Good & Great Designers?

Suprised no one has really said it, but Mick Strider.

Very much willing to inovate, and yet all his designs are very very functional. And he has fun testing methods!
 
Morgan mentioned Mick before and I would have put him on my list as #11, but I decided to stick with a top ten list.
 
Interesting thread. I'd also put Sal at the top of the list. The Military alone is a work of functional art. The number of solid design concepts in the Military are staggering.

Darrel Ralph immediately comes to mind. His knives are functionally gorgeous!!!

Jens ANSO adds a great European flair to his knives, which is practically nonexistent in American made knives.

Chris Reeve is an obvious choice for the simplicity of the Sebenza.

As much as I love Bob Doziers knives, I wouldn’t put him in this category. I don’t find his knives to be particularly groundbreaking from a design standpoint. Bob’s mark of excellence is in refinement and execution. His high deep hollow grinds stand head and shoulders above most in terms of pure cutting efficiency. The ergonomics of his handles are very well thought out and crafted. Bob takes those tried and true standards, and brings them to the next level of usability.
 
Of course Bob Loveless would have to be included. Not only has he influenced many makers since him, he was also the one to bring 154CM to the knifemaking world and if someone was using Micarta before him, I don't know who that might have been.

Sal, if for nothing else but the Spydie hole, would belong on this list.

Michael Walker for the Liner Lock and for his innovative designs.

William Scagel for his still much copied designs, for being the father of modern custom knifemaking and for inspiring Bo Randall to take up the torch.

Bo Randall for inspiring so many of the knives that followed.

Ken Onion for the Speedsafe opening system.

Bill Moran for pioneering the return of pattern welded steel to knifemaking.

Al Pendray for his work with wootz damascus.

Ed Fowler for his continued efforts to produce the best results from steel that he can and his willingness to pass this knowledge on to others.

Daryl Meier for bringing us mosaic damascus.
 
I agree with the general consensus of most of you. Men like Scagel, Sal Glesser, Ed Fowler, Darrel Ralph, and others of their ilk make or made knives that are instantly recognizable.

I would also like to mention whoever created the stockman and trapper slipjoint patterns.

I doubt that any other design has been as widely used by as many people as these two.
 
Bob Loveless! No other knife in the hand feels as natural as a Loveless made knife. He will always be #1 with me!
 
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