Knifemaker Inspiration!

waynorth

waynorth

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
32,711
It is a wonderful thing to see a well designed and made pocketknife. You can look at it from many angles, and it suddenly hits you, that this maker is a true artist. This maker has blended the perfect mix of ingredients with unerring understanding of how a knife must work, and shaped it to please the most discerning user/beholder!
What inspires a maker of traditional knives? Surely studying old knives, and techniques is a large part of it. For me, God is in the details, the swedges, how the blades rest in the knife, that access to the nail nick, well you know what I'm talking about!
Tony Bose has shared one of his sources with me, and given me permission to, in turn, share it with my fellow BFers.
A knife is essentially a blade to do work, and here are some old blades, some unfinished, but none ever used, so they reveal unspoiled visions from the past. They show how ancestor knifemakers viewed a successful blade! Note the stamps; Holley, Cattaraugus, Naponoch, IXL!
Can you see what knives the blades are intended for? Can you envision the shape of handle ideal to hold any given blade? Powerful knowledge is concealed in this rusty old pile of metal! It takes some vision to suss it out!
InspirationBlades1.jpg

InspirationBlades2.jpg

InspirationBlades3.jpg

InspirationBlades4.jpg
 
Here's a separate post of the tangs, as the don't show up in the first post;
InspirationBlades5.jpg

InspirationBlades6.jpg
 
Extraordinary pile of metal you have their, waynorth. I particularly like the very bottom scan at the top of the photo where the larger blades are set up fanned out. I had some very old Case large Jacks with those. I think they may be called Clip~Saber blades but I may be wrong.

Cool idea for a thread!
 
Wow really cool photos! Thanks for sharing.
Are you going to keep them as is? It would be cool to have a few made into finished knives; or is that sacrilege?
Happy New Year all.
Bill
 
Thanks waynorth, that certainly is an education for me. I never realized just how much geometry is involved in the fitting of a blade. I now understand just how a half stop works in relation to the spring. Great stuff..
Dave
 
A lot of very cool knife history and technique in those blades. I like the swedges on the bigger blades too.
 
billym said:
Wow really cool photos! Thanks for sharing.
Are you going to keep them as is? It would be cool to have a few made into finished knives; or is that sacrilege?
Happy New Year all.
Bill
Click to expand...
Billy, these belong to Tony Bose, and he indeed uses them for reference, so keeps them as-is!
He told me he made one into a knife, but clearly marked his name inside, to prevent abuse!
It is a responsibilty to own these, and mis-use has occurred in the past, by others (NOT by Tony)!
Happy New Year to you too!!
 
Thanks Charlie for scanning and posting those. It's in the old knives and their complex grinds where Tony gets his inspiration. Like I said...if it was easy a bunch of girls would be doin it. :)
 
Charlie, I understand you had to send Tony a left something-or-other to get those for a while.:D
 
Hmm. I could see where collecting old blades and knife parts could be its own facet of the hobby. You could make some really great displays. Those batches of "Parts or Repair" knives you see listed could be disassembled and displays made of blades, handles (both broken down by material and jigging types) and even springs and liners.

Nice collection there, btw. It is great to see fellas like Tony who really look close at those old grinds and put those little extras into their knives.
 
Upon reviewing those scans, I found them less than "inspirational"! This is what separates the hacks with a scanner, like me, from the talents, like Kerry, with their cameras! To help out, I took some more at different angles, and these show the grinds and swedges much better I think.
With apologies, here they are;
InspirationBlades7.jpg

InspirationBlades8.jpg

InspirationBlades9.jpg

InspirationBlades10.jpg
 
Nicely done, Charlie. Thanks for your time and effort on this labor of love.
 
This was in a bowie collector newsletter. The unfinished blade must have had quite the trip over to the United State before ending up in Tony's hands.

Sheffieldblade002.jpg
 
Mike Robuck said:
This was in a bowie collector newsletter. The unfinished blade must have had quite the trip over to the United State before ending up in Tony's hands.

Sheffieldblade002.jpg
Click to expand...

Anyone who thinks they are good with a hammer and forge should try one of these. It would be a good heat check as they say in bassaba.
 
The forging belongs to a friend of mine. I was with him when he bought it in Louisville over 20 years ago. He lets me keep it here so I can CF and CE it.
 
Charlie & Tony,this is a great thread,I've never seen a lot of those style blades.Really great! Thanks,
-Vince
 
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