Ed Fowler Eye Candy

Ed, It was great to hear you forging again. I might not be the one to get it but I hope you're able to bring at least one Bentley to Atlanta this year...:D <fingers crossed>

This set might not be worth $60,000 until someone pays it, but that doesn't mean that the quotes given in thread are accurate. I haven't made any calls but I can think of at least a handful of people that would probably consider them comical. There's nothing wrong with not caring for his work or disagreeing with his pricing compared to makers whose work you consider more valuable, but there's no denying that some people are willing to pay. Before I lose my head to the guillotine, I want to be clear that I'm not some rich guy who can't appreciate the hard work it takes to earn a dollar, I made my sports car decision long ago and am happy with the small collection of knives I have in it's stead.

Steve, too bad that you got blindsided like that but you're a tough guy and I know there's no hard feelings. You really can't blame a guy for hitting after the bell anyway, after you hit him with a low blow in the other thread...<not really> :D I know how Hercules felt though, I wanted to defend Ed too but I guess he's capable of doing that for himself. You're right about Howard Clark! He's another guy that I would recommend saving your money for. Put your order in, be patient, and you won't be disappointed when your turn is up. And Phillip Baldwin is another wizard at the forge.

The sale price of a high end custom knife will usually have more to do with the ability of the maker to reproduce his vision than with it's ability to cut or the base materials used in it's construction. When asked how long it took to create a specific piece one of the all time greats responded that he'd been working on it for 20 years. Ed's been at it longer than that and whether his journey has been a wasteful luxury is open to debate. What characteristics do you look for when examing the horn on one of his knives, can you describe the different styles of guard he has used, what do you look for in the etch/geometry of each blade, can you close your eyes and appreciate the way one balances in your hand? I'm not sure if you ever considered buying that Reno bowie, or if it was just the price that made it stick in your mind, but I'm really glad it was more than you were willing to pay. Thanks, and no hard feelings. I hope you let me play with some of your Foggs some day, I promise I'll be gentle. :p
 
Jose Reyes said:
I'm not sure if you ever considered buying that Reno bowie, or if it was just the price that made it stick in your mind, but I'm really glad it was more than you were willing to pay. Thanks, and no hard feelings. I hope you let me play with some of your Foggs some day, I promise I'll be gentle. :p
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I actually liked the bowie. It's only with a bigger blade that I find those handles esthetically balanced - and that's obviously a personal opinion.

A couple years later, Steve Dunn had an amazing bowie with the most beautiful feather damascus I've ever seen, fancy ivory handle, carved guard, engraving and gold inlay everywhere... It was materially cheaper, but still too expensive for me. However, in that case I had no problem seeing that it was worth it.
 
Joss,

Glad to hear it, what you're able to see is what it's all about. Too bad you weren't able to pick up that Dunn at the time but maybe it'll become available again sometime in the future?

Take care,
Jose
 
To understand more about the way Mr. Fowler works and thinks I recommend you read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This will explain a lot. BTW I am the lucky guy who managed to pick up the Fowler that was for sale on Nordic, it is my first Fowler but I have quite a few knives from Bill Burke. I have used some of the Burke knives and I find them to be without comparison.
 
Igor35 said:
To understand more about the way Mr. Fowler works and thinks I recommend you read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This will explain a lot.
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You've got to be kidding.





Edited to add: welcome aboard by the way! We're all one big happy family here! :)
 
"Steve, too bad that you got blindsided like that but you're a tough guy and I know there's no hard feelings. You really can't blame a guy for hitting after the bell anyway, after you hit him with a low blow in the other thread...<not really> I know how Hercules felt though, I wanted to defend Ed too but I guess he's capable of doing that for himself."

Well Jose, I take exception to that line of thinking. STeven seems to have carte blanche to make outrageous statements then stand aside and lob bombs back at anyone who disagrees with him. He doesn't get any sympathy from me. If he dishes it out then he needs to accept feedback--good and bad. Gentlemen, these are "constructive" comments and were not meant to be a blindside attack. STeven, you're my favorite "poster" on BladeForum because whether I agree with you or not I'm usually intrigued by what you say--look at the influence you've had on me, I actually submitted a few comments! I love the give and take these matters of a sensitive nature bring out in an interesting chat. Sit back and watch the ebb and flow of emotions concerning a simple question at the beginning of this posting and see where it went. It's all good.
 
Joss said:
A couple years later, Steve Dunn had an amazing bowie with the most beautiful feather damascus I've ever seen, fancy ivory handle, carved guard, engraving and gold inlay everywhere... It was materially cheaper, but still too expensive for me. However, in that case I had no problem seeing that it was worth it.
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Interestingly enough, I loved the blade on the Dunn, but hated the guard. It killed any interest in the knife as a purchase, or any of the other Dunn bowies that I have seen, with this type of asymmetrical guard.

For some collectors, aesthetics does not matter much, or it matters as long as it conforms to the norm of the maker, say like a Fowler, or Moran, or a Winkler. That is to say, a studied unkemptness, if you will(no flames please, I just could not think of a better way to put it).

I compare it to the aesthetics that I hold dear, of say Loveless, Fogg, Cashen, Foster, Kressler, Dowell, Warenski...(please notice that only one of these makers is reknowned for his embellishment, the others are performance, to one degree or another)

Part of how we signify worth is what we feel it is worth $$ for US to own it, but the other part, is what can we get back if we sell it. I am not talking about investment in the sense of a massive increase, I am talking about what did it cost me to own the knife while I had it? If you go to sell a knife that you never used, and paid $2,000 from the maker to get it, and don't have a year to try and find the right buyer, and settle for $1,000 from someone like Daniel, or another purveyor, it cost you $1,000 to own that knife. I try to avoid those "losses", but that is me.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
[/QUOTE]Part of how we signify worth is what we feel it is worth $$ for US to own it, but the other part, is what can we get back if we sell it. I am not talking about investment in the sense of a massive increase, I am talking about what did it cost me to own the knife while I had it? If you go to sell a knife that you never used, and paid $2,000 from the maker to get it, and don't have a year to try and find the right buyer, and settle for $1,000 from someone like Daniel, or another purveyor, it cost you $1,000 to own that knife. I try to avoid those "losses", but that is me.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Good insight STeven
Randy
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Hercules said:
STeven seems to have carte blanche to make outrageous statements then stand aside and lob bombs back at anyone who disagrees with him. He doesn't get any sympathy from me. If he dishes it out then he needs to accept feedback--good and bad. STeven, you're my favorite "poster" on BladeForum because whether I agree with you or not I'm usually intrigued by what you say--look at the influence you've had on me, I actually submitted a few comments! I love the give and take these matters of a sensitive nature bring out in an interesting chat. Sit back and watch the ebb and flow of emotions concerning a simple question at the beginning of this posting and see where it went. It's all good.
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Hercules,

1. If you think that I am outrageous with the written word, you should see me face-to-face.

2. I get a lot of carte blanche because a lot of people know me face-to-face. I actually quieted three tables at the Lawry's restaurant in Las Vegas with a spirited and expletive filled rant about how Benchmade Knives had messed up a design(I did not mean to, it just happened), then confronted the president of Benchmade about it the next day at SHOT, and when I got the head engineer's name and e-mail, let him know about it, too. It is not for no reason. My quest is for a better product, wherever I can find it.

3. I don't want your sympathy. I don't believe in sympathy, I can barely get to empathy. I AM a big boy, I am, I am!!:D I have gotten lambasted by some of the most beloved heroes of the BladeForums, and it bothers me not one iota. I wear it like a badge of honor.

Jose might have spoken up for me because we have talked on the phone, exchanged PM's and I have done him a few small favors. He has gotten to know me a little bit, and although he does not have to agree with me, he at least respects where I am coming from, and what I am trying to accomplish. Understand this, Roger P, Joss, myself, we ALL respect where Ed Fowler is coming from, and respect his hard work. Personally, Ed has had an incredible influence on the way that I look at knives, and the knife community, in general.

Simultaneously, Ed would be horrified at the way that I speak to people in general, the jokes that I tell, the lifestyle that I live. It would simply not be for him. It is the duality of mankind, and the irony of life.

Like you said Colonel, it's all good.;)

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Joss said:
Honestly, I don't know what to think of this 10-to-1 ratio. I have trouble believing it, but if true it means Ed is indulging into a level of testing that has long ceased to be meaningful or yield any material advantage even to the most extreme user. There is such a thing as diminishing returns, and they would have been met and passed loooooong ago.
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I love the quote by Thomas Jefferson that you use within the signature of your profile:

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear..."
Thomas Jefferson


It shocks me that someone who would have a quote such as you do in your signature, would state these comments and believe that everything to be known is already known. It seems that you would not question that there are more questions to ask and answers to be found and intriques me further that this was brought up during a discussion on hypocrisy. I'm quite curious for your reasons behind your viewpoint.
 
Great 2nd post Red.

I encourage everyone watching this thread to check Red's profile and read Red's first post from last year and then the post above it in the same thread by STeven Garsson.

Very enlightening.

Your humble servant,
 
Red71 said:
It shocks me that someone who would have a quote such as you do in your signature, would state these comments and believe that everything to be known is already known.
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. It would - I don't.

It seems that you would not question that there are more questions to ask and answers to be found and intriques me further that this was brought up during a discussion on hypocrisy. I'm quite curious for your reasons behind your viewpoint.
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I don't understand what you are trying to say.
 
Hercules, I meant more of a sack, like in football. Not that I'm sure he deserved it just then but I feel the same way you do about it. In a thread titled Fowler Eye Candy we did get a little bit of "raining on the parade". As you can see by the links these topics have been discussed before with most of the same usual suspects. Steven rubbed me the wrong way at one point but we've talked and he's just a good guy with a strong opinion. I'm sure if Ed would just make him a knife with a bronze guard that he'd enjoy it...:D Everyone has a right to their own opinion but judging by some of the posts in this thread I'm not sure that Ed's ideals or hard work have always been shown respect. I think that when we buy a custom we're looking at the details and it won't take much to pass on a blade you might otherwise care for, e.g. Ed's brass or Steve's guard. It would be nice to make a profit on every knife and I don't find anything wrong with being a dealer/investor but most things you buy will depreciate so in the end it will have "cost" something to own. Ed's style just has all the right details for me, not that I care specifically that he uses brass or not, and I'm willing and was lucky enough to be able to pay to handle these knives instead of just looking at them in a book or magazine. The concensus<of non Fowler fans> may be that I'll need to get a few decades of use before I get my money's worth out of them but I don't mind trying...=)
 
Greg,
loved the picture. very appropriate, considering the ramble. That puppy is cute!
David
 
Joss said:
Honestly, I don't know what to think of this 10-to-1 ratio. I have trouble believing it, but if true it means Ed is indulging into a level of testing that has long ceased to be meaningful or yield any material advantage even to the most extreme user.
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Joss,

I spoke with Ed this evening. I reversed the destruction ratio for knives that meet the quality levels expected. Ed breaks 1 blade for every 10 finished.

I apologize to all for getting the numbers mixed up.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
I reversed the destruction ratio for knives that meet the quality levels expected. Ed breaks 1 blade for every 10 finished.
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Thanks - that makes much more sense. I'm happy to rertact my comments regarding the reversed 10-to-1 ratio.
 
i just happened on this thread again doing a search, and thought i'd post an update. This MS set did finally sell, listed on bladegallery. Being sold to a collector who has many of Ed's knives.

Glad to see the set go to someone who will truly appreciate it.
David
 
This is mine. I dont use it but would consider it if I moved out to somewhere more fitting.. unlike NY
fowlerph.jpg
 
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