Knife Publications–Where would we be without them?

Kevin Jones said:
Killed them?
You would no doubt be very surprised at Blade's monthly distribution. I imagine Tactical Knives and Knives Illustrated do very good as well.

As the INTERNET has tremendously expanded the overall collectible knife market I expect books such the Knife Annuals and David Darom's books have actually benefited from it.
And then there's the Amazon factor.

I support the knife publications as the collectible knife industry would be far less without them. I expect David's five books have created quite a few custom knife collectors.
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I subscribe to Blade magazine, maybe kill was a strong word, but the internet and forums has had a negative impact on the knife magazines. The books are a different story.
 
Lorien said:
Of the more, um literary, works like Mr. Darom's, I have almost no experience. Maybe some day I will start investing in these types of books.
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Lorien,

I am quite sure that a teaser like these pdf files of several 8 page sections from
my book "Art and Design in Modern Custom Fixed-Blade Knives" (2005),
will surely cause you to make the move........ :)

http://www.saviolopublisher.com/files/Arpad.pdf
http://www.saviolopublisher.com/files/D'Alton.pdf
http://www.saviolopublisher.com/files/DeBraga.pdf
http://www.saviolopublisher.com/files/Jarvis.pdf
http://www.saviolopublisher.com/files/Fisk.pdf

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
At one time I subscribed to Blade and Tactical Knives,no longer.
Now I just pick knife mags up if there is an article I may be interested in or a knife I've acquired in it.

Just received Dr. David Darom's Custom Fixed-Blade Knives.
I am quite impressed to say the least. :cool:

Doug
 
I really look forward to Blade arriving each month. It helps one keep up to date as to what's going on in the knife community. Love the photos, and it's always a very nice surprise to find one of your knives depicted.
I also receive Knives Illustrated, but the content doesn't usually interest me as much or do I think it's as well done.

I wait very anxiously each year for the Knives Annual to come out. That's a GREAT reference book/year in review for anyone interested in collectible knives. Does anyone have ALL volumes?
In my opinion if a new collector was only to buy one book, Knives Annual would be a great choice.

I also look forward to the ABS journal which comes out quarterly. Again, it gives a snapshot of what's going on in the ABS.

Even if I didn't enjoy these publications, I would still subscribe as they have been and continue to be good for the industry. Blade has been pushing the collectible knife industry forward for 35 years. For less than a steak dinner at Outback I receive 12 magazines. To me, just the pre-blade show and post-blade show additions are well worth the annual subscription fee.

I recently added a couple book cases to my knife room for storing all these publications. David's covers/books make quite a nice display.
Was keeping my magazines in old wood Schlitz beer longneck creates. Remember Schlitz? "The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous". In it's heyday, Schlitz was giving Budweiser a run for it's money like no brewer had before or since until a conglomerate purchased the company and tossed the brand name. I never understood that.
But what does this have to do with knives? Nothing, so I will stop.
 
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I have all the Knives Annual (except maybe the first one, can't recall and they're in storage). It's fun to look at the old ones and see the completelly forgotten names and outdated designs. In particular, the idea of what a bowie knife should look like has evolved a lot, and in good directions, AFAIC.
 
Kevin; don't worry, I often get carried away talking about, if not drinking too much, beer. So I'm right there with you:)

David; thanks so much for sharing those pdfs! That's really nice of you. Unfortunately, I cannot open them. I assume that they are photos, but:(
 
Lorien said:
David; thanks so much for sharing those pdfs! That's really nice of you. Unfortunately, I cannot open them. I assume that they are photos, but:(
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Lorien,

Download a free pdf reader and then click on the links. I am sure you
will enjoy every page!!!

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
I agree with you 100% Kevin. Todd and I fight over who gets to sit and read the newest issue, I usually win. He keeps them as reference material, and as a way to track trends.
I am also convinced Todd is unable to use the facilities without one of the mags on hand..........


Tanya
 
here's an example of the kind of stuff I hate to see in print in any magazine..
Sept 2008 issue of Tactical Knives... page 25
If you decide to fight for your life , then fight for your life. No rules , fight with the intent of killing your attacker....
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stupid advice.. fight with the intent of STOPPING your attacked , flat out telling people to fight to kill is terrible advice. Sure you may have to BUT if you knock the attacker out or force him to change his mind... then the attack is over.

Read too many ridiculous comments in Tactical Knives mags articles , that are just over the top.

The Kendrick and also the Caswell articles were a good read , the rest of the issue...blah. Last issue of Tac Knives I will buy , see what Blade or KI has to offer.
 
John, TKs one that I have never been able to get much out of either.

Do any of you have "the points of interest" series? I understand they're great books.
 
Kevin Jones said:
I wait very anxiously each year for the Knives Annual to come out. That's a GREAT reference book/year in review for anyone interested in collectible knives. Does anyone have ALL volumes?
In my opinion if a new collector was only to buy one book, Knives Annual would be a great choice.
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I have all of the Annuals. Moving to color was great....Joe Kertzman's pithy comments make me want to smack him with a big ass thesaurus..and I have personally chided him about this, explaining what a great fire he has been allowed to tend....he's clueless....Ken Warner is simply a MUCH better editor

I have 4' of knife books in a bookshelf....I think if one was only going to collect a grouping of a certain type, keeping the space to a minimum....then Dr. Darom's books and the Weyer Points of Interest books are a GREAT representation of the vast array of custom cutlery from the '80's until now....and all of them combined only take up about 9" of shelf space.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I recently started buying back issues of the Knives Annual. I think I have 10 or so now. it is really interesting to see some of the stuff that caught my fancy in the 90's and realize that the knives look now rather clunky and dated and that we have come a LONG way in the last 10-15 years. Over 1/2 of the stuff that was in the book as late as '97 woulnd't even be considered for inclusion today. Hell....some of MY stuff looks better than some of the knives in the book back then, and thats pretty scary...lol. I sometimes think that If I had started making knives back then when I first wanted to, i would have been ab;e to sell them earlier, but then reality kicks in. I wouldn't have had access to all of the information that we have today, so the learning curve would have been steeper and I would have probably been making knives like the ones I mentioned, so mine would have looked like inferior copies of what was hot at the time just like they do now:D
 
Yes, Joe interesting to go back through them. Kind of like going back through old "Playboys". :eek: :foot: :o :D :D ;)

I have been buying the older Annuals as well. Some are getting hard to find.
I need '97 and '98.
 
Kevin Jones said:
Yes, Joe interesting to go back through them. Kind of like going back through old "Playboys". :eek: :foot: :o :D :D ;)

I have been buying the older Annuals as well. Some are getting hard to find.
I need '97 and '98.
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Actually more like the opposite. If the knives annuals were like Playboy, then in the more recent ones, all of the guards would be badly heat colored, blades would be overly polished and the handles would all be made from micarta and would be way out of proportion to the rest of the knife:D
 
Some years ago I built a special book cabinet in my study. In it I planned
one shelf to house the books I created. At the time I only had my two
first books on custom knives and the shelf was nearly full!

Now, after my 5th knife book I had to remove several of my older
publications to make room for the new knifebooks........

I also have a separate shelf for knife books and other serious knife
related publications.

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

picture.JPG
 
I guess you could have knife publications without beautiful photos, however don't know how successful they would be? :confused:

Yep, knife photography; extremely important for both publications and the net.
 
Kevin Jones said:
• Where would the collectable knife industry be today without these various types of publications?

With the internet, we would probably be okay, but it is still great to have these publications as sources of information and great photographs.

• Do you feel it’s important that we as collectors, makers, dealers, etc. subscribe to or purchase these publications?

without people purchasing these books and magazines they wouldn't be there, so yes, it is important.

• What are your favorite knife publications?

I like many of the different books and Knife World magazine. Blade magazine is pretty good as well.

Thank you in advance for your participation.
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