Most Famous Knife Maker in the US?
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BushyGuy
Member
I have a Case X folding knife and a Gerber tactical knife , my favorite knives were Kershaw but they got expensive.
Limeyfellow
Member
I had great success bidding for Kershaw on Ebay.. there quite a few knife sellers that do it at a decent price. My Blur cost me all of $40, and I gotten leeks as cheap as $30 depending on the model. Roughly saved me about $20 on the price going that way for a really good knife.
Black Toe Knives
Member
I just bought Kershaw EnerG2 a first day run 1-500 for 39.00 at a gun show MSRP was $99.00. It is now my EDC. My wife bought her Scallion for 25.00.
Let's try to not wander to far afield from the topic, please.
Carl Levitian
member
In the 1940's a German knifesmith by the name of Paul Mueller, made damascus daggers and letter openers for Nazi party offials. Bill Moran tried to communicate with Mueller by letter in the 1960's, but Mueller would not answer Bill's letters, exept for once, when he told Bill to stop bothering him.
Bill obtained a Mueller letter opener to examine, and said it was really damascus, but Mueller remained silent on how he made it. So one could argue that Paul Mueller made the first damascus in the 20th century. Bill examined that piece for years, and finally n 1973, by trial and error, came out with what he thought was the real thing.
Bill obtained a Mueller letter opener to examine, and said it was really damascus, but Mueller remained silent on how he made it. So one could argue that Paul Mueller made the first damascus in the 20th century. Bill examined that piece for years, and finally n 1973, by trial and error, came out with what he thought was the real thing.
Black Toe Knives
Member
If I am not mistaken the Japanese never stop making Damascus steel and used the method in their samurai swords. But I could be wrong.
But I thought we were recognizing American Bladesmiths. Americans Baldesmiths were also making cable Damascus Knives before Bill Moran. But In American Bill Moran is credited to Rebirth of Damascus. Since Paul Mueller took the secret to his grave. He did nothing for
the knifemakers community but make a knife.
But I thought we were recognizing American Bladesmiths. Americans Baldesmiths were also making cable Damascus Knives before Bill Moran. But In American Bill Moran is credited to Rebirth of Damascus. Since Paul Mueller took the secret to his grave. He did nothing for
the knifemakers community but make a knife.
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Until the 80's or so I'd have been hard pressed to name a knife maker besides Buck, Schrade, Gerber, Case and K-bar.
Guess I'd heard of Randall, and Cold Steel was still fairly new.
The question was most famous, not 'best.'
That Gil Hibben guy should get some sort of award for marketing unusable fantsy blades to people that collect such things.
Guess I'd heard of Randall, and Cold Steel was still fairly new.
The question was most famous, not 'best.'
That Gil Hibben guy should get some sort of award for marketing unusable fantsy blades to people that collect such things.
JTW Jr.
Member
But those aren't knifemaker's , those are knife making companies. Cold Steel is neither a knife maker or knifemaking company , they are merely a design/marketing company.
So, Cold Steel does not own a knife factory. So what. Case outsourced knife production to Camillus. Boeing outsources 90% of its aircraft, probably outsources 99% percent of the parts. But it is Boeing that paints its name on the aircraft and is whom you sue when one of their aircraft crashes.
Outsourcing, its how the world works. Get used to it.
JTW Jr. is correct, a "knife maker" is a someone who makes knives while a "knife manufacturer" is something that mass produces knives.
Bob Loveless is a knife maker. He is someone who crafts unique knives one at a time. We have several knife makers on this forum that craft one knife at a time. They might be "someone" some day too
.
Cold Steel is a knife manufacturer, a company, a thing. It is something that has hundreds or thousands of the same thing manufactured for retail sale. Each one the same and produced with all the mechanical predictability a robotic production line can produce.
Chris Reeves is both a knife maker and the name of his knife manufacturing company. William Henry is the name of the knife manufacturing company that knife maker Matt Conable is partial owner of and the primary designer for.
I've been in the shops of individuals that craft knives one at a time and I've been in the factories of the manufacturers that turn out scores of the exact same knife every day. The work that goes on in each is amazing and marvelous, but in entirely different ways because the knife maker strives to come close to making that one perfect knife while the knife manufacturer strives to perfectly produce the knives that are good enough.
Terms mean certain things and knife makers like our own Valkman, Fuad Acawi, Jim "Black Toe" Adams, Stephen Fowler, TA Davison, etc. are someones deserving the respect they are due as fine craftsmen to not be confused with the somethings that are companies that mass produce products sold by the hundreds and thousands. The difference matters because the unique work of those individuals matters.
Bob Loveless is a knife maker. He is someone who crafts unique knives one at a time. We have several knife makers on this forum that craft one knife at a time. They might be "someone" some day too
.Cold Steel is a knife manufacturer, a company, a thing. It is something that has hundreds or thousands of the same thing manufactured for retail sale. Each one the same and produced with all the mechanical predictability a robotic production line can produce.
Chris Reeves is both a knife maker and the name of his knife manufacturing company. William Henry is the name of the knife manufacturing company that knife maker Matt Conable is partial owner of and the primary designer for.
I've been in the shops of individuals that craft knives one at a time and I've been in the factories of the manufacturers that turn out scores of the exact same knife every day. The work that goes on in each is amazing and marvelous, but in entirely different ways because the knife maker strives to come close to making that one perfect knife while the knife manufacturer strives to perfectly produce the knives that are good enough.
Terms mean certain things and knife makers like our own Valkman, Fuad Acawi, Jim "Black Toe" Adams, Stephen Fowler, TA Davison, etc. are someones deserving the respect they are due as fine craftsmen to not be confused with the somethings that are companies that mass produce products sold by the hundreds and thousands. The difference matters because the unique work of those individuals matters.
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JTW Jr.
Member
I don't have to get used to it as I don't buy CS products , but when they claim THEY MAKE the best xxx or yyy... it's incorrect , they have made for them.
Yes it's all marketing and hype , but perhaps the hype could be partially correct.
Well said HSO , though from reading a thread on another forum just today , Loveless doesn't do much ( one dealer is claiming he has not done any work on his own knives in many years ) on his knives any more , with another equally fine maker Merritt doing most of the work.
Another maker that I feel raised the bar of fit & finish is Allen Elishewitz.
Black Toe Knives
Member
Gil Hibben is active Knifemaker and is also the president of Knifemakers Guild. He also teaches Knifemaking Classes and is master Knife Thrower. Here is couple of his "unusable" Knives.
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Hibben also poses with Klingon fantasy blades and such (Cobra if I recall too) in the Bud K catalogs. No doubt he can make a good knife, but he mass markets a lot of stuff too.
Dr.Rob,
Gil Hibben is a knifemaker who crafts outstanding practical knives, beautiful art knives and some wild fantasy knives. Manufacturers have licensed some of his designs to produce them in their factories, the most visible of which are his fantasy knives.
The huge "Rambo" knives were designed by the great knifemaker Jimmy Lile. He posed with Stalone in several pictures and most people only know this one knife of his due to the movie and due to the manufacturers that made the cheap copies of it.
In addition to being a skilled knifemaker, Gil is a Kenpo instructor. In addition to designing the Klingon knives for various Star Trek efforts he actually is a Trekkie.
Don't let the fact that the guy has a little fun promoting the knives he's designed cloud the fact that he's a skilled knife maker that has had a huge impact on the knife community any more than we should think that Jimmy Lile was some "Rambo" because there are a few pictures of him with "Sly".
Gil Hibben is a knifemaker who crafts outstanding practical knives, beautiful art knives and some wild fantasy knives. Manufacturers have licensed some of his designs to produce them in their factories, the most visible of which are his fantasy knives.
The huge "Rambo" knives were designed by the great knifemaker Jimmy Lile. He posed with Stalone in several pictures and most people only know this one knife of his due to the movie and due to the manufacturers that made the cheap copies of it.
In addition to being a skilled knifemaker, Gil is a Kenpo instructor. In addition to designing the Klingon knives for various Star Trek efforts he actually is a Trekkie.
Don't let the fact that the guy has a little fun promoting the knives he's designed cloud the fact that he's a skilled knife maker that has had a huge impact on the knife community any more than we should think that Jimmy Lile was some "Rambo" because there are a few pictures of him with "Sly".
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Black Toe Knives
Member
HSO, Didn't Jimmy Lile do the first two Rambo Knives. With Gil doing the last 2 Rambo knives? Jimmy Lile was a incredible knifemaker. Hmmmm we just ran across another famous maker, Jimmy Lile.
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Yes, Jim, you're correct. Jimmy made the first two knives for the Rambo movies and Gil made the last two. Jimmy was certainly famous amongst knife makers and collectors, but may have not been well known outside of our community. That's why he's on the Blade list.
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Erik M
Member
I have a few Gil Hibben pieces decorating the walls of my Game Room/Armory.
IMO Ken Onion should be at the top of the list. I have owned several reliable, dependable Kershaw knives over the years.
IMO Ken Onion should be at the top of the list. I have owned several reliable, dependable Kershaw knives over the years.
Do you mean knives that Gil made or United Cutlery knives from Gil's designs?
Erik M
Member
Im sure they are they are UC licensed, they came from Smokey Mountian Knife Works and I dont remember them costing a great deal. The Dragon's Lair Sword I have is an autographed version though. I have some Kit Rae stuff as well, along with most of the LOTR United Cutlery movie licensed weapons.
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