Here's the history of knives according to Ken. All information is accurate and true unless proven otherwise.

I won't go back as far as cavemen and sharp stones, but lets go back to the turn of the century. There were several cutlery companies well established by then, both in the U.S. and Europe. Many still exist today. Collecting and trading these old knives, especially Case Pocket knives, is more popular than ever.

Most knives by the early 1900's were made in a factory. One old blacksmith who put thought into the design of knives at the time was William Scagle. He's whom I consider the father of modern day knifemaking. Another blacksmith saw one of these Scagle knives being used and abused in a ship yard and as the story goes, got interested in making some quality knives. This person was Bo Randall. Randall knives are several generations along now and are world famous. They are still hand forged in their Florida workshop by a small group of craftsmen. A couple other blacksmiths also specialized in knifemaking. One, Rudy Ruana, from Montana made knives into his 80's. I was fortunate to meet him several times as we were neighbors in Montana. (In Montana, 50 miles qualifies as a neighbor.) His son-in-law, Vic, and some grand-kids still carry on the hand forged tradition in the Bonner, MT shop. Another contemporary of Scagle and Rudy was Hoyt Buck. Hoyt and his son, Al, invented the famous lock-back folding hunter. You'll find Al's son Chuck and grandson C.J. at the head of world famous Buck Knives in El Cajon, CA. They are still close to the original location but cover 11 acres - a tad bit larger. Buck Knives is where I got my knifemaking start. Great people, they stand behind their knives!

During the 50's and 60's the blacksmiths mostly went away. A few people took the new technology in steel and other materials and started handmaking knives, not by hammering steel but by grinding exotic high-tech steel, (stock removal method), they also let their imagination go wild in design - both practical and artistic in nature. Some of those are men like Buster Warenski, the pioneer of high art knives. And Bob Loveless, who pioneered high-tech steel and perfectly fit, clean designs. There is also Gil Hibben, the king of fantasy knives, and Bill Moran, who rediscovered the techniques of making damascas steel. Today, there are knife shows around the world featuring knives of every size, shape and purpose. There are several Magazines devoted to knives as well as the National Knife Museum in Chattanooga, TN. For more details check the bibliography below. Well, there is the history of knives condensed to one page, according to Ken. Now, I'm going to write the history of the universe in 6 pages.