First of all I sure hope that the discussing of what everyones fingers smells like stops. There are some things that we just don't want to know.
Of course if I could come up with a guard material that makes your fingers smell like ..... then maybe I could sell alot more knives
I wonder if I'd be infringing on Jelly Belly jelly bean company
Once again as in many previous threads(and in life in general) it appears that the majority of this has become a matter of different people interpreting different statements in different ways and interjecting thier opions which then perpetuates the cylce.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not pointing fingers at anyone or saying that this is a bad thing but in fact just a natural flaw of human nature.
This is actually what keeps things interesting and helps to get the dust off a few keyboards at times and will hopefully with any luck help people to gain a better understanding of the topic.
With that said I'll pitch in my couple of pennies and probably wind up with my :foot:
As many of you know I've been studying under Ed making knives of my own and yes they all have sheephorn handles, brass guards and made from either 5160 or 52100. I still consider myself a "new" maker and definitely have alot to learn.
I have caught alot of flack over the fact that I am making knives similar to Eds however I am making them that way because I have owned one of Eds knives for over 12 years and have used it extensively. It has been in MHO everything he said it was.
That knife was a gift from my wife and yes I did at first wonder if I could ever take a knife that then cost around $1300.00 into the field and use it but then realized that that was what it was made for.
That first hunting season in helping family and friends it dressed out 2 elk, 5 or 6 deer and a couple of antelope without sharpening. While dressing out the animals the handle gets tacky rather than slick. When dressing out one of the elk it was well below zero, wind blowing and snowing and my hands were half frozen but I was still able to hold and control the knife due to the handle and guard.
The point is that I am making the style of knife I am making, and using the materials I am using, based on my own personal experiences and I like the way they work. I am not saying that they are right for everyone.
I know that Eds style of knives are the results of years of dedication, experimenting and hard work by Ed and his friends in developing his knives. I've seen the buckets full of destroyed blades that he has tested,the notebooks full of notes and data, the reports and letters from the metalurgist and most of all I know Ed and his dedication to making every knife better than the last one.
In reply to STevens quote
The part that I cannot understand is why certain makers get so entrenched with a specific steel as to be dismissive of other steels, in a contemptuous kind of way."
I can only say that it is a kind of dedication that is not often found in any trade.
Ed has put countless hours into developing methods to make the 52100 perform amazingly and has the resources to continue his quest for his Excalibur. Why would he abandon all that and start over?
I'm not saying that other steels aren't capable of performing equally or better but he has decided that the 52100 is a very capable steel and that there is great potential for it to perform to much higher levels than he's already achieved.
AS for the price we pay for what we buy, that is a subject that will forever be debated. We all have different priorities about how much we'll spend for different things.
I am self employed as a small general contractor who does most of my own work with an occasional hired hand and I'm a part time knife maker. My wife has her own business as a massage therapist. We are by no means well off but manage to make a living.
I hunt ducks and geese extensively and I currently use a Remington 870 express that I paid 200.00 for. It has been killing birds just fine for me for years but now I"ve been looking at a new Benelli Black Eagle for $1300.00. I'm still having a hard time deciding if I want to spend that much money and whether it would really be worth it. Every time I pick one up and feel how well balanced it is and think about how smooth it would shoot I almost give in and buy it.
On the other hand I guess I could start questioning why the Benelli costs more when it basically does the same thing as my Remington and that there are others out there that are priced less but I have researched the different shotguns and realize that the Benelli is it's own kind of shotgun and a proven design that works well and that the market has obviously supported thier existence. I could always spend 3 or 4 hundred less on a Winchester SuperX2 but I LIKE the Benelli better and feel it may be a bit more dependable.so that will be what I buy. You can darn sure bet that if I do buy one it won't be sitting at home because I paid $1300.00 for it and don't feel it should be taken out in the field.
Whether or not I wind up with one in the field with me next fall will depend on whether or not I decide to put that money into that or something else that I(or my wife) decides is more important.
The bottom line is that there are many different makers out there and if one makers products sell at a higher price then obviously there are people out there that feel it's worth the cost and he shouldn't be begrudged or slandered. If that maker has a backlog of orders then he's obviously doing something right. After all if people don't like one makers knives then that's just one more potential customer for other makers.
Hmmmmm...now I wonder what my wife would say if I told her I fought off the urge to spend 1300 dollars on a new shotgun but now I have a really great MS collection in the safe for just $60,000
Happy Hammerin, Butch Deveraux
