Perfect function/Worst form?

[MVF]

Well, just looking at pictures I used to think Ed Fowler's knives were pretty strange looking. The proportions and angles just didn't seem right to me (some of it may have been camera angles).

Then I met Ed at a show and got to handle a few of his knives and learned about why this and why that and those knives just kept getting better and better looking.

 

[Tommegow]

An oyster shucking knife is ugly but functional.
I did see a nice one aways back, maybe here on BF
Tom
So.Ga.

 

[Frank Niro]

Those "green Rivers" that Phil put up, did thousands of buffalo. They were originally made in England. When I first started ihto the lnife making I made up similar looking knives for hunting use. They became very popular especially for moose hunting. Frank

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Hey Frank, I plan on making some too someday. Where can I look at some photos of yours?

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

Well, just looking at pictures I used to think Ed Fowler's knives were pretty strange looking. The proportions and angles just didn't seem right to me (some of it may have been camera angles).

Then I met Ed at a show and got to handle a few of his knives and learned about why this and why that and those knives just kept getting better and better looking.

That was a tactful way of putting it. Kudos to Ed for straying outside the box. I've held his knives, they do feel good. And he doesn't even try to make them look like everybody else's, he does his own thing.

I think that most Spyderco knives combine good craftsmanship, good blade steels with good heat treat, good ergonomics, and butt ugly profiles. There - I said it. I think Spyderco stuff is - UGLY. That said, I EDC one...

 

[Jeff Clark]

I inherited a Solingen sailor's pocket knife with locking marlinspike. It is something I would never carry, but... Friday I had to pull my son's pickup with a trailer attached up an icy hill with my Subaru. He put a knot in my tow strap instead of just attaching the metal hook. The tow really jammed that knot. He asked if I had a tool that would help. I pulled that knife out of a drawer and within a couple minutes he had that strap off.

It looks something like this, but this is just a link to something similar on the net.

 

[bluejaunte]

There - I said it. I think Spyderco stuff is - UGLY. That said, I EDC one...

Actually, I agree for the most part. There are a precious few Spydies where the thumb hole DOESN'T result in a protrusion of the blade spine above the back of the handle (the Native is the only one that comes to mind right now). These are tolerable...the rest look diseased.

That said, I EDC a Tasman Salt whenever I'm not in the desert.

 

[nokia]

I know I might get flamed, but almost any of the Dark Ops lineup.

 

[Jim Adams Customs]

OK, Looks like over kill. I hate serrations, a saw and a seat belt cutter. It is everything I hate in a knife. But Damn I love it.

 

[sunshadow]

Any of these type of knives styled to look like a combat helicopter. They must work for something because he sells tons of them, and everyone copied them for about 2 years. They seem to work really well for their intended purpose ( selling millions)

http://www.emersonknives.com/ekSuper_CQC7B.php



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[Nebulae]

for me its a very small blade w/ a very large handle. big handle is practical, comfortable, and allows for better control, but it doesn't look to good.

 

[John R. Fraps]

Certainly the Ulu doesn't have the lines that other knives do, but it is such a functional knife...whether skinning and scraping, or in my kitchen as a great cutter...espc. in a bowl or on a plate, it is beautiful by its functionality and efficiency...and the fact that ther ones I brought home from a "tourist trip" to Alaska and the rememberances it emotes makes them even more "beautiful".

 

[Patrice Lemée]

I agree that a large handle and a small blade is usually not very pleasing to the eye.
I love Ulus and find them atheistically pleasing.

Patrice

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Well I never thought I'd be taking pictures of all my old clunkers. Here are a couple others that work as longs as the day is and then some. The top one (both sides) is a a hori hori. It's a knife for working in the dirt. When it comes to transplanting several hundred row feet of seedlings (or digging out some deep rooted weeds) this puppy can't be beat. It's slim and stiff and gets the job done...over and over and over again. The bottom one is dirt cheap harvesting knife. They're usually bought by the box full to send a gang of folks out to harvest truck loads of lettuce. It too works right up to, or slightly below, the surface of the soil.