Guard Your Valuable Knife Collection With a Liberty Safe

Story and Photos by Abe Elias

Liberty’s top-of-the-line safe model looks more like fine furniture than a safe.

Want to put an end to your anxiety, especially when you’re on vacation, wondering if some lowlife has broken into your home and stolen your prize knives? Buy a safe.

After all, knives should be protected as things of value — and they are valuable — and not just in dollars. They also have an emotional worth and are a personal expression of what you find desirable. The monetary value extends beyond the purchase price.  There is also the time and money it cost to go find them.

Therefore, if you have taken the time to collect them, it is essential to protect them. Here’s how to do it.

The Little Box That Expands Your Knife Knowledge

QR Codes Provide a Direct Link To Websites, Special Offers

By J. Bruce Voyles

Technology never ceases to amaze. One of the latest is QR code boxes, which are making things even easier to link to specials, bargains and knife knowledge.

If you have noticed those strange-looking black-and-white boxes on advertising and in-store signage, be aware that these boxes can be exciting links that can help you expand your knife-owning (and knife-buying) experience.

These unusual boxes have several names: Some call them “QR” codes, others “QT,” which is short for “quick ticks.”

Here’s how they work.

The Last-Day Dash

By J. Bruce Voyles

 

It was just an hour before the end of a Texas Shot Show. I was late for my plane, so I took the header off my display panel.

A gentleman in a suit was walking the aisle with a notepad in his hand. The guy from the booth beside me had already packed up and left.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the gentleman advised.

“I wish I didn’t have to, but I have a plane to catch.”

Little did I know that the gentleman was Jerry Van Dijik, the guy in charge at the SHOT Show.

Four New Knives on the Market

Ken Onion’s Fixed-Blade Hunter for CRKT 

Hawaiian knifemaker Ken Onion designed his hunting knife for Columbia River Knife & Tool only after concluding an extensive field-testing program spanning more than five years. He made dozens of custom skinners and gave them to Alaskan guides, professional hunters and taxidermists in exchange for their feedback. He kept modifying the design and sending out more knives, which have now been used to skin more than 60 Alaskan bears and have been proven on deer, elk, moose, antelope, hogs, sheep and cattle.

The result is a knife that works well for skinning, gutting and deboning, as well as the fine-detail cuts preferred by taxidermists and even kitchen and camp chores. It is called the Onion Skinner^™.

Smooth as Silk

The Ener-G2 by Kershaw Features a Sharp Edge for Fine Detail 

Kershaw’s Ener-G2 is an effective and stylish everyday carry.

By Abe Elias

You want smooth?

Try the Ener-G2 by Kershaw on for size.

This knife, which provides a sharp-edge for fine detail work and is also hardy enough for the tough cuts, doesn‘t use an assisted-opening mechanism or a thumb stud to help you access the blade. All it takes is a simple press of your finger and a slight (and I do mean slight) flick of your wrist, and you have an edge ready to go to work. A thumb kick at the back of the spine is all you need.

To achieve this smooth action, Kershaw uses the “pseunetic®” patented design by Lee Williams.

Knife Shows Versus the Internet

By J. Bruce Voyles

The Knives Illustrated camp at the 2010 Blade Show, manned by Advertising director David Beckler.

A knife show was once the primary place to buy knives. Not so anymore.

When knife collecting began in the early 70’s, knifemakers were hundreds of miles apart, and few were adept at marketing themselves via mail.  It was such a problem that at one time producing a catalog was a requirement for Knifemakers Guild membership.

If a collector wanted to see a huge variety of knives, he had to spend hours devoted to mail and correspondence or browse the wares of the meager participants in the local gun show. It was a tedious process.  That changed when the knife show came along.

Knives with Cachet!

Explore the World of Handmade Folders 

Keith Ouye, of Honolulu, Hawaii, makes his flipper tactical folders from s30v with titanium frame and handles. Engraving is by Bruce Shaw.

By J. Bruce Voyles
Photos by Jim Cooper

Handmade folders have their own cachet.

Yes, they fold, and by modern standards, the majority of them will lock.

Any multiblade folder maker can make a one-blade lockback; and any one-blade lockback maker can make a fixed blade.

On the other side of the coin, many fixed-blade makers do not tackle folders. Folders are more complicated. Nevertheless, because of their utility and function (keep in mind that few fixed-blade knives fit the everyday-carry motif), folders are more popular.