Blades for Troops!

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wassomeoneelse

Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
123
Ok guys! I have a proposition for some of you knife makers who would like to participate. I am sponsoring a Army Reserve HET Unit out of MS that was currently activated this past week. I am friends with the Maintenance Chief (Warrant Officer) and talked to him about making a couple of knives for his guys. I am kinda fond of the Transportation side of the military since I was a HET driver myself back in 06-07. They will be stationed in Taji, Iraq. I have talked to several knifemakers about this because I was unsure how to go about it. I will be making Bart (Chief) a knife because he is my friend. I will do the best I can, even though I consider myself a beginning knifemaker. Bart will make sure that the knives will go to "deserving" troops. What makes a troop deserving you may ask? Obviously all are deserving because they wear the uniform. But obviously, I cannot make enough knives to supply a whole platoon of maintenance troops much less a whole HET Company. Which can run upwards of 300 people at times. From my discussions with Bart, I narrowed down the troops who were eligible. I suggested to him that he supply me with names of the lower enlisted who may have families and that were responsible, motivated, and showed a wilingness to do the job.

I am looking for 6 knifemakers that are willing to make a knife and mail it to a APO Address for a troop stationed in Iraq. I am willing to send each knifemaker who volunteers either a piece of 1075 or 1084 depending on wether you would like to do stock removel or to forge one. The 1075 is .200 x 3 1/2 x 12 inch. The 1084 is Aldo's finest. These knives will mainly be used in a shop environment. I would humbly suggest that the cutting edge be around 4 inches. :D These guys are not infantry types kicking in doors. The sheath must fit a belt that is 1 1/4 inch wide. I will get names and the unit address once they deploy in about 6 weeks. i will then forward the name and address to each knifemaker who volunteers his time and materials for this. If you guys have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
I look forward to this endeavor. Thanks to you all.
Bryan Arnold
 
Bryan, that's a great idea. Similar things have been done here before with success.

I'll happily make a knife to contribute. Do you have any more specific details about what these guys might want? Blade style, etc.

I already have steel etc. on hand; my only issues are:
A) I'm not set up for heat-treating yet, so I will need to send it out. This will involve a bit of extra lead-time.
B) I don't make sheaths. I would be happy to finish a knife and ship it to a sheath-maker, then let them send the whole deal on down the line. Chances are pretty good that one of the folks around here would donate a sheath. Alternately, I could order a factory-made leather sheath from TKS or somewhere and fit it to the finished knife. I've done that several times.

Let me know if this makes sense and I can help. :)
 
Count me in. I will make one. Thanks Bryon for doing this. We gotta support our troups. Now come on guys. Pitch in to help someone who is insuring your freedom.
 
Bryan: I can send you some wood for the handles, if you'd like. You can see the link in my signature to see what types I have. I suggest the exotics, and I can send you 12 blocks in a flat rate envelope, if you'd like. And then you can send the makers one or two blocks along with the steel.
 
Thanks for chipping in, Mike! As for me, I'm all set as far as handle materials.

As for my HT issues: no worries. I have it planned out thanks to the generosity and team-spirit of our friends here on the forum. Dan offered to do it for me, but Rusty beat him to it. Thanks, gentlemen! :thumbup:
 
Count me in Brian, I will be glad to help out. I got some nice blades forged out of 1095, just let me know, CHarlie
 
Ok guys. Looks like we are set. My home email is was someone else at yahoo.com. I will be contacting each of you individually over the next couple of days to confirm steel, handle material, etc. As far as style goes, make a cutting knife that can take a little bit of abuse. Pretty wide range of possibility there. I am making alittle EDC knife that is similiar to a drop point hunter and a smaller one that looks like a miniature filet knife, but much thicker than one. If everyone will email me your contact info, unless I already have it, I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Bryan
 
Allright! I have sent emails or talked to James, Charlie, Rusty, Dan, Mike (GOMike), Dave, and Johnny. I will be calling all of you by this weekend on this subject. I will be posting pics of how my knives are coming along as I work on this project. ;) I started the grinding last night. Amazing how particular I am after having met Dan, Johnny, and Rusty and seeing there work. I need to work on getting those plunge lines lined up and getting that thickness down on the edge when I hollow grind. Thanks to all for your support.
Thanks,
Bryan
 
email received and responded to, Bryan. This project is exactly the kick-in-the-butt I needed to finish some projects that have been languishing for awhile and get my nose to the grindstone. :thumbup: I haven't decided yet which one I'll donate; it will depend mostly on which one turns out best. :o

Thanks for the motivation, and mostly, thanks for putting this together. I'm very happy to contribute in some small way. It's certainly the least I can do to show appreciation for our servicemen. :thumbup:

I know what you mean about putting work up next to these other guys... I'm a little concerned that my knife won't quite measure up, but the pressure is good for me. :)
 
I hate to be the wet blanket, but the moderatoratorial staff generally likes to vet these sorts of things before anyone sends any knives. While I certainly have no evidence that Mr. wassomeoneelse's intentions are anything but good, there have, unfortunately, been frauds in the past. I'm sure that Mr. wassomeoneelse will be happy to present for consideration his bona fides to Messrs. Williams and Ralph via e-mail or PM.
 
I personally know wassomeoneelse, Hes came to my house and forged knives, Hes good people, His name is Brian Arnold and he currently serves in our Armed Forces. He a good ole feller like everyone else here.
 
That's great, but you need to realize that a website as large as Bladeforums runs on rules or it falls apart. We can't keep track of everything we need to without some structure. One of the very simple rules is, solicitations of any sort should go through Spark first.
 
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