Moran Madness...Enjoy

HTMD said:
Bill Moran was certainly on a roll when he made these. NOT just 'folk art' raised to iconic status, as some have suggested - but rather 'pioneering genius' justly honored, IMHO. Thanks for sharing, Dave.
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Elevated Folk Art is what the general consenus is for those not drinking the Kool Aid.

Yes he was a pioneer, and three of these are quite nice, but one of them is less so to me, the clipped utility....not attractive, IMO...

Not said by me before, but there were genuine Nazi presentation daggers I saw at a gun show in Portland, OR, around 1995 that had flawless damascus of highly elevated patterns, it sort of jaded me to many US early damascus production pre 1985 or so, after seeing those.

Obviously this statement excludes stuff like welding meteorite or the "Flags" pattern Darryl Meier created. That was undisputed genius.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Dave, the soft flowing lines of the trailing point and the pattern is outstanding. The Dagger is subliminal. the others? well they would not hit me first. thanks for posting as they are all wonderful to view. Always enjoy the knives you have.
 
Dave great knives.

Bill Moran was certainly on a roll when he made these. NOT just 'folk art' raised to iconic status, as some have suggested - but rather 'pioneering genius' justly honored, IMHO. Thanks for sharing, Dave.
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Buddy Thomason
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Buddy I agree 100%.


Elevated Folk Art is what the general consenus is for those not drinking the Kool Aid.
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STeven,

You ought to taste the Kool aid, remember:

Kool aid, Kool aid tastes great! Kool aid, Kool aid can't wait!
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Jim Treacy
 
It's easier to appreciate (and/or "like", since appreciate and like are sometimes the same and sometimes different) Moran's designs by understanding what a history buff he was. I quoted Hanford Miller on Moran in an article I wrote for BLADE about an Italian Renaissance blade known as the Cinquedea. Hanford knew Moran well, and told me he and Moran "shared over 100 campfires together." Hanford said, "You have to understand that (Bill Moran) was doing things nobody else was doing. He wasn't trying to be an elitist. He was just a self-educated man who loved the classic historical blades of Europe and Persia, studied them, read everything he could about them and then figured out how to make them." Understanding that about the man really helped me appreciate where he was coming from with his knives. Moran, it would seem, wasn't driven by what people did or didn't like. Rather he was intensely curious about how knives, swords and daggers were made in the old times. He was like somebody on a quest to discover long lost secrets and formulas, and toward that end he spent a lot of time in museums, reading and studying. Re-discovering by trial and error the way to forge layered or "Damascus" steel was a by-product of that curiosity - not a way to get famous. Personally, I can relate to that and I have a lot of respect for that kind of curiosity and drive that was in him. He was a man who marched to his own drumbeat, so to speak.
 
I guess I'm not following this due to being English, and not having access to any Kool-aid!
I take it you mean being someone who loves the work of a maker regardless of what it is?
Please excuse my ignorance:o
regards, Ian
 
I have had two Moran Cinquedea's, Bill always said that it was his most difficult pattern with so many components.
Dave
 
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