Is there a good book on traditional folders and fixed blades?

Book? We're all waiting for jackknife to publish THE book. Would you guys buy a Kindle collection of his stories? I know I would?

-- Mark
 
knarfeng said:
Howdy,
If you just want to get your feet wet and have a bit of an introduction to cutlery, I might recommend a couple of freebies.
  • Hang out here and just read. There is an incredible wealth of knowledge available for free here on BladeForums. Some of the fellas who hang out here in Traditional and on Bernard Levine Knife Identification and Collecting Forum are world class authorities on knives and collecting.
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  • :thumbup:

    However, be forewarned that if you get really curious and ask all kinds of questions, you may be enjoying the process more than others, who may subtly or more pointedly direct you to a BOOK. So I've read.

    th_whistle.gif


    (Levine's, of whatever edition, really does help-- if sorely, sorely in need of a true index. Thanks, y'all.)

    Still, I've found nothing that compares to well-illustrated examples of specific patterns or features, such as found in some of Waynorth's and others' threads here.

    Knife Terminology

    Swell Center Balloon Pattern

    Tribal Conference or Whutsa Zulu?

    Etc.

    ~ P.
 
knarfeng said:
Howdy,
If you just want to get your feet wet and have a bit of an introduction to cutlery, I might recommend a couple of freebies.
  • Hang out here and just read. There is an incredible wealth of knowledge available for free here on BladeForums. Some of the fellas who hang out here in Traditional and on Bernard Levine Knife Identification and Collecting Forum are world class authorities on knives and collecting.
  • AG Russel has been a key figure in the cutlery business for about 50 years. His web store has both a Glossary and an Encyclopedia of Cutlery. They are free to browse and contain a good deal of information all in one place. AG has a dealer membership on BladeForums, so I can even give you his site:
    http://www.agrussell.com/Knife_Encyclopedia/a/74/
    http://www.agrussell.com/Articles/a/4/
    http://www.agrussell.com/Glossary/a/101/
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Thanks! Looks like a good bit of what I was looking for! :applause:
 
There are some good books mentioned in this thread, and yes, if you're going to collect you will want to get a copy of B. Levine's "Guide". Look around; I found a nice copy this year for $10.

Still, the best book for a NEWBY that I have found is "Identifing Pocket Knives" also by Bernard Levine. This is a small little book that is well laid out and with short histories of the major manufacturers.

The best book (by far) that a EVERY collector should have is Gerald Witcher's "Counterfiting Antique Cutlery". This is my "go-to" for fun and entertainment when sufing the web auction sites.
 
Blues said:
The "values" listed in the 4th edition are many years old and cannot be relied upon. The actual value of the book is the wealth of information on the patterns, identification and historical data.

It is by far the most useful reference book of the several comprising my knife library.
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or anybody else knife library
 
For a good book on traditional fixed blade knifemaking, I'd suggest David Boye's "Step by Step Knifemaking: You Can Do It ."
 
More than a few knifemakers have indicated they started their careers with that book. I don't make knives, but I liked his presentation and down to earth style. I learned a lot from it about how fixed blade knives can be made.
 
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