Innehållsförteckning för March 2023 från Blade

Blade|March 2023

READERS RESPOND

“THE DIFFERENCES MAY ONLY BE IN THE STEEL. I DIG IT!” Viva la Steel Differences In response to the writer of “Outside Looking In” (page 6, January BLADE®), sorry that Spyderco isn’t your bee’s knees. I know for a fact that the knife market is not saturated; maybe you should try your luck manufacturing knives. Use your astute observations to create something. I’m not a huge collector, 100 knives max, and have around 20 Spyderco knives, fixed blades and folders. Blindfold knife collectors and allow them the opportunity to open, close and feel 100 knives, and I bet they could pick the odd one out of the bunch. Design pedigree and differences in manufacturing are the only thing the blindfolded knife collectors can rely on in this case. It should…

2 min

Blade|March 2023

My, Oh, My, COPPER-MAI!

By now most knife enthusiasts are familiar with pattern-welded steel, commonly called damascus, whose re-invention for use in knife blades is attributed to BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bill Moran (page 50). The damascus world has since exploded with complicated mosaics, exotic-tiled canister billets, and, more recently, even some interaction between pattern welding and 3-D printing (page 42, November 2022 BLADE®). These new techniques are mind-blowing for sure. One of the hottest new trends in damascus is the inclusion of copper into pattern-welded billets. Commonly called copper-mai, copper san-mai or cu-mai, the technique has been brought to near perfection by Coy Baker at Baker Forge & Tool. In 2019 at the request of a customer, Baker created his first copper damascus billet. Starting with Baker as a one-at-a-time weekend garage…

9 min

Blade|March 2023

Patriot’s EDGE

Editor’s note: Last issue we outlined some of the latest in factory hawks and the like. Th is time it’s the custom industry’s turn. At BLADE Show 2022, I visited six makers’ tables specializing in tomahawks, hatchets and axes. In addition, there were probably another 10 tables with a variety of hawks and hatchets. They ranged from very basic, with a minimal finish on the steel, to exceptional damascus heads. The price point for the more basic models was between $250 and $450, encouraging enthusiasts to buy and use them as intended. Forged knives have been front and center in the custom knife community for the past seven years, with an ever-expanding market for specialized tools, camp knives and bushcraft knives. As a result, I expect to see an increased…

7 min

Blade|March 2023

WHERE TO GET ’EM

COPPER-MAI P. 12 Coy Baker, Baker Forge, info@bakerforge.com; Jordon Berthelot, jbblades@yahoo.com or jordonberthelot@yahoo.com; Bubba Crouch, Dept. BL3, POB 461, Pleasanton, TX 78064 210-846-6890 bullhippie1@gmail.com; Joe Edson, Edson Razors, Dept. BL3, 908 SE Bayshore, Corvallis, OR 97333 970-768-1843 joe@edsonrazors.com; Christopher Farrell, Dept. BL3, 127 Roy Davis Rd., Ste. 3D, Elgin, TX 78621 512-820-6138 fearghalblades@gmail.com; Adam Fromholtz, Canberra Australia, knife-man@hotmail.com; Jerarmie Heywood, Oblivion Blades, Dept. BL3, 15 Broughton Way, Lakelands, NSW, Australia 22820402584570 oblivionblades@yahoo.com; Dan Hubbs, Dept. BL3, 5947 Road 32, Hawksprings, WY 82217 308-631-2022 dhubbs@live.com; Andrew Mochado, Dept. BL3, 1903 Butler St., Leesburg, FL34748 352-396-9284 vikingchefforge@gmail.com BLADES OF THE USA P. 24 KA-BAR, Dept. BL3, 200 Homer St., Olean, NY 14760 800.282.0130 fax 716-790-7188 www.ka-bar.com, info@ka-bar.com; Rick Hinderer Knives, attn: R. Hinderer, Dept. BL3, 5371 Columbus Rd., Shreve, OH 44676 330-789-0000…

3 min

Blade|March 2023

HOW TO BUILD A BACKYARD POWER HAMMER

The first thing you’ll have to decide is which style of power hammer you will build. There are as many designs as there are folks who build hammers, but they fall into two basic categories: helve hammers and linkage hammers. At the basic level, a helve hammer has an arm that moves up and down on a fulcrum to move the hammer head up and down. A linkage hammer uses a wheel, tire or disk that rotates and uses the rotation to move the hammer head up and down. The Little Giant power hammer design uses a linkage, as does the commonly homebuilt tire hammer. I chose to build an Appalachian-style spring helve hammer because I had access to a variety of leaf springs, and because the design is more…

7 min

Blade|March 2023

THE KNIFE I CARRY

“My name is John Schwanke. My daughter, Eden, got me this knife for Father’s Day 2018. There are no identifying marks as to who made it, but on the slab scale it reads, ‘Best Dad Ever.’ The damascus blade is beautiful and I cherish and carry it every day. It walks and talks, is a flipper folder and of the highest quality you can imagine.”John and Eden Schwanke, Danbury, Connecticut For the latest knives, knife news, trends, and more, visit blademag.com, BLADE®’s popular Instagram page @blade_magazine, and on Facebook and Twitter.…

1 min

Blade|March 2023

WHERE TO NET ’EM

A.G. Russell Knives, Inc. www.agrussell.com ag@agrussell.com Adams Intl Knifeworks - AIK www.adamsknifeworks.com adamsknifeworks.com@gmail.com Automatic & Customized Knife Specialists Admiral Steel www.admiralsteel.com terry@admiralsteel.com Widest Range of Stock for Blade Needs. Alaska - Northern Knives www.northernknives.com A Real Store & Working Knife Shop! American Edge www.americanedgeknives.com info@americanedgeknives.com 320-393-2792 We have A Knife For Every Life Artknives.com www.artknives.com fred@fredeisenleather.com Andre de Villiers www.advtactical.co.za Facebook - Andre de Villiers adv44sales@gmail.com Butcher SOB folders. Arizona Custom Knives www.arizonacustomknives.com sharptalk@arizonacustomknives.com Largest selection in the world of new and consigned knives on the internet. Let us help you find the perfect knife. Dozier Knives and Arkansas Made Dozier, Inc. www.dozierknives.com info@dozierknives.com BladeGallery.com www.bladegallery.com www.bladeconnection.com www.epicedge.com Bob Dozier Knives www.dozierknives.com info@dozierknives.com Buckeye Engraving www.BuckeyeEngraving.com Make Your Mark Manufacturer of Custom Hand Stamps, Dies and Brands CRKT www.crkt.com info@crkt.com…

2 min

Blade|March 2023

COVER STORY

All made in the USA, the cover knives include the Raven (page 24) by Toor Knives of El Cajon, California, just outside San Diego. It features a 5.5-inch blade of CPM 3V carbon steel and a “breacher ball” in the handle butt for breaking glass and other like tasks. Flexcut Carving Tools of Erie, Pennsylvania, manufactures the two-blade Whittlin’ Jack (page 68), a slip-joint pocketknife designed for whittling and carving wood. The 1.5- and 2-inch blades are flat ground from Flexcut’s in-house tool steel. Manufactured in Ucon, Idaho, just outside Idaho Falls, the TOPS Knives Szabo Express (page 24) is a combat knife built thin but tough for fast handling and medium-to-light-duty jobs. The 5.63-inch blade is 1095 Cro-Van carbon steel. At top left is the one-armed Alaska Ulu (page…

1 min

Blade|March 2023

Cutting in America

SPEC CHART KNIFE NAME: Deadlock Model C by Hawk Knives KNIFE TYPE: Automatic folder BLADE LENGTH: 3.5” BLADE STEEL: 20CV stainless BLADE GRIND: Double edge BLADE FINISH: DLC (diamond-like coating) HANDLE MATERIAL: Aluminum w/titanium inlays ENGRAVER: Wilfred “Chip” Valtakis II CLOSED LENGTH: 5” ENGRAVER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR KNIFE: $6,000 ENGRAVER: Wilfred “Chip” Valtakis II, c/o Chipped Metal, Dept. BL3, 2388 Forrest St., Sacramento, CA 95815 707-365-2003 Chippedmetal@gmail.com (SharpByCoop image) SPEC CHART KNIFE NAME: Fordite Spearhead KNIFE TYPE: Fixed blade BLADE LENGTH: 3” BLADE MATERIAL: 416-layer damascus of 5160 carbon and 15N20 and Ni200 nickel-alloy steels BLADE GRIND: Hollow BLADE PATTERN: Harpoon HANDLE MATERIAL: Desert ironwood w/Fordite inlay, red spacers and Micarta® pins OVERALL LENGTH: 8” KNIFE TO KNOW: Fordite is old car paint hardened sufficiently to be cut and…

5 min

Blade|March 2023

9 MOST ICONIC

From the pioneer and frontier eras of our nation’s history to the shops of custom makers that have become factory laboratories and centers of research, development and innovation, American style and panache have joined across the years to bring innovation to the knife industry with patterns that stand the test of time. While many commonly known knife styles originated outside the factory environment in America, it must be acknowledged that their mass production has placed these styles in the hands of many. At the same time, sources outside the factory itself have provided the inventive, creative energy that fostered the wave of American patterns that we see today. In no particular order, among the most iconic and influential styles popularized in the United States are the flipper folder; switchblade/automatic; lockback…

10 min

Blade|March 2023

LOTS OF LINERLOCKS

When BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Michael Walker built his first linerlock in 1981, little did he know the impact it would eventually have on the world of custom and factory knives. Not only is it the lock of choice for almost all flipper folders, more importantly it’s also the preferred lock for millions of factory and custom folders of all kinds. Here are but seven of the latter. 1 The 3.5-inch blade of AEB-L stainless steel secures via a linerlock on the Apoc V2 dress tactical flipper folder by Jeremy Krammes. The frame is titanium, the handle carbon fiber and the bolster copper. Closed length: 4.3 inches. 2 The HB16 dress linerlock folder by Herucus Blomerus features a 3.6-inch blade of M390 stainless steel, engraving by Julien Marchal of…

2 min

Blade|March 2023

HATS OFF TO QUALITY KNIVES

I am writing this in January. From the looks of it, we are going to have a wet spring as the snow just keeps getting deeper. The winter will be tougher on livestock as well as for the antelope, deer and elk in our area. Most of our ranch is in a flood-prone zone, so we may yet again be going to town in one of our canoes. An early warm up will more than overflow the ice-filled river channel, so our future may be a little tougher. Sometimes, we get a hint that we are headed for trouble. Sometimes it just sneaks in on us and becomes the unexpected that always can present a challenge. I remember once years ago when my family was enjoying a ride in my…

9 min

Blade|March 2023

WIN A KNIFE!

Tell us what knife you carry. Add a little history or an anecdote. Try to include a photograph—if digital, at least 600 KB but no larger than 2 MB—of you with your knife. We will publish your comments in an upcoming “The Knife I Carry.” Your name will then be entered in a drawing to win a free, high-quality, name-brand knife. The drawing will be May 15. Mail to: BLADE ®, 5600 W. Grande Market Dr., Ste. 100, Appleton, WI 54913, or e-mail steve@blademag.com. If you send your entry by e-mail, please include your physical mailing address in case you win the knife.…

1 min

Blade|March 2023

Cut or Keep

“You can get off in the weeds real quick when you try to talk about uniquely American knives,” observes BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Bruce Voyles in our story about the nine most iconic American knife styles. We agree—but then traipsing off into the cutlery kudzu has never stopped us before, so why should it now? Picking the styles to cut from consideration was almost as difficult as picking the ones to keep. One element of our rationale to cut or keep was the style had to be one that not only remains relevant today but also continues to be made in large numbers and/or by many. Hence, Rambo knives with hollow handles and sawbacks, as well as interframe folders, did not make the cut. Rambo knives dominated most of…

3 min

Blade|March 2023

BLADES OF THE USA

There’s a particular satisfaction that comes with a “Made in the USA” sticker on your newest knife purchase. Not only is it extra patriotic to buy an American-made knife, but you can feel good about the quality of materials and craftsmanship represented by manufacturers in the U.S. of A. Toor Knives is a representative example. Toor has a classic American backstory. Founded by Connor Toor in a backyard forge to address deficiencies in knives used by his fellow servicemen, Toor Knives has since grown to become a real-deal knife company capable of matching and besting long-established brands. The knives they make are simple, straightforward and purpose driven. Toor Knives is in Connor’s hometown of San Diego, California, and employs over 30 craftsmen. New from Toor, the Raven achieves the extremely…

10 min

Blade|March 2023

Allure of the Subhilt

The subhilt adds a little extra. Its form is expressive and its function is useful. It takes its share of the spotlight and provides another avenue of artistic approach for custom knifemakers who choose to build it. A few of the makers who accept the challenge of the subhilt put their finest work forward. They use bold, sleek lines and high-quality materials to bring the best of the subhilt to the market, and the combination of aesthetic and utility blends in a delightful presentation. Residing in a small town near Milan, Italy, Daniele Ibba has been making knives since 2004. He finds the subhilt a perfect approach to both usefulness and beauty as evidenced by his integral Medusa Gorgona. “Although the knife has a clear artistic connotation, it was developed…

9 min

Blade|March 2023

GOING GOLDEN PART I

BLADE® turns 50 this year. Beginning with the May-June 1973 issue through to the one you hold in your hands, time has indeed flown. To celebrate some of the highlights of the magazine’s coverage over that span, we will be presenting a select few of our more memorable stories in capsule form on a semi-regular basis over the coming months. First up: the years 1973-83. The months listed denote those of the issue in question. 1973 MAY-JUNE The American Blade debuts. Michael Collins, brother of the magazine’s managing editor and headman, BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Blackie Collins, made the cover knives. 1973 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER Veteran writer/photographer Sid Latham does the first in his regular series of articles, one on the historic 4th Annual Knifemakers’ Guild Show at the Muehlebach Hotel…

4 min

Blade|March 2023

Brother of Curl

The Whittlin’ Jack by Flexcut Carving Tools is the knife I wish I had when I was growing up. It would have made my outdoor life so much easier, not to mention much less painful. Granted, the blade edges are very fine and made for wood, so they tend to chip if you cut hard stuff. Growing up a commercial fisherman on the Great Lakes, I was always cutting twine. The Whittlin’ Jack’s sharp blades would have saved me plenty of time resharpening and in doing such outdoor chores as marking sticks on a trapline. However, the best things about the knife are the sharpness of the edges during whittling, including for super fine cuts, and a very comfortable handle shape. The backspring holds the blade open tightly enough to…

5 min

Blade|March 2023

SHOW CALENDAR

Note: Events with an asterisk (*) have knives and knife accessories as the main/sole focus. Events with two asterisks (**) are knifemaking seminars or symposiums, cutting competitions, auctions, or other knife-related events. FEBRUARY FEB. 4-12 HARRISBURG, PA Great American Outdoor Show, Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. For more visit greatameri-canoutdoorshow.org. FEB. 25 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK Oklahoma Knife Group Knife Show, H&H Shooting Sports 405-947-3888 contactus@hhshootingsports.com, hhshootingsports.com. FEB. 25 BREA, CA California Knife Expo, Brea Convention Center. Contact California Knifemakers Association 714-719-6858 info@calknives.com, calknives.org.* FEB. 25 JERSEY CITY, NJ New York Custom Knife Show, Westin Jersey City Newport, 3rd floor in the Newport Ballroom. Visit www.fiftyfiftyproductions.net/new-york-custom-knife-show-info.* FEB. 26-27 LEWISBURG, PA Keystone Blade Association Knife Show, Country Cupboard Inn. Contact Skip Fryling 570-204-1544.* FEB. DATES TO BE DETERMINED LITTLE ROCK, AR Arkansas Custom…

4 min

Blade|March 2023

One-Armed Ulu

KNIFE NAME: Alaska Ulu MAKER: Josh Wisor BLADE LENGTH (TIP TO TIP): 5.5” BLADE MATERIAL: 300-layer damascus of 1084 carbon and 15N20 nickel alloy steels ROCKWELL HARDNESS: 60-61 HRC HANDLE LENGTH: 4.5” HANDLE MATERIAL: Spalted maple w/mosaic pins MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR KNIFE: $900 If you think Josh Wisor’s Alaska Ulu looks a bit different, that’s because it is—Josh built it for a customer who lost an arm and suffered nerve damage to the other as a result of a farming accident. Josh made the ulu open ended so the customer can more easily grip the handle and thus use it more easily as well with the hand of his nerve-damaged arm. The customer uses the knife for food prep and even on deer in hunting camp. A big…

1 min