Your favorite knife designer!

I'll throw in Pat Crawford, his knives are generally over my budget but I absolutely love his covert stuff.
 
I can't believe Chuck Gedraitis and Todd Davison haven't been mentioned.

I really like the knives John Lloyd comes out with, too.
 
Ethan Becker and Jerry Fisk, designers of my favorite and most used knife of all, the BK-5:


HPIM1009.jpg
 
Just my $0.02, but it seems like a large number of you have trouble distinguishing between "maker" and "designer".
 
I bet you guys will never be able to guess...

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Les George and I am always looking for more of his stuff! Hint hint wink wink.
 
Les George^^^ I wan't an esr in a bad way!
Tom Krein - Awesome little FB's and i can't wait to try his folder
Chris Reeve - Love his knives
Phil Wilson - Love my bow river
Sal Glesser
 
Phil Wilson
Sal Glesser
Andrew Demko
RJ Martin
STR
Alan Davis
Jerry Busse
 
dflores said:
Les George^^^ I wan't an esr in a bad way!
Tom Krein - Awesome little FB's and i can't wait to try his folder
Chris Reeve - Love his knives
Phil Wilson - Love my bow river
Sal Glesser
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I picked it up today in a lottery along with the flat dark earth VECP. Today was a GREAT day for my collection and a bad day for my wallet. I was trying to get a carbon fiber with mokuti bolster and a Chad Nicols Damascus blade.... I was drooling for hours.
 
Windex_ said:
I picked it up today in a lottery along with the flat dark earth VECP. Today was a GREAT day for my collection and a bad day for my wallet. I was trying to get a carbon fiber with mokuti bolster and a Chad Nicols Damascus blade.... I was drooling for hours.
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I got my fde dlc vecp a few weeks ago in his sub forum. I have it as my back up to my regular v2. I saw the esr you are talking about in his WIP thread, it is awesome to say the least. If the show runs on tomorrow you should definitely start a thread with pics from the booths!! That would be awesome.
 
In the case of most custom makers....aren't they the same person?
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Absolutely not!

Most makers are not designers; they use other peoples designs to make their own knives. True designers are rare.

My favorite designer is Bob Loveless. Bob's designs show up everywhere, usually without any acknowledgement. He had a major impact on the knife making community (individuals as well as companies) for 40 years. He made knives longer than that. He came up with more than just patterns, but techniques for manufacture that are today considered "normal" or "standard". The large two piece throughbolts (or rivets) for handles, tapered tangs, ways to join the bolsters to the blade, spacers between the scales, etc. These are things he helped bring into knife making. He also was a major force for using Japanese techniques and helped bring those to the USA. There are custom makers who have made their entire reputation by copying Loveless, dozens of them.

Bob Dozier probaly owes as much to Loveless as anyone; there's not much original design in his lineup. I like Bobs knives, he's built me two true "customs" to my specs, but he'd be the first to admit they were Loveless patterns. Dozier is a good knife maker, but at heart he's a grinding machine salesman, maybe because that's something he's had original impact on.

Another good example is Tony Bose. A great knifemaker, but his special gift to the knife world is his ability to copy old patterns and bring them back to the public eye. His work with Case just highlights this, and reintroduces old patterns, above average attention to detail, and quality control to mass manufacturing and marketing. Thus the average knife owner sees the Swayback Jack, the Norfolk, etc that used to be very rare patterns.

Think of it this way: new designs are industry altering, new models are a sales gimmick.
 
I really like Jesper Voxnaes designs, though I don't own one
My Kershaw JYDII ( Galyean design) is also a favorite, great ergonomics !
 
An outstanding knife designer not previously mentioned: Tashi Bharucha.
 
If it is heirloom quality you are looking for, call Joe. You might want to set back in your chair a bit.
Greg

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eisman said:
Absolutely not!

Most makers are not designers; they use other peoples designs to make their own knives. True designers are rare.

My favorite designer is Bob Loveless. Bob's designs show up everywhere, usually without any acknowledgement. He had a major impact on the knife making community (individuals as well as companies) for 40 years. He made knives longer than that. He came up with more than just patterns, but techniques for manufacture that are today considered "normal" or "standard". The large two piece throughbolts (or rivets) for handles, tapered tangs, ways to join the bolsters to the blade, spacers between the scales, etc. These are things he helped bring into knife making. He also was a major force for using Japanese techniques and helped bring those to the USA. There are custom makers who have made their entire reputation by copying Loveless, dozens of them.

Bob Dozier probaly owes as much to Loveless as anyone; there's not much original design in his lineup. I like Bobs knives, he's built me two true "customs" to my specs, but he'd be the first to admit they were Loveless patterns. Dozier is a good knife maker, but at heart he's a grinding machine salesman, maybe because that's something he's had original impact on.

Another good example is Tony Bose. A great knifemaker, but his special gift to the knife world is his ability to copy old patterns and bring them back to the public eye. His work with Case just highlights this, and reintroduces old patterns, above average attention to detail, and quality control to mass manufacturing and marketing. Thus the average knife owner sees the Swayback Jack, the Norfolk, etc that used to be very rare patterns.

Think of it this way: new designs are industry altering, new models are a sales gimmick.
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For some of the great ones I suspect this is true. But for many others I don't think it is. Is David Broadwell a designer? I suspect his knives/pens/blades are all his design.

How about Mosier? Or Snody? Or R.J. Martin?

Now I don't have a dog in the fight here. I don't own anything by any of the makers I just mentioned. But I think they pretty much all do original designs made by them. Offcourse there's bound to be influences because everyone is influenced by someone at some point. But the designs as a whole seem to be pretty unique and instantly recognizable.

Like I said I have no dog in this fight. It's just an open discussion for me. But I see where you're going. I think many great knifemakers are great designers as well. And other are just great knifemakers (not designers) and there's nothing really wrong with that.

Like I sai earlier though. My personal favourite is A.G. Russell. (Together with Phil Gibbs). They make some very cool designs that I'd wish I had the money to have fancy versions made of.
 
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