Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
Massive apologies for a delayed review of a very fine tome......I picked this up sometime in early June....I feel for David's (misplaced) trust in Missy Beyer....it's hard to put faith in someone and have them crap in your hat from thousands of miles away....David, if you want to do something in the future, I'll take care of you, or get someone who we BOTH trust to handle it.
Anyway, I really do feel for David and those who have paid and have not gotten books yet....
Mine is signed and numbered 79/100....
The cover is beautiful and the stock is nice and heavy...the printing was done in Korea and David is now self-publishing......increases his control, decreases costs, but as we all know, massively complicates distribution.
The Author's Preface....Edmund Davidson's integral, engraved by Jere Davidson knives......David and Edmund have a solid bond, and Edmund is saluted in the preface, which is excellent, as are the quality of the knives.....also featured are Julie Warenski-Erickson, Van Barnett and Dellana, and the Preface finishes with a tribute to David's lovely and departed-too-soon wife Tehiya Darom.
Next, there is a section on female knifemakers....perhaps not completely comprehensive, but dang if it doesn't do a great job of showing the cross section of what the "girls" can do, and do it well, up there with THE BEST of them!....shout out to Dellana, Haley DesRosiers, Audra Draper, Sharla Hansen, Heather Harvey, Grace Horne Ph.D., Stephanie Lemelin(who got Best Art Knife Award at Blade Show this year, and deserved it!), Elizabeth Loerchner, and Julie Warenski-Erickson....as well as many other deserving female knifemakers...this section alone is worth the price of the book.
I have a section in the book on axes...I knew nothing of axes until David asked me to write this section, hopefully, those who read it find it worthwhile.
David put a section in on knifemaking in Russia, and I have to say, although I didn't think I had much interest in what they are doing in Russia, I was wrong, and there is some really unique and singular craft happening out there....also worth the price of the book, as is the very, very interesting section on extraordinary knifemaker Lloyd Hale, who spent decades toiling for the collector/raconteur Owsley Frazier, of Brown-Forman(Jack Daniels') legacy. Both very interesting reads.
There is a cool section on my old buddy Jeffrey Harkins, who has been killing it with automatic mechanisms since many people ever considered them a viable knife vehicle. It is hard to make them work well AND look cool, and Jeff does both, easily.
After the intros, we get into the collections, and there are some beautiful ones featured by Don Guild, Gerald Hopkin of Barbados, a sweet Loveless collection from Manfred Koch and some other esteemed collectors.
Towards the end of the book, David explains HOW he crafts the books, and it is almost as interesting as how knives are made.....I can say categorically that Dr. David Darom puts as much heart and soul into his books as makers do into their knives, and I am proud to call him a friend.
This is truly an epic book and a must-have.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Anyway, I really do feel for David and those who have paid and have not gotten books yet....
Mine is signed and numbered 79/100....
The cover is beautiful and the stock is nice and heavy...the printing was done in Korea and David is now self-publishing......increases his control, decreases costs, but as we all know, massively complicates distribution.
The Author's Preface....Edmund Davidson's integral, engraved by Jere Davidson knives......David and Edmund have a solid bond, and Edmund is saluted in the preface, which is excellent, as are the quality of the knives.....also featured are Julie Warenski-Erickson, Van Barnett and Dellana, and the Preface finishes with a tribute to David's lovely and departed-too-soon wife Tehiya Darom.
Next, there is a section on female knifemakers....perhaps not completely comprehensive, but dang if it doesn't do a great job of showing the cross section of what the "girls" can do, and do it well, up there with THE BEST of them!....shout out to Dellana, Haley DesRosiers, Audra Draper, Sharla Hansen, Heather Harvey, Grace Horne Ph.D., Stephanie Lemelin(who got Best Art Knife Award at Blade Show this year, and deserved it!), Elizabeth Loerchner, and Julie Warenski-Erickson....as well as many other deserving female knifemakers...this section alone is worth the price of the book.
I have a section in the book on axes...I knew nothing of axes until David asked me to write this section, hopefully, those who read it find it worthwhile.
David put a section in on knifemaking in Russia, and I have to say, although I didn't think I had much interest in what they are doing in Russia, I was wrong, and there is some really unique and singular craft happening out there....also worth the price of the book, as is the very, very interesting section on extraordinary knifemaker Lloyd Hale, who spent decades toiling for the collector/raconteur Owsley Frazier, of Brown-Forman(Jack Daniels') legacy. Both very interesting reads.
There is a cool section on my old buddy Jeffrey Harkins, who has been killing it with automatic mechanisms since many people ever considered them a viable knife vehicle. It is hard to make them work well AND look cool, and Jeff does both, easily.
After the intros, we get into the collections, and there are some beautiful ones featured by Don Guild, Gerald Hopkin of Barbados, a sweet Loveless collection from Manfred Koch and some other esteemed collectors.
Towards the end of the book, David explains HOW he crafts the books, and it is almost as interesting as how knives are made.....I can say categorically that Dr. David Darom puts as much heart and soul into his books as makers do into their knives, and I am proud to call him a friend.
This is truly an epic book and a must-have.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
