Dating Norman Levine Slipjoint

T

tvranesic

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Apr 19, 2006
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Anyone know approximately when this Norman Levine slipjoint may have been made? I thought Levine focused mostly on art knives late in his career. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I knew Norm and his work was pretty refined. I would venture to guess looking at this knife it was one of his earlier knives.. I also think later on he used Dragon Knives as his mark as well. Hope that helps, even though its not much.
 
The style looks kind of seventies-ish to me. Did he stop making folders at any point in time, or was he making them right to the end?
 
tvranesic said:
The style looks kind of seventies-ish to me. Did he stop making folders at any point in time, or was he making them right to the end?
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He was making folders in 1994, which is when I met him, using a bearings in the pivot for his lockbacks, with a unique and evolved shape.....the piece you have looks like 70's-early '80's to me as well, based upon the blade shape and finish, and ivory micarta, which was getting awfully difficult to find by the early 1990's, afaik.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Thanks for the information. It's a great little knife that really displays his talents. Toss in the fact that i bought it for under 6 bucks and I think it's a keeper.
 
tvranesic said:
Thanks for the information. It's a great little knife that really displays his talents. Toss in the fact that i bought it for under 6 bucks and I think it's a keeper.
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Now I would call that a heck of good score........ :thumbup:

TAD



.
 
tvranesic said:
Thanks for the information. It's a great little knife that really displays his talents. Toss in the fact that i bought it for under 6 bucks and I think it's a keeper.
Click to expand...

He made folders right until the end.. Wow, for $6 that is an incredible deal!
Norm was a great guy, and really helped me out alot when I first started making knives. It was seeing his work at Gun Shows and talking to him that sparked my interest in making knives. Unfortunately he died soon after I started going to his shop to learn the trade, but he did give me alot of advice and help before that. One of these days I hope I find one of his blades like you did..:cool:

BTW Steven is correct, he used bearings in his folders. Thats another thing that really points to it being an early work of Norms.

Also you might not know this but Norm worked on some of the early Apollo missions as an engineer I believe. He was a super smart man, very kind, generous and talented too.
 
Thanks to all for the great information. I've owned customs from many of the older makers and I think the one common thread that I hear most often about these talented folks was there willingness to help others. That really speaks volumes about the craft. I'm always amazed when I call a complete stranger to request information on a knife they may have made three decades ago, and they're not only able to provide it, but I usually end up with way more more information than I ever thought possible. Durrell Carmon Johnson is absolutely amazing in that regard.
 
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