Appleton Knife

M

MSU2000

Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
4
I've heard that he makes awesome knifes.

Anyone has experience and willing to share? I don't think I can afford one but certaintly appriciated the insight and how the mechanism works and all that.

Thanks
 
jeffphansen77 said:
Ray Appleton?
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Hey Folks,

Ray Appelton was a Machinest Genius,,,,, but He Passed Away a few years back. His Knives are in the outer limits for affordability for the average JOE unless you dont mind selling off a few Kids,,,,,lol

Regards,

Velocity knives
 
I'm sorry to hear that. I happened to live across the street from him for a bit in tiny Bluff Dale, TX. back in 2000 or so. My roommate told me the guy outside across the street was some kind of knifemaker named Appleton. I looked out the window & the guy working in his yard looked just like the man in a recent issue of Blade I had just read. Tall older man with long hair. I thought "no way" but grabbed up the article & noticed that it said hat he lived near Glen Rose.

I went out & introduced myself & made small talk. He didn't like thumbstuds & kept telling me my folder had a "wart" on the blade. He brought out a few folders like the ones in the article, with the button on the pivot. My buddy Darrel kept shaking his head & saying "like a freaking Swiss watch". I just kept operating the button-pivot & shaking my head, half-stunned, thinking "....how?". I understand why those knives cost what they do. It was unfinished but the tolerances were just incredible. He was such a cool, laid-back, down-to-Earth guy. You'd never have guessed what a phenomenal craftsman & engineer he was.
 
I've been reading about his kinfes and have never seen stuff like that before. He did that mechanism using wire EDM which is not cheap and usually is used to built tools and dies.

Like I said, his knife cost more than my car so defenetly can't afford it but i want to see up close and personal.

Bump
 
I was very fortunate to get to know Ray. Knives aside a very incredible individual. Ray was the type of person who was very well rounded and although one of the most brilliant men I have met, had the ability to communicate well at any level with all ages. Just a brilliant and kind man.

Like many of us here his knives go for much more than I could ever spend, but if you ever get the chance to handle one, do not hesitate. I have been fortunate to handle quite a few and each was memorable.
 
.........I guess I didn't waste that all money back in the '80's-'90's after all. ;)

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Wow! That is the most amazing collection of Appleton knives I've ever saw! Would you care to give a little bit more information about these extraordinary knives; it appears to me that they are all Multa locks and the lower right one an IQ Mechanism? Did you acquire these knives at shows?

Thank you very much for posting sharing this photo!
 
hoyer said:
Wow! That is the most amazing collection of Appleton knives I've ever saw! Would you care to give a little bit more information about these extraordinary knives; it appears to me that they are all Multa locks and the lower right one an IQ Mechanism? Did you acquire these knives at shows?

Thank you very much for posting sharing this photo!
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......You're welcome, Hoyer. Yes, I usually got these at shows back when I was attending them more regularly - 1984-1992, or so. The IQ is by Ray's son, Ron. They brought it to Telluride, Colorado one year during the film festival we were attending. I got started buying them pretty early - Ray's second Solvang show if I recall correctly. Like all collectors, I was skeptical at first about the prices. The second knife cost me twice as much as the first one as he quickly gained popularity. I asked A.G. Russell for advice. He told me that no one else has a clue about how to make these. ;) I haven't bought any this century.
 
Holy crap. I've only ever seen a few other photos of individual knives, and I can imagine that owning just one of those working sculptures would be fantastic, but multiples ?!? Mind blown for sure. Amazing collection you have there.
 
They look like Star Trek knives...a compliment. Very futuristic.
The blades, grips, ...even the pivots are amazing in design.
Wonderful collection.
 
Hi everyone,
those knives are great Mercedes, thank you for sharing the picture. I got hooked with knives in 2005 and being a machinist myself I think there are no better knives than Appleton's even if they use wire EDM machines. I know first hand how hard it is to work with tight tolerances, and I am sure that the amount of time to make only one knife must be very long, like many other people I don't have the money to buy one but I got a chance to make one for myself
it became I personal challenge I spent one year just inventing the mechanism. It is a seven position folder knife, made with Aluminum Bronce, Berilium Copper and S7 steel my favorite Appleton knife is called the Terrapin wich is another name for Turtle my favorite animal, if you guys want to see it go to youtube and type appleton knife, with my free time I have created some beutiful designs I wish one day I could bulid one knive with Mr. Ron.

Mercedes, I noticed that you have some knives with wooden handles, did you ever ask Mr. Appleton how to take care of them?
 
A couple of quick points, No wire EDM was ever used in the making of any Appleton knife. I do now have 3 Die Swiss Sinker EDM's. Nothing in my shop is controlled by computer. Terrapin was my 7th knife made. Mercerdesrules, thanks for posting those photos, I don't think many of those have any photo exposure at all. I'll get back to you re: the # of Rays knives when I get home in a week or so. Jesen, I saw the knife you made, pretty nice. My dad and I combined have designed 5 distinctly different mechanisms with a total of 27 variations of those 5 mechanisms.

My dad was a lot of fun, I miss him.

Ron Appleton
 
.........Trivia: notice that two of the buttons are the same. When one was almost finished and was being polished, it flew out of Ray's hand and got lost in the clutter of his garage workshop. He made a second button for the knife. Then, later, he found the first button and made a different knife for that. ;)
 
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