Thanks for the comments, guys! It really means a lot! (Considering what it cost me, I'll take all the compliments you want to throw at it!)
Here's a review: I would never buy a knife that I wouldn't use, so I put the knife through some simple testing. The knife cut 15 boxes into small strips before requiring a quick sharpening pass. It cut through 1" of free hanging rope. It cut through a 2x4 in about 3 minutes. Yeah. Right. Like this is how you would "review" a Broadwell art dagger! :barf:
There are 3 major design elements that I find exceptional in the knife. First, I love the overall color and "feel". It's a very organic piece. It doesn't feel mechanical, it feels alive.
Second, the blade shape is a wicked figment of Dave's imagination. There are recurves on both edges, giving it something of a wasp waist, and then it tapers to a very gentle clip point. The "S" of the "proper" edge and the subtle clip on the top edge combine with the recurves to give it a very complex line.
Third, the use of texturing that runs from the jade, through the bronze, and on to the steel is really cool. It adds a tactile flow between the components that compliments the visual flow.
As far as craftsmanship goes, to call Dave a master would be an obvious understatement. The symmetry that he has attained in the carving and grinding is remarkable - doubly so in light of the complexity. The jade handle is cool and glasslike, while at once feeling receptive and "live". I wish that each of you could see how the blade seems to simply emerge from the guard - it's a thing of beauty.
Nick Smolen's damascus is dramatic and liquid, with a complex patterning that is mostly fluid, and very chaotic, almost seeming like smokey waves overlying a jagged background that peeks through in spots. Dave's grinding gave the patterning a continuity, even through deeply ground areas like the fullers. The etch is dark and topographical, without going too deep.
The jade is a deep, warm forest green, with swirls and flecks of black and white.
Working with Dave has been a privilege. He has been open and honest. But more than that, he grasped the project, and made the knife fulfill it. You don't start a work like this with performance oriented goals that can be met with the right steel and the right grind. You come at it with conceptual visions and "feelings" that don't exist anywhere outside of your mind. Dave tuned into my wavelength and created a knife that not only took the ideas we discussed, but worked them together in a way that really "lives and breathes". He's been everything one would hope for in an artist when commissioning a piece of artwork.
(Thanks)
I imagine the speechlessness that comes over you when you finally receive it will put everything into perspective though.
