Rigney Newton Horn Fogarizzu Sawby Taylor Cover...

rbslaughter1

rbslaughter1

Joined
Feb 15, 2006
Messages
362
When I started collecting art knives more seriously, around 10 years ago, I slowly taught myself to take photo's properly.. Murray White gave me a step by step guide to built my first light tent, and Jim Cooper was always giving tips freely to anyone that asked... Slowly but surely I started to have some good results, and began to post pictures here on Blade Forums.. I mention this only because recently I sent Coop 6 knives that I had aquired last year to have a go at instead of doing my own images... I'm hoping to complete a "collector page" sometime this year and my feeling was that these pieces deserved to be shown in the best light.. (Pun intended..) I hope you enjoy seeing these, and as always, feel free to to post any photo's that are relevant....

This first knife by Ron Newton M.S. was shown earlier this year by a forum member who won the drawing for it at the most recent show in Solvang.. It sparked a discussion at that time about R. W. Loveless's NY Special design in general... I love this one and want to say "thank you" again to the member who bent over backwards to allow me to add it to my collection...

orig.jpg


This extra large sub-hilt by Willy Rigney is my forth piece by him.. It is called a "Senator" model I believe... I was really surprised to see an almost identical piece offered on the net yesterday that was made by W.W. Cronk.. I know that Mr. Rigney was mentored by Cronk and I would love to know more about this piece's history.. Were any models like this ever offered at the A.K.I., etc? Coop marveled at how easy this one was to photograph...

orig.jpg


orig.jpg


Here are two folders that were just recently returned to me from engravers Mitch Moschetti, and Tim George.. The C. Gray Taylor inter-frame is a recurring model he makes from time to time, and the Sawby is his "Kittiwake" model...

orig.jpg


orig.jpg



Another knife I would appreciate any additional information on is my Jess Horn MF model.. It is marked 001 and I have been told that it is unique because Jess rarely used damascus.. I personally have never seen another Horn folder in damascus.. Also, most MF models have a lanyard hole I believe.. This has the larger blade and the engraving was done by Ron Skaggs..

orig.jpg


This is a knife Jim photographed earlier but was added to the collection last year as well... It is actually part of a set made by Antonio Foggarizzu.. The companion piece to this persian folder is a dagger with identical materials... It's just a beautifully finished knife...

orig.jpg


The last one is a slip joint made by Ray Cover that Bob Hergert scrimed for me.. The young lady is named Carson, and I think Bob captured her to a tee. Coop provided a side by side close up so you could really see the fine details Bob is able to achieve with his "micro" style...

orig.jpg


orig.jpg


Thanks everybody.. Have a great week-end and I hope you enjoyed Jim's photo's... Best Regards, Rich
 
Rich, a truly great start for your collector page. These are all wonderful pieces. Some forumite must surely regret passing that GORGEOUS Newton on you!

Best,

Bob
 
Rich,

In Jim Weyer's first Points of Interest book, the last section is dedicated to photos of W.W.Cronk's knives. There is a picture of his original version of the "Senator" there.

Schuyler
 
As others have said, that is a magnificent collection that you have assembled. Hard to pick favorites, but if I was pressed it would be hard to choose between the Rigney sub-hilt and the Foggarizzu folder.

Thank you for sharing this with us.
 
Rich has one of the most amazing collections of knives that I have ever seen. Wish he had them posted somewhere that all could be seen.
 
Great pics, concerning the Horn, I could inform you about a bit history : Miaminiceknife.com sold this piece , Mai 2003 , for 2'400 $ ..and this is in ten years the only Horn I've never see featuring a damascus blade!!!
Also fine is the Taylor engr. by Mitch... a week ago I've received an Auto mod. folder from Salvatore Puddu engraved by Moschetti !!! Awesome work , perhaps the nicest piece from my colection ... Mitch is incredible and is work is one of the best at all!!!!!!!!!!

ciao Rino
 
Rich and I have known each other for ten years. In 2003 he volunteered as my assistant as we both were new to the AKI and the show's photography. It was a success then.

I'll ALWAYS owe him a debt of gratitude, as that event was a turning point in my new career. :thumbup:

Make no mistake, Rich is an above-average photographer. Good enough to know his own limitations, I suspect. That's where I came in.

I'll offer my own insights:

Ron Newton
standard.jpg

This one caused quite a commotion in it's presentation a while ago. It's a tribute to the Loveless hideout, but a loosely-based one. The gold pin is one of those gotcha elements. :)
Inside scoop: That is three shots combined, not two. I had a mirror shoved right up against that right side of the inset, and then I used a separate photo for the background. Just sayin'. ;)

Willie Rigney
standard.jpg

Willie is approaching 'legendary' status. I believe he stopped making knives years ago, but is still alive. If HH Cronk developed the 'Senator' style, so be it. It's wonderful. It immediately reminded me of ANOTHER closely-based knife I'd photographed from Steven Rapp for a BF prominent collector. Check this out.

I don't think I've ever had such a hard time getting an inset to show well. I shot well over 75 images of that alone, adjusting the mirrors, strobes and positioning until I finally threw in the towel. All those rounded curves are difficult. Crazy, but worth the time.

C. Gray Taylor/Mitch Moschetti
standard.jpg

When I first admired this knife I was actually disappointed. For selfish reasons. Here's why: Mitch tastefully adds his trompe l'oeil "deceive the eye" engraving with shadows. But the lighting angle was ALL wrong to my style of lighting. It was coming in from the front to the rear. Ugghh.

This was tricky. I had to move the lighting WAY forward to try to make his work plausible, and roll the knife backwards. Otherwise the back lighting would have simply looked 'wrong'.

All-in-all it's an astounding piece. Only I would be frustrated with this work. LOL!

Scott Sawby/Tim George
standard.jpg

A Koi fish swimming in lilypads needs blue water as a background. That's what I did. :)

Antonio Fogarizzu
standard.jpg

The closer you look at this, the more design elements you find. This was sold shortly after the problems of Customs confiscating rare materials, so the inlays were billed as tortoise shell exotic material. ;)

Jess Horn/Ron Skaggs
standard.jpg

I checked, and I have over 90 images of Jess' work. Not ONE of them had a damascus blade.

Money in the bank. :D (That pearl has so much depth it looks 4" deep. Nutty.)

Ray Cover Sr./Bob Hergert
standard.jpg

I own the same lockback with no scrim. So VERY well made and tasteful.

Bob's especially lifelike rendition and the casual poses are sublime. Carson's the cutest thing I can imagine. :)

Thanks Rich, for such a standout collection and visual treat for this forum to enjoy.

Jim
 
Guys, this post has run it's course, and I wanted to say I appreciate each and every comment that was offered.. Thank you as well those of you that contacted me through PM..

When I do manage to finish my collector page project, I'll put a notice at the bottom of my future posts... I do need to give Jim Cooper a special "thank you, job well done" mention.. Every post mentioned the quality of the pictures, and taking close to 100 shots for a single knife is going the extra mile in my book...

Thanks Again and Best Regards, Rich
 
Great knives Rich and that Newton wants to jump off the screen at me. Cant wait to see your collector page or project.

Edit- That Fogarizzu is SICK! Has to be my favorite of his.
 
Rich !! I found another MF Horn Dam blade !!! get a look on Knifepurveyor.com , too nice: quickly bought . It will be intersting to know how many Dam Horn are living and ...made, can everybody help us ?
Ciao
Rino
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top