Ahh yes...I didn't think about Jerry. I was expecting to be compared to Lovelace, Busse, Tops or one of the other knifemakers/Manufacturerswith similar handles.
A little background as to the development of this particular knife. Originally I wanted to make a small utility knife platform that would support blade lengths from about 3.5 up to about 5.5. The intent was to make a utility knife that was comfortable, balanced, and very easy to deploy, use, and resheath.
At this point I will admit to having some outside influence on the physical design of this particular knife but it wasnt Jerry Hossom or Lovelace or Busse, etc. If you will notice, the blade is reminiscent of (but NOT a COPY of) a Sebenza. For my use, a Sebenza blade is one of the most useful designs out there. That was where the original inspiration for this knife cam from. The handle was developed much later and after several failures.
The second part of making a utility knife functional was to make a sheath that wouldnt be obtrusive, that would hold the knife securely, be concealable if necessary, and be easy to remove and reattach. The original sheath pretty much looked like the one in the picture and as you can see the handle of the knife rides rather high. That design worked well except that the original PORTIA prototype had a straight handle. The high position of the sheath coupled with the more or less straight handle of the knife put the users hand at a very awkward angle and made drawing the knife pretty uncomfortable
especially after unsheathing and resheathing the knife all day long on the job. I experimented with different sheath angles and mounting heights as well as modifying the handle several times. In the end, the best compromise was to leave the sheath alone and add the hook on the butt of the knife. This give the user the ability to grasp the hook of the knife handle with the ring finger and pop the knife loose from the sheath. Then, as the knife is drawn, the users hand naturally closes around the handle. The final design was developed by trial and error based on what worked for me and what didnt
it simply worked for my application.
As you guys all know, it pretty tough to come up with a truly unique shape for a tool that millions of people have produced for thousands of years. For example, I have developed at least a half dozen knives that I thought were truly one of a kind when they were first ground only to scrap them a few days later when I saw other makers knives that looked almost identical. It always raises a similar question...where does influence stop and plagiarism start?
I am a great admirer of Jerry Hossom and his work and I apologize to him and his fans if the shape of this knife appears to be overly similar to his
plagiarizing Jerrys work (or anyone elses for that matter) was never the intention. In all honesty the similarity to Jerrys knives never even occurred to me.
I will say, however, if my work is going to be compared to anyone, I cant think of a better guy to be compared to.
Take care all,
Cecil
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