Give a Knife, Save a Life

Give a Knife:

Those of you who read our book, The Rhythm of One, know about my bad experience in Vietnam with less than ideal combat knives. For example, I bought a Pilot’s Survival knife that was only moderately sharp and it preferred to stay that way. Then I took an M-3 bayonet and tried to make it into a fighting knife. It looked great but would not cut melted butter.

In 1968 it was inconceivable to me that an industrialized nation like the US would send its men off to war without a decent knife. Well fast forward forty years and you will find that things have not changed. The only difference is the fighting men are wading in sand not rice paddies. I have seen all sorts of organizations dedicated to sending candy, scarves, and toiletries to men in the Far East and it’s probably just a personal thing, but I would rather do without my favorite cologne than be without a fighting knife.

Tom Sotis of AMOK! http://www.edgedweaponsolutions.com/ sent an email asking for donations of fighting knives to send to Iraq. I doubt if anyone reading this blog remembers a similar WW-II request asking people to donate knives to the Brits. You see the Brits, in their infinite wisdom, listened to their liberal politicians and confiscated, or made illegal, almost all of the knives in England. When war broke out the "Home Guard" were busy making knives out of large nails, screwdrivers, and files. The slogan back then was "Give a knife, save a life," and Americans responded generously with thousands of knives.

Having personally experienced the bureaucracy of the military I am well aware of their phobias regarding men carrying personal edged weapons. However, knowing their thinking and understanding it is not the same thing. Why would they advertise that we have the best-trained and equipped fighting men in the world and not trust them to carry a fighting knife? It just boggles my mind! How can you entrust a young man or woman with operating a predator drone or a Blackhawk gunship and then confiscate their knife as an illegal weapon?

Ah well, some things never change. So, getting back to Tom’s email, I decided to answer the call. We had a few knives that were destined for our Used Knife page on the website and I decided that for the little income they would generate I would prefer to see them being carried by our brave men and women who stand in harms way. You can check on our website http://www.whiteshadowsecurity.com/ and see a photo of the knives under the "tried and true" category. If you have a few knives, or even one knife, that you want to donate please contact Tom Sotis at his email address, sotis@knifefighting.com or myself at ghdave2@hotmail.com . Come on, Give a knife, save a life.

The Way of the Sword

The Way of the Sword:

There are innumerable references in the Asian martial arts to the way of the sword, but few to firearms. One of my favorite firearms quotes comes from Kensei Musashi Miyamoto. "From within castle walls the gun is unexcelled, but once swords cross, it is of no use at all."
Another of my favorite quotes comes from Chairman Mao, who said, "Power flows from the muzzle of a gun." So you might ask, if I like these quotes why did I stop practicing with guns and their associated power. I cannot explain why I fell out of infatuation with firearms, it just happened.

Almost twenty years ago I eschewed the way of the gun for the way of the sword. It is hard for me to believe that it has been that long. Sorting through old files in our garage I came across targets marked: "40-90 @100 yards for group," "45-70 @ 200 yards, duplex load," and "28-30 breech-seated." Reading these semi-cryptic notes brought back fond memories of shooting with the ASSRA (American Single Shot Rifle Assoc.). Most of the targets are dated from 1987 to 1990.
In a more genteel era during the 1880-90s men spent Sunday afternoons at local ranges shooting guns like these. Dressed in three piece suits with tweed vests they enjoyed comparing rifles and shooting off hand at 100 and 200 yards. Schuetzen matches were popular during this renaissance of shooting sports in this great country. The shooters were not considered some lunatic fringe element, who posed a threat to our national security. They were not criminals or drug dealers. They were wealthy gentlemen and professionals, and everyday blue-collar workers. Shooting was a sport that appealed to men and boys of all ages. This was a day and age where boys 12-13 years old went out back with single shot 22 rifles and plinked at tin cans or targets and maybe shot rats in the local dump. This Golden Age of firearms manufacturing lasted from the late 1880s until WW-I. The competition for market presence was as strong as the competition on the shooting range. Firms like Remington, Sharps, Ballard, Maynard, Stevens, and Winchester built specialized off-hand and bench-rest target rifles. The designs were elegant, uniquely distinctive, and highly innovative. Many were destined to become timeless classics. Today some of these rifles have been lovingly reproduced in very small quantities.

Following the Great War, strong anti-German sentiment, and an overwhelming distaste for anything related to shooting or killing, spelled the end of what was known as the Schuetzen era. Those Schuetzen rifles, designed for and used solely in target matches, are for many gun aficionados, incomparable examples of the rifle builder’s art. No matter how precisely they shoot, modern rifles with their shapeless synthetic stocks will never satisfy the basic aesthetic needs and desire for beauty that figured woods and case colored actions fulfill. Because of my daughter’s interest in shooting I have reconnected with shooting.

Thanks Gwynne for giving back to me the pleasure that owning and shooting a finely-made rifle offers. Thank you to those long departed makers of single shot rifles for creating the best rifles possible, regardless of the cost or time it took to build them. I hope you will enjoy the photos of these classic rifles descended from a distant and golden age.

Steven Tedford, Custom Knifemaker:

A couple years ago I bought two custom knives from a fairly new Canadian knifemaker. Steven Tedford was just getting his business, Fireborne Swords, established when I saw one of his Bowies on Ebay. No sooner had I won the bid on that knife than I found another of Steven’s knives up for bid. I liked the looks of that knife even better. I ended up owning both of them. The Bowie was a nice knife. The other knife, that he called the Willow Leaf Fighter, resembles a small kukri. It is more graceful than many kukri and It quickly became a permanent part of my collection. In fact, once our second book is finished, you will find both of these knives and the new ones illustrated in it.
The real reason for writing this blog is that recently Steven sent out an emailing with photos of three new knives he had for sale. They instantly caught my attention! I emailed him and he made me a generous offer if I bought them as a set. I thought about it for a day or two and decided to buy them. Based on the photos I was confident they would be of equal quality to the previous knives.

When they arrived I tore into the package and discovered that I was wrong about the quality. These knives were visibly superior in fit and finish to his earlier knives. The first thing I noted was his signature on the blades. It is prominent and in a very artistic script. In fact that was only the first indication of his new level of artistry. Steven’s past knives had nice lines, these have perfect lines! The design elements of blade curvature and handle shape, the ratio of blade length to width, and handle to blade all seemed to flow effortlessly, creating an integrated piece of art. Having built many custom rifles I know that the difference between nice lines and perfect lines was not guaranteed by just putting in a few man hours. It is a long hard road of trial and error. This sort of artistry demands many late nights with cups of coffee and pencil in hand. It often results in nothing more than wads of sketches tossed into a wastebasket or littering the floor. Despite all the hard work, if you do not have that spark of artist in you, you may never create knives like this.
So now I have a conundrum, a real dilemma. I told my wife that I bought these knives to sell. Now that I’ve seen and held them I’m not sure that I will be able to do that. You see a collector is just another type of merchant, one who can’t or won’t sell anything. He’s also a man who spends a lot of time in the doghouse. Do you have a knife you would like built? Check out Steven’s website and contact him with your ideas. Talk to him, send him a sketch. Go ahead, I’ve got some room left in the dog house. We’ll compare knives, drink whisky, and stay up late barking at the moon. Check his work out at: http://www.tedfordknivesandswords.com/