- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Geetings all,
Among the many reasons that I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Blade show each year is the opportunity to look over the work of of the JS test applicants.
Now I'm not discounting the MS candidates - but it is rare that a bladesmith reaches that level without having previously come to my attention. But among the larger field of JS intenders, there are invariably a few whose work I have never seen before. With the JS group, I am invariably meeting many for the first time.
This was even more the case among this year's group - and an impressive group it was. I could happily have made purchases from a number of them if only my pockets were deeper.
If the test criterion for JS accreditation could be summed up in one word it would be "clean". You know that among successful candidates you will see consistently clean work. But every now and again you stumble across some work that is hyper-clean. Such was the case when I came across the test set of one Wess Barnhill. His knives reminded me of some of the JS knives of one Russ Andrews that I own, which are as clean as clean can be.
His knives impressed the judges as well, as a lovely engraved hunter (sole authorship, naturally) netted him the coveted George Peck Award.
But the two pieces that most appealed to me were a deceptively simple bowie and hunter. Deceptive in that it is just flat out not that easy to get the fundamentals not just acceptably right, but exceptionally right. And the closer you look, the better they get.
Wess provided the details on each knife below:
"The knife blade steel on the Bowie is 5160. The sculpted guard and
fluted butt cap are 1018 mild steel. This gave me the option of
bluing/browning, which I decided against at the last minute. The rounded
spacers and ferrule are stainless steel. The wood is desert ironwood.
The finish on the wood was applied using the same techniques that are
used on fine double guns.
The hunter is also 5160, in the green river knife design. I have really
come to admire this knife design for general skinning and woodcraft. The
guard, which is reminiscent of W. Scagel is also 1018 mild steel. The
ferrule is stainless steel. The wood is stabilized box elder burl with
3/16 inch domed stainless steel pin."
I inquired as to whether Wess did his own leather work, and I'm glad that I did. He took the pair home and made sheaths for them before sending them off to me. I knew what to expect of the knives, but I was pretty blown away by the leather work. It's a real plus to be able to get a quality complete package like this direct from the maker.
At this point I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking, but not before I thank both Coop and Wess for their work, and thank you all for your time and attention.
Among the many reasons that I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Blade show each year is the opportunity to look over the work of of the JS test applicants.
Now I'm not discounting the MS candidates - but it is rare that a bladesmith reaches that level without having previously come to my attention. But among the larger field of JS intenders, there are invariably a few whose work I have never seen before. With the JS group, I am invariably meeting many for the first time.
This was even more the case among this year's group - and an impressive group it was. I could happily have made purchases from a number of them if only my pockets were deeper.
If the test criterion for JS accreditation could be summed up in one word it would be "clean". You know that among successful candidates you will see consistently clean work. But every now and again you stumble across some work that is hyper-clean. Such was the case when I came across the test set of one Wess Barnhill. His knives reminded me of some of the JS knives of one Russ Andrews that I own, which are as clean as clean can be.
His knives impressed the judges as well, as a lovely engraved hunter (sole authorship, naturally) netted him the coveted George Peck Award.
But the two pieces that most appealed to me were a deceptively simple bowie and hunter. Deceptive in that it is just flat out not that easy to get the fundamentals not just acceptably right, but exceptionally right. And the closer you look, the better they get.
Wess provided the details on each knife below:
"The knife blade steel on the Bowie is 5160. The sculpted guard and
fluted butt cap are 1018 mild steel. This gave me the option of
bluing/browning, which I decided against at the last minute. The rounded
spacers and ferrule are stainless steel. The wood is desert ironwood.
The finish on the wood was applied using the same techniques that are
used on fine double guns.
The hunter is also 5160, in the green river knife design. I have really
come to admire this knife design for general skinning and woodcraft. The
guard, which is reminiscent of W. Scagel is also 1018 mild steel. The
ferrule is stainless steel. The wood is stabilized box elder burl with
3/16 inch domed stainless steel pin."
I inquired as to whether Wess did his own leather work, and I'm glad that I did. He took the pair home and made sheaths for them before sending them off to me. I knew what to expect of the knives, but I was pretty blown away by the leather work. It's a real plus to be able to get a quality complete package like this direct from the maker.
At this point I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking, but not before I thank both Coop and Wess for their work, and thank you all for your time and attention.
