- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 46,999
Today I want to share with you a knife made by Ken Erickson which I wasn't even aware was going to be built.
It came about like this...Ken and I were chatting on the phone as we do regularly while tossing around ideas for future patterns for him to build. Ken is one, like many of the best makers (on this site and elsewhere) who is constantly looking forward to a new challenge.
As we were chatting, I was leafing through an old Remington catalog looking for a pattern with which to challenge Ken. I came upon an image of the humpback whittler and studied the illustration...complex grinds, a locking master blade, two accessory slipjoint blades, intricate pattern and bolsters...hmmm, this might be just the thing.
I took an image from the catalog and sent it in an email to Ken along with a couple of old images of actual knives from yesteryear in worn condition.
I threw down the gauntlet and said, "You want a challenge? Build this!"
A month or two later during a phone conversation I told Ken that I was just having a laugh with him and that he shouldn't feel compelled to build that knife and left it at that.
When I saw Ken at the Blade Show later that year, this is what he handed me while visiting with him and his wife up in his room...Needless to say, my jaw dropped.
Ken never had a pattern for this knife nor an example in hand. What he built was purely from images from a catalog and a couple of old knives found online.
The knife is 3 5/8" closed and blades are D2.
It came about like this...Ken and I were chatting on the phone as we do regularly while tossing around ideas for future patterns for him to build. Ken is one, like many of the best makers (on this site and elsewhere) who is constantly looking forward to a new challenge.
As we were chatting, I was leafing through an old Remington catalog looking for a pattern with which to challenge Ken. I came upon an image of the humpback whittler and studied the illustration...complex grinds, a locking master blade, two accessory slipjoint blades, intricate pattern and bolsters...hmmm, this might be just the thing.
I took an image from the catalog and sent it in an email to Ken along with a couple of old images of actual knives from yesteryear in worn condition.
I threw down the gauntlet and said, "You want a challenge? Build this!"
A month or two later during a phone conversation I told Ken that I was just having a laugh with him and that he shouldn't feel compelled to build that knife and left it at that.
When I saw Ken at the Blade Show later that year, this is what he handed me while visiting with him and his wife up in his room...Needless to say, my jaw dropped.
Ken never had a pattern for this knife nor an example in hand. What he built was purely from images from a catalog and a couple of old knives found online.
The knife is 3 5/8" closed and blades are D2.
