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Some of the finest artists in the world would have trouble achieving the mermaid scene carved and sculpted into the titanium grip of the Arpad Bojtos fixed blade. For that reason alone it is one of the “Editors Favorites from the Knives 2013 Book.” The carved and sculpted grip is inlaid with gold, silver and mother-of-pearl, the latter also creatively carved, and attached to a Damasteel blade.
The knife image, by SharpByCoop.com, ran in the “High-Art Handle Work” chapter in the “State Of The Art” section of Knives.
EdgeCraft Corp. Founder, Chairman and CEO Daniel D. Friel, an acclaimed inventor, world-renowned for engineering the best-selling Chef’sChoice® brand of small kitchen electrics, passed away on September 21. He was 92.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our founder and beloved friend Dan Friel. He was a brilliant businessman, inventor and pioneer who forever changed the fundamentals of knife sharpening,” says EdgeCraft President Sam Weiner. “Building an enterprise that in a few short years became the world leader in sharpening technology is a true American success story. His unwavering commitment to quality and innovative excellence is a legacy that will live on through his family, friends, employees, the products he invented and the consumers who enjoy them,” says Weiner.
Born in 1920 in Queenstown, MD, Friel received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from John Hopkins University in 1942. He began his career on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago where the first atomic reactor was assembled. Friel then spent 39 years with the DuPont company where he helped pioneer such products as Riston® Dry Film Photo Resist, used in the manufacturing of circuit boards. At the time of his retirement from the company, he was the Worldwide Director of Instruments and Biomedical Products.
At the age of 65, Friel founded EdgeCraft, highlighted by the launch of its first Chef’sChoice® electric knife sharpener in 1985. Friel’s technologically advanced sharpener immediately earned the acclaim of food experts and chefs worldwide including Craig Claiborne, Pierre Franey, Jacques Pépin and Julia Child.
“Dan Friel literally established sharpeners as a separate and important product category in the worldwide consumer market,” says Weiner. Today, the Chef’sChoice brand is not only recognized as a market leader for professional knife sharpeners, but also for advanced cutlery and other upscale kitchen electrics including tea kettles, waffle makers, and food slicers.
Friel’s brilliance as inventor and businessman spanned decades, and two distinctive careers. During that time he authored numerous technical papers and hundreds of U.S. and foreign patents on his work at both DuPont and EdgeCraft. He was active with EdgeCraft Corporation until the last week of his life. He was also a founder and chairman of the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory located in Mt. Cuba, Delaware. He was a man of several passions who had an insatiable curiosity for all of life’s beauty and wonder. These passions led to several other personal achievements including pioneering the first high-speed photography studies of hummingbirds and most recently inking exquisite watercolor paintings.
Friel was married in 1943 to June, who passed away in 2008 and remarried in 2010 to Carolyn Blish. He is survived by his wife Carolyn, and three children, Barbara Holme of Denver, CO, Patricia Friel of Chadds Ford, PA and Daniel Friel Jr. of Kennett Square, PA, along with six grandchildren.
Featured in the “Take It To Your Graver” chapter in the “State Of The Art” section of the Knives 2013 book, C. Gray Taylor’s horse knife exhibits an antique-tortoise-shell handle, and at least 18 implements, such as a hoof pick, bleeding blade, main blade, file, saw, tweezers, cork screw, punches, awl, toothpick, and a tiny swing-handle folder, also with what looks like a tortoise handle.
The centerpiece of the handle comes in the form of a gold horse carved and engraved by Lisa Tomlin, and it is the coup de grace of an already astounding art knife. Bravo! The photo is by Eric Eggly, PointSeven Studios.
Get hunting knives designed by Alaska hunting guide/award-winning maker Russ Kommer or build your own via a Gene Osborn video at ShopBlade.com.
The CRKT Kommer 2-Shot Skinner is a smaller semi-skinner designed for the biggest game. The 3.15-inch blade is 12C27 Sandvik stainless and the handle is orange G-10. The accompanying horizontal sheath also has two pockets to handle ammo from .243 up to .338. ShopBlade’s price: $104, a savings of $26 over the regular cost.
For more info click on http://www.shopblade.com/kommer-2-shot-skinner-2840?lid=blss092912.
For a limited-edition Kommer skinner built in Russ’s Fargo, North Dakota, shop, check out GATCO’s 20th Anniversary Kommer model. The 3 9/16-inch blade is ATS-34 and the handle is black ash burl. ShopBlade’s price: $600, a savings of $150 over the regular cost.
For more info click on http://www.shopblade.com/gatco-20th-anniversary-kommer-knife-6020?lid=blss092912
If you’d rather build your own hunter, Gene Osborn’s “Kit Knife Video 2 Hidden Tang Hunter” takes you through the process from start to finish. ShopBlade’s price: $25.
For more info click on http://www.shopblade.com/kit-knife-video-2-hidden-tang-hunter-no-tang-showing-with-gene-osborn-w5378?lid=blss092912
These period bowies by Robert L. Appleby Jr. make my “Editors Favorites from the Knives 2013 Book” list because they scream early American knife renaissance. The clip- and spear-point bowies parade hand-rubbed, satin-finished 440C blades with fileworked spines, and cast white-bronze guards and pommels.
The sambar stag handle scales are inspired choices, particularly with nickel escutcheon plates and domed nickel pins. Each comes with a wet-molded leather sheath dyed ox-blood red with gold embossing and an antiqued nickel throat and tip. Getting excited yet? Me, too. The photo is by Chuck Ward.
The AUTONOMY, by SPYDERCO
•Designer: Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Sal Glesser
•Pattern: Automatic folder
•Blade steel: H-1
•Blade length: 3.65”
•Blade pattern: Sheepfoot/rescue
•Blade grind: Hollow
•Blade finish: Satin (and a future DLC-coated version)
•Edge configuration: SpyderEdge
•Handle material: G10
•Closed length: 4.92”
•Operating/locking mechanism: Modified button lock
•Weight: 5.5 ozs.
•MSRP: $350+
The Blade Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards are voted on each year at the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) by the show’s exhibiting booth holders, plus a panel of five special judges, the latter whose votes count double. The 2013 BLADE Show will be held May 31-June 2, once again at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
For the latest knives, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, and much more, subscribe to BLADE® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. Click on http://www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us/?lid=blss092712
