Well, since this is my Soapbox I guess it;'s OK for me to preach.
I would like to tell you what I think of most of the current knife related publications.
Knife Magazines
Like the Car Industry when I refer to Knife Magazines I'm pretty much reffering to the Big Three:
BLADE
Tactical Knives
Knives Illustrated
Now some of you already know this so please forgive me if I am preaching to the Choir. But I feel the need to tell folks there is a White Elephant in the room and while some may not care nor want to see it there might be just one who will benefit.
The focus of knife Magazines is not to inform you the reader of too terrbily much, it is to Sell. Sell, Magazines, Advertisment Space, the idea that newer is better... oh and Knives.
The Knife manufacturers are paying these Magazines good money to advertise as well as ccasionally paying them to write an Article or Review on their latest offering. The Magazines then pay the Writers, (you didn't think the Writers worked for free did you) and so it goes..
Mostly what you can expect from any of these Monthly publications are glowing reviews of the latest and greatest from all the big names (and even some of the smaller names that realized what was going on and decided that in order to increase Sales they must run with the big dogs).
Oh, the writers may toss in some bits of information to insure the Reader knows of their Cutlery related information prowess - but by and large the main objective is to get you seperated from your Cash - ie. for you to purchase the knife they are reviewing /using at that time.
If you have been to my Website at Fort Henry Custom Knives you will know that I currently only subscribe to one Monthly knife related publication and that is Knife World. I feel that K.W. is as unbiased as a publication can be and they offer Articles whose basis is actual research by the Authors - often several years of research. I have written for Knife World and can attest to the research involved.
Here is a challange, go to your local Barnes & Noble and take a look at the Knife related Magazines there. Then Call or email Knife World, ask them for a Sample issue - tell them that VINCE sent ya and decide for yourself.
Annual Knife Publications
Here I will refer to the Knive's Annuals series.
I have almost the whole collection with only 2 vacancies of the early publications. The earlier Editions had informative Articles of Knife Content, each delivering in depth accounts of knives from a Historical perspective, a Geographical perspective and from a users perspective.
In several ways the only Positive I can mention in the last few years was the "all color" advancement. Starting with the 2005 Edition the Knives Annuals have continued to degrade in quality knife journalism and broad pictorials of knives of every kind.
The "articles" have fallen to almost exclusively propoganda type glowing critiques featuring whoever the latest Hot/Trend Makers are (both prod and Custom) - often these are written by a Maker who inserts their own work into the Article while still giving accolades to their Buds. I will admit to an occasional exception - like the article "The perfect Survival knife" by James Ayres 2006, or even shockingly two articles in the 2009 Annual - "Dining Knives in the Folds of Sashes" by Leslie Clary and "Confederate Edges Weapons" by Edward Crews. However, the majority of Articles still swim in the stream of Sales/Promotion.
The Knife/pictorial content has drifted into this same current as the Articles - the same Popular few Makers being featured year after year. These Makers often having multiple knives featured in many different sections. There are even cases where the same picture of the same knife is used in different categories from one year to the next.
With the advancement of moving the publication to all color there seemed to be an underlying drive to feature more and more Art than knives. Handles containing intricate detailed scrimshaw, canned Nitre treated Damascus patterned blades, thousand year old dyed handle materials and sci-fi designs sculpted in colorful Anodized Titanium. Almost completely absent are "standard" grade custom cutlery offerings that were at one time the meat and potatoes of the Annuals. Rare is the picture of a custom, affordable Hunting knife made by a Stock Removal maker that is actually made to be used (there are one maybe two exemptions in this arena I can think of). There is room in this publication for ALL knife pictorial Chapters, not just Art that happens to have an Edge.
One of the things that most readers were most aggrieved by - which was the wrong name being attached to the wrong pictures - in the 2007 & 2008 Annuals seems to have been corrected in 2009.
I will not give or withhold a recommendation, it is up to each of us to decide whether something is worth the money we spend. I will leave you with my opinion of the current publication and you can decide for yourself.
Please visit my website at - www.forthenrycustomknives.com
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Tire Swing
Ever tried to build a Tire swing lately? The Tire swing used to be as much a southern staple as pick up truck or a dog under the porch but the relaxing simple fun that the vision of a tire swing calls to mind is quickly shattered when you try to build one today.
First just get a Tire, right? No problem. Well you go to a tire store and if you're lucky they won't charge you for the tire or make you sign any paperwork stating that you are not going to burn the tire, add the tire to a landfill, roll the tire down the interstate, etc.
After I got my tire home (and my hands and shirt are black from the tire dust) I thought it would be a good idea to make some holes in what would be the bottom (to let rain drain out), what I quickly realized is that tires today are almost all Steel Belted - several drill bits later I "almost" had holes and thought that was good enough.
The only other component of a Tire Swing is the Rope. Again, easy to locate right? Wrong. Go to Lowe's and guess what, there are no ropes marked "Tire Swing Rope". :-) Well, still all you need is a thick cotton Rope... not here. All the ropes are polypro.... something - which means as they age they will develop splinters larger than a 10 yr old rosebush. So after driving all over I finally found my cotton rope (special order you know) so it wasn't cheap.
So I whip out my trusty knife and cut the lengths of rope that I "think" will be long enough". After tapping into the "knot tying" side of my brain that had lay dormant since my years in the Marine Corps I ended up getting the Tire tied and hung in the tree. And just think, gathering all the materials and getting that relaxing Tire Swing in the tree only took four days to accomplish.
Now for that dog under the porch.......
Thanks for dropping in and Please take time to visit my website at - http://www.forthenrycustomknives.com
First just get a Tire, right? No problem. Well you go to a tire store and if you're lucky they won't charge you for the tire or make you sign any paperwork stating that you are not going to burn the tire, add the tire to a landfill, roll the tire down the interstate, etc.
After I got my tire home (and my hands and shirt are black from the tire dust) I thought it would be a good idea to make some holes in what would be the bottom (to let rain drain out), what I quickly realized is that tires today are almost all Steel Belted - several drill bits later I "almost" had holes and thought that was good enough.
The only other component of a Tire Swing is the Rope. Again, easy to locate right? Wrong. Go to Lowe's and guess what, there are no ropes marked "Tire Swing Rope". :-) Well, still all you need is a thick cotton Rope... not here. All the ropes are polypro.... something - which means as they age they will develop splinters larger than a 10 yr old rosebush. So after driving all over I finally found my cotton rope (special order you know) so it wasn't cheap.
So I whip out my trusty knife and cut the lengths of rope that I "think" will be long enough". After tapping into the "knot tying" side of my brain that had lay dormant since my years in the Marine Corps I ended up getting the Tire tied and hung in the tree. And just think, gathering all the materials and getting that relaxing Tire Swing in the tree only took four days to accomplish.
Now for that dog under the porch.......
Thanks for dropping in and Please take time to visit my website at - http://www.forthenrycustomknives.com
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Why Knives?
For most knife collectors the fascination with knives goes far beyond their ability to cut. However, for some this in itself becomes a huge secondary pursuit and those folks end up purchasing thousands of dollars worth of Sharpening gadgets, Arkansas stones, Japanese Water stones, strops and more - all in an effort to attain the keenest edge imaginable. But that is another story.
Knives are a tool, in fact they were the first tool. Made of sharpened stone by prehistoric man the knife enabled the user to do things easier and faster. Later becoming a weapon for hunting or self protection the knife was coveted almost as much as fire. But today do we really have such a primal need for a tool like this? In some cases definately, in others a knife is more like insurance. Most men and some women carry their knives today in the event that they might need them. Some occupations certainly have an increased possibility of needing a knife, but the fact of the matter is most owners only get the chance to use their knives to cut the errant thread, pluck out a vienna sausage out of a can or assault one of those child safe plastic packages. The kitchen not withstanding most knife owners content themselves with collecting.
It is my opinion that men are driven by many different desires when it comes to collecting knives, some just like shiny things and showing such things off to their buddies (however this is not advised as it can lead to "Blade Envy"). Some enjoy the search for hidden knowledge - that of the knife or the Company that produced it, while others perhaps have a touch of obsessive compulsive behavior and feel the genuine need to collect all the knives of a certain pattern or handle material by one or more Companies because they "must have a complete collection". But I think most male collectors either consciously or subconsciously harken back to the tool aspect of the knife, being a protector and provider, thus knife ownership to them reinforces that feeling. And if one knife is good protection then 20 or 50 should be that much better!
It's true that for just about every object there is a collector - but no objects have such a long history of usefullness and pride of ownership than the simple knife.
If you enjoy this Blog please let me know. Also, Please visit my website at - http://www.forthenrycustomknives.com/
Knives are a tool, in fact they were the first tool. Made of sharpened stone by prehistoric man the knife enabled the user to do things easier and faster. Later becoming a weapon for hunting or self protection the knife was coveted almost as much as fire. But today do we really have such a primal need for a tool like this? In some cases definately, in others a knife is more like insurance. Most men and some women carry their knives today in the event that they might need them. Some occupations certainly have an increased possibility of needing a knife, but the fact of the matter is most owners only get the chance to use their knives to cut the errant thread, pluck out a vienna sausage out of a can or assault one of those child safe plastic packages. The kitchen not withstanding most knife owners content themselves with collecting.
It is my opinion that men are driven by many different desires when it comes to collecting knives, some just like shiny things and showing such things off to their buddies (however this is not advised as it can lead to "Blade Envy"). Some enjoy the search for hidden knowledge - that of the knife or the Company that produced it, while others perhaps have a touch of obsessive compulsive behavior and feel the genuine need to collect all the knives of a certain pattern or handle material by one or more Companies because they "must have a complete collection". But I think most male collectors either consciously or subconsciously harken back to the tool aspect of the knife, being a protector and provider, thus knife ownership to them reinforces that feeling. And if one knife is good protection then 20 or 50 should be that much better!
It's true that for just about every object there is a collector - but no objects have such a long history of usefullness and pride of ownership than the simple knife.
If you enjoy this Blog please let me know. Also, Please visit my website at - http://www.forthenrycustomknives.com/
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Where do we go from here?
Stardate,....Blog 2454930.. I know..... I'm sure that dry line has been used before.
A note about Knife collecting
I think the natural progression of most collectors, no matter the item collected, is the desire to expand their collection and/or to learn more about the items they collect, discover their history. A person who collects knives will often start on thier journey unknowingly through some obscure event such as being given a knife that their great uncle carried in combat, maybe inheriting a small assortment of knives from a deceased loved one or perhaps finding a rusty old pocket knife buried on their property. These types of events can spur the person to seek out information about the knives and perhaps through these discoveries lead them down another path to other knives that intrigue them more.
In my case it was a collection inherited. I was given a group of mostly Commemorative pocket knives. A commemmorative knife is one who seeks to connect itself with a well known event or person. In the 1960's and 70's a good pocket knife was valued as a tool but hard core knife collecting was still relatively unknown. What the Commemorative movement sought to do was entice new collectors into the hobby by offering "Special" or "Limited Edition" knives in somewhat limited numbers to appeal to the "investment" conscious person who also enjoyed knives. What most collectors of that time did not know was the sheer number of Commemmorative offerings of every make and model that were to be produced by most every knife company trying to cash in on this new phononemon in the market. Companies like Boker, Parker and Frost dominated but others like CASE and Buck added thousands of shiny Special Edition investment grade blades to the already burgeoning supply. Every person, place or event was commemorated - whether they wanted to be or not. Villians and Heros alike - from Billly the Kid to Evil Knievel - from Lee & Grant to Tom T. Hall, every icon of history was now celebrated with a sharp edge and some colorful blade etching (if they were lucky the also got a Certificate of Authenticity).
So anyway, I received this collection and started to reasearch what they were and how much they might be worth today. I had visions of going to a Knife show and Dealers pushing each other out of the way to make offers to buy some of these 20 and 30 year old relics. However, I soon learned that most Commemoratives fell short of actually appreciating in value. Some actually declined in value from their original purchase price!
Was I discouraged, not really. It took several months of research to locate most of the knives in books and what was then the new internet superhighway - and I had enjoyed the journey.
Of course have heard that for every item there is a collector, since I had no interest in keeping these knives I made an effort to locate folks that still wanted to collect these mass produced blades of celebration - some collectors I met had memories of similiar knives in their fathers knife collection, others wanted to finally complete a series that they had been working on since their first relelase, some just collected anything with their Hero's name on it. In turn I discovered other knives that I did have an interest in so I sought the owners of those knives. Some trading took place, stories were exchanged and I met some nice folks along the way, all while travelling farther along the road to becoming a true collector myself.
Please visit my website at - http://www.forthenrycustomknives.com/
A note about Knife collecting
I think the natural progression of most collectors, no matter the item collected, is the desire to expand their collection and/or to learn more about the items they collect, discover their history. A person who collects knives will often start on thier journey unknowingly through some obscure event such as being given a knife that their great uncle carried in combat, maybe inheriting a small assortment of knives from a deceased loved one or perhaps finding a rusty old pocket knife buried on their property. These types of events can spur the person to seek out information about the knives and perhaps through these discoveries lead them down another path to other knives that intrigue them more.
In my case it was a collection inherited. I was given a group of mostly Commemorative pocket knives. A commemmorative knife is one who seeks to connect itself with a well known event or person. In the 1960's and 70's a good pocket knife was valued as a tool but hard core knife collecting was still relatively unknown. What the Commemorative movement sought to do was entice new collectors into the hobby by offering "Special" or "Limited Edition" knives in somewhat limited numbers to appeal to the "investment" conscious person who also enjoyed knives. What most collectors of that time did not know was the sheer number of Commemmorative offerings of every make and model that were to be produced by most every knife company trying to cash in on this new phononemon in the market. Companies like Boker, Parker and Frost dominated but others like CASE and Buck added thousands of shiny Special Edition investment grade blades to the already burgeoning supply. Every person, place or event was commemorated - whether they wanted to be or not. Villians and Heros alike - from Billly the Kid to Evil Knievel - from Lee & Grant to Tom T. Hall, every icon of history was now celebrated with a sharp edge and some colorful blade etching (if they were lucky the also got a Certificate of Authenticity).
So anyway, I received this collection and started to reasearch what they were and how much they might be worth today. I had visions of going to a Knife show and Dealers pushing each other out of the way to make offers to buy some of these 20 and 30 year old relics. However, I soon learned that most Commemoratives fell short of actually appreciating in value. Some actually declined in value from their original purchase price!
Was I discouraged, not really. It took several months of research to locate most of the knives in books and what was then the new internet superhighway - and I had enjoyed the journey.
Of course have heard that for every item there is a collector, since I had no interest in keeping these knives I made an effort to locate folks that still wanted to collect these mass produced blades of celebration - some collectors I met had memories of similiar knives in their fathers knife collection, others wanted to finally complete a series that they had been working on since their first relelase, some just collected anything with their Hero's name on it. In turn I discovered other knives that I did have an interest in so I sought the owners of those knives. Some trading took place, stories were exchanged and I met some nice folks along the way, all while travelling farther along the road to becoming a true collector myself.
Please visit my website at - http://www.forthenrycustomknives.com/
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