Greg Martin (left) of Michaan’s Auctions watches as host Jamie Colby admires a katana from Robert Marek’s collection on “Strange Inheritance.” The show is scheduled for tonight at 9 EST on the FOX Business Network. (FBN image)
The knife and edged-weapon collection of a man who once drew the FBI’s attention in the infamous Unabomber case will be the focus of the “Hatchet Man” episode of “Strange Inheritance” on the FOX Business Network tonight at 9 p.m. EST.
Robert Marek dedicated his life to making and collecting knives, swords and axes, including bowies, battle axes, broadswords and more. His collection grew to over 5,000 pieces in all—so many, in fact, that the FBI got wind of it when it was hunting for the-then unidentified domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber. Marek’s interests in weapons and his association with the University of California at Berkeley were enough to move the FBI to interview Marek, though the federal agency quickly ruled him out as a suspect.
Marek passed away in 2015 and left his collection, which lined the walls and rafters of Robert’s Berkeley home, to his brother Tom. Neighbor Sara Wolf remembered one night when Robert invited she and her husband to dinner.
“I was in shock because it was these beautiful wood walls, but floor to ceiling axes and knives,” she recalled. “After we got in and the door closed, I kind of felt like we were never coming home.”
It is just such inheritances that are the subjects of “Strange Inheritance,” which is hosted by Jamie Colby. In its third season, the program is the highest rated one on FOX Business.
In tonight’s program, Tom takes Robert’s collection to auction to determine the value of the vast trove of blades, and the collection winds up being worth in the thousands of dollars. For instance, an early Plains tomahawk fetches $250, a rare Civil War hospital knife brings $550 and a Japanese Gunto sword goes for $700.
According to swordsmith Francis Boyd, probably only about 40 or 50 makers in the world could produce the pieces like the ones in Marek’s collection. Greg Martin of Michaan’s Auctions adds Marek must have conducted extensive historical research into the design of the ancient weapons to reproduce them with such stunning accuracy.
Knifemaker Tony Bose, one of the world’s leading crafters of custom slip joints and a long-time knife collaborator with Case, will be the featured attraction of “Handcrafted America” at 9:30 EST tonight on the INSP Network.
Hosted by Jill Wagner, “Handcrafted America” travels the USA to find the very best of what is made domestically, “seeking out extraordinary American artisans dedicated to crafting fine products the traditional way … with their own two hands.”
Tonight’s episode will originate from the Bose “Wilfred Works” knife shop in Shelburn, Indiana, where Tony has made some of the top traditional single and multi-bladed custom folders for many years. Bose, who recently entertained Case fans in the Case booth at the annual Shooting,
Knifemaker Tony Bose, author of this stag Saddlehorn trapper for the annual National Knife Museum knife in 2012, will be the featured attraction of Handcrafted America tonight on the INSP Network. (Kerry Hampton image)
Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas, was soft-spoken and humble as usual talking about tonight’s program. He said he thought the show would come out well, though he admitted he was not comfortable having to sit still for a makeup session and wear the makeup for the program’s filming.
It will be just the latest in the acclaim the talented maker has received over the years. He has been collaborating with Case on new factory knife designs and modifying old ones for over two decades and shows no signs of slowing down. His Case collaboration for 2017 is the Case Bose Tribal Lock, a single-blade lockback folder that comes in a choice of nine different handle materials. A regular exhibitor at the BLADE Show, Bose always sells out of knives at the show. His knives are so popular there, in fact, that his customers have to enter their names in a drawing for the right to buy one.
Survival instructor, author and TV star Creek Stewart cross-carries a Whiskey Knives Corvid.
When Matthew Stewart was 5, his grandfather gave him a nickname that would chart the course of his life. “I was always playing in the creek,” said Creek Stewart, survival instructor, author and star of The Weather Channel’s now-cancelled “Fat Guys In The Woods.” No matter the time or weather, the boy was at the creek—happy. Not much has changed, except the budding outdoorsman of yore has now built an empire on his comfortable, family-friendly style of survival instruction. All things Creek also includes the soundly crafted, old-timey line of Whiskey Knives, which in addition to being ideally designed for bushcraft and easy on the wallet, also offers some scaled-down versions of classic styles that hands of all sizes can control. You can read all about Whiskey Knives and how they are made in an upcoming issue of BLADE magazine. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up so you don’t miss it.
Creek is “everywhere” and there are good reasons for that, not least being that he is genuinely warm and friendly. “I like working with people,” he said. Creek was a Boy Scout and an Eagle Scout. The first E in the CRE///K logo is representative of a scratch from an eagle’s talons. He continues to be a devotee of the Boy Scouts of America and a counselor for the Wilderness Survival merit badge. He lives the Be Prepared Boy Scout motto, and opted for Not If But When as his own tagline. Yes, scouts are being taught all kinds of skills, explained Creek, “but they’re also building character and learning life lessons.” He listed perseverance, teamwork, manners, camaraderie—all things the Boy Scouts instilled in him.
At Butler University in Indianapolis, Creek first perused a pharmacy major, but the misdirection, the urban setting and a campus crow that thought it was an alarm clock brought him to an awakening. You can read about his adventures trying to snare the bird on his website at The Crow, but in summary, the crow reawakened Creek’s inner woodsman. He decided he wanted to teach wilderness survival skills and set about making it happen.
He settled on a business major, a plan that would serve him well. During his sophomore year, he wrote and illustrated a wilderness survival field manual that collected his knowledge at the time. He had the book printed and spiral-bound, and offered free classes at Boy Scout troops to peddle it. He sold books, but he longed for a way to bring his customers to him rather than traveling to them. He asked his parents if he could teach a class in the woods on the family farm. Although still unnerved by his switch in major, they agreed. He sent out press releases and 15 people showed up. He’s been teaching ever since, part-time for many years but never quitting on his dream.
Creek’s business schooling helped him hone his marketing strategy. His many brands include, in addition to Whiskey Knives, Willow Haven Outdoor Survival School where he teaches one-day and weekend getaway survival courses on his 20-acre property, complete with lodge, in Anderson, Indiana. He also is lead instructor for the Escape The Woods challenge, which takes place at various locales around the country. The Not If But When Survival Store, which his parents now run, offers a collection of widely available survival items. And, Apocabox is a bimonthly subscription; six times a year members receive a box of survival tools and gear, hand-picked by Creek. It also includes a challenge that you can practice in the calm and comfort of a non-crisis. For instance, the December box included instructions on making snowshoes from your Christmas tree.
Creek’s overview of Whiskey Knives includes a revelation: his first knife.
Creek also saw that writing was going to be essential to reaching the right people—namely men and women of all ages and abilities. (While other survival instructors might emphasize immersing you in a survival scenario while you’re still learning, Creek feels that people absorb more and retain it longer, if they’re warm, dry and fed.)
His best-selling book is “Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag,” but he offers one on putting together a bug-out vehicle, two on survival skills and an intriguing one on the survival skills used in “The Hunger Games.” But Creek has also written two fiction books. “Stuck” is a short story about a Boy Scout dropout who through a series of bad decisions finds himself in a crisis situation—quicksand!—that he can only survive by using what he learned in scouting. “Rugosa” is a young-adult romance, due out this month. The novel has been in the works for six years. “I’m really sticking my neck out on this one.” Creek is anxious to see if his fans “get” it. “I’m a survivalist, but I’m also a person,” Creek said. (Check back for an upcoming review.)
Some people learn about Creek via completely different avenues. They may read some of his guest posts on The Art of Manliness blog and other websites. “I’ve known Brett (McKay, founder of AoM) a long time. I’m so proud to be a part of that,” Creek said. The Art of Manliness celebrates men stepping boldly into their roles as men, husbands and fathers, and includes articles on everything from health and style to relationships and how to survive in the wild. Creek has also been a guest on television shows such as TODAY, Inside Edition and Fox & Friends. He’s been featured in magazines like Men’s Fitness, Backpacker and Outdoor Life. And he was the star of The Weather Channel’s hit show, “Fat Guys in the Woods.”
When IBM purchased the digital portion of The Weather Channel in 2015, many programs were slashed, and “Fat Guys in the Woods” was just one of them. The show provided Creek with the ideal outlet for his wildlife survival instructing and was an inspiration to viewers who wanted to spend more time in the outdoors or jumpstart a healthier lifestyle. Three sedentary buddies would spend a week with Creek, learning survival basics. The last 24 hours would be spent alone, each man building his own shelter and fire. Creek would award one of them with a knife-sheath set. One would stand out as needing encouragement, or being there for the right reasons or excelling in a certain skill. “He gave it everything he got—a job well done,” as Creek put it.
That kit was an Ontario Knife Company’s Black Bird SK-5 wilderness survival knife with a sheath designed by Paul Scheiter of Hedgehog Leatherworks. It was the sheath that had Creek thinking about how to fine-tune the products he offered going forward. “I love my parents, and every day I get to spend with them (at Not If But When) is a blessing,” Creek said. He’s also happy to provide a place where people can find all the products he recommends in one place. But what he really likes is working with small American businesses that reflect simple, well-made, traditional craftsmanship. “I like things that have a story.”
That quest for mom-and-pop entrepreneurship and throwback workmanship with a story behind it, is what led to one of Creeks proudest collaborations: Whiskey Knives made by Reptile Toolworks in Kentucky. To read more about this partnership and exactly how Whiskey Knives are constructed, be sure to subscribe to subscribe to BLADE magazine.
BLADE Magazine is all about the blade: what it’s made out of, how its made, to what specifications and even who makes it. Be sure to keep your issues coming as the months tick down to BLADE Show, June 2-4 in Atlanta, Georgia. At $21.98 you’ll save 70 percent off the newsstand rate. Other options include digital, Canadian print and International print subscriptions.
Chuck Ward is the new Official BLADE Show Photographer. (Chuck Ward image)
Long-time knife photographer Chuck Ward is the new Official BLADE Show Photographer, the BLADE Show and BLADE® Magazine are happy to report.
The BLADE Show is the world’s largest and most important knife show and will be held in its 36th annual rendition June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Chuck replaces Eric Eggly and PointSeven, who had been the Official BLADE Show Photographer for about 20 years. Eggly retired from photography late last year to enter another industry.
The new Official BLADE Show Photographer counts being president of the Arkansas Knifemakers Association and membership in The Knifemakers’ Guild among his credentials. He is also the official photographer for the Oklahoma Custom Knife Show and the Arkansas Knifemakers Association Show—officially known as The Art of Steel Custom Knife Show slated for Feb. 18-19 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. He has been photographing knives for over a decade and has been published in many magazines, including BLADE.
As the Official BLADE Show Photographer it will be Chuck’s job to photograph all of the annual BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® winners, all of the winners in the annual BLADE Show custom knife competition, and all of the American Bladesmith Society’s annual best knives named at the show. All told those images will total 32, give or take a few. The resulting images will be the exclusive property of BLADE and will be used in the magazine’s stories recapping the annual BLADE Show.
The Official BLADE Show Photographer will be ably assisted by his staff. His grandson, Brennan Ward, will help Chuck with the photography, editing and printing of images. Brennan’s wife, Mrs. Anna-Catherine Ward, will handle all clerical duties and Chuck’s grandson, Grayson Ward, will assist in returning knives after they have been photographed. Brennan and Anna-Catherine are graduates of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Brennan is director of marketing at Elite Core Audio, and Grayson is custom shop director at ECA.
The Blondie Man’s Blades, the latest in filework, the hottest knives of the hottest custom makers and much more highlight the new BLADE®, on newsstands now!
ABS master smith Wally Hayes was an up-and-coming maker when he first met Chris Stein at a late 1990s New York Custom Knife Show. The co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie featuring lead singer Debbie Harry, Stein has collected knives for decades and added another one to his collection when he bought Hayes’s first double-edged wakizashi at the show. Get the story on Stein and his knife collection in “Blades of the Blondie Man.”
The Blondie Man’s Blades are in the latest BLADE®, on newsstands now!
Filework is one of those understated yet elegant bits of embellished finery that many of today’s leading makers incorporate onto the spines of their knives. Daniel Jackson picked the brains of some of the top practitioners of the art in his story, “Cutting The Tool That Cuts”—which includes the Panama Trapper cover knife by Luke Swenson.
Staying abreast of the hottest knives of the hottest custom knifemakers is something the leading custom knife purveyors must do on a continuing basis if they want to keep bringing home the blade bacon. BLADE polled seven of the industry’s top purveyors to see which knives of which makers apply in “Top Of The Food Chain.”
Tactical knives have enjoyed varying degrees of popularity since the mid-’90s, but they never really go away for long before getting hot again. One of the reasons for their popularity is that they seem to constantly evolve to meet market needs. Get the lowdown on what is, isn’t and what’s to come in the genre in “Is It Tactical?”
The latest installment in our “Knives That Changed Knife History” is on the Buck 110. When the iconic folding hunter first appeared in 1964, lockback folding knives had pretty much faded into the background. The Buck 110 was big and strong and worn on a belt. It was much more a hardcore using knife than a pocketknife and it changed knives forever. Learn about the groundbreaking cutter in “The Buck That Went Bang.”
There’s much more in the latest BLADE. Get it on newsstands now!
Lightweight and with great balance, Cladio and Ariel Sobral’s stag-handle bowie dons a 10-inch, satin-finished san mai steel blade, stainless steel fittings and a Marcelo Sobral custom leather sheath. (Ward image)
Knives 2017, The World’s Greatest Knife Book.September 19, 1827, on a sandbar between Louisiana and Mississippi, there was first a duel and then a fight. The fight between Col. Robert Crain and Jim Bowie purported to last only 90 seconds, and those 90 seconds have been discussed and reviewed since that day. While the sandbar fight started the Bowie legend, man and knife, it was probably ant 1831 incident in Texas that solidified the legend. Three armed men, hired to kill him, attacked Bowie. The story goes that even though the attackers were armed with rifles, Bowie was the only man to walk away.
Bowie dispatched all three attackers using his knife. If interested in an in-depth look at the start of the Bowie legend, I highly recommend Dr. James Batson’s book titled James Bowie and the Sandbar Fight: Birth of the James Bowie Legend and Bowie Knife. Batson is not only an excellent researcher and writer, but also an American Bladesmith Society (ABS) master smith. His firsthand knowledge of crafting bowie knives gives him a special insight into the creation of Jim Bowie’s original knife.
Of all the great knifemakers and designers in the world, none of them have an entire category of knives named after them like Bowie does. The style of knife used by Bowie—now known simply as a bowie or bowie knife—saw some changes after the confrontation at the sandbar. Most notable were the addition of double guards to most bowies, and sharpened clip points with the appearance of the forward third of the blade spines being clipped off.
The knives bearing Bowie’s name gained such a reputation and following that they began to be mass-produced in Sheffield, England. Renowned makers such as Joseph Rodgers and George Wostenholm started making bowie knives. Estimates are that upwards of 70 percent of the bowies that went West with the first wave of pioneers came out of Sheffield.
Well balanced and exceptionally quick in the hand, ABS journeyman smith Steve Randall’s bowie boasts an 8.5-inch san mai steel blade, a Sambar stag handle, and a blued high-carbon-steel guard, ferrule and pommel, the latter filed to match the grooves of the stag. (PointSeven image)
The bowie knife enjoyed “must have” status for many soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. The bowie’s diversity was summed up by a historian of the time who described the knife style as, “ … long enough to use as a sword, sharp enough to use as a razor, wide enough to use as a paddle, and heavy enough to use as a hatchet.”
What is and what is not a bowie is the subject of numerous debates. Rezin Bowie, Jim’s brother who had the first knife made for his sibling, indicated the historic knife had a 9 ¼-inch blade. Given that there is no photo of the knife, we can only go by information historians have gathered. My take on the blade length of the first bowie is that it was between 9 and 11 inches.
I’d like to say I based this on Rezin’s comments but that is not the case. Certain blade lengths favor particular tasks. Bird-and-trout blades are usually between 2 and 4 inches. Hunters and skinners generally have blades in the 3- to 5-inch range. Camp knives often feature blades stretching from 5-7 inches, and fighters commonly sport blades in the 6-8-inch range.
Based on Rezin’s comment that the blade made for his brother was 9 ¼ inches, combined with the variety of chores that could be done with the bowie, the 9-11-inch range is where I place the bowie’s blade. All of the blade lengths mentioned are generalizations. Blade lengths are subjective, and different categories will often feature shorter or longer blades. I have seen gent’s or a gambler’s bowies with 4-inch blades and hunting knives parading 10-inch blades. When I see knives sporting blades that defy the conventional lengths of their category, I am reminded of my 7th-grade shop teacher who always reminded us to use the “right tool for the job.”
For going on four decades, Knives has been the most comprehensive and trusted resource in the knife world, delivering an entertaining and authoritative selection of features, industry reports and eye-catching knife galleries. The annual offers knifemakers, knife collectors, knife buyers and knife dealers the vital information they require. From reliable factory knives to custom-made gems, Knives 2017, 37th Edition cuts to the quick matter to raise readers’ blade IQ. Get Your Copy Now
Robert Scott Wolfrom sold his personal knife collection to start Blade Junkee, which sells custom and tactical knives to blade junkies worldwide.
Addicts: It takes one to know one, as the saying goes. It’s no different with knife junkies. Robert Scott Wolfrom, who goes by Scott, is the driving force behind Blade Junkee, a California-based custom and midtech knife purveyor. He’s a blade junkie himself, so he knows exactly how to feed the addiction in others. Knife junkies are always on to the latest thing, so Scott tries to be one step ahead of the next trend. One way he’s done that is to create a retail app, not just a mobile-responsive website, but a true app that you download to your phone from Google Play or Apple iTunes. Since its launch in 2015, approximately 4000 people have done just that, according to Scott. Websites will be a thing of the past, Scott predicts. “Phones are getting bigger. Younger people are doing everything on their phones. Most of them don’t even own a computer.”
In the 1990s Scott owned a custom flooring and milling business. That industry was decimated when exotic woods began flooding the market and China began producing cheap composites, Scott explained. Homeowners are currently suing Chinese manufacturers because they are getting sick from the formaldehyde used in lumber products coming from that country. Nobody understood the dangers of not using formaldehyde-free American-made flooring and molding at the time, Scott said. The end result was his company went out of business.
Blade Junkee is based in California but supplies knife junkies all over the world with custom and midtech knives.
He tried his hand at air conditioning manufacturing and construction, and he became a general manager in retail. Finally, in 2008 he thought about what he was passionate about: knives. He’d always been a collector, so he took a huge step. He sold his knife collection. He reaped $40,000 from the sale and sunk it all into his new business: Blade Junkee. The name came from his user name on knife forums.
“I am blessed,” he said about what he’s doing now through Blade Junkee. His wife, Jennifer, a school psychologist, helped him recognize his own knife addiction, and now he gets to collect all kinds of custom knives…and then sell them. “They come in and they go out,” he said with a laugh.
The Blade Junkee app offers a running list of custom knives that Scott has in stock. He is on knife forums daily, social media daily, he talks with makers and others in the industry daily. He explains that he must be following the trends in order to capitalize on what’s hot. A certain maker might be in demand for a while, or a certain construction method. Then it changes. Hand-rubbed could be in, or acid treated or the current psychedelic-looking craze. Then the trends circle back around.
Scott recognizes those cycles, because…well, he was a junkie. While some dealers can only take one or two knives at a time from a maker, Scott offers to buy eight or 10 knives at a time. The maker might say, That’s going to be $30,000; and Scott’s right there to say, Yeah, here’s $15,000 now. “It’s hard for a maker to turn that down,” he said. In this way, he never worries about whether he sells all the knives or not; if he doesn’t, he’ll have some set aside for when everyone’s scrambling to get one of that maker’s knives again.
The strategy appears to be working. In 2016, according to Scott, Blade Junkee did $1.3 million in sales. (In addition to selling custom knives, Scott also manufactures fittings, such as screws, that he sells to knifemakers.) Scott sees a lot of business from Russians, Thais and Europeans. He has customers who will spend $10,000 a month on knives. A customer may tell him, “The wife’s buying purses and shoes,” so he wants a knife that matches a particular watch.
But it isn’t just wealthy customers who fall in love with a well-crafted custom or tactical knife. Customers will tell Scott simply that he made them happy when he posted a certain picture of a knife. They might be having a bad day and seeing a picture of a well-made piece of art that Scott posted lifted their spirits. “There’s plenty more where that came from,” Scott says with a laugh. Not only does he understand buyers from both ends of the spectrum and their motivations, but it brings him joy to make them happy and feeds his own blade addiction.
If you think you can’t afford a knife you see on Blade Junkee (while you’re rocking out to, say, Rage Against the Machine or Bob Marley’s youngest son Damien), you’d be wrong. Scott offers Bladeaway, layaway for knives in four payments over a 45-day period with a 5 percent fee. This is a certain way to lock in the purchase of a knife at the current price. Some knives go so fast that Scott can’t keep them in stock because the makers aren’t mass-producing their work. “They’re artists, and I treat them like artists,” Scott said. Because of his willingness to purchase higher quantities of a maker’s work up front, a maker might pick up a call from Scott where he might avoid a call from a dealer who can only take one or two knives. This also gives Scott the ability to pick and chose which knifemakers he pursues, based on what trends he sees developing and what his junkies are clamoring for.
Although never a hunter, Scott used to fish, and like many of us, his first knife was a Buck. “I don’t drink. I don’t have kids. But I have a lot of energy. I know how to run a business. I have connections. I know how to make calls and make things happen.” And he is passionate about knives. Although Scott currently sees most of his business coming through the Blade Junkee website and social media, he can see every company having a mobile app in the future. He’s already one step ahead on that trend.
Know what your collection is worth
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This volume will help you understand the history of the knives you collect, how much they are worth, and how to spot a fake. You will learn how to grade knives for buying and selling, and how to take care of the ones you keep. Best of all, you don’t have to wait for mail delivery. You can begin reading your e-book version right away for $24.13, a 20-percent savings.
