Knives Illustrated December 2016

“ … MAYBE YOU HAVE HEARD THE OLD SUPERSTITION THAT STATES THE GIVING OF A GIFT THAT CUTS CAN SEVER A RELATIONSHIP.” I’m not sure how it worked out this way, but every year our son asks for one thing. Just one, nothing more. In a way, it was kind of easy, but at the same time it made it a bit more difficult, because we always had to come up with something extra. I guess we just felt that there would be something a little lackluster about a Christmas morning in which our son only opens one gift, and he already knows what it is. Now that he is older, I can do for him what I like to do for friends of mine … give the gift of…

You get the feeling Doug Ritter would like to say, “I told you so” to the skeptics and naysayers, but he’s too much of a gentleman. Instead, he simply points to Knife Rights’ unprecedented record of achievement. “Since 2009, we have been going gangbusters in the states, proving again and again that Knife Rights can do what many once thought impossible, passing 21 pro-knife bills in 15 states, and stopping 8 anti-knife bills in 6 states,” says the founder and chairman. That includes repealing statutory knife bans in 12 states and passing knife law preemption, a signature Knife Rights initiative that rids states of inconsistent patchworks of local knife restrictions, in 10 states. It was 10 years ago this December that Knife Rights was incorporated by Ritter. At the time,…

COMBO KNIFE SHARPENER The Combo Knife Sharpener takes knife sharpening to a new level—a faster, more efficient, and easier level for every knife owner, and just about every knife. Manufactured by Work Sharp, the Combo combines power-sharpening technology with manual sharpening technology. The flexible abrasive belts are designed to create a “superior convex cutting edge” on your knife without overheating your blade. The tapered ceramic rod hones your knives razor sharp and sharpens almost any size serration. SPECIFICATIONS • 120V single speed• On/Off power switch• Light duty cycle• Two P120 belts by 3M, fine-grit tapered ceramic rod• ½-inch x 10-inch abrasive size WORK SHARP WEB: WorkSharpTools.com MSRP: $59.95 SLUMBERJACK CONTOUR BIVY Whether you are big-game hunting, backpacking or survival or tactical training, the lighter your pack is, the more effective you can be. Utilizing…

Let’s turn back the hands of time a bit to the 2013 SHOT Show. I had a chance to spend what little downtime I had, having lunch with my good friend and knifemaker Luke Swenson. While doing so, we stumbled into his friend and mentor, Bill Ruple, who was sitting at an adjacent table. It was immediately apparent that Bill was a true Texan through and through—donning a cowboy hat, beard, moustache, thick Texas accent and manners you would expect in an old Western. My friend affectionately referred to him as Maestro whenever he addressed him. At that time, I had not been around the custom knife circuit too much, so I had no idea just who it was that I was meeting, but he had a kind and welcoming…

No matter who you are or what your personal tastes when it comes to knives, you know what a Bowie is. It is perhaps one of the most well-known knives in the history of American knives. With that being said, Bowies are known for being large, fighting-style knives. So the first time I saw a photo and specs for the Bear & Son Baby Bowie, I thought maybe there was a mistake. I thought that with an overall length of only 6.5 inches this had to be just a novelty knife; but once I got it, I could see immediately although it may not be a heavy user, it is anything but a novelty. “IT HAS A TRADITIONALLY HIGH, HOLLOW GROUND, PRIMARY BEVEL THAT MEETS UP NICELY WITH THE SWEDGE…

Perhaps one of the most widely known American-style knives is the Bowie knife. Some of the history is a bit murky and varied, depending on which of Jim Bowie’s brothers (and later, other relatives) tell the story. There is no real documentation from Jim Bowie himself, but what is known is that Jim Bowie presented his wooden prototype of a fighting knife to blacksmith James Black in Arkansas in 1830. This would go on to be the basis of many variations of the “Bowie knife” from that day on, due to Jim Bowie’s notoriety as a knife fighter after the infamous Sandbar Fight in 1827. In a historic twist, Jim Bowie did not use the later known “Bowie knife” in the Sandbar fight, as it happened three years prior. It…