See what the highlights, low lights and everything in between were for the knife world in the past year.
Like most years, 2024 had more than its share of ups, downs and continuations of the same. From the promising developments in American-made factory knives to the harmful effects of Hurricanes Milton and Helene on knifemakers and at least one knife show, there were the goods, the bads, gains, losses, victories, debuts, swan songs and more. Among them:
- Newer and older knife companies alike, such as Montana Knife Co., Emerson Knives, Inc., Hawk Knife Design, Tactile Knife Co., White River Knife & Tool and others, lead a surge in quality American-made knives;
- Original portions of the hull, deck and other parts of The Battleship Texas are distributed to artisans around the country, including bladesmiths and knifemakers such as Harvey Dean, Jason Fry, J. Neilsen, Jack Stottlemire, Greg Coker and many others, to make items they specialize in and donate them to raise money to restore the pre-World War I dreadnought (https://battleshiptxartisans.com/catalog/);
- A boom in the number of international countries (35) with exhibitors at the BLADE Show, led by France (21 exhibitors), South Africa (18), Italy (14) and Brazil (13), reflect the continuing recovery from the devastating effect of the worldwide pandemic;
- Spartan Blades headlines the BLADE Magazine Knife-of-the-Year® awards at the BLADE Show with the company’s first Overall Knife of the Year, the Bill Harsey designed Clandestina. It was company’s first ever win in the prestigious category;
- Speaking of Harsey, he, along with Ted Dowell and Don Fogg, become the 72nd, 73rd and 74th members of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame®;
- In what promises to be the first of several, Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bill Ruple and Case debut their inaugural collaboration, the Bill Ruple X Case Axe Handle;
- CPM MagnaCut stainless continues its run as the No. 1 blade steel among factory knives;
- After almost 30 years with Spyderco, including stints in customer service and as marketing manager and coordinator of all things public relations, past BLADE Magazine Publisher’s Award winner Joyce Laituri calls it a career;
- ABS master smith Kevin Cashen is named new chairman of the American Bladesmith Society, succeeding ABS master smith Steve Dunn, who passed away unexpectedly May 21;
- After its original lawsuit was dismissed in June on “absurd standing grounds,” Knife Rights files a new federal lawsuit in September challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Federal Switchblade Act;
- Hurricanes play havoc not only with the Southeast USA but knife industry members in the affected areas, with Milton postponing the Louisiana Knife Show and Helene flooding and/or temporarily shutting down at least two North Carolina knifemaking operations, including Winkler Knives and Dogwood Custom Knives, and no doubt others elsewhere;
- Companies/knives celebrating anniversaries include: Boker (155th); Tru-Bal Knives, aka Tru-Balance Knife Co., (75th); Kershaw (50th); Fallkniven (40th); and the Emerson Knives, Inc. CQC-7 (25th);
- Finally, a number of friends of the knife community pass away, including: scrimshander Gary “Garbo” Williams; bladesmith/mokume gane guru Phillip “Phil” Baldwin; knifemaker/past National Knife Collectors Association president Bob Cargill; ABS master smiths Steve Dunn and Hanford Miller; long-time custom knife collector Walter Hoffman; veteran knifemaker Dave Ricke; Mrs. Lori Buck (wife of Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Chuck Buck); Mrs. Sallie Bos (wife of Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Paul Bos ); Mrs. Betty Dowell (wife of Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Ted Dowell); Cutlery Hall-of-Famer B. R. Hughes; and past BLADE art director Jim Sasse. God rest their souls—and please forgive me if I’ve omitted anyone.
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