As a newbie hobby maker, who hopes to sell a few this summer for the first time, I am very interested in this thread. I know little of what went on in these "other" threads, what went on in Blade show, and so on. Instead, I have this to ask.
What am I allowed to do? Does someone have a patent on flat grinding? I sure hope not, or else I'm in trouble. I do not ask this in jest. If RJ got slack over having 3 knots in a lanyard, my question isn't all that bad! The knives I am trying to finish right now, my 4th through 7th, are a design of Bob Engnaths. I am adding some magic to the handle that I think is my own, but the design is all Bob's. Is this allowed? If I make a sub hilted knife, do i have to call Bob Loveless first and ask? If I make a knife with a canted handle, should I call Jerry Busse? If I make a fighting knife and call it a name that was used by another maker for a knfie already, will I catch crap for it? Am I allowed to dovetail bolsters?
This is the issue that interests me, as a newbie maker, from this thread. As I said before, I don't ask these questions in jest. I don't want to make a knife with holes drilled in the handle and get yelled at for it. Especially when, as has been said before, these styles have ALREADY been done before, more than likely. So what are we supposed to do?
I made this knife last year:
I had my AFCK handle in mind when designing the handle, and I had flipped through my mags for design inspiration as well. When I was designing/making it, I thought that it looked a lot like a Trace Rinaldi knife. I checked one of my mags and there was a Trace Rinaldi knife that looked similar to that one. I immediately e-mailed Trace and asked him if it was o.k., but I got no response and made the knife anyways. Should I have e-mailed Benchmade and Chris Caracci for the handle inspiration? If in my designing/making of knives I use a feature that I think is "unuque" to a maker, I will and have talked to the maker before to ask if it is o.k. Rob's parasite idea is fantastic. Jeff Randall secures a ferrocium rod in the sheath of his droppe dpoint survival blade. That is a great knife idea! If I want to use these or other "unique" ideas, I think talking to the maker is a decent thing to do. But as far as the "generic" techniques/ideas go, such as flat grinds, single finger grips for handles, the use of micarta, etc., do we need to ask people?
If we do have to ask, and either pay royalties or worse, not use these features, I'm going to go patent the hollow grind and make money that way!
The last part was in jest, but I'd like to hear your opinions on what I have said/asked. I hope, Allen Elishewitz, that you add your input as well. My favorite folder that I have is the Benchmade Striker with your name on it! I think you have great designs and I'd love to hear your input on this matter. I don't know enough about the other issues that you folks have been discussing to form an opinion and comment. But this issue needs to be addressed, if at least for my sake as a newbie maker.
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"Come What May..."