Blade

IN MEMORIAM: Cordova and Cohea The knife community lost two cherished members recently with the passing of ABS master smith Joe Cordova and knifemaker John Cohea. Joe expired April 25 at the age of 86 in Bosque Farms, New Mexico. John died April 30 in Jackson, Mississippi, after a long illness. He was 59. GENIAL GENTLEMAN A genial, soft-spoken gentleman who was a regular exhibitor at major and other knife shows nationwide, Joe was almost always accompanied by his equally genial wife, Kay. “Joe Cordova was the first knifemaker I met and had a huge impact on me over the years. As a maker he kind of did it all,” wrote knifemaker Lucas Burnley. “I think I took a lot of how I see knives and our industry from his range as a maker,…

Josh Wayner writes that the Wolf Valley Forge Camp Axe is “in a class of its own” and rates it as the best axe he’s ever used. Made by Ike Bullington, it features a 4-inch edge of handforged 4142 chrome moly stainless steel. Check out it and three other of the latest axes on page 12. Featuring a damascus blade forged thick and tough on a santoku base, the BBQ Chef ’s Knife (page 82) by Matt Williams includes a wa handle of stabilized, spalted pecan and round dowels of white oak. A woodworker who has taken up knifemaking, Matt brings a fresh approach to handles and blades. ABS master smith Jean-louis Regel not only won Best Art Knife at BLADE Show Texas but also Best in Show for his Dream Bowie…

Though not unusual, it’s always instructive to find a knifemaker who started making knives at a very young age—especially if he is both able and willing to show examples of his earliest work. One is Knifemakers’ Guild voting member Paul LeBatard. He displayed two of his initial knives at BLADE Show Texas (page 32) and couldn’t say enough about them, including the very first one he ever built at the tender age of 12. “It was just a big old nail,” he said. “I took a propane torch to it, heated it up and hammered on it and dipped it in oil. It did harden a little.” He ground the blade on his grandfather’s homemade grinder: a stone wheel powered by a washing machine motor. The handle is red cedar. After…

Few today use the axe as anything other than a rustic means of making a backyard fire for company, or in most cases a way to show their lady friends they have a rugged side and can handle a thing or two if they had to. Reality is an axe is so much more than a splitting implement—it’s a universal tool that can be a hammer or chisel, the source not just of firewood but also the spark to light it. It can also be a dangerous liability if you don’t know how to use it. The axe’s evolution has resulted in a number of sizes, from tiny hatchets to huge double-bladed Michigan felling varieties. The variety of models has certainly not decreased in recent years, but the focus has become…

SPEC CHART KNIFE TYPE: Fixed blade BLADE LENGTH: 12” BLADE MATERIAL: Mosaic damascus of 1084 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels HANDLE: Ironwood OVERALL LENGTH: 17.5” MAKER: Lee Parsons, Dept. BL7, 358 N. Keystone, Shell Knob, MD 65747 417-669-7219 haroldparsons@gmail.com(SharpByCoop image) SPEC CHART MODEL: Fixed fighter BLADE LENGTH: 10” BLADE MATERIAL: 80CrV2 carbon steel HANDLE: Black canvas Micarta® FITTINGS: 416 stainless steel KNIFE TO KNOW: The maker is an apprentice smith in the American Bladesmith Society OVERALL LENGTH: 15” MAKER: Marc Aldrich, Dept. BL7, 16 Cheryl St., Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 845- 920-1092 aldrich.ket@outlook.com, aldrichknifeandtool.com (SharpByCoop image) SPEC CHART KNIFE TYPE: Fixed blade BLADE LENGTH: 10” BLADE GRIND: Flat BLADE MATERIAL: Damascus HANDLE: Sambar stag OVERALL LENGTH: 16” MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR KNIFE: $1,800 MAKER: James Carlyle, Dept. BL7, 21460 Old Winery Rd., Truman, AR 72472 870-784-2774 jamescarlyle955@yahoo.com (SharpByCoop image) SPEC CHART KNIFE NAME: Hatfield Bowie BLADE LENGTH: 6.5” BLADE MATERIAL: 5160 carbon steel w/hamon HANDLE: Sambar…

Perhaps no other pattern in knife history has as rich a legacy as the bowie. It is a highly recognizable design featuring a large blade in a variety of shapes, some of which have a prominent swedge, and handles of varying designs, often with a guard. The pattern dates back to 1827 as a knife given by Rezin Bowie to his legendary brother, BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Jim Bowie, the famous American pioneer who participated in the Texas Revolution and who was killed in the Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Jim Bowie was a principal in the Sandbar Fight of Sept. 29, 1827, a melee that established the bowie’s reputation as a fearsome combat knife that lives on to this day. The bowie remains a widely soughtafter pattern…