Don Hanson III - ** WARNING: Hamon Content! **

SharpByCoop

SharpByCoop

Enjoying the discussions
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 8, 2001
Messages
12,335
Don's status around this forum is reknowned. He certainly has a handle on style and how to best acheive that cloudy wispy tantalizing hamon that gives us all ooh's and ahh's.

Two pieces for your viewing pleasure. One old, one new:

(Click for 900-wide image)




Both blades are derived from 1086m, and my photos still don't do them justice. They have activity that is alive as you view them.

Don's bowies are a short seminar in flow, and there is always more to them than would appear at first look.

There is a great story about the lower Walrus Bowie's commission, and the owner will followup in this post with his comments and some in-progress shots. This is going to be even MORE interesting. Enjoy. :thumbup:

Coop
 
A beautiful pair. The artifact walrus on the second one is truly stunning.

Roger
 
Amazing Work ..Don is as Nice as he is Good
Always has the Primo Ivory... Always
 
Both are brilliant in their own right. THe hamon on the walnut piece is exceptional, the walrus is gorgeous as are the fittings.
 
Well, I have been away from the computer all day or I would have replied sooner.

Coop, thanks for the great photography, I really like the lighting and subtleties that make your work stand out.

After making folders for the last four months, the large walrus bowie was a welcome departure. Also, the guy that owns these two is a great guy to work with :thumbup:

Thanks for all your comments, they're much appreciated.
 
Two stunning images of two incredibly nice Bowies. :thumbup:
The Walnut is beautiful but the Walrus is a Showstopper. :eek: :cool:

Doug
 
Both are very nice, but that walrus handled bowie is outstanding. The ivory is magnificent, and there is a wonderful flow to the lines.
 
A couple of things really stand out on the Walrus Bowie:
  • The superb taper to the ivory,
  • The spacer has this natural hourglass pattern that looks as tight as good engraving and really sets it off,
  • The asymmetrical dagger shape to the guard.
And then there is the overall recurve shape to the plunging blade. It's a tour de force!

The walnut blade has a showstopper hamon, and a more traditional shape, but traditional in the sense that it's a posterchild for what a really clean Bowie shall look like.

Coop
 
Thanks for posting these for me Coop! And, thanks for all of the nice comments everyone. Don did an all-star job on this and I am totally pleased. As Coop indicated, I plan on giving a little background into how things fell into place on this one. I think it will make a good thread. My weekend is not off to a good start, and I will have to wait a day or two to find time.

Don knows how to make things happen on and off the blade, and Coop brings out the magic! Two great guys to work with. :thumbup:

The top one looks familiar.
Click to expand...

And, Flavius allowed the Ozark walnut bowie to travel back to the states. Very kind of him. ;) The influx of steel can get the best of us sometimes. :rolleyes:

- Joe
 
Coop you deserve some props for the Image
Joe you done good

Don I think the walrus piece may be your best yet
its how restrained you were with this one that got me its sooo quiet...the picture of grace and and Elegance...
 
The hamon on the Walnut Bowie is absolutely stunning!

(Don, that hamon might be a good choice for the knife I have on order with you - hint, hint!)
 
You can identify one of Don's bowies without the need of any markings, they are distinct, aesthetically balanced, and the fit and finish is hellishly good. I think Joe (?) is a lucky guy!

Cheers

Stephen:D
 
Collectors and custom knifemakers have many avenues to get to that special 'final' product. Together, we share some of those on these forums. (I can't wait to get the next update on the Keith Montgomery/Russ Andrews spear point project!). As someone new to custom knives and collecting (and wanting to maybe make some knives at a later date), these forums have been a great resource to me. I found the process interesting as to how the walrus bowie in this thread fell into place. It just proves to me how much fun commissioning a custom knife can be, even when there is not a definate idea, drawing, or plan.

Don is great to work with and has been very helpful to me in learning the enormous amount of information that is required to fully understand and grasp all that goes into custom knife making. This is how this one came to be:

Having only a three-day weekend to do it in, a cooperative wife (just because it was Father's Day weekend!), and a large desire to attend my first Blade Show, my wife and I drove the 600-mile trip to Atlanta and were able to be there from 2 PM Friday to 2 PM Saturday last June.

We looked up Don and Tina and I knew Don had already been looking at the ivory, which I am a big fan of. He said he had already exceeded his 'ivory limit', and I could tell by the look in Tina's eyes that he had! He offered to take me over to the area of ivory dealers and it wasn't long before Don was drooling over some pieces he had passed up the first time. We ended up splitting the cost on a nice 9-1/2 inch walrus tusk, agreeing I could use the large end for my fixed blade order I had placed with him.

To shorten the rest of the story...after Blade, I went to Don's and he had just forged some blades. This one caught my eye (I wonder why?)...

HansonRecurveFighterblade.jpg


Once the blade and ivory were a go, I wanted Don to come up with a little something different for the guard. I looked through all of the Kertzman 'Knives' books I had through 2003. Don and I discussed several options.

Of all the trips I have made to Don's shop, it had never worked out that I could coordinate a trip when he was forging. That day finally came.
 
Leaving the house to head to Don's for some forging observation on my part, I noticed a hair barrette of my wife's laying there. There it was! After looking at hundreds of pictures, the guard idea finally came to me. If Don was good with it, the final picture to the puzzle was solved.

The barrette is above the blade. Don had the handle shaped. The guard design made. And the rest was up to him.

Atlantabowie5.jpg


(As a sidenote: Don plans on bending that nice looking damascus blade below...real soon, he says. :eek: )

Another cool thing, to me, is that Don used some of the 1084, 15N20, 203E damascus we forged that day to forge the guard out of. And, as Coop noted, the asymmetrical dagger shape.

Z4Still19-layers.jpg


The spacer is a lower layered 1084 damascus that gives the nice hourglass pattern.

I promised Don I would NOT name this the Barrette Bowie, and the day I picked it up, he made his point!!

Atlantavertical.jpg


Hope this wasn't too long? Thought it was a good story. Thanks again for the bowie comments.

- Joe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top