Blade February 2023

D’Alton Holder 1940-2022 D’Alton Holder, whose knife-making career spanned almost 60 years, served multiple positions on the Knifemakers’ Guild board of directors, and enjoyed almost 20 years as a member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame®, passed away Nov. 19 in Glendale, Arizona. He was 82. Known simply as “D,” Holder was a consummate maker of fixed-blade knives, especially hunters. He preferred working with natural handle materials such as turquoise, amber and rosewood. His “My Knife” hunter in a handle of stacked natural materials was his best-known model, and one of the most recognizable custom knives of the past half century. He was making My Knife hunters as early as 1974, if not before, and made them until the end of his career. He became a full-time maker in 1988…

A hallmark of a great knifemaker is versatility, and Canada’s Wolf-gang Loerchner shows his with the Pattern 1 (page 82). Renowned as one of the best makers of art knives anywhere, Wolfe nails the tactical genre with a flipper folder that looks like it’s moving even when sitting still. Balisongs continue to advance in popularity and Bladerunner Systems (BRS) augments that growth with the Premium Alpha Beast Kukri (page 32). As Edward Anthonis of BRS noted, it’s built not only to be an outstanding knife but also to excel at manipulation by any of today’s many flipping enthusiasts. Michal Komorovsky is from the Slovak Republic. His all-black Paladin (page 24) employs a fuller (aka blood groove) that, in addition to reducing weight, strengthens the harpoon-pattern blade due to the “I-beam effect” (think…

In case you missed the golden 50th anniversary logo on the cover of the last issue and this one as well, yes, 2023 is indeed the 50th anniversary of BLADE® Magazine. The invention of the man who would go on to bring so much invention to the knife industry in general, BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Blackie Collins, the publication debuted under the name of The American Blade with the May-June 1973 issue. While there were other knife publications at the time, the only one of those still standing is BLADE, and all of us here at the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication are immensely proud of that fact. It wasn’t long after Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer and former BLADE publisher and editor Bruce Voyles hired me to help edit BLADE’s now-de-funct sister…

The tomahawk, aka hawk, has been a staple of life in the Americas for centuries. The design today is remarkable in that it is not the product of any one particular group of pioneers or a specific native tribe, but rather a combined project of all New World groups. The Algonquin Indians are generally credited with the design features, but it was Europeans that introduced metal heads to the otherwise stone or bone creations. Unlike many edged weapons at the time, such as the saber and broad-sword, the hawk evolved alongside guns as opposed to being replaced by them. As a result, it is a practically sized axe that doesn’t interfere with users when they’re shooting and often has alternative functional features such as a hammer/poll, spike, and even a smoking…

SPEC CHART KNIFE PATTERN: Bowie BLADE LENGTH: 10.75” BLADE MATERIAL: Damascus of .25” 52100 ball bearings and 1084 powdered steel forge welded in a canister BLADE GRIND: Flat w/apple-seed (convex) edge HANDLE: European red stag from the Carpathian Mountains in Poland KNIFE TO KNOW: The blade, S-guard, spacer and buttcap are all forged from the same billet OVERALL LENGTH: 16” MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR KNIFE: $1,800 MAKER: Alex Yoak, Big Bend, WV ayoak@frontier.com 304-377-4057 (Caleb Royer image) SPEC CHART KNIFE NAME: Kyss KNIFE TYPE: Fixed blade BLADE LENGTH: 3.91” BLADE STEEL: Nitro-V stainless BLADE GRIND: Karambit style HANDLE MATERIAL: Carbon fiber HARDWARE: Titanium OVERALL LENGTH: 8.25” SHEATH: Kydex MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR KNIFE (INCLUDES SHEATH): $450 MAKER: Shane Magnussen, Dept. BL2, 914 W. Belmont Red Trl., San Tan Valley, AZ 85143 602-702-1084 shane@scorpion6knives.com, scorpion6knives.com (SharpByCoop image) SPEC CHART KNIFE PATTERN: Wakizashi KNIFE…

PALADIN MAKER: Michal Komorovsky BLADE LENGTH: 7.75” BLADE STEEL: Elmax stainless BLADE FINISH: Black DLC GUARD MATERIAL: Stainless steel w/black DLC HANDLE MATERIAL: Black canvas Micarta® w/carbon-fiber thong-hole liner OVERALL LENGTH: 12.75” SHEATH: Custom made by Michal Komorovsky of leather AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: The Paladin is sleek, stealthy and sexy; the balance makes the knife deceptively quick; the fuller reduces weight while increasing blade strength; exceptional handle ergonomics. MAKER’S PRICE: $875 (Michal Komorovsky images) For 100 years, knives used by members of the military were referred to as either combat or fighting knives. Interestingly, there were no criteria for either category. The names were more of a catchall for any fixed blade carried by any-one in the military, whether it was your grandpa’s hunting knife or a 10-inch bowie bought at a sporting goods store. Often the knives were made of whatever…