The KNIFE ART of a LEGEND

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And lastly:

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(Knives courtesy of KnifeLegends.com and HoffmanKnives.com)

Unmistakable style and look. Nice. :thumbup: :thumbup:

They all share a similarity with my favorite maker. And that's no surprise. They shared tables in NYC often in the eighties. :D

Coop
 
What a great display of Jim Schmidt's knives, Coop! Thanks!

At the time I really wanted to honor this great man with a knife of his
on a cover of one of my books, but there were no good images available
in the 2001-2002 time frame when I was creating my "Custom Folding Knife"
book. Towards the end of the project I managed to get two beautiful
folders of his photographed from the collection of Pierluigi Peroni (Italy),
and displayed them together on the back side of the jacket of my first
book, way back in 2003...

Here is the resulting laminated jacket, flaps and all.....

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

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FANTASTIC DAVID!!!! :thumbup: :D :cool:

Jim Schmidt is one of my all-time favorite makers.

Thank you for such a fine display of his talents.

The knife that STeven is referring to was in Knives Illustrated back when Bud Lang was the editor and is one my most favorite quillion daggers of all time. I have the issue somewhere, but I'd hate to ugly up this thread with a scan of a magazine page (that's IF I could find it).

Thanks again David, your work is very much appreciated!!! :thumbup:
 
Thank You David. If it was not for you, we would never see these knives. What gorgeous knives they are.
 
NickWheeler said:
The knife that STeven is referring to was in Knives Illustrated back when Bud Lang was the editor and is one my most favorite quillion daggers of all time. I have the issue somewhere, but I'd hate to ugly up this thread with a scan of a magazine page (that's IF I could find it).
Click to expand...


Nick, what I am mentioning is not a quillion dagger...it is a Viking dagger in damascus, with a frogskin sheath.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Schmidt was on the top when I first got into knifemaking. I met him at the Florida art knife show back in 95 or 96. Seemed a very nice man from the brief meeting.

His workmanship is always top notch. Some of his designs are simply wonderful. Others leave me scratching my head.....like the overly large pearl thumb studs.

My all time favorite of his is a folder, with the "lanyard" lock. The entire spine is raised, and carved like bamboo, The bale on the end is a little Japanese lantern. The ivory was the most wonderful blue, and the whole piece was really special overall...anyone recall that one??
 
ddd said:
That is very interesting, STeven. Thanks!!
Can you add any exciting facts about Jim Schmidt the man and knifemaker?

all the best,
David Darom (ddd)
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I first met Jim at the New England Bladesmith's Guild gathering at Ashokan in 1986. He was a very fat man, tall too. He was a teacher, high school, I think.

He LOVED to do things different....he thought that attention to detail was important, but the art aspect of building knives was equally important...otherwise, he got bored.

He very much enjoyed collecting African artifacts.

He was very close to Phil Lobred, and taught Barry Davis, and Delanna how to build knives. Christoph Deringer told me at Reno this year that he liked to visit with Jim....but I can't remember if Jim taught him how to make knives as well.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Thanks again STeven and everyone else too!!

I wish I had gotten to meet with Jim Schmidt. My problem was that I
live too far from where everything was happening... More than 8,000
miles too far....

I have been involved with the world of custom knives for 50 years now.
Of these, 42 years went by just reading about custom knives, steel and
embellishments, often day-dreaming about what it would feel like to own or
even only hold in my hand a beautiful custom made knife. The fact was
that all I had in my hands were various knife magazines and annuals...

All this changed in 2001 when I travelled all the way to the AKI in San Diego
to present my concept for a "new kind" of book on custom knives.
That was the day everything changed for me... But it was already too late
to get to meet some of the legends of modern custom knifemaking...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Great thread! Schmidt was an incredible maker.

I first noticed his work in the early 80's and have admired it ever since.

Great photos guys, thanks for sharing.
 
My New Favorite Thread..
Bail Lock design is my Favorite i liked that he made beefy folders too probably cause his hands were big
his materials were best of the best too
my Biggest regret in Collecting was passing on the greatest stag bail lock Ive seen for 3000 bux...(no knife cash when she popped up)
 
Ran,
Surprisingly, Jim Schmidt did make one true miniature for Marlene Marton (USA).
She collects miniature knives made by world-class custom knifemakers.

It was the smallest folder ever made by Jim Schmidt. For years Jim insisted that he
could not make such a small knife. However, one day he handed Marlene an exquisite
knife made to his exacting specifications, just in reduced size.
When asked how much the knife would cost, he said, “You see these hands?
They’re too big to make a knife that small. If you can’t make it,
you can’t charge for it”.
A wonderful gift, from a wonderful man!

"Sweet Pea", (late 1980’s early 1990’s)
Lock back, Damascus blade and bolsters,
Gold-lip pearl. Overall length 3 1/2" (89 mm).

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

As seen in the introduction of my book "The Great Collections"
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Sorry, guys, for the strange mistake on the above post. I attached the
wrong picture. NOW IT IS the Jim Schmidt miniature from Marlene Marton's
collection........

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Ten more Jim Schmidt folders. This time from the
collection of Tommy Hutton, USA

Here are the first five:

From the left:
"Rodtie Root Boot", 1992
Folding boot knife with Damascus blade and bolsters.
Stainless steel liner with filework. Mother-of-Pearl handle.
Overall length 9 1/8" (232 mm).

"Wind Whispers", 1993
Damascus blade and bolsters. Gold pins.
Stainless steel liner with filework. Mother-of-Pearl handle.
Overall length 9 1/2" (241 mm).

"Shimmer", 1986
Damascus blade and bolsters. Gold pins.
Filework on top of blade. Mother-of-Pearl handle.
Overall length 8 1/4" (210 mm).

"Nik-Nac", 1991
Damascus blade and bolsters. Filework on top of blade.
Stainless steel liners with filework. Black-lip pearl handle.
Overall length 7 1/4" (184 mm).

"Humming Bird", 2000
Wharncliffe Damascus blade and Damascus bolsters.
Black-lip pearl handle. Rose gold liners with filework
and rose gold pins. Overall length 4 5/8" (117 mm).

As shown in my book "The Great Collections".
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And five more from the same collection:

From the top:
"Sea Flyer", 1985
Antique tortoise shell inlay, Damascus frame*and blade.
Stainless steel liner with filework. Overall length 9 1/4" (235 cm).
"Fish Breath", 1988
Damascus blade and bolsters, chocolate mastodon ivory handle.
Stainless steel liner and filework. Overall length 9 1/2" (241 mm).
"Pocket Posie", 1990
Damascus bolsters, blade and back spring.*Stag handle.
File worked stainless steel liners.*Overall length 6" (152 mm).
"Caron", 1984
Damascus blade and bolsters. Stainless steel liners with file work.
Ivory handle. Overall length 9" (229 mm).
"No Sweat", 2001
Folding fighter with Damascus and blade and bolsters and gold pins.
Stainless steel liner with file work. Ivory handle.
Overall length 9 1/2" (241 mm).

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

As shown in my book "The Great Collections".
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I love those, especially the bottom ones in ivory. Boy, they must feel so good to handle...
 
Joss said:
I love those, especially the bottom ones in ivory. Boy, they must feel so good to handle...
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Yes Joss, Jim's knives of those "chubby" design, fit very comfortably in
one's hand. See also the Jim Schmidt folder from Phil Lobred's collection,
with the beautiful fossil walrus ivory handle (#4 on this Tread)...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
So cool.......I'm not really a folder kinda guy but I would likely kill to own one of these. Especially the dagger from early on in this thread is amazing.:thumbup:

David you have so many pictures of so many great makers I would love to see more from other makers like Hale, Warenski, Ence and so on.:thumbup:

Marcel
 
Marcel54 said:
So cool.......I'm not really a folder kinda guy but I would likely kill to own one of these. Especially the dagger from early on in this thread is amazing.:thumbup:

David you have so many pictures of so many great makers I would love to see more from other makers like Hale, Warenski, Ence and so on.:thumbup:

Marcel
Click to expand...

I don't know about killing, Marcel, but some of Jim Schmidt's folders
recently changed hands for around $30,000.....

About continuing to post pictures of some of the more amazing contemprory
custom knives, you caught me in that short time space between two books,
and that is what I have been doing and will continue to do so over the
next week or two.... Or till I get to busy and involved with my new project...

I hope Coop will also contribute his pictures to make each of these posts
true eye candy for everyone......

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)


All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
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