Bladsmth (Stacy Apelt) in latest issue of Blade!

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Since this thread has stayed really well focused, I will add another dimension:

If we want to do something about the content of blade magazine, we need to stop pissing and moaning on the forums and send Steve Shackleford a letter....each one of us...and your friends, too.
Numbers talk. Steve told me that as long as the readers want the existing articles, he will run them. That also implies that if the readers don't like the articles, he will look for other content to fill the pages.

Send an email today. Tell the editor what you don't like as well as what you would like to see.
I don't have a copy of Blade here, but I would appreciate it if someone would post the email and the physical address for the people who want change to send their comments.
Right now fifteen people are looking at this thread, and in the past few days it has been viewed 1000 times. A few hundred emails would certainly make Steve Shackelford take note.

Put your fingers to work - We can call it "OCCUPY BLADE".
 
Stacy, I did "OCCUPY BLADE", even before Ed or Wayne,... and look where it got me. :(

... best off keeping my yap shut, but that's just me.
(face full of pepper spray)

I had the job and probably could have kept it... lucky I didn't.

OCCUPY YOUR SHOP
 
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Troop said:
Ahh, so what. Fame and money are way overrated. :)
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No, "Fame and Fortune" are way over rated. You forgot the quotes. :)

Fame and fortune are a couple things that only exist in our imaginations. We project it onto others and sometimes on ourselves.

Like drugs, once you get hooked, you can never have enough and will never be satisfied...

(which thread is this?)

I'm all mixed up... must be time for a bottle and a nap.
 
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2knife said:
Which one of you is the expert?

Instead of talking, why not focus on improving your own skills. Ed Fowler has promoted the performance aspect of knives. This has been a goal, and making the performance of knives a topic of importance. Why not just say "thanks" Ed! Take a look at the latest "Best Bowie" thread in the customs subforum. Where do you see any aspect of blade performace and testing discussed? I'll save you the trouble. Its Nowhere. I would suggest those of you who would like to voice your
objections, ask what you have done to advance the performance aspect of knives today? Most of you are either
obscure smiths who have never been out of your comfort zone or have never conclusively or substantially proven anything to anyone but yourselves. Go ahead and explain it to me how everything is mixed up thanks to Ed Fowler.
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I think you are reading a little to deeply into this, and/or taking it a bit too personally. Hopefully an otherwise decent thread doesn't start to disintegrate after these posts, but I feel compelled to speak on behalf of the "objectors".

Nobody is questioning Ed Fowler's contributions to the knife making community or even much of what many of us know about bladesmithing and metallurgy to date. He's probably devoted and invested more into the craft and "science" of knife making than a majority of us here.

Furthermore, nobody stated that everything was mixed up thanks to Ed Fowler. I'm not sure I see anything close that sentiment in this thread, OR the letter that Stacy submitted? Have you read it by the way? It was very respectfully written.

I believe what Stacy was merely trying to do was post a reminder that not everything should be given and taken at face value because somebody "says" they tested this or that and found so and so. He was merely asking for some of the "hard data" that Mr. Fowler had claimed to find, and pointed out a couple of questionable thoeries that Ed was more/less passing off as fact.

I think all of us are in fact continually working on improving our own skills, and part of that often include reading books and publications from other makers. Now, I'm sure that if a knife maker were to read everything that Mr. Fowler has ever written or had published, and based the sole knowledge of his knife making upon that, he would still be much farther ahead than he could have ever hoped to be on his own, or even studying any other number of knife makers.

That still doesn't mean that everything Ed Fowler (or any other accomplished bladesmith) says should be taken as gospel truth without question. It's not an insult to Ed to question him, but rather it's our resposibility in the effort to furthering our own knowledge and the knowledge of others.
 
AVigil said:
Here in So Cal we only have 1 bookstore left "Barnes and Noble". And they never have Blade Magazine in stock.

I wish they had an online version to subscribe to. I had about 20 years worth of Blade Magazine I gave away last year because it just took up to much room.
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The 31st Issue, Knives 2011 has 15-20? can't remember years of Blade on DVD with the book!
 
knife to a gunfight said:
I think you are reading a little to deeply into this, and/or taking it a bit too personally. Hopefully an otherwise decent thread doesn't start to disintegrate after these posts, but I feel compelled to speak on behalf of the "objectors".

Nobody is questioning Ed Fowler's contributions to the knife making community or even much of what many of us know about bladesmithing and metallurgy to date. He's probably devoted and invested more into the craft and "science" of knife making than a majority of us here.

Furthermore, nobody stated that everything was mixed up thanks to Ed Fowler. I'm not sure I see anything close that sentiment in this thread, OR the letter that Stacy submitted? Have you read it by the way? It was very respectfully written.

I believe what Stacy was merely trying to do was post a reminder that not everything should be given and taken at face value because somebody "says" they tested this or that and found so and so. He was merely asking for some of the "hard data" that Mr. Fowler had claimed to find, and pointed out a couple of questionable thoeries that Ed was more/less passing off as fact.

I think all of us are in fact continually working on improving our own skills, and part of that often include reading books and publications from other makers. Now, I'm sure that if a knife maker were to read everything that Mr. Fowler has ever written or had published, and based the sole knowledge of his knife making upon that, he would still be much farther ahead than he could have ever hoped to be on his own, or even studying any other number of knife makers.

That still doesn't mean that everything Ed Fowler (or any other accomplished bladesmith) says should be taken as gospel truth without question. It's not an insult to Ed to question him, but rather it's our resposibility in the effort to furthering our own knowledge and the knowledge of others.
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Very good post KTG:thumbup:

I've read Ed's articles for years, respect him greatly as a knife maker and smith, and have had the pleasure of meeting him personally (Though I doubt that he remembers it as vividly as I :D), but I think this post was well thought out and quite sensible!
 
i read blade alot back in the day then after i started making knives and reading more then one point of view on how to make knives. well things shifted and not only from jsut one persons teachings but many and how open they were about how they got there knives finished.
it was not long till i saw who was selling hype and who was jsut having fun finding out new info (that they shared) for all to get better.
i stopped reading blade mag along time ago and if i see it or tac. knives on the shelf i dont even bother cracking it open less i know some one i know is in it
knives illustrated is one that i see as all right but thats cause i come from an art background and they cover stuff more my speed
 
Here is my letter to Steve Shackleford, Editor of Blade magazine.

To the Editor of BLADE

Introduction:
I am Stacy E. Apelt, and have been a reader of Blade magazine for over 20 years and have been making knives since 1961. I have technical background in metallurgy, and chemistry, having worked in research for VA chemicals ( formerly VA smelting) in the 1970's.
I am currently the moderator and advisor on Bladefourms.com Knifemakers Shop Talk sub-forum. Bladeforums name - Bladsmth .

I have been disappointed in the articles you have been running by Ed Fowler for quite a while, but lately his information is a disservice to knifemakers and your magazine. His self-proclaimed superiority and science is egotistical at best, and totally false in many cases. He has publicly admittedly that he has not made a knife in over a year, but posts articles about his "knife Making" skills, testing, and research. His version of metallurgy is so flawed that any person who has only moderately read on the subject will see the problems in his methods.
Most of his articles are just promotion of his personal theory on metallurgy, of himself, and his school.

His recent article in the January 2012 issue is case to point. It pulls the reader in with "The Cure For Blade Warp"....but is an article on Ed Fowler. It goes for two pages, ending in "To Be Continued".....without any information on curing blade warp.
Mr. Fowler constantly refers to his laboratory testing and unknown metallurgists who back his theories, but never posts any such information or names the labs or people doing the tests. His only mention of any others is Rex Walter and Doc Daugherty. He constantly reports that his methods produce far superior blades, as tested by these two, but never posts the actual tests or results or methods that they were obtained. I am not sure, but believe they work with him at his school.

His claims of metallurgical science are often totally false. Case in point is his constant mention of the "memory" of steel.( referenced in the 2012 article). His claims that "Every hammer mark and thermal event is forever recorded in the memory of the steel" ( direct quote from the article) , and only his "special" process can conquer it, is insulting to metallurgists who have spent lifetimes in the study of steel and its properties.
Steel has no permanent "memory" of past events. Every time the steel passes Ac1 in a heat treatment and converts to Austenite, nearly all prior states are erased and a clean slate starts. If Mr. Fowler's premise was true, the steel would have been ruined at the steel mill, and the damage made worse in his forging and grinding.
Another instance is his claim that placing his blades in the refrigerator overnight can produce a large gain in toughness and hardness, as well as reduce grain size. The conversion of retained austenite in the steels he works ( 5160 and 52100) is a minor issue ( only a few %), and would not happen until -105F. I know of no commercial home freezer that reaches that temperature. Grain size is set at temperatures above 1350F, not at -32F in a freezer. Grain size is re-set each time the steel heats above the Currie point and cools below 1000F.
His claims that his processes , which he will teach you at his school, is going to produce a blade with super fine grain and many times superior to all others is pure hype,..... and insulting to the thousands of bladesmiths reading your magazine.

To wrap this up, I understand that different smiths will have different methods.
I understand that different smiths will disagree on some metallurgical principles as applied to bladesmithing.
I agree that Ed Fowler has a right to his opinions.

Where I disagree is his right to use your magazine to spread his opinion as hard cold fact, when it clearly is false.
I disagree in your running articles claiming all sorts of knife making and testing from a man who has admitted he does not make knives any more.

Final comment:
Everyone is entitled to his own interpretation of metallurgy science....but no one is entitled to his own metallurgical science.

Sincerely - Stacy E. Apelt, FSA Scot
 
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Stacy,
Thank you for putting up your letter in this thread.
There was a time when I bought Blade Magazine to try to learn from it, and much of the "information" I got from it came from Mr. Fowler's column, sadly much of that "information" was at best misleading. Comparing what didn't make sense with industry practices and studying any scientific metallurgical information I could get my hands on started to poke holes in the magical world of "Lady Knife" that Mr. Fowler was presenting. Fortunately the average knife is not subjected to anywhere near the stresses that industrial cutter blades are, so the average knife maker following the mystical precepts is probably not going to notice what they are missing out on. I let my subscription expire and have not purchased a copy of Blade since the publisher stated that the Fowler column sold magazines so he would continue to publish it regardless of whether it presented good information or not. I will not support promulgation of misinformation with my wallet.

-Page
 
Blade has done a lot for the custom knife industry. The knife rags, all of them, bring new knife people into our small world. I get the mags to help support custom knives, even though I don't agree with everything printed. The Blade show has also been huge! I do agree however there is misinformation in all the mags, but it's up to us to dig deeper and find what works best for each of us. If ya don't like what ya read, do like Stacy and write a letter. :)
 
don i agree but the miss info if learned first is much harder to "unlearn"

as print is more better then internet hearsay :)
also is there any other indersty that lets "facts" get posted over and over with only inhouse testing to back them up

often times i see how alot of people are leary of cryo as almost all testing is done by the people that you pay for the service. now days tho cryo is much better tested and not jsut hearsay (lets get more out of house independent testing to support all the claims )
 
I used to read many of the knife rags, but with the internet I can get more information and interact with those interested in the cutlery field ie: Bladeforums. The style of writing up articles that are unresolved (cliffhangers) that say 'to be continued' turn me off as a reader. They do this to push and sell magazines, good for them, but not for the customer who reads them.
 
I agree, Butch.

I do feel that having Knife Rags on the news stands does bring more interest to custom knives.
 
I don't really think not buying the magazines does anybody any good. If you don't like the content, write in and say why. I see a lot of great makers profiled, including all the new ABS JS and MS inductees.

Stacy,
Is it possible you made an error in "quoting" Ed? I remember the thread between Ed and Rick, but thought Ed said he had only SOLD one knife. It was a rebuttal to someone claiming he was only out to sell knives.
To be clear. I'm 100% on board with Stacy's views of metallurgy. I just think IF that was incorrectly stated that it tends to skew Ed's experiential knowledge.

And, 2Knife, Kevin Cashen and Stacy Aplet are "experts".... Google them. Kevin's done more work in my opinion to advance the metallurgical knowledge of bladesmithing than anyone I've heard of.
 
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