My name is John Brown
I knew Bob and Steffane, he had a business partner when they had the shop. Half the store was knives and the rest was black powder guns and stuff I like to make small knifes with the blade and handle just about the same length. To me this makes for a better visual presentation. most people have about 3 and a half inches across the width of their palm. so a blade of the same length makes for a nice little using carry knife.

I started making slipjoint pocket knives as a result of coming across an old knife. It came from a private Mariners museum in Boston. the owner died and the kids did not want to continue, too much like work. It is supposed to be dated from the late 1500's to middle 1600's. it is an easy knife to make. two pieces of horn and a blade. the trick is to get the rivets in the proper places. the front two that is. one is the pivot point the other is the blade stop. oh the notch on the back of the blade does go on the blade stop both open and closed. The original knife was only beveled and sharpened one side. the reason was the blade was a steeled iron one. so one did not want to go through the steel in to the iron. the knife was a fairly expensive one for a working man to have back in that time frame. there was not much steel on the iron but enough to have cost a bit more than the normal everyday working mans knife. steel was only hand made then, iron was more common. With the charcoal and the labor to make the steel, the owner most likely paid a day's wages for it. It was and still is a damn good knife. When i make them i follow as closely as possible.

I do get pretty much to where I want the blade to be in forging but I grind off what I don't want to be there. This makes the edge much better. No decarbonization. You can forge almost to final shape if you want, then harden and temper the blade. But you can't be sure how much carbon is lost on the edge of the blade.
I designed the Dawson Tsuba and still have the #001 which Barry made for me.
My arrow heads will be here long after we are dead and buried. It is not the time it takes to make each arrowhead that shows skill. But the time it took me to get to the level of craftsmanship I currently enjoy. A serviceable point for hunting does not take long and the average one only takes 15 minutes to make. But the time it takes to make an exibition point that is above average is anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. To the ancients they were basically throw aways. If the point stayed on the arrow shaft after it was recovered great! but the arrow shaft was the important part of the combination. I hail from Tucson where there are about six or seven knife makers, leading the pack is Don Norris.
When people ask me how I am doing. I reply, I woke up this morning so I'm doing just great. !