Charlie Bell knives

[DaveHS]

CB Slimline Bullet Trapper

 

[brianv]

Absolutely stunning work!

 

[DaveHS]

I love this knife enough to resurrect this thread!

 

[Chief]

Looked back through this thread and didn't see where I posted this flashy abalone sowbelly. Stunner deserves some bandwidth. Picked up the shell while walking on the beaches of Vandenberg AFB in a previous century.

 

[DaveHS]

Chief That knife is extraordinary, sir! Please share the full story! Did you work with CB on a custom using that shell?

 

[waynorth]

Picked up the shell while walking on the beaches of Vandenberg AFB in a previous century.

Tell us more!!!!

 

[Chief]

DaveHS and waynorth

Ok. Since all stories need a beginning and maybe a photo. Circa 1974 I got laid off from being a laborer on the Rock Island Railroad and went back to working at Hensley's Mobil Truck Stop on I-40 and Country Club Road in El Reno Oklahoma. Was a huge cut in pay, $1.70 per hour from $4.68 per hour. Getting back on the railroad didn't look promising so I joined the United Stated Air Force. There is a family tradition dating back to the Revolutionary War of my ancestors serving and I needed a job. So I flew on an airplane for the first time in my life 50 years and 3 days ago. Destination ... Lackland Air Force Base Air Force Basic Military Training. 18 years old with no clue except had a guaranteed job as a Missile Systems Analyst Specialist / Ballistic Missile Analyst Technician. A job I selected for the long tech school / electronics training. We were housed in old WW II barracks. We had to sleep with the windows open as that supposedly lessened the transmission of disease. Second row, second from the right, geeky looking kid with glasses.

After one year and one week, I became certified "Mission Ready". Trained and trained and evaluated several times and was even deemed "Highly Qualified". My duty would consist of pulling 24 hour alert launch crew tours at nuclear hardened Titan II ICBM silos. Top Secret crypto clearance, Personnel Reliability Program certified (docs said I wasn't crazy LOL), Strategic Air Command trained to kill. My primary specialty was the guidance system, targeting, launch control systems, fire and leak investigation, decoding and reacting to Emergency Action Messages, with backup responsibilities in everything else (communications, power production, water systems, hydraulic systems). A Titan II launch crew consisted of 4 personnel, 2 of which much be awake 24/7/365 on level 2 of the Control Center ready to launch if ordered by the President. Three stories of equipment in the control center and 9 stories of equipment in the silo.

How did a poor kid from a small town in Oklahoma end up as a link in the chain of Armageddon? It's been so long ago it's kind of hard to remember. But in any case I pulled 24 hour alerts in those silos for 10 years, an instructor 3 years and an evaluator for 6 years. Competed in my Air Force job 7 times and ended up with three first place trophies. Titan IIs were liquid propellant and dangerous. One exploded Sept 1980 in Damascus Arkansas. So we deactivated them and I volunteered for Minuteman II in order to get my base of preference, Whiteman AFB Missouri. I served in numerous roles there for 9 years until Minuteman IIs were deactivated. I was retirement eligible but when offered an assignment to Vandenberg AFB I was all in. Much better working on missile silos on the beaches of California than shoveling snow to get into the silos of North Dakota. My wife is a water person and loved to go to the beach so on the weekend it wasn't unusual for us to take strolls on the deserted beaches and look for shells. I kept all the abalone shells of any size, and tried to fashion them into jewelry (too brittle!). Lots of pinholes, curves, it's really difficult to work with. Charlie and I live in the same town and have become friends over the years. I gave him a couple of abalone shells to see what he could do with it. Five years ago Charlie cut a beautiful shield out of a piece he used making me a slipjoint with purpleheart wood.

Any several years Charlie surprised me with the completion of the abalone slipjoint pictured. This pic has a fingerprint on the blade but you can see all the holes in the shell in the background. Charlie cut those scales out of raw shells. Not easy. So that is how a poor kid from a small town in Oklahoma ended up working on ICBMs on the beaches of Vandenberg AFB California and picking up shells on the beach. I retired effective Jan 2000 and had already moved back to Oklahoma so my missile launching days were all in the previous century. Abalone shells are sooo hard to work with, I was pleasantly surprised to get this one from Charlie. We had brunch recently, he is still making knives, he is on a sowbelly kick which is fine by me. Almost forgot to mention it's a sunk joint, no snags in the pocket.

 

[black mamba]

Great story, John, thanks for the history! That sowbelly is magnificent!

 

[John A. Larsen]

If you want to read about what could have happened in the accident the Chief referred to look it up. Explosion threw a 740 ton hatch 200 feet into the air and it landed 600 feet away. By the Grace of God and safety devices the W53 Thermonuclear warhead did not explode. John

 

[Halfneck]

Very cool story Chief.

 

[DaveHS]

So that is how a poor kid from a small town in Oklahoma ended up working on ICBMs on the beaches of Vandenberg AFB California and picking up shells on the beach.

Incredible story, John and what an amazing knife. Makes me want to drive up from Dallas to Oklahoma and buy you and CB a meal and numerous beers.

 

[doulos]

I have a new one on the way from Charlie. He was a delight to work with on this knife. It is made from very old coarse linen micarta. These are Charlie's photos...I'll send more once I get it in hand. Thanks Charlie!