What faults would cause a knife to fail JS inspection?

Rick Baum

Rick Baum

Joined
Mar 14, 2000
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Hopefully it will be my turn to submit knives for inspection next year at about this time. There are some guidelines posted on the ABS website, but they aren't specific as to what faults would cause a knife to "not pass" inspection. I obviously will make the cleanest knives that I know how, but just how picky are the JS judges. The guidelines say that JS knives should be in the "very good to excellent" range but like anything else the definition of very good to excellent will vary from person to person. If anyone has any examples of pitfalls to avoid it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rick
 
The most common problem is applicants trying to impress the judges; i.e. doing ornate work that is beyond their abilities. For a guranteed stamp all it has to be is straight, clean, and simple.
1. Blade shoulders should be even, centered, and radiused/cornered evenly.
2. Two inch itis is not acceptable.
3. Blade centerline and handle centerline on same line.
4. Guards should be centered on blade and handle in width dimension.
5. no solder clumps
6. No gaps on guard or handle
7. finish should be even
There is more but that covers the huge basics. Nothing is more important than getting a fair and unbiased critique of your work by a M.S. This is not a paint by numbers course. Huge amounts of varables in the knife world. Talk to people who have passed. The guys who are the most critical of their own work have the least problems. Don't bring in knives that have not been looked at by a really good knifemaker and expect to not be gigged on something. Clean, Straight, and simple. mike
 
Thanks Mike! One more question if I may...

If someone was going to do a reproduction of a famous maker that is known for fit and finish faults as one of their 5 knives, do you think that the prospective smith would fail the inspection for recreating the obvious faults of the original knife? Would a person be better off to save the patina and shrunken worn handle (antique)look for another time?

Rick
 
Rick,
I highly recommend you loose the idea with the faults on your test knives. And also...if you do a reproduction leave the faults out. There are certain collectors who view this as counterfeiting. You don't need to get a bad reputation started with those who collect antique bowies and repro's.
 
Thanks for the tip Ron! I'm glad I asked. Would the collectors view it as counterfeiting if I have a great big "BAUM" engraved in the blade for my maker's mark? I could see their point if it was unmarked or marked the same as the original.

Rick
 
Rick,Trust me you want your knives as crip and clean as you can.Never have any faults in the knife even if that is the way the original looks,best to make your own rendition of the original than an absolute reproduction.I love to reproduce the originl Bowies myself,but do change a few things so it can't be classified as a forgery.
Please for your own sanity don't age the judging blades,it is stressful enough waiting outside that locked door and wondering without knowing you gave them anymore than you had to ,to flunk you.I did push it a little by not keeping mine real basically simple and was scared to death and lost about 3 days of sleep worrying about it .Save your nerves and just do them the best you can with all the lines clean ..
Bruce
 
Take Mike Williams advice and have the best master smith you can find critique your knives. And don't wait until the last minute.
JP
 
Thanks for all of the advice guys. Duely noted. It's great to be able to ask so many of you with experience all in one place.

Thanks again!

I just thought of another question thanks to Bruce's post... Would the knives be judged differently if they are all simplistic in design than if they were more complex (all else being equal of course)? Do most applicants do one complex knife to compete for the best knife submitted by a JS applicant (can't remember the name of the award) and the other 4 are more simplistic? Who won it this year?

Rick
 
Rick, the JS judging is pretty simple. If you don't make it complicated it will never be that way. The judges look pretty much for those things that I outlined. Complicated knives get you no more credit than a simple knife. It will get you gigged for a flaw if those complicated parts are not just as cleanly done as the simple work. For the Peck Award the prize usually goes to the cleanest finished, best overall design, appropriatly balanced knife. Look at some of the current Masters who are very highly thought of such as Walker, Dunn, Flournoy, Crowell, Anders, Connor, Cook, etc. These guys specialize in simple, exceedingly clean work. The buyers beat a path to their door. Any journeyman applicant would be wise to emulate them. Simple, Straight, and Clean is not easy, there is nowhere to hide the mistakes. It always looks good. It always sells. mike
 
Thanks for the reply Mike. Your explaination is exactly how I thought things should/would be, but it's always good to ask questions. It's all part of the preparation.

Thanks to all,
Rick
 
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