- Joined
- Sep 16, 2003
- Messages
- 171
As a Bladesmith I have a lot of opportunity to talk with many different people about their needs for a quality working knife, but this instance was a bit different. I was talking with a customer with a unique (for me) situation. He was an Army Specialist who was getting ready to deploy to the Middle East with his unit for the second time in a year.
His name is Specialist David Boyles and he is stationed with the 502nd Air Assault regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Ft Campbell, KY. Spc. Boyles chief complaint was that he had developed a lack of confidence and a general mistrust for the edged weapons issued by the United States Army. (A disgrace in my opinion)
We talked about the typical uses he felt that a knife should perform well in, Day to day tasks like opening ammo crates, boxes, and other uses during combat, like searching for weapons caches and close in support house to house searches where he may need the knife to save his life or the life of one of his fellow soldiers.
I believed that I could forge a blade that could handle all of his requests and drew up a design for his approval. He liked the design and I invited him to my shop where he could see exactly what his knife was made of and how it was made. After he arrived, we discussed is intended uses again, because a surprising amount of people use knives for one thing and they were made for another, I wanted to be totally clear on his intended uses. After the knife was finished it was time for testing.
We wanted to test for the following characteristics of the knife:
Edge Geometry, Edge Retention, Flexibility, Blade Strength, Hand fatigue, and Balance.
We first chose free hanging rope, liquid filled bottles, and 2 x 4s to check edge geometry and edge retention. Then I asked him of his uses for a knife in the past. He said he would used knives for opening crates, boxes, checking bails, and for fighting. I asked him to go beat up the knife, he took off into the woods and started chopping, slicing, and stabbing everything in his path. About 20 minuets later he came back to the shop with a big smile and said Its like its a part of my hand. I was satisfied. After all the tests were through, I asked him to try to shave his arm with the knife, he did. After cleaning the blade up he removed his wallet from his pants, removed an unknown amount of money and attempted to give it to me. I understood his desire to pay for the knife and asked him to pay me one dollar only.
I can understand his and all our servicemen's need for a good working knife that can be trusted in time of need and I wish that I was wealthy enough to have enough free time for any servicemen that wanted a knife. But I am a full time Bladesmith and depend upon the knives I make to support my family. But, I can say I helped one solder...maybe others will too?
Dale Baxter
www.baxterknives.com
His name is Specialist David Boyles and he is stationed with the 502nd Air Assault regiment, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Ft Campbell, KY. Spc. Boyles chief complaint was that he had developed a lack of confidence and a general mistrust for the edged weapons issued by the United States Army. (A disgrace in my opinion)
We talked about the typical uses he felt that a knife should perform well in, Day to day tasks like opening ammo crates, boxes, and other uses during combat, like searching for weapons caches and close in support house to house searches where he may need the knife to save his life or the life of one of his fellow soldiers.
I believed that I could forge a blade that could handle all of his requests and drew up a design for his approval. He liked the design and I invited him to my shop where he could see exactly what his knife was made of and how it was made. After he arrived, we discussed is intended uses again, because a surprising amount of people use knives for one thing and they were made for another, I wanted to be totally clear on his intended uses. After the knife was finished it was time for testing.
We wanted to test for the following characteristics of the knife:
Edge Geometry, Edge Retention, Flexibility, Blade Strength, Hand fatigue, and Balance.
We first chose free hanging rope, liquid filled bottles, and 2 x 4s to check edge geometry and edge retention. Then I asked him of his uses for a knife in the past. He said he would used knives for opening crates, boxes, checking bails, and for fighting. I asked him to go beat up the knife, he took off into the woods and started chopping, slicing, and stabbing everything in his path. About 20 minuets later he came back to the shop with a big smile and said Its like its a part of my hand. I was satisfied. After all the tests were through, I asked him to try to shave his arm with the knife, he did. After cleaning the blade up he removed his wallet from his pants, removed an unknown amount of money and attempted to give it to me. I understood his desire to pay for the knife and asked him to pay me one dollar only.
I can understand his and all our servicemen's need for a good working knife that can be trusted in time of need and I wish that I was wealthy enough to have enough free time for any servicemen that wanted a knife. But I am a full time Bladesmith and depend upon the knives I make to support my family. But, I can say I helped one solder...maybe others will too?
Dale Baxter
www.baxterknives.com
