A random selection of Ed Fowler knives (photos)

Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Messages
2,125
Knives in preparation for the past Blade Show, 2013
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Photos borrowed from recent dealer web pages or other online sources
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Thanks for viewing,
David
 
Nice group of knives! I always admired his work, and enjoyed his writings. Thanks for sharing.
 
Joe,
Not wootz, but some form of damascus. Maybe chainsaw? this is what i have read..
Its an older era knife.
David
 
I believe that the steel is wire cable. As far as I know Ed Fowler does not make "Damascus".
 
Thanks Jim,
I appreciate the info. Early on Ed Fowler did make some damascus knives. i have seen about two dozen, in total. Most from the late 1980s-early 1990s period. I am not sure if he made the steel himself, or found a ready-made source for it.
Here is a quote from an earlier 2008 thread:

"I regret the time I put into Damascus trying to make it cut, wasted a lot of time, but I learned from the experience and did achieve some success. Chain saw Damascus was the best cutting material, 10,000 layers does not cut better than 60."
 
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I believe that the steel is wire cable. As far as I know Ed Fowler does not make "Damascus".

Jim, I think you are correct. I picked up the Fowler knife David has posted here from Nordic. I have had a hankering for one of Ed's knives for years. Saw this one listed this summer, and thought the price was right. After receiving it, I have done some research on-line and it seems Ed did a lot of experimenting with wire rope, including attempting to braze it with brass. As we all know, Ed does intense testing of his knives, and he was never happy with the results. Once he began his work with 52100, he left the cable and chainsaw Damascus to others. This knife is from the mid-eighties.

I love this knife. Just the size I would chose if Ed were to make one for me (9 1/2-inches). The feel in hand is grand. Sharp as can be. I just need to put the steel and the sheephorn to use. Maybe next year I will know enough and can give some results.

David, the middle piece in the first image is my favorite of those shown here. Thanks for sharing.

- Joe
 
The Damascus blade is brass braised wire Damascus, forge from 11 pieces of 9/16ths wire rope, 11 inches long before twisting and forge welding. Once I started my experiments with JD 5150 and 52100 I made no more Damascus blades.

All of my Damascus blades were forge welded and heat treated by me, I never used Damascus supplied by another maker. Dick IIams and I made a lot of Damascus together working around the clock on weekends. Wayne Goddard and I also forged some Damascus together. We learned a lot with three of us contributing our thoughts toward the finished blades.

I sincerely appreciate the support you gentlemen have generated toward our development of the High Endurance Performance Blade.

You are building a very comprehensive collection of our work David.
 
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