only sharpen one side and just strop the other). The A36 carbon steel allows for a hard outer edge that is sharp and holds an edge with a tough inner core that is flexible and stands up to the rigors of hard outdoor use.
The Rising Sun from Whiskey Knives has a “ghost” guard that rides up the sheath, creating a striking visual when carried.
The handles are made from upcycled white oak whiskey barrel staves, which have already gone through a processing and aging. Fitting rivets are aluminum, and Whiskey Knives come with a 9-ounce belly leather sheath, stapled and dipped in paraffin wax. The Rising Sun’s sheath slides up through the knife’s ghost guard for an attractive-looking carry. MSRP: $189.
Contact Creek Stewart, Willow Haven Outdoor, 2867 N. 200 E., Anderson, IN 46012, www.creekstewart.com/whiskey-knives, on Facebook at Creek Stewart and on Instagram at @creekstewart.
A Digital Subscription To BLADE Is The Answer
You can read your digital issues of BLADE Magazine anywhere you have your phone, tablet or computer, and there’s no need to find storage for all your old issues.
If piling-up issues of magazines seems like a waste to you… If you feel like you don’t have time to read a magazine… If you like the stories we offer in BLADE, but want a more economical option, then a digital subscription is the answer. An annual subscription to BLADE is $17.98, $4 off the print price.
