A Shop Visit with Ron Frazier - Latest Trip

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

ilmarinen - MODERATOR
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
38,469
Yesterday I took a trailer and two friends and we went up to see Ron Frazier......well it sort of felt like he was there. We went up to see what could be salvaged from his shop. His widow, Susie, was charming and gave up the tour of the house with all Ron's and her crafts and art work. The house is really comfortable and there is a treasure or unique item at every turn.

We found a path...well sort of a path....to the shop in the woods. All around the shop there are Lady Slippers ( wild ground orchids) growing on the woodland floor. Outside the shop is what you would expect, a pile for thirty feet in all directions of things tossed out or used up. Inside was pretty much the same. It was a foot deep in magazines, boxes, broken tools and junk, and whatever Ron wanted to toss on the floor.
There was about 1 Sq.ft. of work counter cleared enough to set anything down, and the rest was a foot or two deep in STUFF. We started clearing the work counters , and as we did, it was sort of like having Ron there with us. We would pick up a piece of a knife and say, "This is the frame for one of Ron's coffin handle bowies.", and one of us would pick up a book with that knife on the cover, and then we would find a bowie blade to fit it on the floor....and so on. At one point, I said, "Well Ron, I'll take good care of this stuff for you, and do you proud. " I looked up for some reason when I said that....... and realized the ceiling was full of knife blades....yes, Frazier dagger blades and other small blades were sticking in the plaster ceiling. I guess when Ron was bored, he would toss them at the ceiling...and a dozen or more stuck.
We would talk about Ron as we went, just like he was with us.

The work drawer was filled about 6" deep with every small thing that you could imagine. The bottom had about 1" of metal and sanding dust in it. As we went through the items/grit/dust, parts and pieces of folders and mini's, and daggers,....and Bowies, started to appear. There were about twenty knives in the drawer...... many with the handles temporarily pinned in place. Some were cemented to the drawer bottom by dried oil, time, and dust ( we pried them free)

Most of the main grinding equipment was in pretty poor shape, so we left that. Many hand tools and small items were salvaged. There were thousands ( yes thousands) of magazines and books on the floor and shelves.We took a storage box full of really interesting books, but I will have to see if they can ever be used, as they were covered in grinding dust and pretty musty.

The hot shop roof was starting to fall in, but we salvaged a very old small Paragon HT oven and the NC Knifemakers forge, and a few other pieces of equipment. His four burner sword forge was too bulky and fragile to try and move.

When we finally got everything hauled out to the trailer, we had:
A 30L dewar for LN
Small Paragon Oven
NC Knife makers forge
MIG welder ( not sure if it works)
Barber chair hydraulic base
Roll of HT foil
30" round kiln top to use as a hot table
Bag full of belts and sand paper.
Moran style Knife vise
#100 hand tools and such
50# of assorted handle wood
Rolls and rolls of leather and skins (lizard,snake, etc). We took the ones that were not damaged, and left the damaged ones.
2 dozen briar pipe blocks - drilled and ready to carve.
Contact wheels, buffs, a few tooling arms, etc.
full case of 12" cut off disks for a chop saw.
50#+ of books on Japanese swords, Knives, Bowies, Animals, etc.
#30 of stag crowns and scales, many pre shaped and drilled for his knives.
Jigs and templates for his blades, frames and handles.
#20 of jade blocks and slices
#30+ ivory handle ( most pre shaped) MOP, Fossil walrus, Oosik, Dino teeth, claws,and bone.
#50+ of blades in various stages of completion. Some are HTed, marked,and have handles ready to glue up and just need a little surface rust cleaned off, others are ground on one side only, others need HT, etc. These range in size from a 1/2" mini to a 24" sword. Most are at least 75% finished. There was a small box full of folder parts and blades along with his plate jig for fitting the backspring to the blade. One folder was completed and had the rivets run through the stag scales, but was never peened.
There were also dozens of metal collars and tips as well as wooden sheath cores he was making. And a few pounds worth of bolsters, fuchi, spacers, guards, etc.
I have a box full of his wooden and metal mandrels for shaping tips and collars.
I found some more wall decorations and old farm items for my shop and yard, too.

One last thing we found was a cigar box full of arrowheads and Indian tools. Ron loved Indian and primitive culture. It also had some bear and raptor claws in it ( hawk??).

There is a bit more that I will check out on a second trip, but this is the bulk of the salvageable items.
 

Attachments

  • Frazier shop 001.jpg
    Frazier shop 001.jpg
    102.4 KB · Views: 257
Last edited:
It's always difficult to see someone that was so great pass away. At least the remains of his legacy are in great hands. I know that you will do amazing things with the pieces that were left over. Thank you for posting this Stacy.
 
Good post Stacy. I find it so cool and comforting to see tools, materials and ideas of great makers being put back into the "collective", after passing.
 
I agree


It's comforting to know that knife people did the sorting instead of everything being sold at auction or tossed in the bin.


I'm curious, what books did you find ?
 
Old Bowie books, Christie's knife estate auction catalogs, Moran books, Art and drawing books on birds and hummingbirds, Japanese sword books, Scottish weapons book, Civil War books, folding knife making book, etc.....and a VHS copy of "The Iron Mistress". All interesting books, but nothing particularly rare.

I spent the afternoon sorting the blades. There are at least ten folders, plus extra parts.Three are pre-assembled for fitting. There was a nice hunter with sheath that only needed cleaning up. I think it was Ron's personal knife. There are four fixed blade knives with all the parts made, just needing the blades re-sanded ( rust) and final assembly and finishing. The box of bigger blades will need a lot more work to finish. There is a short sword that is sort of Tulwar-ish shaped ( but different) that has a 24" blade. It just needs re-sanding to remove some light rust and the handle fitted. I haven't found the guard, but other handle parts I found seem to fit. This will be a quite impressive piece when done. Making a heavily curved sheath will be a challenge, but there is a nickel silver throat, sleeve, and tip in the stuff I found that appear to be the right size.

Also in the stuff we brought back are sheets of nickel silver from 1/2" to 22 gauge.
 
I just returned from Ron Frazier's shop. This time I removed the two grinders ( a Bader B-1 and a home built), two disc sanders, the sword forge, a large antique plow, old farm equipment and big circular saw blades ( for decorations), more books, 50 fire bricks, and a storage bin filled with hand tools. I also came across six more nice knife blades, several big sheets of nickel silver, and a box of superb handles.

We spent the next four hours cleaning the place up. If you have been there before you already know what the place was like. The floor was about 1-2 feet deep in trash. The counters and shelves were the same. You could barely enter the shop because the porch was piled with more stuff/trash. We packed all the trash in contractor bags and boxes and filled one end of the forge room to the ceiling.
When we were done, the floor was clean and swept, the counters clean and bare, and the shelves empty. Mrs. Frazier may make it her studio for art projects.

There is a possibility of something really super in the works, but Suzie will have to think about it. If it comes through, I guarantee you guys will be the first to hear/see it.
 
Thanks for the update Stacy. Such a sad thing when someone passes. At least he has left a legacy. I find it heart warming that these last few things will be taken care of.
 
Wow, life is such a trip...and her sojourners as fascinating as she is. Thanks for sharing a peek into the workspace of one of her special journeyers!

I've kind of had my eye out for a hydraulic barber chair lift. What are you thinking of doing with it?
 
I an going to make a 2'X2' movable section of benchtop and mount a grinder on it ( probably a Horizontal/vertical). Then place a hydraulic chair base under that section. I can then raise and lower that segment to change the grinder height. I have two bases ( already had one for the adjustable grinder) and will fit out a rolling stool from this new one to have an adjustable height chair/stool for when I need to work in the shop siting down. That will allow me to sit at various equipment at the proper height.
 
bladsmth said:
I an going to make a 2'X2' movable section of benchtop and mount a grinder on it ( probably a Horizontal/vertical). Then place a hydraulic chair base under that section. I can then raise and lower that segment to change the grinder height. I have two bases ( already had one for the adjustable grinder) and will fit out a rolling stool from this new one to have an adjustable height chair/stool for when I need to work in the shop siting down. That will allow me to sit at various equipment at the proper height.
Click to expand...

What a slick idea Stacy! So can we look forward to some pics of the stuff you have gotten so far?
 
Thank you for sharing this. It gives an insight into the man that was the knife maker, for those of us that never met him.
 
I'm still working through cleaning the stuff up. It is really covered with grit and dirt. I will try and put some photos together this coming weekend as I work on it.
I talked to Suzie this morning, and am planning one more trip in a week or two. There are still two 1HP Baldor buffers to remove.

One thing I didn't cover is how Ron cut his stock....nickel,brass, steel, titanium. He didn't use a metal band saw. He used a modified chop saw and 12" cut-off discs. It sits on the porch, but is never moving. He welded it to a BIG brake drum, and has cut so much steel that the assembly is permanently buried into a fused mound of metal and abrasive dust. It looks like he poured rust colored concrete around the saw. The really funny (crazy?) thing is that the saw is hot wired to the breaker box. Turn on the breaker and the saw turns on. I checked it when we got there and startled my daughter when it turned on as she was standing on the porch.

The sword forge is a 36", four venturi burner, tube forge, made from 10" heavy pipe. The burners and manifold are identical to a NC Forge unit. The lining is 2" of wool. I will have to reline it, as some critters ( wood rats?) got in the middle and pulled out the wool to make a nest. It weighs about 200-300# and the three foot high stand it sits on weighs another 100#. I plan on taking the open space under the stand and adding expanded metal shelves for small forging and hardie tools, and adding tong and hammer racks on the outside.
 
It's amazing to go through the things a mechanically- and/or creatively-inclined person leaves behind. I live in the house my father left me, but am fixing to move soon. So Angie and I are in the process of going through basically everything my Dad, uncle and grandfather ever owned to sort out what we need/want from the things that are better off in someone else's hands . It's a heckuva trip down memory lane, and I can tell you that the local charities (esp. Habitat for Humanity and a job-training program) are going to be very pleased.
 
Yesterday, Judy (my wife) and I went up to Ron Frazier's shop again.
I removed the two Baldor buffers, a 1.5HP motor, and some other stuff we left behind last trip. Judy and Suzie ( Ron's widow) spent the day talking about Ron and looking at the variety of art work filling their lovely and cozy home. A times it was a bit teary, as it has only been since November.

I cleaned out the last of the trash and started on the several inch thick layer of dust/buffings/grinding that filled the area under the grinders and the buffers. I had brought up my home brew version of a haz-mat suit, with coveralls, respirator, and my portable dust collector. I set the blower on the porch with the discharge toward the trees ( no bag), and put the hose in the shop. As I shoveled up the powdery mess, the blower sucked out a lot of the cloud of fine dust. After I had removed the bulk of the mess, and was down to fine powder, I used the smaller hose to vacuum the counters and floor. The shop was left cleaned top to bottom and there is actually a FLOOR at the bottom. When I first went to start this several weeks ago, it was 2-3 FEET deep in trash, and there was only a few square feet of exposed floor.

SO, The big question I am sure some are asking is......did I find any more knives?

In the 6" pile of dust/grit under the grinder I found three more knives that Ron had dropped/thrown and were buried.They were pretty rusty, and will need a lot of work. I didn't find anything in the detritus under the buffers. There is a cabinet with a beast of a drill press on it ( which I left for Suzie) in the corner next to the buffers that sits about 3" from the wall. I decided that If I was going to clean the place, I might as well get down and pull the crap and trash out of there. There was a lot of broken glass from fluorescent bulbs he stacked behind the drill press ,and probably broke with flying objects. As I cleared out the glass, and started pulling out other trash, knives started appearing. I figure they were ones that slipped when Ron was buffing and they bounced off the floor and landed behind the drill press, and ones he set on the drill press cabinet while drilling the handles and they fell behind it. I am sure that Ron (in his ill and weak state) was not going to crawl down there and try to dig them out from that pile of glass.
So -
I found a completed Frazier liner lock folder with inlaid side panels and a dagger blade, a finished frontier style patch knife with a stag crown handle, and a small Frazier dagger that was nearly complete. Additionally, there were two fillet blades, two small Bowie blades, a tanto blade, and three drop point hunter blades. Also, I found some more handle materials he was drilling and dropped into the space.

The funny thing is I really considered not trying to clear out that area, as it was hard to get to and filled with glass! There was this little voice in the back of my hear that said, "Just go ahead and clean it out, you might find a knife back there."
 
This weekend ,after my Saturday Memorial day party, I am going to set out all the stuff, blades, and handle materials and take some photos.
 
I compensated his wife five times the amount she wanted, because she didn't want enough. She kept saying, "But you are doing all that work to clean out the place". I have also finished knives over the past couple years that were sold to help Ron and Her. I will also be going up to help her with some other projects. Some of these knives will be finished and given to friends and relatives of Ron as mementos, and one will be donated the the SVCKCC for their annual auction. The rest of the blades I will finish and sell (or keep) over the next five years. You folks will see many of these in Shop Talk as they get done, and maybe in other places TBA.

Some of the tools, supplies, and equipment will go to a friend's shop to help him make better knives. Other odds and ends may get passed on to new makers and others who can use them. The rest will be "Hogged" in my new shop.

This is also part of ,"One man's junk is another man's Treasure." These rusty and partially completed blades and knives would be ignored and lost forever without someone who has Ron's take on things to finish them. Ron's style and methods are nearly identical to mine. I have photos of Ron's knives completed, and can finish these to be perfect matches. Most of the equipment will need a lot of clean up and/or rebuilding, but that is what I enjoy,too. The Farmicanna items were mostly buried in the pine straw when I recovered them. Now they are sitting around the gardens and shops at my place, just like they were placed/hung there 100 years ago.

I know it sounds sort of silly, and I don't usually talk this way - But I think Ron is real happy with this setup. I also feel he guided me to those last blades. They were some of the best pieces I got as far as condition.

Now, the fun part:
The most exciting things in all the stuff I have uncovered are "
A "horse head" handled Persian dagger like his famous one featured in Knives Illustrated in 1999 (and other places). He had the blade done, and had carved the wax to cast the sterling horse handle.
A "Horse-a-gator" handled Bowie. The fittings are about 80% done, the ivory cut and ready for drilling/mounting, and the blade is ready for final sanding ( after light rust removal).
A small Japanese tanto. He had done some fantastic Japanese blades about 20 years ago, and this was one he was trying to finish. The blade is done, but will need re-polish due to surface rust. I have his sketches of the fittings he planned.
 
Sweet. It is really cool to help someone out during a time like this, and I bet both of them are happy the supplies are going to a good place.
 
bladsmth said:
I compensated his wife five times the amount she wanted, because she didn't want enough. She kept saying, "But you are doing all that work to clean out the place". I have also finished knives over the past couple years that were sold to help Ron and Her. I will also be going up to help her with some other projects. Some of these knives will be finished and given to friends and relatives of Ron as mementos, and one will be donated the the SVCKCC for their annual auction. The rest of the blades I will finish and sell (or keep) over the next five years. You folks will see many of these in Shop Talk as they get done, and maybe in other places TBA.

Some of the tools, supplies, and equipment will go to a friend's shop to help him make better knives. Other odds and ends may get passed on to new makers and others who can use them. The rest will be "Hogged" in my new shop.

This is also part of ,"One man's junk is another man's Treasure." These rusty and partially completed blades and knives would be ignored and lost forever without someone who has Ron's take on things to finish them. Ron's style and methods are nearly identical to mine. I have photos of Ron's knives completed, and can finish these to be perfect matches. Most of the equipment will need a lot of clean up and/or rebuilding, but that is what I enjoy,too. The Farmicanna items were mostly buried in the pine straw when I recovered them. Now they are sitting around the gardens and shops at my place, just like they were placed/hung there 100 years ago.

I know it sounds sort of silly, and I don't usually talk this way - But I think Ron is real happy with this setup. I also feel he guided me to those last blades. They were some of the best pieces I got as far as condition.

Now, the fun part:
The most exciting things in all the stuff I have uncovered are "
A "horse head" handled Persian dagger like his famous one featured in Knives Illustrated in 1999 (and other places). He had the blade done, and had carved the wax to cast the sterling horse handle.
A "Horse-a-gator" handled Bowie. The fittings are about 80% done, the ivory cut and ready for drilling/mounting, and the blade is ready for final sanding ( after light rust removal).
A small Japanese tanto. He had done some fantastic Japanese blades about 20 years ago, and this was one he was trying to finish. The blade is done, but will need re-polish due to surface rust. I have his sketches of the fittings he planned.
Click to expand...

That's awesome Stacy. Not enough people like this around. Those bowies sound awesome! Please post some pics!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top