What happened to them?

[Abadir]

Jack Crain
Sean McWilliams
George Lainhart
Earnest Myer ( Black Cloud )
Robert Rippy

These were at a time all very known knifemakers.
For some reason or another they were forced to or chose to stop making knives.

A few days ago I found out that Jerry Hossom, who is one of my favourites, has chosen to step back a little bit for personal reasons.

This has got me to really wonder why no manufacturer hasn't just bought any of their designs and put it into pruduction. The number of very good, basic designs that these makers have in their portfolio should be staggering....
Why not use them?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

There are many reasons why knifemakers might leave the custom market, and collaborating on a factory version of their knives isn't easy, either. Remember that for many of them, knifemaking wasn't necessarily the primary income, so dropping out may not have meant as much to them as to us. And people do get old and retire.