- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Greetings all,
I recently had a stout wooden box arrive containing a sweet little Andersen Forge integral, but before we get to my knife, a bit of backgroud.
As I understand it, CKCA members and fellow forumites STeven Garsson and Buddy Thomason first raised the idea of a club knife for CKCA members. Kevin Jones thought it a good idea and okayed the plan, then Larry Bailey, a get-'er-done type of guy if ever there was one, took over supervision of the project.
Job one was finding a maker - and that was no easy task. He'd have to be a member himself, and willing to make several similar knives, and at price point that would be affordable for a broad cross-section of the membership. And undertake to complete them all within the 2010 calendar year.
Well Karl Stepped up and made a prototype small integral that definitely fit the bill in all respects. Members even got a choice of steel (W2 with hamon or 52100), wood (African Blackwood, Ironwood or Spalted Maple) and the option for an additional Paul Long sheath to go along with the simple but solid pouch sheath provided by Karl.
Karl had the first batch of knives ready for the Blade Show to present to members who had placed early orders and were planning to attend the show. Here's a pic of that group from Murray White's excellent show review:
While I was among the first to order, I told Karl he could hold mine back until after the show as I would not be attending to receive it in person anyway. Also, although the wood choices were very appealing, I had a nice little hunter-sized block of Koa from Bill F. that I wanted to use.
The powers that be were happy to oblige, and Larry even took care of sending the block out to be stabilized for me.
Which brings us at last to my knife:
As you can see, I went for the W2 with hamon option, and the hamon is KILLER.
I wish my photos could tell the story of this piece of wood, but we'd need video for that. This is a VERY chatoyant piece, with the vertical stripes disappearing and reappearing in a different place with each slight change of position. Cool stuff.
Each knife comes with complete documentation, including a certificate with a photo of the knife, the serial number, name of purchaser and detailed specs. My papers were shipped separately, so I don't have them in hand yet. I hope Buddy won't mind me using his professional shot of his knife and documents to give you a better look at everything:
And I'll conclude with one last look at mine:
Thanks for reading, and a special thanks to Karl and Larry for a job well done (and continuing) on this project.
Roger
I recently had a stout wooden box arrive containing a sweet little Andersen Forge integral, but before we get to my knife, a bit of backgroud.
As I understand it, CKCA members and fellow forumites STeven Garsson and Buddy Thomason first raised the idea of a club knife for CKCA members. Kevin Jones thought it a good idea and okayed the plan, then Larry Bailey, a get-'er-done type of guy if ever there was one, took over supervision of the project.
Job one was finding a maker - and that was no easy task. He'd have to be a member himself, and willing to make several similar knives, and at price point that would be affordable for a broad cross-section of the membership. And undertake to complete them all within the 2010 calendar year.
Well Karl Stepped up and made a prototype small integral that definitely fit the bill in all respects. Members even got a choice of steel (W2 with hamon or 52100), wood (African Blackwood, Ironwood or Spalted Maple) and the option for an additional Paul Long sheath to go along with the simple but solid pouch sheath provided by Karl.
Karl had the first batch of knives ready for the Blade Show to present to members who had placed early orders and were planning to attend the show. Here's a pic of that group from Murray White's excellent show review:
While I was among the first to order, I told Karl he could hold mine back until after the show as I would not be attending to receive it in person anyway. Also, although the wood choices were very appealing, I had a nice little hunter-sized block of Koa from Bill F. that I wanted to use.
The powers that be were happy to oblige, and Larry even took care of sending the block out to be stabilized for me.
Which brings us at last to my knife:
As you can see, I went for the W2 with hamon option, and the hamon is KILLER.
I wish my photos could tell the story of this piece of wood, but we'd need video for that. This is a VERY chatoyant piece, with the vertical stripes disappearing and reappearing in a different place with each slight change of position. Cool stuff.
Each knife comes with complete documentation, including a certificate with a photo of the knife, the serial number, name of purchaser and detailed specs. My papers were shipped separately, so I don't have them in hand yet. I hope Buddy won't mind me using his professional shot of his knife and documents to give you a better look at everything:
And I'll conclude with one last look at mine:
Thanks for reading, and a special thanks to Karl and Larry for a job well done (and continuing) on this project.
Roger
