Knifemakers Guild / Shackleford / Terzuola

I got trolled Keith (and everybody, thanks for the Heads Ups!)

But it's over now... Brownshoe will have to show me a LOT of proof of purchases from Spyderco to get off of my Ignore List now!

Until such Time... :-)
 
Hey Kevin! Man! That guy was hitting you hard! Good come-back.

And you are probably right. The maker probably does owe me a steak!!! With baked potato. After I left HAC Foundries, I sold machine tools for Lester McFarlan of McFarland and asst's out of Opelika Ala. Most of my customers were on Red Stone. In Huntsville Ala. Thats where the Marshal Space Flight center is located. It was incredibly high tech even back in the 70's. They had water Jet, Laser, Wire Edm. Carbon EDM Many-many types of CNC. They could make anything you could possibly imagine. To tolerances, and finishes that are impossible for we knife makers to duplicate. So yes. It is possible to not require any hand finishing. And this was in the 70's!!! Wow. I saw parts being finished on a ultra fine polishing machine. It was a tungsten carbide table flooded with a very viscous solution with a diamond slurry. Were talking one thousandth of a micron here. Finer than the machine world says can be done. Even in todays tech rich world. But they had these things way back then. You would not believe what is possible.

New Technologies! Old world craftsmanship it isn't. But who wants to fly on a space shuttle that was beat out on an anvil? A damascus space ship might look Cool though!!! Personally I like all kinds of knives. I could care less how a maker makes his knives. Lets just all do a fantastic job!!!!! Mike and Manuela
 
Thanks for the explanation. It appears your work is a true mix of hand work, machine work and contract work. Kudos for no assistants, I'd advertise it. The thread is about the Guild and their rules, your work probably won't ever fit their paradigm.

I used spyderco's japanese production as an example, because I think they and AlMar have the best contract knives. It's obvious their high end products have a lot of hand work, more so I believe than Spyderco's US factory. The last spyderco I bought was last month as a present, a classic Endura 3 (model 4 doesn't float my boat). I've not seen your model, but I no longer purchase high dollar production folders, so you won't make a few dollars from me.

Thanks also for knocking me down a few pegs, I can always use a lesson in humility. I used the Arkansas show as an example because it has the most forged blades I've ever seen. You should go, the people are a lot more sophisticated than you'd imagine. I'm sure if Les Robertson can sell his high-tech selection you could make some sales.
 
Brownshoe, with all you have posted about Spyderco I am very surprised that you have purchased one recently.

That was a very classy post.
 
Kevin, you ask a fair question. While I can't in good judgment give you the name of the maker. And there many more than one. I can give you the names of some of the companies that can accomplish the task for you. Here are just a few. Raytheon. Thyacol. Martin Lockeed. Teladyne-Wychang. Liton Industries. Boeing. There are many in Huntsville Ala. My Spelling is terrible, and it has been over thirty years. But The finished machined parts are so exact, that hand finishing isn't allowed. It is simply too crude and inexact for the space industry in many applications. Take the Hubble telescope lens for instance. Very high tec machinery lapped and polished the surface. And even at that, they screwed it up! They had to fly a high tech contact lens into space to fix it. Contact-lens-great example. I wouldn't want to try to wear a pair of contacts formed and polished by hand. Man. Can we say corneal ulcers!!! Mike
 
One thing that I will say is that the Guild show is going to be badly hurt by not allowing makers like RJ Martin, Darrel Ralph, Bob Terzuola, Ernest Emerson, Ron Lake and Michael Walker to attend.

Edited to add Ernest Emerson's name to the names that were listed in the article in Blade.
 
Keith: Just a clarification-I chose not to re-join the Guild, as I indicated in a previous post. I was not banned, or otherwise "not allowed to attend". It would be simple enough for me to make my Guild knives w/o the use of waterjet blade blanks.
 
Hi RJ, I understand that, and should have mentioned that the maker's names that I listed in my post were taken from the article in Blade magazine. I have no doubt that all the makers listed could easily make great knives that fit the regulations set forth by the Guild.
 
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