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This Week in Last Cast: ...the blades are wore from working hard, I don't have to get them down An "Old Timer" with the tip broke off, There is a real reason for this: It became evident to me over time that the vintage folder field is so crowded with fakes that doing business on any scale is almost impossible. With new customs and semi-customs I can almost eliminate that (although this year alone I have had two fake Randalls - not totally falsified, but modified to resemble more desireable versions, ie a #2-5 cut back to look like a #2-4, etc). While I have gained enough of a knowledge base to largely avoid buying fakes, I can't compete with dealers selling them. In other words, the fakes have so pervaded the market that customer expectations for price and condition on a real vintage knife are unrealistic. "Why should I pay you $$$$ for that tarnished one with the faint pin crack when so-and-so on e-Bay has a gleaming pristine mint one every other week in that same pattern and they are going off for about 2/3 the price of yours?" I have literally been asked that question, been put in the bizarre position of defending good knives against the onslaught of bad that have become accepted as setting the standard. It almost brings me to tears thinking about it, BC, and I mean that...
gone wrong or it would have gotten worn out. Instead, it got laid up for some reason and "rediscovered" at a later time when life got easier. I can hold one of these in hand, close my eyes, and just about figure out what might have, must have, could have happened. Almost! That's history! As far as counterfeits go, properly identifying your quarry is as much a talent during the chase as the capture is. Especially if it's a keeper! Thanks for writing such a nice note, it really is very affirming to have folks look for Last Cast. I am going to Tulsa with some of the money I made with customs and semi-customs over Christmas and will look for someone who has a quantity of real vintage folders at a price I can afford, and if that happens I will shout it from the rooftops. But just to give you an example of how hard it is to sell good old ones, look at the prices that a good, honest veteran collector and trader name of celluloidheros has gotten in the last 30 days on e-Bay. Do a search on his completed items and look at the overall realized-price trend, then in your mind subtract federal income tax, federal self-employment tax, website costs, e-Bay fees, fuel, packing material, advertising in Knife World, and one's own time and see if a really neat 75 year old bone folder going off for $30.00 will pay for it..... *sigh* If you respond I will perhaps run our conversation in Last Cast, maybe get some other voices in on it...
 In Wild Places with Wild Things: Guest column by Jim Pinkerton, Denton, TX Diving trips are just hunting trips requiring a lot of specialized equipment, otherwise there's not alot of difference. Same rules apply below as well as they do above and the weather is always the joker in the deck. This last trip (the first week of December '03) was special in that I was taking along a "user" Randall for the first time, and my son's soon-to-be bride would be getting her certification as a basic or "open water" diver. Sadly my wife would not be diving as she was recovering from knee surgery less than two weeks before.
We booked our trip on the Nekton Rorqual for a weeks worth of diving in the remote Bahamas. The Nekton Rorqual is a large boxy boat with room for 32 divers and a crew of 14; for our week there would be nine divers aboard.
We left Great Exuma and started for Cat Island on Saturday night... right into the teeth of a
 howling Norther that had just clobbered the East Coast. The seas were running directly at us and we had ten hours of pounding and pitching. The Nektons are tough boats, and we really needed that toughness as we were pitching the long axis by 45 degrees and slamming into the bottom of every trough. A real E ticket ride; even the crew was green around the gills. We finally made it into the lee of Cat Island (there isn't much as it's only about 9 feet at its highest) and tied up on the reef wall. Conditions were rough and stayed rough with only a few breaks for the entire week. Getting out of the water and back onto the boat was bruising from the surface swells and subsurface we had moderate to strong currents on most every dive. On deck the air was rarely tropical what with the rain and wind. Most days the water was warmer than the air.
 Sheri made her training dives like a trooper though and kept smiling through the whole thing. I know she had to be wondering if joining the family was she really wanted to be doing. On Thursday we finally caught a break with the weather and the seas flattened out, the winds died and our howling currents went somewhere else. With Sheri doing her surface interval, Jason and I decided to make the second dive together, a deep one down the wall, before the current came back.
We got one of those dives that burns into your mind and keeps you coming back again and again. About 100 feet, hanging off the wall, we stopped to watch a shoal of barracuda and got our first gift... a large turtle. Unlike every turtle I've ever seen, this one wanted to spend some time with us. He/she swam up to us and brushed my arm before swimming right by Jason, no hurry, no fear, just a friendly curiosity. I took the photo you see attached. After watching the turtle out of sight, I started on down the wall again only to stop and stare at the next gift the sea had for us... Coming right at us out of the deep blue were two adult Hammerheads. The largest
 was about 9 ft. and smaller of the two was about 7 ft. Now this is not normal, Hammerheads are shy and very wary of divers. To photograph them you need a rebreather rig so the regulator noises don't spook them. They swam within touching distance at a slow steady pace. Eye contact seemed to last forever. Then they were gone. I was so stunned I forgot I was holding a camera. I may have forgotten to breathe. My son and I had been granted a rare privilege, a once in a lifetime audience with royalty. The rest of our dive would have been a good one on any other day, the reef was alive with rays and white tip and gray reef sharks; there were clouds of jacks and snapper. When we finally ran down to our air limit we returned only with regret.
The rest of the week was like the first, rough and challenging. I snapped a toe on a deck fixture, the cook lost three cheesecakes when the oven pitched open. Didn't matter of course. We made it back on one engine ( storm wrecked the steering on the other one), Sheri got her certification, and Karen's knee is healing up.
In the end, we have sea stories to tell ("You shoulda seen the storm we were in..."), a new daughter-in-law, a Randall to use, and the touch of grace that comes from having been "in the wild places with the wild things". - Jim Pinkerton, Denton, TX
 Maker Introduction: Rick SmithRick "Bearbone" Smith is a maker in Rogue River, Oregon, with whom we have an on-going knifely and creative relationship. I recently wrote Rick to place an order for knives, delivery in July this year. "I want to give you your head, have you make some knives in the patterns and configurations you wish someone would order! I trust your taste and in fact am depending on it" is what I told him. This picture of one of his recent knives, a re-creation of an IX*L Wostenholm Sheffield style Bowie in hand forged "wire damascus", illustrates just why we'd be comfortable submitting a blank order form! Rick responded by saying "I have been sitting on a few distinctive knife designs that I believe will sell. Probably two of the five knives promised will be variations of San Francisco Bowies and the other three will be project knives I have been contemplating...
"Temperature was mild, about 38 degrees, with a N.E. wind of about 5-10 m.p.h., which was perfect for my set up. Deer came across my "ambush" lane at about 5:15 P.M. and the entire hunt took about 3 seconds. "Just wanted to say this was one of the best Last Cast issues yet. {Feb 1st - ed.} Maybe because of the long time between issues, I don't know, but I enjoyed it much. Keep up the good work Billy, it's always fun looking through your site. Best," - Paul F, Riveredge, NJ "  I just wanted you (personally) to see how gorgeous of a day it is up here and check out all the "white stuff" soooo I will put some nice pictures together of the farm. I personally like to show off a little bit cause Lord knows most people are dumb as a stump when it comes to visualizing New York. I was raised in New Hampshire and Maine and as close as that is to N.Y. people up that way think New York is all like New York City. T.V. really corrupts peoples minds... to this day it like pulling teeth to get anybody to come down and visit - they think they'll get robbed,and murdered. If you never been here you would love it - it is as "country" as country gets ,and thats a fact. Heck, my family is nothing but a bunch of "ridgerunners" anyway, mostly all loggers in my family... I could drive a Skidder before I could a car..." - Doug C., Divine Corners, NY "This is my hill top ("mountain," out there) log home ten miles NW of Fairbanks. Clear here and only a little cool at zero degrees. Went to -51F three weeks ago. Take Care", - Howard. G., Fairbanks, Alaska  Tulsa Show Reminder: Book your Southwest flights now! The Vintageknives Show and Road team will be in our usual spot in Tulsa at the Wanenmacher Arms Show (look for the VKN banners) April 3rd and 4th, and I plan to be walking the floor in Atlanta at the Blade Show June 5th and 6th. The Wanenmacher Tulsa Arms show (http://www.tulsaarmsshow.com) is a 30-plus year institution that now covers a full 14 acres indoors (11 upstairs and three on a lower level). The Tulsa expo hall was at one time the world's largest unobstructed indoor space by virtue of its external-beam construction. It's a grand vista indeed, those 3800 tables, and we'll be there on aisle # 9B, tables 4 & 5, April 3rd and 4th, scant weeks away! Dozier Delta Traveler - Available in June, can be ordered now! Vintageknives.com has an exclusive with Bob Dozier on a new pattern, the Delta Traveler! Specs are as follows: Overall length, 7 7/8", blade length 3 3/4", handle length 4 1/8", blade width 1.0", blade thickness 1/8" (.125")
 This knife (center knife in the picture at left) is a larger-scale version of the Arkansas Traveler which is itself just a dandy knife. What I wanted was to take that very nice drop-point design and expand it's usability for hunters. This knife will be a hunter-friendly version of a general utility - not so specific as to rule it out for home/garden/ranch/camping use, but slanted, for those who know what to look for, slightly toward hunting purposes. Sized over the K1 Utility but under the Pro Guide in terms of length, not as specific as the White River or Master Skinner, the Delta Traveler will soon be filling a niche in Bob's already outstanding lineup! Prices will be $215 for canvas micarta (his standard green, black, or a custom brown) and $225 for jigged bone, horizontal right-hand kydex sheath standard, but I can change that to a left-handed horizontal or left/right handed vertical at no extra cost if I know well in advance. Quote of the Week: "Events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order, the continuous thread of revelation." - Mississippi author Eudora Welty Website of the Week: This edition, for the sake of variety, I am offering a "website find of the week" instead of the usual "auction of the week"... This one is fun - turn the sound up and click on the appropriate "play" button at the bottom of this page, and then go forward (or back) through the rest of the site. http://www.musclecarcalendar.com/CarShows2003/MaderaFord/MaderaFord10.htm
Incredible motor, but the very best part of this clip is the very last few seconds where he comes off that high idle and lets it just gurgle, the deep cam overlap making it almost impossible to keep 'er lit below 1500 rpm...!
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Pup's BIGNATION: "Wouldn't Matter if I Could"
"Hey Billy! Was very pleasantly surprised today to open my mail and find the "Last Cast" newsletter. Thought something had happened to 'ya! Glad all is well and I guess if you're that busy then things are good, indeed! I didn't realize how much I look forward to your "news" and even realized that I am usually checking mail on Sunday nights to see if it's there. Haven't bought anything lately but am always looking and thoroughly enjoy the "Last Cast".... Your direction has changed some in the past three years, leaning way into the custom side of the knife field, where as mine has gone deeper into the folding knife Tested-era..." The difference in the new ones that you deal with is that you know the history and generally the knifemaker himself. The knife makers that you support are all "old school" makers and turn out some exceptional pieces. My problem is, one, I typically can't afford them, two, I don't want to sit on a waiting list, and three, the new pieces have not yet acquired that "history suspense" that I enjoy so much. 
Billy, wasn't trying to upset 'ya. You're right, your probably dealing in a much "cleaner" end of the knife business than I am. The difference is that you do it as a business where as i do it as an investment / hobby. I've took a shine to the old Tested folding hunters and other everyday work knives that have become the high-end, so to speak. This one is a 6251 pattern sunfish from Case Bros. Little Valley, as found, not cleaned or messed with. These are smaller than the more common 6250 pattern. 
I do sell a few but only to improve my own collection. At some point 'ya have to narrow it down. I plan to sell some, hopefully soon, (if the market goes back up to something reasonable), to buy a pontoon boat for my quickly expanding family (now have two sons with sons! Ha! The pleasures of getting old!) Anyway, I don't sell my "counterfeits" on e-Bay. It takes some time to establish a level of trust with the "big hitters" as I call them, and it would be foolish to jeopordize the relationship. They all know who 'ya are and you get to know them and it's a common courtesy not to steer each other wrong. Besides, if 'ya hang on to the good counterfeits long enough, they become a valued part of your collection. I have my first, a beautiful stag Tested-era 6250 sunfish {left} that i acquired thirty years ago. {An authentic e
xample from Barry's collection is pictured to the right - ed.} I'm not even positive that it's fake, but pretty sure. It has nice old fat checked stag that just "feels right" in your hand. After all, isn't that the way they're all supposed to feel? You know what i mean. Anyway, a few years back I sent 'ya a poem, you posted it and I feel it got a little milage on your site, probably pulled a smile or two. Well, the man that it was written about is gone now and I have 
...thought I would send you a pic of a very old and unique French "Colonial" anvil I acquired. It's a 420 pounder and the story I got from the guy who sold it to me in PA. was that it originally came to America with 5 other anvils when the French re-assembled the Statue of Liberty. Richard Postman (who wrote the most authoritative book on anvils) dated this one between the late 1700's and the early 1800's. To date, the other 5 anvils have not been located."
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