Craig and Adam Steketee - questions

[Wulf]

I'm sure many of you have seen their knives on E-Bay (as I have), and from the pictures, these knives look very nice. I'm curious if anyone has had any experience with these knives and what their thoughts are.

Here's what I know
Craig Steketee is a member of the ABS, but he is not a MS or even a JS. His son Adam forges the damascus they use, mostly 1095 and 1060 usually in a random pattern. Mr. Steketee's knives are usually distinguished by their damascus guard and buttcap finishing off a Sambar stag handle with buffalo horn spacer. The tang stamp reads "STEK," and most of the examples I've seen have been large bowies.

In terms of performance, I have only heard anectdotal evidence that the knives are tough. One report holds that a gentleman in Indiana used his STEK to chop down an 8" oak with no major damage to the blade. Mr. Steketee also guarantees his work (though I'm not sure if chopping down oak trees is considered normal use

)

I don't think I've ever seen a STEK knife in any of the major publications, and a search both here and in Reviews & Testing yielded no results.

Here's what I want to know

1. Why have I seen or heard nothing about this maker other than on E-Bay?
2. Why has Mr. Steketee not received his JS or MS stamps? Is it because his son Adam forges the steel while he grinds and finishes the blade? Or did he perhaps lack a "sponsor?"
3. Are STEK knives tough, dependable blades, or simply nice looking shelf pieces?
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   Any information would be helpful, as I'm considering purchasing one of these knives (if they are the high quality blades that they seem, they are excellent bargains at his prices).
   
   Thanks in advance for your input.
   
   -Derrick
   
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   http://www.apechild.com/blades

 

[raker2]

STEK knives are performance knives. Craig has been making knives for quite some time. I have visited with and learned from him about damascus when I first started on knives. He was the first full time knife maker that I met. One of the reasons I think that he hasn't gotten his JS stamp is that it takes a lot of time to prepare for it. Also, Craig likes to make big knives is sthe reason that you see mostly bowies with his mark on them.
I personally would have no problems with buying a knife from Craig. At the time that I visited with Craig, both he and his son were working together on the damascus. I think that his son started helping Craig due to necessity.

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Ray Kirk
ABS - JS
http://www.tah-usa.net/raker