Jimmy Fikes knives

Recluse

Recluse

Joined
Jan 15, 2000
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After some recent e-mailing with a a fellow forumite, I am beginning to develop an interest in Jimmy Fikes' work. I just read everything on BF (which isn't much) and came away with the impression that his knives are awesome, but that he has something of an "artistic temperament" and doesn't make knives anymore.

That said, I am looking for thoughts and opinions from those who own or have owned his work. Are his knives worth seeking out? I imagine that they command some serious prices at this point...........

Photos would be MUCH appreciated. :) Thanks.
 
You are looking for some good knives!
Jimmy Fikes is quite a knife/sword maker and his knives are very very sharp and tough. I have the good fortune of owning one of his small knives, Chiseledged with cord wrapped, the edge is convexed ground down to a zero secondary edge so it is amazingly sharp!

Blade length on this is about 3 1/2" with a spine about 3/16" or so, and it can easily cut standing hair, meaning you can just trim off the top section of your hair...Here is a scan of my Cabin Boy, BladeArt had one similar with perhaps a slightly longer blade forsale a while back.

G2
 
I snagged this image from the BladeArt site, the blade is a tad longer, I was interested but since it was close to the size of the one I already had I passed on it, give Larry an email for what he wants for it, it's a good cutter and you're not likely to find one like it around very often!

The thingy on the left side is somekind of paper weight that I believe is also included...I don't have one of those!
G2
 
Mr. Graley-

Thanks for the photo and the information! :) The piece at BladeArt has a 4" blade, and is now on its way to me. :D The paperwieght is included too!

It can be "dangerous" for your favorite knife dealer to have your information "on file. " ;)

If his knives are as good as everyone says (and I have not heard one bad thing yet), I think this could be the start of something expensive. :D

Special thanks to Win Heger and John Johnson for their assistance as well.
 
I'm sure you will like that knife, good catch!
The Cherry Blossom on the face of this blade, there is
one like that on the back of my blade, sometimes he
puts that on the near the butt of the tang on the knife.

Wicked cutter but then you are familiar with Zero secondary bevels with Hartsfield knives, Jimmy's are similar but he has more of a convex grind from starting a bit higher as well, there is a neat homemade video, dated though it is, of Jimmy and some friends testing his knives and swords, crude video taping off the shoulder type of deal, but a fun watch! He has a sword he calls a Jungle Honey and that makes me drool!!! I think John Johnson might even have one of those, that rat...John or J2, is a good guy, must be busy in his new home, haven't heard from him in a while, and Win, well Win is simply one of the nicest guys around...

G2
 
Thanks Gary. :) Being a typical impatient knifenut, I am having it shipped express, so I should have it on Tuesday. I will be sure to post my impressions here.

I just received a photo of the Jungle Honey, and it is possibly THE coolest thing I have ever seen! It's way too big to post here, but I'll send it to you in e-mail.

I have heard about the video, and am attempting to track down a copy as we speak.

There's nothing like a new obsession to keep things interesting........:D
 
Got it, yep Jimmy LIKES this one, he uses it a LOT in that video...

G2
 
The knife looks like a spear with a cord wrapped handle. How long is it?? A small one would make a neck knife :). He does make some nice looking blades. I like a man that makes sharp knives.
 
Ray, Jimmy made some very No Nonsense type of knives, they were made to work and work hard, his edges are keen and he seemed to prefer the Chiseledge for it's shear cutting ability.

I'm not sure as to how long that short sword is, if John Johnson could chime in from his busy life style he could tell us what the dimensions are...

G2
 
Thanks Gary, It looks like something I might try to make. Of course, sometimes I will try about any thing once. It looks to be about 14 or 15 inches long overall. What was the primary use of the blade? I noticed it did have some weight forward and a ramp on the top edge to keep it from getting hung up. It is some serious cutting tool.
 
I think it's longer than that, from viewing the video, the handle is more than a two handed grip, the blade I would hazard a guess is about 20" or so...the top section is also sharpened, one mean cutter! He was taking quite BIG bites into some trees in the video...fun movie, drives the wife crazy me watching it!

G2
 
Thanks Gary for the quick info. That is one long blade. I may not make one but it would be fun seeing how it could be used. I appreciate your sharing with me. Take care.
 
I hate to ask this but all my searches have come up with very little on Fikes (or his website). I did see the knife at Bladeart but I haven't seen anything beyond what was posted here. I really like the profile of his knives, at least the ones I have seen ;). And I ALWAYS like seeing a knife that is shiver sharp right out of the box. Thanks for all the help. (Sorry about the lame question.)
Matthew
 
I've had a few private e-mails with Kevin, but here's a little history. If I get any of this wrong someone please correct me. John
Johnson is probably the best suited to talk about Jimmy.

Jimmy Fikes along with Don Fogg were two of the pioneers in forging knives. I don't know the time table but Jimmy was an early maker of
Damascus. I believe he worked with James Schmidt in developing Damascus. Jimmy moved to Alabama and continued to make knives into the
mid-90's. His knives are wonderful to handle, sharp as anything most of us will ever handle.I'm not sure what Jimmy is doing today, he's been an artist, knifemaker, author and probably a few other things.

I've been fortunate to own a few of his knives and regret having parted with them. I currently have a large Camp knife, which I have
owned at least twice. His knives are very hard to come by, and not getting any cheaper.

A friend of mine made a copy of his tape and I posted it on the "Review" forum as a pass around. I don't know who has it, now.

Hope this sheds some light on Mr. Fikes, realy a pioneer!!

Win
 
Dave Ellis here,nice to see some familiar names,I believe that Jimmy Fikes as well as Dan Maragni,Wayne Valachovic,Jim Schmidt,Don Fogg and others held the annual East Coast Ashokan Conference displaying some of the best cutting knives known to man.
Some of Jimmy Fikes higher end collectible pieces have found there way into such well known collections as the Wellington Wong collection as well as many others.
I have been iffered some fairly high end Fikes knives but have never owned any of his pieces,I have held them and the one's that I have seen are wicked sharp!
Hope this helps,
Dave Ellis,ABS,M.S.
http://www.exquisiteknives.com
 
I got my Fikes knife from Larry @ BladeArt this week. It's awesome. It is double convex ground and SHARP! It also looks like it has at least FOUR temper lines. Is that even possible?

The sculpture that came with it is almost as interesting as the knife. I thought that it was wood, but it is actually bronze. It's VERY cool.

Here's a scan:
 

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very nice looking knife.

i remember seeing it on matt lamey's website a while back (i believe yours is the same one). i thought about getting it but didn't

it then was on the bladeart site and i again thought about it

thank you for removing the temptation :p
 
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