SEPTEMBER 2019 blademag.com 75from the daily grind, he and Holder
could oft en be found hunting and
fi shing together, forming a friendship
that helped see both of them through
their Knifemakers’ Guild presidencies.
Julie married Buster while the Tut
Dagger was a work-in-progress, and she
joined him in the production of future
masterpieces. Th e two met in an engraving
class Buster was teaching, and Julie’s
abilities complemented Buster’s later
work with easy grace. She is considered
one of the fi nest knife engravers extant.
She also began making knives about a
year aft er Buster’s passing, mostly for the
Art Knife Invitational (AKI).
“Buster was a perfectionist,” she
mused. “It was never about the money
but doing what he enjoyed. He would
never think that he couldn’t do
anything. When he got into folders, I
can remember disaster aft er disaster
and a lot of swear words. But he sat in
the corner working on those folders
until they worked.”
Remembering the agony and the
ecstasy of the Tut Dagger—originally
considered a one-time venture—
Julie might have been a bit surprised
when it led to two more projects that
became known as the Legacy Series.
This trinity of experiences solidified
Buster’s place in custom knifemaking
history without question.
Th e Tut Dagger was delivered to a
beaming Lobred in 1987. Aft erward,
a prominent Japanese collector asked
Buster to create another Tut Dagger.
He refused, explaining that such an
endeavor would devalue the original.So, an alternative came quickly to
mind, generating the idea for the
Legacy Series. Th e second knife, the
Gem of the Orient, was delivered in
1991, when Buster and Julie fl ew to
Japan and handed it to its proud owner,
who was also opening a cutlery store.
Th e breathtaking Gem of the Orient
was cast of solid 18k gold and included
153 emeralds and nine diamonds. Both
it and the Tut dagger, of course, served
as cover knives for issues of BLADE®.
Fire and Ice, the third knife in Buster’s
tour de force trilogy, was fi nished in- It is a dazzling 18 inches long
with an 18k-gold blade, a handle of
rutilated quartz crystal, 22 rubies and
75 diamonds. Fire and Ice debuted at
the AKI in 1993.
Buster created the Nunchaku and Matching Dagger, committing
himself to the Rick Royster project from 1999 to 2003. “According
to Buster, this was the most challenging project I ever presented
him with,” Royster observed. Julie Warenski did the engraving. The
knife includes sapphires and approximately 10 ounces of gold. Small
daggers fi t inside the nunchaku’s handles. Both the dagger and
nunchaku feature yin-and-yang embellishment. (PointSeven images)