Ron Best's integral knives

[SharpByCoop]

I had the privilege last year of shooting this knife for Ron Best (and Don Henderson) as he won the 'WW Cronk Award' at the 2007 Knifemakers' Guild show.

Skip forward to 2008, and Ron called me to see if I could fit in a couple more for him. Sure!

Below is an incredible Persian fighter. The inlays are madrone burl. Jere Davidson embelished it even further.

The owner is a respected member of this forum, and I hope he will add in his comments soon. I am pleased for him.

Below is another triumph of design and skill:

Blacklip pearl with a beautiful fuller. Every knife is one piece of steel from tip to end. WOW~!

Ron is fairly young and is a family man with at least three children, and a full-time job in the trades. He sure works hard when he comes home in the evening!

Lastly, all of these photos are RICH in layout and backgrounds. I chose to be extravagant, because that's the way these knives are--over the top in elegance. I did two versions of the dagger, one with and one without the glass discs, and Ron liked this one best.

I hope you will enjoy them, too.

Feel free to critique the images, please. I want to know.

Thanks!

Coop

 

[andrevh]

Fantastic Knives .... Great photo's even though I normally prefer plain backgrounds so that the knife is the only point of focus

Andre
www.andrevanheerden.com

 

[ddd]

Coop, these three Full Integrals are truly amazing. Ron best is no doubt
the modern W. W. Cronk!

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

 

[HJK]

Very nice flowing lines. Reminds me of Wolfgang Loerchner, and that's a huge compliment.

 

[Charles Vestal]

Great looking knives and the images are very nice.

You and Ron did a bang-up job.

Thanks for the peek.

Charles

 

[Patrick M.]

Coop,

I really love the way you shoot the dagger ! I wish we had a man like you here in old Europe... I know, I know, I already told you about that !

Anyway I own a engraved d-guard integral from Ron (shown in another thread, sharpbycoop image) and I agree : just incredible. I don't understand why he doesn't get more consideration. I think he deserves much better !

Patrick

 

[Joss]

I love the third pic. It reminds me of the work of Wolfgang Lorchner - the materials and the method of construction at least.

Product photo is interesting, various people have different views on what the goals should be.

As a side note, do you take the photos straight down? There doesn't seem to be any angle here.

 

[Joss]

I don't understand why he doesn't get more consideration.

For starters, I couldn't find a web site...

 

[Patrick M.]

You're right. He doesn't have any. Most of his knives get sold through Bladegallery.

 

[peterinct]

WOW. Thanks for the eye candy Coop.

I especially like the persian fighter engraved by Jere Davidson.

Of your images, I like what you did on the black lip pearl backround best.

Peter

 

[RogerP]

WOW! Stunning work. The first one is a bit too fantasy-ish for my tastes, but the Persian fighter is stunning and the dagger just sublime. The third pic is my favorite (I love props, when tastefully employed), but I have no criticism to offer on any of them. Great work Coop - thanks for the peek at these impressive pieces.

Roger