Ken Erickson Knives: A Retrospective

Ken that seems to be an elegant and unobtrusive solution to the "what steel is it?" conundrum. :thumbup:
 
Blues said:
Ken that seems to be an elegant and unobtrusive solution to the "what steel is it?" conundrum. :thumbup:
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Thanks Elliott,

I had given thought to actual stamp or etch with blade steel but thought this was in keeping more with vintage ways of doing things. Kind of like Case with the "dot" system. They could have very easy just had a stamp made with the year of manufacture. Plus years down the road, collectors may have fun doing research on the meaning of the small stamp on pile side! :o;)
 
ken erickson said:
Thanks Elliott,

I had given thought to actual stamp or etch with blade steel but thought this was in keeping more with vintage ways of doing things. Kind of like Case with the "dot" system. They could have very easy just had a stamp made with the year of manufacture. Plus years down the road, collectors may have fun doing research on the meaning of the small stamp on pile side! :o;)
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Or you may end up with the same situation our mutual friend Jerry Halfrich encounters with everyone thinking that he owns the 5th knife of a given pattern. :p
(Of course your numbering system will provide for even more "fun". ;))
 
Elliott,

You have a knack of making me look at things in a different light! :eek: But I am committed to this and think it will work out well. Does Jerry use a similar system?

As a side note, I am very much excited about the pattern and knife bearing the first of this stamp pictured in post #800 .
 
ken erickson said:
Elliott,

You have a knack of making me look at things in a different light! :eek: But I am committed to this and think it will work out well. Does Jerry use a similar system?

As a side note, I am very much excited about the pattern and knife bearing the first of this stamp pictured in post above.
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Sorry, brother, but hey, that's what friends do for one another! :p

Yes, Jerry uses a similar marking system. I think he uses a "0" on 52100 and I don't recall offhand what he uses for other steels at the moment.

Of course, since he is pretty committed to CPM-154 (unless the customer requests otherwise), the majority of his knives these days have a "5" on the pile side of the tang.
 
ken erickson said:
As a side note, I am very much excited about the pattern and knife bearing the first of this stamp pictured in post #800 .
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I can clearly remember a time when standard jack and equal-end patterns just didn't seem to grab you...;)
 
Blues said:
I can clearly remember a time when standard jack and equal-end patterns just didn't seem to grab you...;)
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"Cattle knife you want, how boring!" Yep, I remember all too well also. I am constantly amazed at how they had these great knife patterns figured out so long ago and still stand up to the test of time.
 
I am excited about that "plain old Jack" pattern too, Ken!!
And I like the idea of the steel code. A simple number with so much info!!
 
I like the numbering system for the blade steels. :thumbup: I think that it would also be helpful to collectors to have a year stamp of some kind.
 
ken erickson said:
...

As a side note, I am very much excited about the pattern and knife bearing the first of this stamp pictured in post #800 .
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Ken, you know we are all waiting how things are going on with that "side note" - I keep reloading this page on and on :D
 
Ken, your assigned numbers all match a number in the steel's name except for #3 = D2. Why not begin to use D3 as it is about 25% more wear resistant than D2. Then your numbering system would be understood intuitively.
I recently received a FB knife in D3 from Farid Mehr. Awesome steel; cuts right through 1/2" aluminium rod.
roland
 
Roland,

Thanks for your observations and suggestions. D3 is a steel I am not familiar with as far as using. I do know it is a oil quench steel versus D2 being a air quench.

Ken
 
sextant said:
Ken, you know we are all waiting how things are going on with that "side note" - I keep reloading this page on and on :D
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Peter,

I checked with the new owner to be , and is happy to discuss the build here. I have been very excited to make this knife ever since laying my eyes on this picture. I knew eventually I would take a shot at it, just hoping I will be able to pull off a credible rendition of this fabulous knife.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/622355-Elusive-Schrades?p=6521959#post6521959

I should have a few pictures later today/tomorrow as my camera is being used by my DIL at a wedding.

Ken
 
ken erickson said:
Peter,

I checked with the new owner to be , and is happy to discuss the build here. I have been very excited to make this knife ever since laying my eyes on this picture. I knew eventually I would take a shot at it, just hoping I will be able to pull off a credible rendition of this fabulous knife.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/622355-Elusive-Schrades?p=6521959#post6521959

Ken
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Ken, thanks for letting us peek over your shoulder again. I love that :)
This is indeed a great looking specimen and I can't wait to see your rendition of it. I'm sure it will be at least as fabulous as the original!
What is it called - the Goodfella knife? :D


ken erickson said:
...I should have a few pictures later today/tomorrow as my camera is being used by my DIL at a wedding.
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...first things first, of course ;)
 
I have made significant progress on the EJ . The bolster treatment was a chore, getting everything spaced right. Of course still in the rough state. I have the scales in the dye now. This knife is going to have something different as far as blade finish compared to any other knife I have made to date. Charlie has asked that I put a crocus finish on the mark side master and glazed finish on pile side and both sides of the secondary. Of course this finish will only be an approximation of the finishes that the old cutlery companies were able to produce. Without getting into a lot of details, both the methods, machines, and materials are long gone, along with the knowledge base to replicate these old finishes. This knife will also deviate from the Schrade version in that the secondary blade spring will be an extension spring, filling the otherwise open gap.

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Wow! It is amazing to watch that knife emerge from the raw materials! The patience and talent it takes to revive an old design are awesome. I believe it is much tougher than an original design, because there is no room for error or compromise!
Of course it's hard to see that bolster now, but it is going to be amazing, as is the whole knife!
Thanks for the WIP pics Ken. I'm trying to take a lesson in patience from you, instead of running around and scaring my wife!

(Posted respectfully, from Lombard and Fillmore in San Francisco, where large pocket knives were once very ubiquitous!)
 
Had a chance to get a bit of work done on the EJ. Charlie had sent me a 2010 Schrade calender that features a Schrade EJ for the month of May. I believe that Mark Nagle took this photograph alone with all or most of the others. I placed my knife on May's photo hoping to capture the inspiration for this knife. A full day of hand finishing before this one is done:eek:.

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