Is it permissable to copy the famous Loveless drop point hunterfor oneself?

LARRYZ10

LARRYZ10

Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
1,427
Hi, Is it ok to copy the famous Loveless drop point hunter for my personal use? If so, do any of you guys know where I could find a pattern or the dimensions so I could grind my own? Thanks for any advice you might have! If it is bad taste to do so please say so. I do not want to spoil an otherwise good reputation for myself or my website...Lehman Custom knives. Larry
 
The Loveless Drop Point has got to be one of the most copied designs ever, in my opinion. That being said, I'm not sure if there is anything special you should do as far as permission goes before you build one, I've never done it myself. Hopefully someone should chime in here, although it seems to me like most who make copies cover their bases simply by stating in any description of the knife that it is indeed the Loveless Drop Point pattern. Good luck!
 
If you directly copy it, give credit to Loveless -- it's the classy thing to do. :thumbup: For patterns, look at the Bob Loveless book "Living On The Edge" -- it's out of print now, but you can download a pdf here: http://www.mediafire.com/?v7pn2v5zaepadaj -- every knife is photographed flat against an inch/quarter inch grid, making every picture a pattern. BTW, one thing that's not shown well in this book is the sculpting Bob put into the handles -- search around for some images that show the handles from multiple angles -- especially the micarta handles, which best show Bob's full shaping - some of the knife purveyors have very good shots for this - Coop also has some great shots on his site.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the info! I downloaded the page I wanted and have 3 knives to sketch from with the grid. I have the Loveless video showing the construction of the drop point hunter and it shows him shaping the scales on his grinder. He loves the green canvas Micarta which is nice but I love the stag and hope to find scales of the right thickness and contour to make my own Loveless pattern. Thanks again for all your advice. Larry Lehman, Bakersfield, CA
 
I believe it was Henry Ford, who when asked his opinion about all his competitors copying his ideas, said;
"I may have invented the car, but I didn't invent the wheel." ( Of course he was being facetious, as he was not the inventor of the car either)

Loveless took a blade shape and made it his own. He popularized it and was one of the rare people to have a general knife shape attached to his name. The Bowie family was probably the first, with James/Jim undeservedly getting all the credit. George Nesmuk was another.
If a knife is made in anything at all resembling these shapes, they will be referred to as a, "Loveless, Bowie, or Nessie/Nesmuk".

Making the Loveless style drop point hunter is not copying him, it is merely honoring his style. The proper way to describe the knife you make is ,"A Loveless style drop point hunter".

Final bit of humor,
At a show several years back there was another vendor ( a bit of a jerk) who was always coming by and looking at my knives, then telling me all about his knives, and how they were made better than mine.
He came by when there was a fellow looking at some knives on my table, and said, "I have a Loveless just like that for $300." I looked at him and just smiled, and said, "If it was a Loveless, I'm sure he would buy it from you for $300, but right now he is looking at one of my Apelt knives, and it is only $225."
 
Loveless himself said that his drop point hunter blade profile was almost identical to a certain type of autopsy knife.
 
There are makers who keep very busy making Loveless style knives almost exclusively. They're popular not just because Mr. Loveless was an innovator, pioneer and all-around cool guy, but also because they're darn good patterns.

bladsmth said:
Making the Loveless style drop point hunter is not copying him, it is merely honoring his style. The proper way to describe the knife you make is ,"A Loveless style drop point hunter".
Click to expand...

That makes sense to me. There are approximately 11 people in the knifemaking/buying world who wouldn't immediately recognize it for what it is, anyway. ;) I look at it this way, it's the same thing with a Fender Strat or Gibson Les Paul.
 
And nothing wrong with saying "Loveless-inspired"

To be honest, all my patterns are inspired by something I saw somewhere, it's part of the story of the knife- and what's a knife without a story?

Andy
 
Andy makes a good point, unless you come up with something really weird and pretty much unusable except for Klingons, chances are good that your own special pattern has been made before... maybe a thousand years ago, thousands of miles away.
 
I far as I know, Bob didn't have a problem with anyone copying his designs .... however, it would be nice to add "Loveless-inspired" or something along the lines of that whenever the public sees the knife.

Here's a link that may be useful:

http://engnath.com/lovedraw.htm

Good luck! :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the link, Flat- it's interesting to see how the blanks are made for those knives.
Reading the book Living on the Edge, it's kind of encouraging to see that Loveless made some truly Butt Ugly knives.
At the same time, who among us wouldn't love to own even a homely Loveless? It's all about the story!
And he got out there and sold em, that's inspiring too.
 
I have a PDF with the exact dimention of the drop point hunter.
If you PM me or post an emailaddress here I'll send it to you.
 
Hengelo_77, I'd be very interested in that PDF. You can reach me at james(dot)terrio@yahoo(dot)com. Thank you!
 
bladsmth said:
Final bit of humor,
At a show several years back there was another vendor ( a bit of a jerk) who was always coming by and looking at my knives, then telling me all about his knives, and how they were made better than mine.
He came by when there was a fellow looking at some knives on my table, and said, "I have a Loveless just like that for $300." I looked at him and just smiled, and said, "If it was a Loveless, I'm sure he would buy it from you for $300, but right now he is looking at one of my Apelt knives, and it is only $225."
Click to expand...

Stacy your too kind. That quailifies as @-hole. Poaching customers at someone's table is asking for trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top