Simple question. Yes or No
If it will make you feel better on the screw thing when I make a 3k, 5k, or 8k knife I will index the screws.
Tried to explain why I don't. Not gona do it again. As STeven would say. End OF STORY.
Cliff
It is a rude and sarcastic "question" - and the only "answer" it merits would ignite this thread into a personal flame war, which I have thus far attempted to avoid. We can move over to the appropriate forum and do that if you really want. I would prefer not to. Until this point, I have no personal feelings of ill-will towards you.
I never called you out here or said anything to or about you personally - on this thread or anywhere else. I am pretty sure the only time I have even mentioned you or your knives at BF was on a very few threads over the years where folks posted up pictures of your knives here and I believe I have generally praised them. Which makes it all the more difficult to fathom where this is coming from.
Don't want to index your screws? Then don't.
But don't take repeated, personal, cheap shots, at me that you would clearly not do to someone here like STeven whom you know personally.
Don't agree with my opinion on the subject? Fine - it's a free country. Feel free to walk on by without comment, or to respond to the opinion - not to personally ask me sarcastic questions in a public forum.
For example . . .
I am sorry, STeven, I do not see the thought and precision in the screw alignment in the Williams knife (I like it very much and think it's a fine piece) Please let me know the significance of the alignment there, and would very much like to hear your thoughts on it.
This is my opinion on the alignment issue. I think, as opinions go, it is no more or less valid than any other opinion. It is how I feel about the matter and can not be "wrong", just different.
There is a tradition in one style of knife making where some of the hammer marks and oxide from the forge are left on the blade. There is also a tradition where the handle material is left to run wild like the "popcorn" on some stag handles or the natural curl of a sheep horn or the button or "burl" on deer antler. It's organic, natural. It, in my opinion, would not be appropriate to align any of the screw slots on such a knife, it would be detrimental to the whole vibe that the knife maker (artist) was trying to convey with that piece. I think it would not do a John Cohea knife justice to align any of the screw slots on it if it was to have slotted screws. To say that the guy (not John, any guy) was lazy because he didn't align the screws is kind of insulting in my opinion. It is his vision of the piece, to me it has nothing to do with his knowledge, his laziness, cutting corners or trying to save time (money) on the project. (At least it wouldn't be for me)
Any one that has acquired the skills to make the knives we see in this thread can figure out how to align the slots in his screws if he felt it would enhance the vision he was seeking.
Because I write this, it does not mean I think anyone who feels differently is wrong. In my opinion, everyone is entitled to an opinion of their own. Hopefully, if you think I'm wrong, you can tell me in a civilized way. If we don't have respect for one another, there is no point in even talking.
I apologize for the lecture. Soon, I will climb off of the soap box.
Great looking knives, great looking images. These images have done what (I think) images like these are supposed to do, they have inspired spirited debate about knives, and hopefully a sharing of knowledge and ideas. They have for me.
Thank you Coop for the pictures and allowing us to use this thread for more than just saying "Nice knives and nice images"
To be clear, just the first paragraph was directed at you STeven, the rest was for general consumption, and a little for Coop.
Respectfully, Mark
A thoughtful opinion. If you would take the time, I would love to see some examples of these knives of which you speak where haphazard screw orientations constituted an improvement to the piece over indexed screws. I am certainly open minded enough to consider the possibility - I have just not seen it. Then again, I admit a lack of appreciation of so-called
brut de forge and similar "rustic" elements on expensive knives. Maybe random screws falls into that same milieu.
I just have never seen a knife where it occurred to me that the maker's random orientation of the screws was a deliberate, thoughtful, feature that clearly added to the knife, and that the knife would have been "less" if the screws were indexed. I generally feel this way about all fit and
finish elements of a knife. But again, I am open to consider the possibility of something different! I have changed my opinions on a lot of things knife and non-knife related over the years. Open and honest discussion can do that.
I can take or leave indexed screws, they look fine on some knives, not so fine on others. I do have a problem when someone says screws must be indexed on all custom folders with slots. Or when I'm called a lazy bastard for not doin it.
I don't do it because I'm lazy, but because I feel its insignificant on the style of knives I build. The 0-80 screws on most of my larger folders seem to blend in and almost disappear, until Coop or Caleb photographs them...
I've built around 2000 folders with screws in 20 years and
only two people have ever mentioned indexing screws, STeven & Ken (The Virginian). Never even thought about it, until it was brought up here a while back and when Ken brought it up after buying one of my folders a year or so ago.
I have no beef about it, just don't tell me I Have to do it! I might try it soon? And if Steven or Ken wants another knife from me and ask for indexed screws, we will see...
Please don't insinuate that Cliff and I are cutting corners & making an inferior product because we don't index the screw slots. That is not even close to the truth here!
Here are a couple random examples of randomly and haphazardly oriented screws... I'm goin fishin'.
I would never presume to tell anyone how they
have to make a knife - unless they are making it for me and I am paying for it.
I
would presume to offer my opinions here on features of knives that are posted here that appeal to me and those which I find unappealing - and to state my reasons for those opinions. But they are just opinions, and we can all have different opinions on a lot of things without anyone necessarily being "right" or "wrong." And I know that you are plenty smart enough to realize that whether or not opinions on your and other makers' knives are posted here at BF, collectors do share opinions amongst themselves via e-mails, telephone conversations, at shows, etc.
Personally, I would never call you a lazy bastard. Just because one goes fishin' from time to time, does not make one a lazy bastard. I do not know you NEARLY well enough to make that kind of judgment about you as a person anyway.
Me - I veg out often on Sundays in front of the TV during NFL season. Is that a lazy behavior? Yep!! Does it make me a "lazy bastard?" I think it is unfair to label a person as lazy based on one lazy habit in a life full of all sorts of other behaviors. YMMV.
Finally, there are a LOT of very high end collectors with high six and seven figure collections who do not post here. I think it would be a mistake for anyone to think that STeven and I are the only collectors who place importance on these sorts of details. I am not saying that anyone actually
said that we are the only ones - I just want to be clear in case anyone has what I believe is the wrong idea about this just because STeven and I tend to be (almost) the only ones who comment on this.
