Ed Fowler's Willow Bow Ranch Seminar

We are planning on another seminar starting Nov 3, have some knife makers lined up to take the class, don't know if there will be room for too many more, Tina will be calling those on the waiting list today.

We have learned a lot in the past year, a great deal of understanding came together this summer. One knife is at the lab now and if what we believe is there proves up, the last 30 years of work has paid off.
 
...sorry i'm popping in late on this one but I would like to hear a lot of details on Ed's workshop.
how many days, how long were they? what did you work on? what did you learn? how many knives did you make? where did you stay? what did you eat? how much was it? was it worth it? who taught and what did they teach?
 
yes, thems the type of question I have too.
When you say you worked long into the night, what do you mean?
What were you doing? Grinding? Forging?, Fileing the handle?
 
kbaknife said:
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Thanks for shareing this photo, it really helps understand what you are talking about.

And it's a good a place as any to start with.
This is the real shop of Ed Fowler correct?
And about the 4 guys in the photo, this represents the normal activity during the day at the class?
The large amount of great light shows it's clearly a nice day,
What time of year was it?
Did Ed keep the doors open or closed during the day?

Starting from the far left-hand side we see the first guy sharping a knife ?
Is this on a Norton Fine India Stone?
What knife is being used?
Is this a student?

Next in the middle we see Santa with some air filters.
Are the filters for one of them fans that suck air into them past a filter?

next we see a guy working at what looks like a vise set up on perhaps the handle?
Ed Fowler makes his handles out of sheep horn, do you get a chance to see how this is done?
Or do you do work with handles of other types?

The last guy appears to be watching the goings on, are there times to just hang out and view what others are doing?

How many days is the class running?
Do students come and go?.
Is there like set hours for when you need to be there, a 'start" of the class day?

What type of ending is there to the class?
Is there a moment where you get some final advice or like a grade before you are done?
 
Couldn't you come up with some more questions?
(Don't kill me, Ed!)
Yes, that is the picture of his shop. More are attached here.
I would say that's a normal activity representation. A LOT! of forging, grinding, heat treating, cutting, testing, etc., etc., etc.
I was there that last week of June. The shop is WELL lighted with large windows all around.
Often, the doors were left open. It was REALLY nice weather then, but it gave the sheep free access to the shop and we'd need to run them out from time to time! There was no extra charge for this entertainment.
The guy on the left is Bill Burke, J.S., one of the instructors, and yes, I believe he is sharpening a knife. What knife it is and what he is sharpening it on I really haven't got a clue.
OK, I have picked myself up off the floor now from laughter. Yes, Santa lives in Wyoming on the WIllow Bow Ranch. Contrary to popular belief, his sleigh is pulled by sheep, not reindeer.
The shop is air conditioned and heated. As I recall, Ed was just donig routine maintenance and changing filters.
The next guy is Butch Devereaux. A local knifemaker and another one of Ed's instructor who makes one hell of a knife. I do believe he is filing a handle to shape.
We spent very little time working with handle material. The focus is on High Performance Blades. It's tough enough getting a blade from forged condition to finished condition ready for testing in just a few days.
The little guy off to the side is Eldon Perkins, J.S., also another instructor. He acted as bouncer when we all broke out into a free-for-all fight. Really, Eldon helped me at my forging and was one of the easiest going people I have ever met. The fit and finish on his knives is incredible.
We took a break when we needed one. Note the photo with Bill Burke demonstrating balistics via the "potato gun" method.
I think the class is normally a 5 day class.
Yes, students come and go. You come at about 8 in the morning and you go at about midnight.
The type of ending to the class is a sad one. I didn't want to come home.
I felt like I made some new friends.
(The motorcycle is how I got there from Illinois.)
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Waht is Taught?
We teach what we have learned over the past 30 years of seeking our version of Excalibur.

Selection of Steel, What to look for and why.

Forging theory and practice, hands on practice, one instructor per two students. How to forge for performance qualities and why.

Why thermal cycles how and when.

Heat treat, again theory and practice. Much coaching.

All about grinding a blade and geometry - what for.
Testing for High Endurance Performance blades, how, why, how to fix it.
Edge flex, cut, blade toughness, blade design.

Etching a blade and knowing how to read the message the etch offers.

Knife Design, practical stuff, how to avoid stress raisers in forging practice and design.

This is only part of what is covered, but what you learn and use is up to you.

Normally there is a lot going on at all times, kind of like a three ring circus, you watch and participate in the part that interest you, some watch another instructor coach, some watch hardening. All have the opportunity to participate.
 
kbaknife said:
Note the photo with Bill Burke demonstrating balistics via the "potato gun" method.
Click to expand...

Now in the photo of Bill and the potato gun, what type of sparker did he use to fire it off?

I have mine made out of a sparker for a Colman lantern, but it dont take long for the hairspray to "junk-up" the sparker and I cant get it to work right.
 
Talk about off-topic!
Anyway, I used a gas grill igniter in mine and put in a deflector to keep the hairspray off of the ignitor when you spray it in. Been using it for a while now, no problem.
Now, back to knives.
 
kbaknife said:
Talk about off-topic!
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yes, thats very true.
A potato gun is a totally different topic completely.

On the other hand, I have yet to run into a fellow knife nut that was not also impressed with that distinctive hollow "Womp" sound that a potato gun makes as it launches a spud into the next pasture.
I can understand how you might have run into one at the Blade school.
We do tend to think the same things are "Cool!"

One thing I have been thinking about is the way that Ed Fowler's knife blade design has made use of the curve. Both the cutting edge and the back spine are curved .
I like this use of the curve, but except for copying it from a Pronghorn photocopy, [ cheating] I have yet to learn how grind this free hand.
In the class, are you shown how the distinctive Fowler curves are created?
 
I describe the aspects of what I call the modified Price Grind. ("modivied") as it differs with intended use, blade mass and properties of steel.
I grind as a demonstration and then coach students how to grind it.
After a few destroyed blades (at home in your shop with your blades) you will find how dynamic it can be,
 
'modified Price Grind"

I read about this in one of the KNIFE TALK books I think, but I never really understood what part of the knife was the subject.

Im going to do a little SEARCHing on this forum for a while , to make sure I have read all you have writen on this topic ...
I'll be back.
 
Very interesting. Ed, do you follow a set cirriculuim in your course, or wing it based on your expertise? Probably the winging it would be the most natural and comfortable. As far as the Excaliber blade that's being tested at the lab, when do you expect results, and is there anything at all more that you can say about it? It's sure got to have sumptin to do with those thermal cycles! Do you have one of those fancy scopes like Kevin Cashen's, used to actually see the grain in the steel?
 
Robert: The lab has an electron microscope that cost BIG bucks. A top man in the industry saw a photomicrograph, said and I quote "This is the art, lets try to explain the science".

The curriculum is mostly set by the knife as it develops, from round stock to finished blade. Since folks get a little tired working all the time, breaks from knife making are time spent on ournd table discussions about theory, design, I have a bunch of knives from History, we talk about good and bad aspects of design. It is a lot of participation from all. One man who took the course was waiting for his flight out of Riverton in the cafe at the airport, fell asleep with a coffee cup in his hand.

If the next seminar is like the last ones, it will be very intense, you should leave with a lot of notes, have a full understanding of the high endurance performance knife and enough questions that you may well take her to higher levels if you decide to.

I have a lybrary that has a lot of texts and books on many aspects of the knife. Two texts just came in on prevention of fatigue failure of metals that make good reading.

One of them confirmed some thoughts I have had for years and provides plenty of room for more investigation should you wish to work with the thoughts.

I will forge a blade and test it to destruction, I don't ask students to destroy their knives, they can if they want to. Students do test their knives for edge flex and cut.

A whole new chapter has opened up on the concept of evaluating lateral strength. This is very exciting for me.

Everything that you do and work with is no secret, just elbow grease and knowledge. There are no high tech requirements for equipment, just learning how to work with what you have.

The most high tech instrument I have is my Paragon Oven, My forge made by Ken Mankel, then would come the Burr King 960, then the power hammers.

Alan, I still continue to learn about what I call the Price grind. It has been known for centuries, it was just a Michael Price stamped knife that brought it to my attention.
 
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