TimeOut

aaronm
2923

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Some thoughts

I've been collecting knives for approx 10 years, longer than watches by far.  Here are some attempted answers, although these all pertain to the custom knife world.  I think if you're wearing a 20k watch, it's silly to carry a $100, mass produced knife when a custom is still probably cheaper than that Crocodile strap
    There are several big names in the knife world, Bill Moran and Jerry Fisk come to mind.  Moran is credited with restarting the idea of the custom Art knife in 20th Century America, and Fisk has brought the Bowie knife to a pinncale of workmanship(he's the only American knifemaker to be honored as a National Living Treasure.  At the other end of things there is someone like John Jensen*, a sculptor whose medium happens to be a knife.  There are many others for whom there is a 4-5 year waiting list, some for quality and excellence(Think R. W. Smith) and some for marketing(Ernie Emerson comes to mind is a Panarai sort of way)
    I like collecting knives in some ways more than watches because there is a connection between the artist and me, the collector.  I can afford to choose from hundreds of guys who can make a knife for me, either their design or mine, from scratch.  There really is no analogue in the watch world for the sole-authorship(starting from a pile of raw steel and wood/ivory/whatever)  $300 knife.  The other advantage of the knife world is that the makers are not part of a large multinational company, there isn't a massive marketing department between them and me.  I go to a show, I can buy a David Broadwell* from David, the sort of personal connection that people go gaga over with companies like F. P. Journe is the standard.

Sorry if this got a little rambley, I'll end with some links and a couple of  pictures
Aaron

1.  is a special Davie Broadwell/Bailey Bradshaw(Bradshaw* forged the damascus and shaped the blade, Broadwell ground the blade and made the handle)
2.  is a folder by a South African fellow named Lourens Prinsloo, the bolster is hand-forged mosaic damascus in the pattern of a spider(the design consists of many pieces of steel, of different types, forged together to form the pattern
* www.jensenknives.com /
* www.david.broadwell.com /
* www.bradshawcutlery.com /