Tom wants to post this message but is having a little trouble.

[Bill Martino]

Dear Uncle Bill,

First of all, let me thank you for the 15" Ang Khola you recently sent.
I'm sure you have heard over and over again statements to the effect of
"I didn't think it was going to be so beautiful, so rugged" etc, etc.
There's not much I can add to what others have already written. I am not
much into knives, let alone handmade ones, but I have had occaission to
do some serious "yardwork" which involved things like cutting down a
magnolia tree with a machete because the wood was too dense and wet for a
chainsaw (yes, it was a lousy chainsaw) and a palm tree with a machete
because the wood was too fibrous for an axe, which simply bounced off.

I haven't done much testing with the AK yet, but what I have seen leads
me to think it is a Godsend. Literally.

I have been reading quite a bit on the HI forum since you sent the knife.
I slected teh AK based on user reviews from the HI website, but didn't
get into the forum until later. Several threads have talked about the
spirit of the blade, and, have studied the works of Joseph Campbell,
Heinrich Zimmer, Carl Jung, et al., I readily understand what they are
talking about. Now here's my problem, and where the Godsend part comes in.

The 15" AK is probably the greatest cutting instrument I have ever used
bigger than an X-Acto #11. It is excellent for smaller (notice I don't
say lighter) jobs, but they kinds of things that need cutting down here
in South Florida need something with a bit more reach. I considered
sending the 15" back to you to trade up to a 20" Ak, but...it won't let me!

Somewhere on the other side of the world a man made this knife. He put
his sweat, his care, and, if what I have read is true, his blood into
this blade. He sent it around the world and it ended up in my hands. It
will not let me send it back! I needed something heavy duty to cut with,
so I was looking at the Cold Steel LTC and others when I stumbled across
the HI website. I read the articles and I thought "Yep, that's just the
thing I need," and I ordered one. But I no longer think that I chose this
knife. I think it chose me. I have only ever had this kind of connection
to an object two or three times in my life. Incredible.

But I also think I need something bigger. So, Uncle Bill, when's your
next shipment of 20" Ang Kholas coming in? I will test my 15" some more,
but I am almost certain I will get the 20" as well (but the VISA man
cometh, so we'll have to see). I know they usually come with wood
handles, but do any come with horn? I really like the horn handle on the
15". If available, do they cost much more? Time to start getting my
pennies together...

Thanks, Uncle Bill. You've made a believer out of me.


Thomas Fischlschweiger
tomfisch@bc.seflin.org

 

[John Johnson]

Tom,

I think what you are feeling is something that is innate only in handmade knives, and has not been present in any factory made blades that I've handled. It's the Spirit in the blade, that feeling of being "alive" when it's in your hand. Pretty much every culture that has existed on the face of this planet has attributed "powers" to a cutting instrument, whether it be a sword, axe, or pole arm. Phil Hartsfield says that a little part of him goes into every blade he makes, and the owner of the blade provides the other part that gives the blade a life of it's own. For millenia, we as a species had that "sixth sense" about us that we attributed to the unseen forces surrounding us, and as we evolve into a more "civil"(!!??!?) and technologically advanced race, we ignore or prove through scientific reasoning that the sixth sense is nothing more then an old wives tale from our past. Knives have a funny way of reuniting us with that past when we pick up a blade that is "alive". It's a reminder that our past is not so far away, and maybe we haven't "evolved" as far as we thought. I like to watch the expressions on peoples faces when they pick up a knife in my collection, and they feel that perceptual attachment to the past wash over them, and they comment that a given knife feels "alive" in their hand. Perhaps it is alive, and has something to say to them that can't be expressed in words. I've never gotten that feeling from a modern, factory made blade, but only from something that a little history, alot of sweat, blood and knowledge went into. It's what makes a knife special, and reminds us that the knife will probably outlive us, maybe by several hundred years, and that our time with it is too short, and to enjoy it while it's in our possession. This is one of the joys of knife collecting for me, a feeling that I'm only spending some time with a knife, and that with my care, it will go on to serve someone else, perhaps long after it leaves my hands. Through knives, we celebrate our past history, handing it off to the generations of the future to keep it safe.

Waxing metaphysically,
John Johnson

 

[Bill Martino]

Tom and John, those are beautiful posts which try to put sense into things we cannot really explain. Many thanks to both.

Uncle Bill