The "Honorable" D.E. Henry

Bladeandbarrel said:
I have found many artists to lack basic etiquette or standard social skills. Some of them have never held a real job for any period, paid any real taxes or lived a very structured life. They often live on a huge ego trip because people like us clamor for their work and approval. They often have an unstable home life, both financially and personally and have a love-hate relationship with their own life decisons. Art is hard. Knives are easy. Art is hard.
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Nice lyrical flow to this.. I get what you mean. Either "who" an artist is matters or it does not. And you feel the guiding principle is the "work". Or, where would personality belong? (it doesn't matter)
OK, i get your message. Excuses right? ;)

(just joshing you). talk later.. :)
David
 
Hello Ed! :),
Sorry i got your story blustered up.. it is a good one, (if i had remembered it correctly!)
David
 
2knife said:
Either "who" an artist is matters or it does not.
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Have you ever noticed that some painters use other colors than black and white? And that some personalities are abrasive but not forbiddingly so? And that some legendary abrasive personalities can be courteous to the few friends they will accept?

Do you need a knifemaker to shine your shoes and buy you lunch before you'll take a knife from him?

I agree it's good business to show a potential customer some of the formal courtesies that make civilized life possible. What if the man had no time or need to cultivate any more customers? We've certainly seen knifemakers stop taking orders, with backlogs of a year or more already.

This is an interesting thread but I see it as saying more about our attitudes than Mr. Henry's. Especially those of us who never met him.
 
It's not clear to me whether we are talking about rudeness or about an artist with deep integrity. I'd love to hear more.
 
Joss said:
It's not clear to me whether we are talking about rudeness or about an artist with deep integrity. I'd love to hear more.
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Joss,
You beat me to posting a similar question by half an hour....... :)

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
I am in the hobby of buying the best knives that I like. Whether or not a deceased maker was hard to get along with 30 years ago is completely irrelevant to my decision.


DaVinci, Michelangelo and Shakespeare were all probably homo-pedophiles according to historical sources. That doesn't really change alter their historical significance.
 
In my 30 plus years in the game I regret to make the following observation containing D. E. Henry and the knifemakers who are vying to be successors to his title.

The problem comes when knifemakers starting believing their own publicity and the praise of writers and forum posters who become enraptured with the cult of personality. A great knifemaker does not become one by being an online darling for six weeks but by paying dues at out of the way knife shows for years, by helping and teaching other knifemakers (and having something to teach), and having that creative genius that allows him to do something different and better that has not been done before rather than simply copying the popular trend of the moment.

Unfortunately the number of makers that fit in that category is disproportionate to the number of makers who THINK they fit that category. Adding to the problem is those unqualified knife enthusiasts who base opinion of who is a great maker upon their having a drink with the maker in the knife show hotel bar.

The original quote that started this thread was taken from my Auction Catalog 40, describing a knife that was at auction a few days ago. There was a lot of attention given to knives there by Loveless, Frank, Moran, Bose, and similar well known makers. But at the same time there were knives in it by Bernard Sparks, F. W. Hoy, Guild Founder John Owens, David Howie, Horace Wiggins, etc. that were pioneers on the ground floor that got little attention. Why? The latter guys were pioneers in the field, and paid their dues. But because they no longer are pressing the flesh at the shows or have a following in the forums, they are becoming lost to the history. There's something wrong with that picture.

We should not forget the history or the makers who brought us to where we are today.

When you made a knife as good as D. E. Henry you were given some latitude for attitude.

Someone posted earlier that such a maker couldn't exists with that rudeness in today's market. I venture that there are seveal making a run at following in the Henry attitude. With the Henry talent.

If you really think there is no one close to Henry's attitude in knifemaking today I'd suggest you're not being very observant and not making a lot of knife shows.

Head trips are head trips, and they are not confined to makers of the past.
No matter how good a knifemaker is--that is not an excuse for disrespectful rudeness for the sake of being rude.

But as I have been told before, I'm not a knifemaker, so how would I know?

J. Bruce Voyles
 
Kevin Jones said:
Interesting how some makers have become legends in spite of their rude treatment to those within the custom knife community. I don't notice this much in today's community.

Was it just a era or phase where this bad behavior by makers was acceptable or at least tolerated?
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Well said Mr. Voyles and thank you for shading much light on my question above.

I attend four, sometimes five shows a year and of course make the rounds there and stay in touch with various makers over the phone and via e-mail. I have been very fortunate in that I have never had a maker be less than respectful and courteous in my dealing and/or in communication with them. Thus my curiosity and question brought about by the stories such as the ones above that seem to circulate around the knife community.
 
TennKnifeman said:
We should not forget the history or the makers who brought us to where we are today.

When you made a knife as good as D. E. Henry you were given some latitude for attitude.

Someone posted earlier that such a maker couldn't exists with that rudeness in today's market. I venture that there are seveal making a run at following in the Henry attitude. With the Henry talent.

If you really think there is no one close to Henry's attitude in knifemaking today I'd suggest you're not being very observant and not making a lot of knife shows.

No matter how good a knifemaker is--that is not an excuse for disrespectful rudeness for the sake of being rude.

But as I have been told before, I'm not a knifemaker, so how would I know?
J. Bruce Voyles
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Pearls of wisdom, these, Bruce!

D.E. Henry is dead, so his personality/personage in this case to someone like Anthony, who has stated his collecting mission, becomes much less important...context for each collector becomes paramount, especially with much time and money invested, in equal parts, hopefully.

Ed Henry WAS rude for the sake of being rude, so I am told by those that would know, knew him directly and did not count him as a friend, while simultaneously respecting his skills. He absolutely enjoyed being an ass to people...to say he suffered fools not at all would be accurate, he was known to snap at close friends or good customers with equal measure....and he was absolutely in love with his own mystique.

The "not being a knifemaker thing"? Had a maker's wife ask me that question at Blade, like I wouldn't know what I was talking about....man, that is not even close to accurate....we all KNOW that this is a two way street. You are a long time player, Bruce, when you have some advice to offer ANYONE in this game, best thing to do is listen, and then that person can decide if the advice makes sense or applies.

You just kicked a good discussion up into the realm of greatness, and for that I thank you.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Ed Henry was a friend of mine in the 1960s and 1970s. At an early Disney Land show in the 1970s I was standing with Ed behind his table when he was approched by a young man who held out his hand and told Ed how much he loved his knives. Ed looked right over his head and after the young man's face fell and his hand as well he left and Ed turned to me and asked, "What should I have said?"

No one has mentioned the fact that Ed had suffered a really bad head injury. He had a silver plate covering the front of his skull. I think that this was the root of his "rudeness"

At an early Vegas show I watched a man in a $1,000 suit (today you would say $5,000 suit) pick up one of Ed's knives and say "That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, how much is it?" Ed snarled, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it, put it down". The dman turned, left the hall and I will bet that he never, ever bought a custom knife.

Ed asked me in a letter, "A. G. What do you tell people when they ask about fme?"

I answered him " Ed, I tell them the truth, I tell them that you are the most arrogant SOB I ever met" And for the next several years all of his letters were signed "Your arrogant friend Ed"

The end came when a writer for blade magizine asked me about the work of Bob Dozer. I was quoted in the magizine "in 10-15 years his work will be on a level with that of Ed Henry" I got my last note from Ed, very short and to the point, it said "NEVER IN 10,000,000,000,000 years D. E. Henry

Ed did not speak to me again until a year or so before his death.
 
Bruce, every time I read one of your posts I am left wishing that you were a much more of a regular here. Your knowledge is outstanding, and you would be someone that could infuse this forum with more of an appreciation of the history of knifemaking and the important makers of the past that are being forgotten today.
 
The familiar proverb that the measure of a man is how he behaves when he thinks nobody is looking is incomplete. Equally illuminating is how he responds to pressure, fortune, and fame. None of these tests license arrogance. The man who believes his genius supersedes his character is living a lie, which explains why he is a jerk.

In my lifetime I've gone through 3 stages in dealing with supercilious, superheroes. When I was a young custom gun collector I patronized my first insufferable maker whose work I could not live without. The sobering aftertaste exposed me as collector-prostitute bereft of principle.

Next, were the machismo years, when profane smack or even knuckling smart mouths were preferred recompense.

Last, regenerated by Christ, pity is all that remains.

How we react when confronted with a haughty, walk-on-water maker (or anyone) is a measure of a man also, and worthy of introspection.

ken
 
A. G. Russell said:
Ed Henry was a friend of mine in the 1960s and 1970s. At an early Disney Land show in the 1970s I was standing with Ed behind his table when he was approched by a young man who held out his hand and told Ed how much he loved his knives. Ed looked right over his head and after the young man's face fell and his hand as well he left and Ed turned to me and asked, "What should I have said?"
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A. G. Russell said:
At an early Vegas show I watched a man in a $1,000 suit (today you would say $5,000 suit) pick up one of Ed's knives and say "That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, how much is it?" Ed snarled, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it, put it down". The dman turned, left the hall and I will bet that he never, ever bought a custom knife.
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Sounds like he had a bad attitude , was rude and had an ego the size of Texas. I couldn't care how good someone's "product" was that they made , with an attitude like that , I say :thumbdn:
 
A. G. Russell said:
Ed Henry was a friend of mine in the 1960s and 1970s.

No one has mentioned the fact that Ed had suffered a really bad head injury. He had a silver plate covering the front of his skull. I think that this was the root of his "rudeness"

Ed did not speak to me again until a year or so before his death.
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A.G., you know as well as anyone that explaining a disability with as much self-respect as possible and/or TRYING;)to be humble is the path to follow, not reveling in your own assholishness.

Thanks mucho for the recollection/brief stories, really quite helpful in illustrating his character.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
AG - Your description of the head injury very possibly explains a lot. Just maybe he needed understanding and sympathy.
Thank you for the information.
 
A. G. Russell said:
I was standing with Ed behind his table when he was approched by a young man who held out his hand and told Ed how much he loved his knives. Ed looked right over his head and after the young man's face fell and his hand as well he left and Ed turned to me and asked, "What should I have said?"
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These aren't the words of a man who reveled in his rudeness. They are the words of a man with a psychological problem in communicating with people. It may have come from his injury. We also have words like autism to describe similar behavior.
 
boxers and wrestlers, after years in the ring and concussion after concussion, are very prone to depression and suicide. Head injuries are not funny, and rudeness is the least of some of the problems for a lot of people in that boat.

A very famous Canadian wrestler fairly recently murdered his family and then himself, and the main culprit in this was the numerous head injuries he'd received during his career in the ring. They thought it was 'roid rage', but after more investigation found that parts of the brain were destroyed by injury, not drugs.

The more I read about this Henry character, the more I feel for him and those close to him. Must have been a pretty lonely life, but maybe he liked it that way. In a couple hundred years, no one will know or care about his personality, but if his knives are still floating around, that might still matter.
 
What is the issue of the "Hall of Fame" about?

..meaning, did his name get voted on, and wasn't popular with the judges?
David
 
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