Who is your favorite lesser-known maker

steven....a quick question...i handled a knife by gordon chard not that long ago and was not terribly impressed......i know it's hard to tell a maker by one piece but.....have you handled much work by him or dealt with him directly.....any info would be appreciated....ryan
 
ryan9977 said:
steven....a quick question...i handled a knife by gordon chard not that long ago and was not terribly impressed......i know it's hard to tell a maker by one piece but.....have you handled much work by him or dealt with him directly.....any info would be appreciated....ryan
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I own two knives by Gordon Chard, and they are both sublime, machine work, fit/finish, function and design of the highest caliber, the first one is a pearl handled, plunge-type button lock. The second one was built specifically for me, and I would put it level of ANY of the top makers of slab scaled, bolstered liner locks on the market. Gordon was excellent to deal with directly great communication and follow up.

Did the piece that you were looking at come directly from Gordon, what was the story behind it, what was less than impressive about the knife?

It can be hard to tell by a maker from one piece, but that really depends on the piece, doesn't it?;)

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I would mention Lin, but I agree with others that he is no longer a "lesser known" so I guess that means he famous now:D . As already mentioned Brion Tomberlin, I think his work is clean, good fit and finish. Sam Butler & Matt Roberts I suspect we will be hearing more about soon. I'm a fan of Ray Kirk's Medicine Knife...I like knives with some mojo. I don't understand why we don't hear more about John Horrigan...excellent work.
 
I LOVE Sal Manaro's work!! I have been after one of his Bullseye folders for a long time!!
 
Murray White said:
Steven -- last I heard, you would have a difficult time getting a new piece from them.
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Michael Bell-Usually has knives for sale at the OKCA show in Eugene, OR, will also consider commissions.
Paul Champagne-Does not currently take orders, but still very much in demand, occasionally has pieces for sale.
Gordon Chard-Takes commissions, somewhat obscure maker, but nice work.
Keith "Twig" Davis-No longer making knives
William "Gordon" DeFreest-Deceased, sadly. Work available on aftermarket, A.G. Russell has a fine example on the Cutting Edge.
Royal Hanson-Deaceased sadly, Nordic has a fine example for sale at this time.
Dan Maragni-Hard to get from, does not take orders, work can be found on aftermaket.
Charlie "C.H." Morris-Work is available from MANY purveyors, active website, http://www.morrisknives.com/
Wayne Valachovic-retired ABS MS, work occasionally turns up on aftermarket.

Murray, the question was one of favorite lesser known makers, sort of obscure and hard to get by the nature of it, no?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
steven...thanks for the quick response....the knife i saw was a tanto with a wrapped handle.....does chard mostly do folders????....i only saw one blade so it is hard...the blade impressed me but the handle was lacking in my opinion.....it was on the aftermarket.....it was not in dealing directly with him.....maybe he doesn't do alot of japanese style handles...who knows....i do know that it felt really nice and light in your hand and fast....it was a nice tanto....just not that nice of a handle.....ryan
 
But I'd throw in the name Scott Taylor, MS.... and sadly, Resting in Peace.

Met him several years ago at the OKCA show in Eugene, along with his wife Margaret.

They were always gracious to me and a pleasure to talk to. And he made some wonderful stuff...

Got a great chopper/bowie from him that he had made for a cutting competition, but it was about a 1/4" to long so was disqualified... Which became my gain... And I haven't seen much other of his work since... :(
 
ryan9977 said:
steven...thanks for the quick response....the knife i saw was a tanto with a wrapped handle.....does chard mostly do folders????....i only saw one blade so it is hard...the blade impressed me but the handle was lacking in my opinion.....it was on the aftermarket.....it was not in dealing directly with him.....maybe he doesn't do alot of japanese style handles...who knows....i do know that it felt really nice and light in your hand and fast....it was a nice tanto....just not that nice of a handle.....ryan
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Gordon does mostly folders, he is a machinist by trade.

Last I talked to him, about 2 years ago, he did not do many fixed blades, but things change quickly in this business.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Mark Williams and Sava Damlovac.
 
Scott Tanguay and Justin Gingrich. Both are great guys with real talent and Scott lives only hours away.
 
Yeah, Steven, I was just thinking of the deceased and retired and as you point out others are difficult but can be found on secondary. I think perhaps the thread creator was considering current makers producing work. CHM was the only one on the list that is pretty easy to find work from. I have not seen much anywhere from Don Maragni. He used to attend CKCC shows years ago. Bob Papp could be added too and he is now retired but great knives. He is a maker that never made it big as was expected for the product he produced.
 
Murray White said:
Bob Papp could be added too and he is now retired but great knives. He is a maker that never made it big as was expected for the product he produced.
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True that, Papp does AWESOME knives, and they are really quite affordable on the aftermarket, unless you buy from a couple purveyors who jack the price up.

Wonderful grinds and handle shapes.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Before he died a few years ago, Donald Lange(ABS Mastersmith) made some of the best knives, with fit and finish to rival most out there. Few people knew about him. He was a really nice old guy, with old fashioned ways. Never had a phone or a car, from what I've been told. I know the only way I ever got ahold of him, except at the Blade show, was through letters.

Don would show up at Blade with 6-8 knives on his table. Most were large hunters or even larger damascus bowies. Ladder patterns, most of them, using W2 & 203E. Choice stag and primo woods. Very pretty stuff. :thumbup: Not a knife on his table would be more than maybe $300. :eek: :thumbup:

No surprise, he sold out within minutes and spent the rest of the show sitting around talking and being friendly, when he could've easily packed up and left for home. Sadly, Don passed away a few years ago, from a multiple of illnesses. :(

Today, you can find Don's knives occasionally, but the dealers/purveyors are getting pretty good money for them(probably what Don should've been getting all along). Get one if you find one; I don't believe you'll regret it.
 
Probably Michel Blum, a French guy who did great pieces in the 80's and 90's. He's retired from knifemaking know. I particularly like what he did before his later years.
 
I really Like Phillip Patton's knives,not to mention Rob Pattons knives,though I'm not sure how known or little known Robs knives are(No Relation).But I definately Like Phillips knives and had him make me a Big Chute knife,his 2nd to date that's a Pretty Cool Knife.
Buddy:cool: :thumbup:
 
the possum said:
I've handled Danny Ehrenberger's work at a couple local shows, and it was pretty nice. I think I've only seen his name here once before. (Probably mentioned by Danbo.)
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Daniel made these knives when he was going to test for Mastersmith three years ago. He never completed the other three. I handled these knives before he sold them and the Bowie recently sold again on Ebay. I waited to the last thinking I could buy it for the opening bid...since Daniel is now sort of forgotten;) No such luck, a guy that I sold one of Daniel's bowies to pulled the trigger...it served me right:D I still see Daniel regularly and frequently remind him to keep paying his ABS dues, but I don't know if he has:confused: He had the talent...I won't comment on the ambition because he's my friend:D

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I have a stock removal knife from Ben Voss that has beautiful fit and finish as well as elegant detail touches. I don't know how well known he is but I've only seen his name once since then, and have not ever seen his knives in purveyors' inventory.

I'll also echo the mention of Brent Sandow, who has a website: http://www.brentsandowknives.com/range/index.htm . He's shown up at the NY shows the past few years and seem to be trying to expand into the tactical market, which is too bad because his tactical knives don't show the sort of grind-fit-finish that he's capable of in his more traditional hand rubbed blade and guard fitted knives that are on his website.
 
Ricardo Romano and Jacinto Mello are two outstanding makers that are well known in Brazil but receive few mentions out there.
 
A question arose about my intentions for starting this thread (that has taken off since I last checked it-thanks). I was thinking of the makers that I knew that not many others did and wanted in part to show them (and others that weren't as well known) a little attention. Sort of share them with others so that they might see a small benefit. The other reason for starting this thread was to share these makers' names with other enthusiasts so that they might benefit from knowing of a few makers they might not otherwise have heard of. This includes myself, who-despite attending a few shows and looking on the forums and at purveyors-found myself seeing the same people and wanted to look at new (to me) makers' work. Thanks again for making this a great thread. I have been researching names as I see them and there are some top notch recommendations in there. Keep it up
-Nick
 
Forgot to mention: Although I was not thinking to specifically include or exclude those makers who are no longer making (for whatever reason), I do appreciate the background information as well (whether they are retired, hard to come by, etc). It paints a more complete picture for me of the maker and helps me to know if I should hold out hope of attaining anything of theirs. This is especially true of makers I had already known about, but wasn't sure of their situation. Thanks to all for helping to keep a straight record.
-Nick
 
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