How sad

The first time I met Paull was with Ken Onion at the Oregon Knife Show. I was really new to custom knives and Paul handed me an old ragged looking folder. Little did I know that the folder that he handed me was Scagel's personal folding knife, makes me have chills when I think about that moment. It might have been the same knife that Chuck mentioned.
 
Bladeandbarrel said:
Whenever Paul was at a show I attended I always sought him out. From him I bought some early gems of my collection-Fisks, Crowells, Smiths,he always seemingly had the "goods". When he moved to AG Russells the Cutting Edge was better than ever. He always taught as he sold. He was always a gentleman.

I will really miss Paul. Even when debilitated his enthusiasm for knives and knife people never flickered. He was one of a kind.
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So well said, Anthony......Phil Lobred and I were talking today about how the custom knife community has not faced the wholesale loss that we will be facing shortly with this older generation of makers, collectors and dealers...its' gonna get bad.....:(

I have missed Paul for years, and will leave it at that.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Steven,I do not understand your statement? What is going to get bad?
Paul was one of the top minds in this game of ours.
Even thought the old guard can never be replaced,in my opinion, there are more dealers in the know today then ever before,more and better makers than any time that I can remember.
Nothing remains stagnant,either you grow with the changes or you drop off and go onto other pursuits.
Paul,Denton,AG have always been sharing of their knowledge and if you listened really hard you would always come away with something special.
God bless Paul and all the others who have passed,God bless the new guard,the old will never be replaced but with time the new guard becomes the old guard....and so life goes.
Dave
 
Ellis said:
Steven,I do not understand your statement? What is going to get bad?
Paul was one of the top minds in this game of ours.
Even thought the old guard can never be replaced,in my opinion, there are more dealers in the know today then ever before,more and better makers than any time that I can remember.
Nothing remains stagnant,either you grow with the changes or you drop off and go onto other pursuits.
Paul,Denton,AG have always been sharing of their knowledge and if you listened really hard you would always come away with something special.
God bless Paul and all the others who have passed,God bless the new guard,the old will never be replaced but with time the new guard becomes the old guard....and so life goes.
Dave
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I was thinking the same thing. what you talkin about STeven?
 
I learned ALOT from talking with Paul and viewing his knives as he taught, and he never was condescending no matter what questions I had.

A great Knife Prof.
 
I am saddened as well. I only spoke briefly with Paul at shows, but, as is mentioned, he was kind, thorough, and sharing.

I understand what STeven is saying, and he's correct. Yes, the new guard has a lot of current knowledge and is the most up-to-date generation of knifeknuts.

But there will come a point when an older maker's name will get mentioned and there will be stories attached to him. Stories that may not get passed along, as they are only told through the old guard. (We all have relatives who we draw on for history. When they are gone, it's uncanny how, then, there is no longer a familiar source for the retelling.)

Fortunately we have the forums now, great books, and archives. As I understand it, Paul Basch was an archive by himself. :thumbup:

Coop
 
Ellis said:
Steven,I do not understand your statement? What is going to get bad?
Paul was one of the top minds in this game of ours.
Even thought the old guard can never be replaced,in my opinion, there are more dealers in the know today then ever before,more and better makers than any time that I can remember.
Nothing remains stagnant,either you grow with the changes or you drop off and go onto other pursuits.......
Dave
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As a community, we are young enough that most of our "greats" are still with us....that is going to massively change within the next ten years....and not only will it be bad, but it will be very sad as well.

Sure, the cycle continues, as in all things...but I have seen many times, Dave, in many communities, the authentic, the honest and the hardworking be replaced with the ersatz, the liars and the lazy....I hope that does not happen to us.

Paul was so genuine, SUCH a character, and so giving....his loss will never be replaced....it might just not matter to a lot of people...time will tell.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Thanks for the clarification Steven,we can only hope that the good overshadows the bad, so far,that seems to be the case
Dave
 
Paul had been hanging in for a few years as his health was declining. While his passing isn' t a shock to me, it is saddening. I first met him at the NYC shows some years ago. Professional, knowledgeable and generous with both his time and patience. Paul knew more about custom/ handmade knives than most of us ever will. He' ll be missed. RIP Paul.

N.

www.dozierknives.com/forum
 
Although I have only been on the fringe of the knife world at best until recently, Mr. Basch's name was as familiar to me as many of the now very famous makers that I first began admiring in the late 80's and early 90's. It always struck me that guys like him, A.G. Russell and Ken Warner were the driving force amongst collectors and writers behind promoting the custom knife business and without them, we surely would not be where we are today. RIP
 
There are two things about Paul that made him very special.

First, there was his welcoming attitude. There was no knife too expensive and no collector too new to pick up and fondle his knives. He encouraged everyone to see, touch and open his knives, from Doziers to Scagels.

Second, there was his infectious infatuation with knives, best demonsttrated by his relationship with children. Paul would always have knives for kids who went to shows. He'd hold out his two hands and say, pick one...open his palm and there was a knife for the child. They were always good serviceable knives, sometimes even old and slightly collectible. One little girl stopped by his table and he admired the knife around her neck, she said that he had given it to her last year, his remark was "Just goes to show you what good taste I have :)" She didn't ask, but he let her pick another one.

Paul was one of a kind. There was no knife so bad it didn't have some good point, no maker too obscure, and no question too newbie to ask. What was amazing is that Paul had such a positive attitude, even though he had seen every dirty trick in the business and was receipient of more than a few of those tricks. This never soured him and his business dealings were always fair and honest, even if he took a loss due to being swindled on the front end.
 
This is my take on how I saw Paul. I met Paul 25 years ago when he was in business for himself. We did a lot of selling, buying and trading over the years. Paul always had the best knives. Paul would always do a trade or he would give me a knife and say, pay me when you can or he would always do a lay a way for me. He ner stopped you from picking up the most expensive knife off of his table. He was an ambassador for the knife world. Paul seemed to lose interest in a lot of stuff after the infamous personal incident regarding his marriage that does not need to be discussed here. Paul seemed to come back to life after going to work for A.G. Russell, but never wanted to learn anything about computers or the internet while it was in it's infancy. Later, I would see Paul off and on at shows working with different dealers, trying to help them out as a buyer and I suppose trying to make a living. He had already had the first stroke that sent him into declining heath, but he pushed on eventually pulling a few knives together trying to make the show circuit again. I last saw Paul and spent time with him in 2005, while we sat back to back at The Chicago Custom Knife Show. He could barely get around. We shot the breeze and told war stories all weekend. When we were packing up to leave, I noticed that he was moving real slow and trying to pack up by himself. I offered to pack up for him and carry his cases back up to his room, but he refused the help. I could sense it was his pride not wanting any help. So, I stood back and handed him knives and case's etc while he put them away. When I saw that he would probably be ok, I said my good byes and left. That was the last time that I really held a conversation with him at any length and I was so happy to see him once again doing what he truly loved. Good bye my friend and may you rest in peace.

Bobby Branton
 
He was a one of a kind, he loved knives like no other, he loved children and showed that with ever one the stopped at his tables at the shows, my son Joe bought his first knife from him over 20 years ago and many more over the years, he had great prices and showed his love with everyone the stopped to say hello and on course buy knifes. Me and my son will miss him and remember him as long as we are alive, Paul will be missed by many and no one will fill his place in the knife world i'm sorry to say. His prices where low, his knowledge was high indeed and he shared that with anyone that asked.

I will miss his smile and his jokes, he was like a uncle.

James
 
Got to share many conversations with Paul. It makes me smile when I recall them.

He will be a missed man for sure.
 
I never met or knew him, but reading those comments make me think that he must be in a pretty happy place, if anywhere at all.
 
I met him once in person at a knife show in Denver. I was pretty new to knives and I must have looked it to everyone there, but Paul kept telling me I didn’t want to sell my knives to him because he always bought low and sold high.

He was real nice to me though and we looked at some old knives he had picked up at the show that he was really proud of. Then every now and then he would go back to lowballing me on my knives, but he did it with a smile each time. I finally realized he was offering me about half of what they were really worth, which, in its own way, was very educational.

Then I spoke to him once on the phone for a story that I did for Knife World. He was above and beyond helpful.

I was sorry to hear about his health problems as the years went by. Good to hear the stories here about him.
 
I was fortunate to talk with Paul at several shows. He was one of the folks who made this trade more fun and definitely more knowledgeable. He will be missed.
 
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