Al Barton ABS Mastersmith passed away

Yesterday ABS Mastersmith and my good friend Al Barton succumbed to the cancer that he had been fighting for the last four years. Al has been instrumental in promoting Bladesmithing and the ABS on the West Coast.
I am putting in place an endowment for a memorial scholarship for the ABS College in Al's name. Should any want to dontae to the fund checks should be made out to Texarkana College in the memo put Al Barton Scholarship Endowment. These funds will be used to send students through the Bladesmithing courses in Texarkana and will assure Al Barton's name and knife legacy.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions,
Sadly,
Dave Ellis, ABS, M.S. (with Al's help)

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Kwaiken56

Kwaiken56

Joined
Apr 17, 2000
Messages
1,287
God bless you Al Barton.......
You were a fine gentleman down here. My son and I will never forget you.
You will be missed.
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Al Machado
 
My phone numbers are Days-619-285-1305
Eves-760-945-7177
Dave Ellis

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Looks like it's just been a bad week for knife knuts in general.
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I didn't know Al, but a loss like this is a loss to us all. Take care, everybody.
 
Condolences to you, Ellis, and Al's family and friends. He's done so much for the craft. He will be sorely missed. And good thinking on the endowment.

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Champions make improvements as fast as losers make excuses.
 
My sympathy goes out to the Barton family and all the folks that Al helped out along the way. We have lost another true gentleman.

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" The real art of living is too keep alive the longing in human beings to become greater versions of themselves." Laurens Van der Post.
In memory of James Mattis
 
I met Mr. Barton at the Blade show as I was leaving. We just chatted outside while he had a cigarette and I waited for my wife. We talked about the swords that I bought. I felt, and still feel that it was a true honor to have met him. I only wish that I'd had the chance to get to know him better.
Please pass along my condolances.
Oz
 
MY WIFE AND I MET AL THRU JIM RODEBAUGH AT PREVIOUS SHOWS. HE WAS A TRUE GENTLEMAN WITH A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR, EVERY TIME WE MET HE HAD US SPLITTING A GUT.

ONCE AGAIN, TIME PASSES AND WE LOSE THOSE WE LOVE. AL, YOU WILL BE DEARLY MISSED BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.

JIM RODEBAUGH IS A CLOSE FRIEND AND STUDENT OF AL AND HIS WIFE. MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THEM BOTH.

REST IN PEACE AL.
 
His work was perfection in steel, just wonderful. My prayers for his family. This has been a tough week, indeed.

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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
 
Al was a great man as well as a great knifemaker.Who never took his accomplishments to seriously .He had a hard time with compliments and just loved knives .I talked with him at length at both the Oregon show and the Blade show. He was making me a knife.He talked openly about his cancer and seemed as ready as any one could be he knew his time was short.He was definately a lot of fun to hang arround ,crusty as hell arround the edges with a warm and welcoming interior that couldn't be repressed no mater how hard he tried. He will be sorely missed . Best wishes to his friends and family .
I have his shop apron which I will frame and hang proudly in my shop with a little bio of Al and photo of us taken at the Blade show . I still need to get a knife.
I think I am the only guy that collects shop aprons however I have a thirty to fourty year career in that apron in which every scuff,stain,hole,cut tells a story of a true knifemaking legend.
My hope is that a true cutlery museum will oneday exist where these valuable archives can be displayed to honor those who layed the ground work for the rest of us with the respect they deserve.

I miss you Al!!
However you will live on in our memories !!
Aloha!!! Ken Onion
 
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