PhilL,
Although this is my first post on this forum and I have yet to establish any credibility, I thought I might as well start out by telling you what little I know about Herb Derr. I met him two years ago at my first knife show, the annual Chesapeake show in Timonium, MD. I agree with Philip Jones, Mr. Derr is a very nice guy (of course, I have that impression about almost all of the custom makers I have met). I was particularly impressed with Mr. Derr's work because he makes primarily forged fixed blade knives with traditional styling and seemed to be charging MUCH less than other makers with comparable work. I spent most of the day at my first show just gawking and asking a whole bunch of ignorant questions of every maker I met. Nobody seemed to mind. A purveyor at that show told me to spend $1000 on one knife from a well-known maker. He said "that way, you know that the value of your knife won't go down". Since I was on a very limited budget, and I don't like knives that are so expensive I wouldn't dare use them, and I wanted to buy something, I went back to Herb's table. Of course, the knives that had caught my eye earlier had all been sold. I ended up picking up a small 3" blade forged from deep blued L6 saw steel with a wood handle, three black and two white spacers and a brass guard. I paid only $65 for that knife and Herb also gave me a deer antler whistle he had made. My son really likes that whistle.
At the show last year, I made directly for Mr. Derr's table and picked up an absolutely gorgeous san mai blade with brown and black mosaic damascus on the outsides of the blade with a tool steel core forming the edge. Copper was fluxed in between the metals in the composite billet in order to bring out the contrast. It has a nickel silver guard, walnut burl spacer, and a hippopotamus tooth handle. It is totally stunning. I paid $265 for this knife. His knives are very sensual and appeal to my sense of artistry, mindful design, and value. Both of the knives I have, and all the others I picked up on his table were perfectly balanced. While I was talking to Herb, several other makers stopped by to say hello to him. I noticed he was being gently chastised in good humor for not charging enough for his work. We talked a little about that. He explained that he is just starting out as a maker and is trying to sell as many blades as he can in order to build his reputation. He also seems to want people to actually use his knives, not put them away in a display case waiting for resale. Les Robertson has pointed out in these forums what he feels is a disturbing tendency for some new makers to value their work as highly as long time makers with established credentials. Mr. Derr is not making that mistake. He prices his work very fairly. He is experimenting with some interesting forging techniques, and I think is definitely a maker to watch. When you consider everything that goes into the making of his knives, I think they are an absolute steal. You can be sure that his will be the first table I visit at the Chesapeake show in December.
I have purchased several custom knives in the last couple of years from well known makers (e.g. Daniel Winkler, Roger Green, and Jim Crowell). Mr. Derr's work ranks right up there. My motto for knife shows and collecting is "Buy only what you like". Decide before you go what your budget is and stick to it or you'll be tempted to spend your mortgage money. Try to decide what type of knife you are most interested in before you hit the show room floor. And if you pick up something you really like and it's in your budget, buy it on the spot or it will probably go home with someone else. I've had that happen a few of times. Definitely buy something. You'll be happy you did.
[This message has been edited by Paracelsus (edited 06 November 1999).]
