You’ve heard all about BLADE Show 2017 but you can get the inside scoop on the show’s hottest knives and knifemakers and what and who will be hot in the future as a result in BLADE®’s special 2017 BLADE Show Recap issue, on newsstands now! Or, if you prefer a digital copy, click here.
The world’s largest and most important knife event enjoyed its longest lines ever of patrons queuing up to get in, and the patrons packing aisles for much of the three-day event enjoyed the best knives and knifemakers the international cutlery industry has to offer.
Why was the show among the best if not the best ever? What were the demographics of the patrons who attended? What nationalities were represented most in
Wally Hostetter showed students how to do the Japanese handle wrap in his BLADE U. class during BLADE Show 2017.BLADE Show 2017 hosted its first-ever balisong competition coordinated by Blade HQ.
what has become a show teeming with knife enthusiasts from all corners of the globe? Did more women attend than ever before, marking a new, unprecedented wave of knife enthusiasts from the female side? How many patrons actually bought knives instead of kicked tires, and how much did they spend?
Speaking of knives, which patterns sold most? What sub-categories of exhibitors—knifemaking suppliers, acc-
BLADE Show 2017‘s BLADE University featured instruction for young and old, including Zander Nichols, 13, of Clovis, California.
essory makers and others—emerged in terms of high numbers of sales? And what does it portend for the future of the BLADE Show and the knife industry in general? These questions and others are addressed in “BLADE Show Stands Tall & Delivers” on page 12.
Of course, the BLADE Show is much more, including the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, the BLADE Show Custom Knife Judging Competition and the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame inductions. Get all the specs and fantastic images of the knives by new Official BLADE Show photographer Chuck Ward in the respective stories “Best Blades of Both Hemispheres” and “BLADE Show Custom Kingpins,” the latter including this issue’s cover knife, the CAS/Sam Lurquin Sub-Hilt that won the Hugh Bartrug Best In Show Award.
The announcement that Benchmade CEO Les de Asis and American Bladesmith Society master smith Jim Batson had been elected to the Cutlery Hall Of Fame was made earlier in the year, but why they were elected was revealed in detail during their official inductions during the BLADE Magazine Awards reception the Saturday night of the BLADE Show. Get the lowdown on their career accomplishments, their induction speeches during the reception and more in the special story on page 42.
The BLADE Show is also the place where factory knife companies introduce their latest knives, though this year’s show may have seen more new knife debuts than ever. Check out the fantastic array of production pieces in “All Blades Pointed to Atlanta.”
There’s more this issue, including a salute to Alfred Pendray, tests of locking folders and drop-point hunters, the new Case/Daniel Winkler collaboration, a retrospective of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Michael Walker’s landmark linerlock that changed knife history forever and much more, all in the latest issue of BLADE.
“Freeze edging” takes place during grinding, and it involves controlling the temperature on the edge of the blade. This helps retain the hardness following the heat treating, assuring sharpness and durability of the blade.
To check out the results of freeze edging, put the K-1 or K-3 from Reate Knives into your hands. The company uses it in concert with RWL34 steel, an alloy similar to 154CM made by Damasteel. Chromium, molybdenum and vanadium offer greater corrosion resistance, hardness and strength.
Learn more at the Reate website, and check out these models:
K-1
Ceramic ball bearing system
Blade Length : 3.8”
Blade Thickness:0.157″
Overall Length:8.8’’
Blade Material: RWL34 (Made by Damasteel company)
Hardness: 60-61HRC
Handle Material:6AL4V Titanium
Inlay Material : Marble Carbon Fiber/ Carbon Fiber
Weight:4.93 oz
Locking: Frame Lock
Notation knives dating from the mid-16th century were used to sing a pre-meal blessing and a post-meal grace. This example is on display at the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
They’re called notation knives, and they’re engraved with what amounts to sheet music for multi-voiced song. They’re indicative of the formal role music played in medieval dining, according to Flora Dennis, an art historian and author of the book “Re-thinking Renaissance Objects: Design, Function and Meaning.” Holding the knife in the left hand, edge up, diners could see the notes and lyrics for the benediction, or blessing, sung before a meal. After the meal, again held in the left hand, edge down, the knife showed the music for the grace, thanking God for his generosity. Since cutting was done with the right hand, the knives may have been ritualistically transferred to the left hand, or they may have been solely used for singing purposes. Dating from the mid-1500s, one notation knife is on display at the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the V&A (Victoria & Albert) Museum in London, where Ms. Dennis works. There are others—seven in Paris, three in Philadelphia, two in The Hague, one in Austria, some in private collections—but as much as is known, much more remains unanswered about these rare items.
In addition to the 16 surviving notation knives, there are also written references to at least four others, according to Ms. Dennis. Essentially, though, the knives have been overlooked by historians because they don’t fit neatly into either “knives” or “music” and have been relegated to curiosity status. All the notation knives share a similar look. The steel blades are broad with straight spines and triangular points on center. According to V&A curator Kristen Kalber they may have been used to proffer a slice of meat to a diner, the point skewering the serving. Then again, squires normally carved meat and that was a highly skilled, status-imbued position. Carving rose to the level of entertainment with offerings carved from cooked fowls and beasts held aloft on forks. So, while some knives seem not to have been used other than to sing from, others show wear on the point and were definitely used.
Museum Curator And Historian Bring Notation Knife To Life
In this 2009 video V&A Museum curator Kristen Kalber shows the notation knife in the museum’s collection and demonstrates its use. Flora Dennis, an art historian at the museum, discusses the project that allowed the music on the knife to be recorded. Ms. Dennis holds a PhD in musicology, specializing in early music, and through an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant she was able to convert the music into modern notation, and then work with the Royal College of Music to bring it to life.
The points and the bolsters are engraved with leaf scrolls and strapwork, often gilded. The handles are made of ivory and green-dyed horn or bone with copper or brass spacers. The ivory is decorated with foliage, empty tablets of scrolls, Arabic or Moorish designs or winged cherub heads inlaid in black. The pommels are adorned with silver spherical knobs. The engravings are usually in Latin, though some are in the vernacular. The one from the V&A reads Benedictio mensae (The blessing of the table) on one side and Gratiarum actio (The saying of grace) on the other. The musical stave runs the length of the blade. In the upper right is the voice part, in this case “Tenor.” What this means is that there were different knives for different voices, in some cases as few as five or six or substantially more than 20.
Royal College Of Music Singers Record Two Versions Of The Meal Benediction
Knifemakers across Europe at the time would have been members of guilds and were specialized. Handles would have been made separately and assembled by the cutler who sold them. Ms. Dennis’ writings detail how challenging it can be to pinpoint where the notation knives were made or by whom. Knives were being made in Solingen and Nuremberg, Germany, and in Milan and Brescia, Italy. Possible guild marks show up in the form of arrows, fluers-de-lis or clovers, and etched Ns can be found on many of the blades, but those are more likely an engraver’s mark. One of Ms. Dennis’ knife consultants intimated that a Nuremberg mark would be on the tang, not the blade. The best guess is that they were made in France, with Italianate influence or for an Italian patron.
Were the knives collected after the gathering or did each singer keep his or her knife? In Ms. Dennis’ summation, judging by the scattering of surviving pieces, the latter might be more likely. It could also be that the knives were made for a group, such a monastery. In some instances, the strict, mass-like approach to such a shared meal could result in latecomers being fined for missing the benediction. What is clear is that the knives are not all from the same musical piece; there are two separate pieces of music represented by the known notation knives.
Royal College Of Music Singers Record Two Versions Of The Meal Grace
Interestingly, the notation knives are representative of both coming together and separating. It is the very nature of a knife to cut apart, but in this instance it is for the purpose of sharing, both repast and praise.
As Ms. Dennis writes:
“Benediction and Grace texts are inherently collective, expressing notions of conviviality and sharing. The knives reiterate this idea, needing to be brought together in a social context in order for their music to function. Simultaneously, however, they represent a contradictory action of dismembering and dividing. By slicing meat, the knives permit it to be shared between the gathered company in the same way that dismembering and scattering the musical text across the knives enabled a group to perform it collectively. The acts of uniting to say the Benediction and Grace, uniting to eat, and uniting to sing become inextricably intertwined with those of separating, dividing and sharing both meat and music.”
The Bladecrafing Ultimate Collection includes two paperbacks and four ebooks for $34.99
Makers can’t go wrong with this collection. You’ll get two paperbacks: the third edition of “Blade’s Guide To Making Knives” and “How To Make Knives; and four e-books: “Greatest Loveless Knife Designs,” “Knife Grinding Secrets,” “Making Everyday Carry Knives” and “Fashioning A High-Tech Folding Knife.” Normally, this collection would cost over $70, but you can get it for half that.
Michael Zieba applies distal taper to the blade of his Brooklyn Made folder. (SharpByCoop image)Note the gradual distal taper of the blade from just above the bolster to the blade tip on Peter Swarz-Burt’s chef’s knife. (SharpByCoop image)
Distal taper makes knives feel more lightweight, quicker in the hand and easier to use. However, the concept affects more than just weight. It also distributes balance so the knife feels neither top nor bottom heavy. In other words, the knife is well-balanced so that it goes where you want it to and cuts how you want it to when you want it to. It looks cool, too.
How does distal taper work? It’s pretty simple, really. The maker removes steel, usually by grinding, from each side of the blade beginning at the ricasso, that is, from just forward of where the blade and handle meet, and ending at the blade’s tip. The effect is of the cross-section of the blade gradually thinning, or tapering, toward the tip. Less steel means less weight and, if removed properly, better balance for the knife. Some makers apply taper to the tang as well, beginning the tapering just below where the blade and handle meet and gradually thinning the tang toward the handle butt. However, in general, the concept is identified more with the tapering of the blade than the tang.
At bottom is the distal taper flat grind and at top is the parallel flat grind. Each image includes both side and overhead views. As you can see, the angle is “blunter” with the parallel spine. The point will be thinner and not as strong with the distal-taper spine. However, unless you simply want to punch holes with your blade, the knife with the distal-taper spine will be more efficient at cutting and chopping (Jim Crowell drawings)
ABS master smith Tim Hancock said tapering is most important on larger, thick blades such as those in the 3/8-inch range that often are heavier and benefit from the weight reduction for quickness and ease of use. “The thinner the blade, the less important distal taper is,” Hancock said. “In fact, full-length distal taper on a bowie blade of a 3/16-inch thickness and an 8-inch length would leave the tip area so thin and weak that, in my opinion, it would be an inferior knife. To me, it’s a process of speed and strength. Some balance between the two must be considered to make a superior knife.” Conversely, ABS master smith Jim Crowell said, if done properly, even a blade with a thin spine can benefit from tapering. “The degree of taper won’t be as much as on a thicker spine—in fact, it will be very subtle—but even then it provides the most efficient cut,” he noted.
Tom Buckner takes what is already a thin blade and makes it even leaner toward the tip via distal taper. (SharpByCoop image)
Larger hunting knives, camp knives, some bowies, fighters and knives used in cutting competitions where quickness and cutting ability are keys will benefit from being tapered. On the other hand, ABS master smith Mike Williams said he did not think distal taper was important for the rope cutting of the cutting competitions except for the balance of the knife itself. “It’s like using a fillet knife versus a butcher knife,” he continued. “When cutting rope you want the weight forward.” Since tapering removes steel toward the end of the blade, the process does not result in a knife with the weight forward such as a khukuri, for instance. Knives designed for cutting meat and paper will benefit from distal taper because it promotes a thinner edge that produces less drag, he observed.
According to ABS master smith Jarrell Lambert, reduced weight, quickness and balance are not the only benefits of tapering. He adds another: flexibility. He indicated distal taper gives the blade more of it and spreads the stress more evenly throughout the blade than one made of the same material but without distal taper.
Crowell added another benefit of tapering: greater edge penetration. “Distal taper allows the cutting edge to have a smaller degree of angle progressing down the blade, resulting in less drag and producing greater penetration into the medium with a said amount of energy,” he explained. “As a result, a blade with distal taper will always cut more efficiently than the same blade with a parallel spine.
“If you want weight in your blade, maybe for chopping, increase the width of the blade, but have a distal taper. This will provide the weight needed but also a lesser degree of angle on the edge. Consequently, you will have the best of both worlds.”
Travis Payne of T-Bone’s Custom Creations was hesitant at first, but when Kelly Pilcher asked, he made a knife with her rib. The overall length on this spey knife is 6.75 with a 2.5-inch cutting edge.
Kelly Pilcher of Collinsville, Texas, was 20 years old when doctors told her that hope of regaining feeling in her right side lay in having her first rib removed. She put the surgery off for as long as she could, but at 22 opted to go under the knife to alleviate her thoracic outlet syndrome. During surgery preparations Kelly asked, “‘What happens to body parts that come out of people?’” She was told that they were disposed of properly, but that if she wanted to take her rib home with her, she could. It was hers. She was adamant that she wanted to keep it. When she awoke from surgery, her dad was there and he had an idea of what to do with the bone. Shane Pilcher works at the New Gainesville Livestock Auction barn and when someone had mentioned making a knife with the rib, they knew just who to ask. Travis Payne, of T-Bones Custom Creations in Telephone, Texas, makes castration knives so all the cattlemen knew he could fashion a knife made from her rib. “Let’s do it!” Kelly remembers saying.
Travis Payne is renowned for his castration knife design. It is often copied by manufacturers using low-grade steel. Look for the T-Bone’s makers mark to ensure you’re getting the real thing.
TOS is a condition in which the surrounding soft tissue constricts nerves and blood vessels between the collar bone and first rib. Normally it is something diagnosed in people in their 40s to 60s, more commonly women, or perhaps mail carriers who consistently carry a heavy bag on their shoulder. Kelly was diagnosed when she was 14. It is believed in her case that years of catching slow-pitch softball as well as playing volleyball may have constituted the kind of overuse usually only seen in older patients.
By 17 Kelly had undergone a year of physical therapy. Although the therapy improved the symptoms of her TOS, it did not eliminate them. She went for an additional course of physical therapy a couple of years later, but the results were not as good. Her condition continued to worsen. “It’s different in each person,” she explained. She endured numbness that started in her arm, but then advanced to her whole side. Although she learned how to teach her body to move when numb, she was left with few options if she wanted to become fully functioning again. She decided to have her rib removed.
Shane Pilcher wasn’t sure about his daughter Kelly’s plan to keep her rib, but the cattlemen at the livestock sale barn convinced him that a knife might be the perfect solution. “I don’t leave home without it,” Kelly said of the knife Travis Payne fashioned from her first rib.
Shane had been at the livestock sale barn and was expressing some hesitation about Kelly’s decision to keep her rib. Someone pointed out that knives are made with animal bone and antler all the time, why not a human bone? “‘And doesn’t T-Bone make a knife?’” Travis said, recreating how the conversation may have gone at the barn. Since 1993 when Travis was still in high school he’d been making knives. His father and brother work the ranch where he lives in Telephone, Texas, but he makes knives full time. He is renowned for a style of castration knife that is frequently copied, most annoyingly by manufacturers using cheap steel. Since Travis’ father-in-law frequents the same sale barn where Shane works and the barn owner had purchased several of Travis’ knives and many of the cattlemen owned his knives, he was the first knifemaker that came to mind. Shane warmed to this idea and presented it to Kelly in the recovery room.
Travis Payne was nervous about slicing Kelly McGuire’s removed rib. What if it broke?
Like everyone involved in the project—except Kelly—Travis was hesitant, but he agreed to make the knife. He decided on his 3100T everyday carry model, a spey in cowboy parlance, usually the second blade on an old-school slipjoint trapper. Only this would be a fixed version. “It came to me in a hospital specimen jar,” Travis said, taking a drag on his cigarette and waiting for the laughter. “With the meat still on it.”
He approached the project like he would any deer skull. “Only I knew I wasn’t going to be using my wife’s cook pot,” Travis said, laughing. He bought a throw-away pot and boiled the bone to get off any connective tissue. Although bleaching a bone works, it also can break the bone down. Travis soaked the 3-inch bone in hydrogen peroxide for a week. The same whitening was achieved without compromising the strength of the bone. Then he let it dry for several months, providing a convenient delaying excuse. The bone was very thin, only an 1/8-inch at its widest point. Travis feared breaking it.
Once the rib was clean and dry, knifemaker Travis Payne was able to see its true size. It would need to be cast in resin if it was going to be used as a knife handle.
“I had to regroup and talk to Kelly,” he said. She remembers the call. He explained to her that the bone was too small and thin to make a handle out of, but that he could arrange for it to be cast in resin. Only he would need to slice it down the middle to have bone on each side of the handle. He could break it in the process. “I told him to go for it,” Kelly said.
“Anyone who knows me, will tell you that I procrastinate,” Travis said. He continued to analyze the problem. Meanwhile, he needed to find someone who would cast a human rib. Travis figured if anyone would do it, it would be Robert Belcher of Mental Co. Robert eschews phones and social contact, but his resins like Plantstone are innovative. “‘No, but hell no. I can’t be touching that,’” Travis recalled him saying. Travis moved on and got similar responses, but at least there was no point cutting the rib if he didn’t have someone lined up. Finally, he took the rib to a show and unwrapped it for Pat Ankrom, of Ankrom Exotics in Centerville, Iowa, specializing in natural and cast scale materials. “Pat was like, ‘I’m leery, but I also think it’s kind of cool,’” Travis said. The men discussed the casting, and Pat agreed to do the job. Pat did not want something to happen to the bone in the process of packing up from the show, so Travis said he would mail the rib to him.
Travis Payne, 41, started making knives in high school before everyone had access to the Internet. He’s been a knifemaker for 20 years.
Now Travis had no choice but to cut the bone, but it was a nerve-wracking proposition. Travis wasn’t about to charge a young woman who didn’t have a lot of money and who had a debilitating condition more than the $200 he normally charged for such a knife, but in hindsight the cost to attempt something like this again would be closer to $500, Travis said. Kelly, of course, was excited to both see the knife and to have her rib back in her possession, so periodically she’d call for a status update. Finally, Travis got his courage up and sat down with a jeweler’s saw. “Even with a jeweler’s saw it was a tedious process,” he said. The whole project was “intense,” he said, laughing.
The two halves were packaged up and shipped to Pat, an exercise in trust in itself. Meanwhile, the blade awaited. It was made out of PSF27, a powered version of D2 that allowed for a true mirror finish. The lack of a point on a spey design means it’s ideal for active cattlemen, ensuring nobody stabs themselves or punctures a sheath. It has a hollow grind, and a finger groove for more controlled cutting. The file work on the spine increases a sure grip in what can be wet or messy work.
The bone was cast in clear resin so you could see it, but so that you couldn’t see the full tang Travis consulted with Kelly about colors. She was open to a turquoise or blue. Travis added a blue liner, which casts the clear with a blue tone. The knife was then sent to Jack Andress, who made a sheath in a yellow leather, complimenting the blue perfectly.
How’d it come out? “I love it,” Kelly declared. Shane and Kelly came together to pick up the knife from Travis. Kelly said that she’d had that rib her whole life and she saw no reason why she shouldn’t have it with her for the rest of her life. She carries it everywhere, either on her person or in her vehicle. Although she does use it, she tries not to. Her surgery was a success, and feeling has mostly returned. There is no cure for the many variations of TOS and symptoms can return, however, Kelly’s pluck and resolve are ever-present. “I can’t complain,” she said.
Which Knife Designs Work?
Do you want some fresh inspiration for your knife designs? The best inspiration is to look at the designs that have lasted and learn why.
“101 Knife Designs” gives you 101 scaled patterns that you can use to design your own knives. Learn how to compare patterns and understand how some designs survive the test of time. If you’ve enjoyed Murray Carter’s other writings, you will be sure to enjoy this one. On sale now for $19.53.
A cool camp cutter is a must to help you fully enjoy the fun and sun of summertime in America. Whether you are wilderness camping or simply spending a leisurely day at the lake, some of the latest models will make your experience easier and more satisfying.
Eating outdoors can be a challenge. Enter the new Tactical Spork from KA-BAR. Featuring the stacked-handle design made famous by KA-BAR’s iconic USMC fighting/utility knife, the Tactical Spork is a fork/spoon combo with a 2.5-inch serrated blade that screws into the handle. The Tactical Spork is made from food- and water-approved Grilamid. MSRP: $8.32.
CRKT addresses outdoor dining with the Eat’n Tool XL. Designed by Liong Mah of Palm Bay, Florida, the Eat’n Tool XL consists of a spoon/fork combo and a
lso has a bottle opener, GI-style can opener and a flat screwdriver (6.8.10mm hex), and carries via a non-load-bearing carabiner clip. Made of 3Cr13 stainless steel, it’s 6.13 inches overall and weighs 2.7 ounces. It comes in a choice of silver and black finishes. MSRP: $14.99.
Cool Camp Cutter No. 3: Camp Axe
Cool Camp Cutter No. 3: Buck Camp Axe. MSRP: $71.
If you need something a bit more substantial to split kindling, hammer tent stakes or otherwise handle heavier-duty jobs, Buck‘s Camp Axe is the ticket.
At 12.25 inches overall, a weight of 17.2 ounces and including an injection-molded nylon sheath, the Camp Axe is an ideal size for convenient carry and a wide spread of utility jobs. The 3-inch head is forged, powder-coated, high-carbon steel and the ergonomic haft is high-impact plastic. MSRP: $71.
A knife that will cut, double as a screwdriver, comes equipped with a jump ring and also will open a bottle of your favorite beverage is an outdoor necessity, and the Shuffle from Kershaw fills the bill. The short (2.4 inches) but wide blade of 8Cr13MoV stainless steel in a black-oxide coating should be legal in most jurisdictions, and the manual-opening folder features a K-Textured glass-filled nylon handle with a single-position pocket clip. Weight: 3.5 ounces. Closed length: 3.25 inches. MSRP: $34.99.
Cool Camp Cutter No. 5: Hobo
Cool Camp Cutter No. 5: Case Hobo. MSRP: $134.
A traditional pocketknife equipped with a clip blade, fork/can opener and spoon makes the Case Boy Scouts of America Hobo an ideal choice for most any outdoor junket. Stainless steel blades/implements and a natural handle complete this utilitarian classic. Weight: 7.7 ounces. Closed length: 4 1/8 inches.
The knife includes Boy Scouts of America and BSA logo blade etches and a BSA logo shield. MSRP: $134.
Pete Sloan made two neck knives for the wife and son of his friend and fellow maker Spencer Aplin. He used his daughter’s hand to perfect mini knife’s design, ensuring it fit the tiny hands of Lisa Johnson Aplin and son Alexx who suffer from brittle bone disease.
“One thing that Spencer is very good at is knowing what I’d like,” Lisa Johnson Aplin said. Lisa is the co-founder and chief operating officer of STA Custom Knives out of Brazoria, Texas. She and knifemaker Spencer Aplin were married in 1993, and together they have a son Alexx who will be 24 in a couple of months, a journalist and sometimes quality controller in his father’s shop. Lisa had no idea that a Sloan Custom Knives creation she admired had already been custom-ordered for her by her husband. Lisa suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, so although she does not have dwarfism and is therefore not a “little person,” she is a very little person. The one thing that Pete Sloan has plenty of access to is little people in the form of children, 9 to be exact. So, he used one daughter’s hand to perfect the mini knife fit and design.
Erin Sloan is 9 now, but she was 5 when her dad, Pete, asked her to help him custom-fit a tiny neck knife. Erin is one of 9 Sloan children.
Lisa’s favorite color is green and Spencer had been admiring a green knife he saw on Facebook that his friend Pete had made. “He asked me if I could make one for his wife,” Pete said. Pete was surprised and honored that Spencer, a maker he greatly admires for his knifemaking in general and blade-carving in particular, would ask him for a knife. Pete told Spencer that he was welcome to make the knife if he wanted, but Spencer said, no, that Pete had a good command of the Wharncliffe design and he wanted Pete to make it.
Pete Sloan started out with an old 4-by-36-inch belt grinder–generally considered underpowered and not ideally configured for knifemaking–and some hand files. “I liked it,” he said.
Humbled, Pete was determined to get it right. But he lived in Medina, Tennessee, and had never met Lisa. He only had Spencer’s description of her size to go on. Lisa is 2 feet, 10 inches tall. Pete’s daughter Erin was 5 at the time. So, he roughed out the 440C stainless steel blades and then with a Sharpie marked the first finger groove using Erin’s grip as a guide, grinding until it was just right for her petite hand. Spencer requested the stainless steel because the Aplins live next to salt water, and he wanted to minimize corrosion. Pete said he mostly gets requests for pattern-welded steel.
Spencer Aplin of STA Custom Knives, standing, took his son, Alexx, and wife and business partner, Lisa, to the 2015 BLADE Show.
If you’ve ever seen the movie “Unbreakable” starring Bruce Willis, you know what osteogenesis imperfecta entails. Mr. Glass’ character, played by Samuel L. Jackson, has a form of the condition that allowed him to grow to full height, but his lifestyle is still hampered by debilitating bone breaks. Lisa and subsequently her son Alexx have Type III OI. A genetic mutation causing a lack of collagen, subsequently prompting connective tissue issues. The result is that bones fracture easily and those with the affliction will be short in stature with a curved spine and barrel-shaped chest. Type I is the most mild form of the condition, Type II and Type VIII the most severe and most often fatal. Types III through VI vary in symptoms and genetic causes. OI has been traced through mummies back to 1000 BC Egypt. Even though the condition has been around a long time, there is still no cure.
Pete Sloan used green-dyed curly maple for the scales on Lisa Aplin’s knife and blue-dyed and natural sycamore for Alexx’s. You can contact Richard Beam on Facebook for such impregnated wood products.
Pete used stabilized curly maple dyed green from Richard Beam at Nicholas Impregnated Woods to make the handle for Lisa’s knife and a combination blue-dyed and natural sycamore for Alexx’s. Each came with a Kydex sheath and cording to wear around the neck. At the 2015 BLADE Show, Lisa finally met Pete in person and he presented her with the knife. She loved it! “Green is my favorite color,” she said. She uses the knife all the time, opening boxes that come to the shop and for everyday uses around the house. Although it can be used for food preparation, Lisa doesn’t cook, she said laughing. Spencer does the cooking. She treasures the knife. “It’s one of my favorite’s in my collection.” She continues to be impressed with the fit and with how Pete obtained it.
Push Kydex sheaths away with your thumb rather than struggling to pull the knife out. If they are too tight, contact the maker. He can heat and loosen the fit while still ensuring the knife does not fall out.
The only thing that Pete could not have accounted for was hand strength or lack thereof. Both Lisa and Alexx had a hard time drawing their knives. Spencer simply heated up the sheaths and worked the knives in them so that they released more easily without falling out. “It not something he could have known about,” Lisa said. “I think he did a great job.”
When asked how she adapts to daily activities in a full-size house at her stature and in a wheelchair, Lisa’s answer was immediate and delivered in as cheery a tone as everything else she talks about. “The great thing about being married to someone who works with his hands,” Lisa explained, “is that Spencer can make me anything I might need customized.” The Sloan Custom Knife was an unexpected surprise, but in hindsight typical of Spencer to have picked out exactly what she would have picked out for herself long beforehand.
It’s a challenge to get all the Sloans in one place. This is the whole family minus oldest daughter, Becca, who is in the U.S. Air Force.
Pete visited Spencer before the 2017 BLADE Show and the two slept little working hard to finish up knives to sell. Spencer and Pete make knives with similar styles as Spencer shares his knowledge with Pete. And if Pete ever needs another hand model, he can turn to one of his and his wife, Holly’s, nine children, some biological, some adopted, some that came by other means: Becca, 19; Carson, 18; Gage, 15; Brant, 14; Makenzie, 13; Leigha, 10; Erin, 9; Madeline, 8; and Grace, 7. The couple used to be foster parents. “There a story to just about all of them,” Pete noted with a laugh.
Contact Pete Sloan at [email protected] or on Facebook at Sloan Custom Knives.
These mini neckers are 4.25 inches overall. The 440C stainless steel blades are 2 inches. The full-tang construction allows for a lanyard through hole. These were designed for child-sized hands, but come in larger versions. Handle material is impregnated wood from Richard Beam. Maker’s list price: $200 shipped with Kydex sheath.
Are You Looking to Perfect Your Own Everyday Carry?
Another thing you’ll learn more about in Wayne Goddard’s “Making The Everyday Carry Knife” is selecting the right materials for a handle that lasts.
“Making the Everyday Carry Knife” by Wayne Goddard includes information on how to determine the best blade and handle length. You’ll also get tips on how to use your computer to assist you in designing your knife, plus lots more including grinding and tempering techniques and tool suggestions. At only $4.99 in digital format it’s a wealth of information at a steal.
