Creation of The Perfect Knife??

J

jrpsycho

Joined
Mar 16, 2000
Messages
71
I was in class the other day and my instructor made the generalized comment that man has never made anything perfect, and i thought "i have seen some knives that look pretty close"
The question is has there ever been a knife that was considered by the knife community/industry as built perfectly? i am not talking design (that is more subjective) but a knife that was ground/forged and fit and finished with no mistakes?? and if so by who? if not who got the closest?
thanks
james
 
Lile and Walker come to mind. I`ve looked at two Walker`s under a loupe and haven`t been able to find a flaw. Walker`s have a tendency to be fairly ornate pieces with really tight tolerances. To execute them without a discernable flaw is pretty frigging amazing!
 
Perfection is an Ideal. A Concept. Not something real.

By definition, no knifemaker has achieved it. Some seem to have gotten very close, but no credible artist will ever tell you he (or she) completed a 'perfect' work.

There are a few makers whose attention to detail consistently produces knives that are for the most part, apparently perfect. But I doubt very much that any of these makers would agree with that idea.

An artists Best work is always his Next work.

Paracelsus
 
As Para has stated, no knifemaker has achieved perfection. The one that IMO hve come closest are Michael Walker, Bob Loveless and a couple of people you will run into on these forums. I think that some of Tim Herman's and Ron Newton's knives come really close to my ideal. I don't want to give any swelled heads, but boy can these guys make wonderful knives.

Keith.
 
Perfection is imperfect. It is the very flaws within the custom piece that makes each one unique and alluring. Imagine if we all looked, thought, and sounded the same. That's a far cry from my concept of perfection.

N2S
 
I would think that for knifemakers, the challenge is in always striving to improve on the quality of their knives - to make each one more "perfect" than the last. For makers like Ron Lake and Michael Walker, this would be pretty tough as their knives are about as perfect as any man (or woman) can achieve in his lifetime.

I remember a line quoted by Al Dippold in Blade magazine that on the last day of his life, he hoped he was working on the best knife of his life.

Red

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"Praise not the day until evening has come;a sword until it is tried; ice until it has been crossed; beer until it has been drunk" - Viking proverb

[This message has been edited by redvenom (edited 02-25-2001).]
 
A perfect knife will never be, sorry to say. What is perfection to one is trash to another. For something to be perfect it has to satisfy all consumers. So how can it be a fixed blade and folder, hunter and tactical, plain and fancy, the list and configuraions go ever on, as individual as each collector. So who would make this wonder knife? And if you were able to make a "perfect" knife who would be able to afford it? Would the maker even be willing to part with it? As for fit and finish, once again what is finished to you may not be to me.


Just my 2 cents.


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Peace

Paul
Custom Knife Purveyor
"We support the new maker!"
Circle P Knives
 
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