Blade – September 2019

BILLRUPLEWINSTHE

FINALLORENZIAWARD

C

ustomknifemakerBillRuplewas

presentedwiththeBLADEShow

2019 Aldo and Edda Lorenzi

Award during the BLADE Magazine

AwardsReceptionJune8 intheGarden

CourtAreaoftheRenaissanceWaverly

HotelinAtlanta.

SponsoredbyEddaandAldoLorenzi,

ownersoftheoldG.Lorenziretailknife

store in Milan, Italy, the award goes

to a knifemaker who excels in terms

of teaching and mentoring his fellow

makers in the art of knifemaking. It

includes a cash prize of $1,000 and

anawardplaque,bothdonatedbythe

Lorenzis.Thisisthefifth andfinalyear

of the Lorenzi Award, and BLADE

MagazineandtheBLADEShowsalute

the Lorenzis for their generosity and

kindnessinprovidingit all.

Having built knives for 30 years,

Rupleis a premiermakerof slipjoints

and possesses a selfless willingness to

teachothershowtodoit.Hehashelped

manygetstartedwiththeslipjoint,one

of the oldest yet most challenging folders

to make. His kindness and patience

validates something other makers know

all too well, and that is he is most willing

to share knowledge, encourage, critique

and mentor makers everywhere.

Ruple has taught quite a few who

have gone on to become award-winning

makers. A number have gone on to

teach as well. In fact, in addition to the

Lorenzi Award, Ruple was presented

with 13 single-blade trappers at the

BLADE Show, one each by 13 of his

students. (See page 12.)

6 BLADE SEPTEMBER 2019

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BLADE Magazine

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HowtoReachUs!

SHORT CUTS^ |^

Bill Ruple

The BLADE Show 2019 knife collection dis-

playwinnersare,fromleft:LarryOden,Brent

Schindewolf,EdCooperandOwenDady.

MORAN SCHOOL MOVES,

BLACK SCHOOL MOVES IN

T

he world of bladesmithing received a

jolt recently when it was announced

that the American Bladesmith Soci-

ety’s Bill Moran School of Bladesmithing,

the fi rst-ever such modern school in the

USA if not the world, is no longer based

in Historic Washington, Arkansas. Mean-

while, the University of Arkansas Hope-

Texarkana announced the new James Black

School of Bladesmithing is opening in His-

toric Washington.

Th e Moran School has a new home on

the main college campus of Texarkana

C o l l e g e i n Te x a r k a n a , Te x a s. Th e long-

time bladesmithing school had to relocate

because it reportedly was not allowed to

renew its lease in Historic Washington.

Th e Moran School is named in honor

of BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-

Of-Fame® member Bill Moran, the

man who reintroduced damascus steel

to knives in 1973 and is one of four

founders of the American Bladesmith

Society (ABS). Classes will begin this

fall, including, with ABS master smith

instructors in parentheses: Introduction

to Bladesmithing (Greg Neely and Brion

Tomberlin); Fall Piney Woods Hammer-

In (Mike Williams); Damascus (Steve

Dunn); Introduction to Bladesmithing

(J.R. Cook and Mike Williams); and

Handles and Guards (Steve Dunn).

Th e Black School is named aft er James

Black, a man some think made bowie

knives in Old Washington during the

time of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer James

Bowie, and may even have made a knife

for Bowie himself. Like the new location

of the Moran School, the Black School

will begin off ering classes this fall too,

including Introduction to Bladesmithing,

Forging, Beginning Bladesmithing,

Intermediate Bladesmithing, Handles

and Guards, and Damascus Steel. Th e

names of the instructors had not been

released at press time.

For more information about the

Moran School, visit texarkanacollege.

edu/bladesmithing. For more on the

Black School, visit uacch.edu.

BLADE SHOW 2019

KNIFE DISPLAY WINNERS

C

ollections of Buck Knives once again

swept top honors at BLADE Show

2019 (page 12).

Larry Oden won Best In Show for his

display entitled “Buck Factory Production

Knives.” Th e two Judges Awards went

to Brent Schindewolf for “How Do You

Handle a Buck Knife” and Ed Cooper for

“Buck 110 Folding Hunters.” Finally, Owen

Dady won the Youth Award for “Th e

Process of Building Buck 110s.”