Ken Erickson Knives: A Retrospective

For posterity, Ken, do you recall where that "WEJ" falls in the order of folders that you have made? 5th? 10th?
It's interesting having a history of your knives. To see an evolution brings a richness and appreciation to current work.
 
That is certainly an exquisite knife.

Beautiful work Ken. Congratulations on that beauty, Roland!
 
Thanks for the compliments. This English Jack was listed on ebay ! and no takers except me.
I hope Ken chimes in with approximately how early in his folder making this knife is. We can see the evolution from much embellished, like the file worked liners and 'worked' bolsters and caps, to the current 'cleaner' look of his folders.
I think 'cleaner' look is a sign of 'maturing' as a knifemaker, realizing that embellishments are not needed when you have perfected everything else.
roland
 
Congrats on the big win, Roland. I wish that I had seen it but I'm happy that it found the right home. It's easier to find Hen's teeth than one of Ken's knives for sale.

This isn't the best back drop but it was too nice of a day not to enjoy the outdoors so I just took a quick photo of the '09 and '10 whittlers. The photo doesn't do the knives justice. I'm looking forward to the upcoming sowbelly project and future projects with Ken.

ken-erickson-whittlers.jpg
 
Roland, They're in chronological order. '09 on the left and '10 on the right. Both knives are patterned after Case knives (the big 6380 and medium sized 6383)... except half stops were added on the 6383 pattern... and Case never made them this nice. ;) Both are a joy to own.
 
The "80" pattern whittler was initiated at my request a few years back. I sent Ken one of my 1970's vintage Case whittlers to use for inspiration and, as usual, Ken nailed it. :thumbup:

Heres' a look back to page 1 when I started this retrospective:

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Nice whittlers, Jake and Elliott! Always loved the "80" and "83" whittlers. Still have a couple of old Cases kicking around.
 
waynorth said:
For posterity, Ken, do you recall where that "WEJ" falls in the order of folders that you have made? 5th? 10th?
It's interesting having a history of your knives. To see an evolution brings a richness and appreciation to current work.
Click to expand...

I had a bit of time and went thru my photo archives:eek: and figure the WEJ to be "about" number 15 overall, and "about" number 6 to 9 multi-blades. Interesting looking back at that ratio, that I was building a lot of multi-blades even then.

Jake,

I like the photo of the two whittlers together. That zippered case is interesting in that there is less than 5 with the gold embossed name.
 
Ken, what year was the English Jack made ? 2007 is my guess, but i would like to know for sure.
thanks, roland
 
Thank you for the info, Ken. I'm very happy to have one of the 5 zip cases ...of course, I'm even happier to have your knives. Stu, you're right --those coping blades are serious cutters.
 
supratentorial said:
Congrats on the big win, Roland. I wish that I had seen it but I'm happy that it found the right home. It's easier to find Hen's teeth than one of Ken's knives for sale.

This isn't the best back drop but it was too nice of a day not to enjoy the outdoors so I just took a quick photo of the '09 and '10 whittlers. The photo doesn't do the knives justice. I'm looking forward to the upcoming sowbelly project and future projects with Ken.

ken-erickson-whittlers.jpg
Click to expand...

Chapter two of Erickson Trivia!
Here is another of the elusive 5 (or so) embossed zip cases! I am not sure if that is the knife it came with though . . . .? Post yours if you have one!!
KenEricksonFineCutlery1.jpg
 
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