Living on the Edge. Legends of the Loveless Logo PDF
Preview Living on the Edge. Legends of the Loveless Logo
Living on the Edge Logos of the Loveless Legend By Al Williams Illustrated by Jim Weyer , I I Dedicated to Paul E. Burke, Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland He is my best friend, my attorney and fellow knife collector whose dogged persistance gave me the motiva tion to start this book. 1 am thankful for his efforts. Living on the Edge Specia l tfJa,J ks to: l egends of the Loveless logo Duve Cron, Louise Weyer and Hob Chew. Copyright 1992 by Weyer Illtematioual A chwtvl edgem ell ts: Published by Biographical research· Flomer Brickey, Weyer 11lfernational Book Division Tol,do, OH. 2740 Nebras ka Avenue Tee /mical research · AI Williams. Toledo, OH 43607 "Editor - Ken OrWig, Orzuig Commllnications, Toledo,OH. All rights reseroed includillg the right to reprOOtlCe l.ayout and des ign: Orwig Communicatiof'ls, this book or portions thereof in any fomr or by any Toledo,OH. meallS, electronic or meciulIlical including Film Processing - Projeclions, Toledo, OH. photocopying, recording, or by any information Typography- Palatina by Metzger Type House, inc, storage and retrieval system, without permission Toledo,OH in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should Printed by Printers 3hree, Toledo, OH. be addressed to Weyer Internat ional Rook Division, 2740 Nebraska Avenue, Toledo, Oli 43607. Technical Information: Ca mera s: 4xS Sinnr P2 viettI and Nikon 351/1111. Libran) of Congress Films: Eklachrome Catalog Card Num ber: 92-8]531 Lenses: 6Smm, 90mm, 150mm, 210mm • all ISBN: 0·9613834-5-3 Nikkor Lighting: Balear electronic (lash and Colortrnn Published October, ]992 incandescent 2 Foreword Is it a good idea for a man to have to look at almost forty years of knife making? When it hap- pened to me a few years ago in my hotel room at tl1e Blade Show in Knoxville, when AI Williams and Ken Warner kept pulling my early knives out of boxes and asking about them, I remember thinking, "Lord, I wish I didn't have to look at that one again." But the next day, when Al had set up his tables in ilie show room and I had my first look at the very rational way he had arranged ilie display, I began to understand what he had accomplished. It was only ilien that I came to realize what I had done all those years beginning in ilie basement shop in Delaware. Al Williams, at great cost and with true dedication, had managed to acquire Loveless knives from ilie very first year of work and from every place and period since 1954. He had the early Delaware Maid knives made for Abercrombie & Fitch and for other East Coast customers until late 1958, and he had found ilie first knives made in California in early 1959 including the special Classic Bowie made for a Los Angeles surgeon. Indeed, AI had not only found and purchased the knives, but had surveyed the work, traced down the various marks, placed them in context in his display and presented a complete array of all my design efforts and varieties of styles and models. After spending several hours looking at iliose old knives, I realized that I could justify every one of them, each in its own time and place, each made for a particu- lar purpose. Standing iliere, looking at all those early knives, I knew I had to face my shortcomings and fail- ures and come to tem1S with the old ghosts of my life in knife making. 3 The memories came flooding back and I had to deal with them as best I could. I could identify the knives made when domestic crises drove me out of the house into my shop - when the problems of an increasingly problematic marriage frustrated my hopes for a peaceful life. I saw the knives I had made during the 1970s in Lawndale, and later in Riverside in the 1980s. If I have done other things in my life - and indeed I have - I have done nothing that pleases me so very much as my work in knife making. I've heard that feeling repeated many times by other knife makers. There seems to be something about this work that makes us feel proud and complete - that we have done some- thing very much worth the doing. All the won- derful variety of modem knife making by all the makers who have come to our craft in recent years impresses me greatly, especially when I think of the limits I put on myself during the early years. This seems to be a common theme: only as we progress in our thoughts and tech- niques do we come to know the possibilities. Knife making can be thought of as an endless chase after perfection in design and execution - an ongoing pursuit of better steels and materials, and, of course, of working hard enough and being lucky enough to realize the measure of success that will give us a decent living. 4 Some of us keep at it, often working long hours into the night after the demands of a regular day job. Sometimes, it becomes too much and we drop out. Yet it keeps calling us back - perhaps later when we can afford a better shop - to try again. The results can be seen at the annual Knife Makers Guild Show. Quite a show it is with something for everyone at every price level. If the Williams collection does anything, it shows various kinds of knives and the many ways of making them. It shows the design themes, the blade shapes and handle contours, the surprisingly consistent design outlines (and the early failures within those outlines). Some you will like. Some you probably won't. But remember, in the early days, we didn't really know what we were doing and if success came later, it was unex- pected and happened because our customers came to like the work and support it with orders. About our customers, I can only feel that the many I've had contact with have taught me far more than I could ever have learned by myself. That's another great blessing of this work: the many fine people who have extended their friendship to me and their patronage. Of all such folks, AJ Williams stands out. AJ Williams has done some- thing fine by putting this collection together. I had known him for years before that day in Knoxville, but only then did I realize what he had been doing all those years, at all those shows, when he and I would buck heads over some- thing he wanted to buy from my table. When I saw the Collection intact and complete, I knew it was time to listen to him for he had, indeed, become a.n expert on my work - more so than any other man. R.W. Loveless Riverside, August, 1992 Introduction to the Collection As you are about to view photographs of the knives that make up my collection, Logos of the Loveless Legend, you may be wondering why [ have elected to collect just one maker's knives. I decided which way I wanted to go in 1972. Back then, there were not too many men making custom knives. Those so engaged were doing an excellent job, and yet, most all of the knives during this period were pretty much the same- that is, good finishes, functional and appealing. So again, why collect just one man's knives? Early in my collecting career, which dates back to 1948, I made up my mind not to accumulate knives but to concentrate on one maker. At that time it was the goal of most collectors to collect a knife from each maker. If one did this, he would certainly have a variety of fine knives, yet his collection would be an accumulation with no theme. About this time I star ted some cursory research on the makers. It soon became apparent that Bob Loveless had moved around the country more than anyone else and that he had used more logos on his knives covering his partners and locations. This coupled with the desire to collect knives which would portray one man's actual career prompted me to go Loveless, in spite of the fact his knives were more difficult to obtain and were more expensive. The result of my efforts is on the following pages which also trace the Loveless career from Claymont, Delaware in 1954 to the stacked leather washer handles of the Delaware Maids, and then, to the latest Riverside integrals of 1989. Al Williams Collector 6 Living on the Edge Logos of the Loveless Legend By Al Williams Illustrated by Jim Weyer A small skinner with walnut slab:; in half tang construction. The handle is finger grooved. Delaware Maid is etched on the choil of the logo side of the blade while on the reverse side and also on the choil are the words, Van Lengerke and Antoine. This is one of six knives marked with the name of the Chicago sport store. One can be found jn the Randall Museum, Orlando, Florida and three were taken on an expedi tion to South America.
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