Ed Fowler's Willow Bow Ranch Seminar

Chiro,

Get some help.

I cant beleive I got away with my "Prince of Persia" thread.


I'm lying...it's a conspiracy.

I'm really curious about the school. It would be nice if someone would start another thread about the school from the start. Make it a nice story for us, kinda like a short-story with some details.

Like where in the heck that edge geometry came from :)
 
2knife said:
.. there are others, inherently evil in their quest to destroy credibility, add doubt, make the honest look foolish.. unrepenting souls who would burn in the fires of the forge before giving anyone a moment of satisfaction. These are the devils. :mad:
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He must be talking about me again....I am innocent, just ask me. :D
 
Deveraux said:
Laredo, Ed uses 5160 JD load shafts for the schools however Karl brought along some square stock 5160 that he has obtained so he forged some blades from that.
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10-4, but I thought he concentrated on 52100.
 
Mark, I don't need any help. I'm getting PLENTY of instruction from the voices in my head!
 
Didn't I read somewhere that Mark has a Speedo for each day of the week???? :eek: Of course he keeps wantin people to bite him too so startin to wonder about when the leathers, chains and whips are gonna come out too. :D Hell may have to break out the beer to go with the popcorn :)


Mark, someday when we have a case or 2 of cold beer maybe we can sit and tell the story of the Willow Bow Knife School... Of course it starts out by havin to walk 15 miles uphill in knee deep snow both there and back.......... :D

fitzo, don't run off, we need to keep the popcorn industry alive and well. :)

Laredo, Ed uses the 5160 for the schools because it is a bit easier to work with but he uses 52100 exclusively for the knives that he makes. My first 4 blades that I forged were 5160 but I am now forging from 52100 also and I can definitely tell a difference between the two.

I can understand that after I bailed in here like a kid with a new "cookie cutter????" wantin to show it off a bit and then the others that have followed that it would start off a new Conspiracy Theory.
Cleanin the cobwebs from the rafters every once in awhile doesn't hurt so long as we all keep our focus on what here for.....Makin the best damn knives that we can.
Hope to meet some of you all at Blade Show West.

Butch Deveraux
 
Didn't I read somewhere that Mark has a Speedo for each day of the week????
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The voices in my head mentioned nothing about that. You GD voices! Where the heck are you! I'll wring your pnecks if I get ahold of... Sorry, we watched The Aviator last night and I think a little Howard Hughes rubbed off on me (haha).
 
Deveraux said:
Laredo, Ed uses the 5160 for the schools because it is a bit easier to work with but he uses 52100 exclusively for the knives that he makes. My first 4 blades that I forged were 5160 but I am now forging from 52100 also and I can definitely tell a difference between the two.
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That makes sense, with the extra chromium in 52100 it is probably more resilliant to the hammer blows.
 
What an entertaining thread!
I've been gone all day.
Back when I worte that "5160? Is that what that was?" I was just joking! Of course it was 5160 - that's why I went. The JD load shafts are about 1.2 inches in diameter, and it just so happens that I have a rather large supply of 1 inch square - about 3000 feet. I wanted to learn about the forging process of large dimension material forged down to working dimensions and how the thermo-cycling and grain refinement was achieved.
I did exactly that - I learned how it worked. Fascinating stuff.
Ed was able to achieve grain refinement that was previously not even thought attainable for 5160! I wanted to learn how that was possible.
I love the blade shape and wanted to know why it worked so well.
I have no intentions of using sheep horn for handle material, other than maybe a spacer here and there. From the time you remove it from the animal, it's not usable for 5 years! I don't have that much patience or access to the material.
My posting this thread had nothing to do with anybody else. I came back from the seminar and posted the original with no regard to what anyone else had been writing about anything! I didn't even read any other posts when I put mine in! Geezeypeats!
On one of these pages somebody said they were getting tired of reading about the Willow Bow Ranch! Don't read it then! Turn the page!
I went out to find out how Ed was achieving the results that he was, and to find out if my available stock was any good. 1" stock 5160 doesn't come around everyday!
What I have has forged up very well, and soon I will beging testing the knives I have forged.
Which brings me to another reason I went to Willow Bow. I wanted to learn Ed's testing techniques. He told me I would learn to test my knives and know EXACTLY! how they would perform before they left my shop. No more wondering! Now I don't have to wait for some report from a customer telling me how it did - I'll know before he gets the knife!
If it doesn't perform in my shop, it doesn't go out the door. Period.
I learned that at Willow Bow, too.
If it's ok with you guys, I'd like to post a picture or two of a finished blade in a few weeks.
This ain't my first rodeo. I've made a knife or two, and just wanted to improve on what I was doing.
I feel that every second I spent at Willow Bow was worthwhile, and I am lucky to have been allowed to participate and be taught what has taken years to refine.
I even learned a few "secrets" and if I ever tell them to anyone, I have to eat a bowl of sheep s---.
Until later.
Karl B. Anderson
 
Hey Emily Post! Bite ME!! bite ME!! :D

I read Karl's post as one pretty excited guy wanting to tell some other guys about what great experience he had. I totally missed being insulted. I really hate being thick that way. I got over it pretty quick tho...

Hey Karl, bet you had a gas as Ed's. I'd like to go there some day just to hang out with a bunch of other makers and talk knives, fart and such like a man when in the company of other men. How can you top that? Beats having to go to the mall shopping with the wife and kids on vacation.

Let's see some knives you are making. Welcome to the forum by the way. Glad to have you. We can always use another maker around here.
 
Someone should post a humble picture of Mark in his Speedo's ... the Greek god, himself. :barf:
 
Hey Karl, are you going to be home this weekend? I've got a blade in mind and I want to get some of that 1x1 square stock from you. :)
 
kbaknife said:
My name is Karl B. Andersen of Andersen Forge in Illinois.
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Hi, my name is Alan and I live in North Dakota and I have been thinking about this class for a while now, however I have a few questions about things.

Do you know of a topic here on the forum, or a site where someone who has went to the class has posted about what went on and about the things they learned?

Although I have tried my hand at a few knives with use of a forge, I would really like to learn the real tricks of the trade and make a true Fowler-inspired knife.
 
Try to find a maker near you and ask to visit his shop! Do a search for videos and books. Heat up a bar of steel and start bangin' on it!
That's how we all learned.
Or, call up Ed and take his course!
 
kbaknife said:
Ed was able to achieve grain refinement that was previously not even thought attainable for 5160!
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I don't want to start a fight here, but that's just plain silly. :)
 
kbaknife, That is my interest too, I am very interested at the prospect of a Fowler class.

I have many questions about such a class right now. The basic questions like , Where to stay?, How many in your class?, What form is the class run in?, you know the basic stuff.

Thats why I have been looking on the Blade Forum for a topic where someone who has attended the Fowler class has come back from it with a few stories to tell about the whole adventure.

Except for the sheep horn handle, (I have no way to obtain sheep horn where I live) I would love to learn how Ed Fowler makes his knife.
I have his books and video and of all the knife designs I have seen, his PRONGHORN fits the needs I have for a knife the best.
 
Recently recieved an Email from Ed and he informed me that he was having his steel tested at a lab and that he thought it was the Excalibur steel he has long been seeking. It was wootz or wootz like.

Doug :)
 
Alan, you need to contact Ed.
I stayed in a hotel in town. All of the arrangements can be made when you register with Ed for his next class. I don't know how many more he will have or when they will be.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
We worked from about 8 in the morning until 11 or midnight. I think one night me and Bill Burke worked until1 AM or so. It's pretty intensive.
We had Ed as the "Head Coach". At that time, his shoulder was falling apart and he was awaiting surgery, but we had Bill Burke, Eldon Perkins and Butch Devereux as instructors.
Get ready to work hard, but when you get home, you'll know how to forge, heat treat and test "Willow Bow" style.
I took the experience and added it as another "feather" in my knifemaking cap. I had an enormous amount of fun and met some really dedicated people.
If you want to go - go.
 
Try this one!


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