Who is your favorite knife maker that you secretly admire and or hope to be as good as 1 day.    my secret zen master would have to be Thomas Rucker, I follow his work on Facebook and personally think he is by far the best I've seen.      of course opinions will vary depending on taste, I like the old world rough forged looking blades.     Just curious to know.

William Moran

Tai Goo and Tim Lively are the biggest influences on my work, but I draw from a wide range of inspiration.  I think Phil Hartsfield, filtered through other makers, would also be one.  Lots and lots of unknown third world smiths making big blades. 

I watch all of Walter sorrels video on ytube, and I really like island blacksmith stuff.

WD "Bo" Randall and Bob Loveless 

wayne goddard, C--1 toolsteel, and Stormcrow.

Samuel Watkinson Collins and his sons,  Renowned machete manufacturer. Respected throughout Central and South America.

SLAG.

Tubalcain2 - I appreciate that!    I've drawn inspiration from so many sources, it's good to pass some of it along.

Daniel  Winkler , Huge Bartug,Virgil England they made you think outside the box . Anyone that was in Jim Weyer  Knives Point Of Interest  books. 

On November 26, 2016 at 5:51 PM, Tubalcain2 said:

wayne goddard, C--1 toolsteel, and Stormcrow.

Rich Hale

My chainmail shirt is in one of the Points of Interest books....

Buster Warenski 

Bob Kramer. Must be because I like to cook too. And he's local.

Good  afternoon 

Thanks for responding to  my  thread, I have taken the time to look at each knife maker listed and might I say wow, there are some beautiful pieces of art to be found in each makers bag. Amazing to see how many styles and shapes and attention to detail even to the tiniest piece can be incorporated into a simple blade.       cool stuff.      

Thanks

That's one of the great things about custom knives: They can be approached from so many different directions, with different intentions, and if done right, all approaches will make a good knife.  Everyone uses knives, everyone has a slightly different taste and interpretation.  It's a versatile art form focused on one of the most primal tools and weapons mankind has.

Some other names to looks at in the style you mentioned:  John Cohea, Levi Graham, Gib Guignard, Chuck Burrows, Wade Hougham, Tobin Nieto

let's not forget the team of Don Fogg and Murad Sayen working as Kemal Knives!

Vince Evans and Jake Powning.

Bob Engnath

20 hours ago, Steve Sells said:

Bob Egnath

I think Bob Engnath's work is n times better.

Alan

I got it,.   Remember I earned my typo king title, and it would not have happened if he didnt spell his name funny

Other than the greats like Bill Moran and Bob Loveless, I like the style of contemporary makers Wick Ellerbe, Joe Seabolt, Glen Mock, and the House Brothers. Bob Kramer too, as I love to cook.

I could never begin to list all the knife makers that I look up to. There are so many right here on this forum. Process of elimination?

Jim Hrisoulas and his books 

i dont want to mimic him because i think its important to develop your personal style, but John Hounslow-Robinson is an inspiration for me to become a bladesmith.

 Chuck Burrows was listed above, but I thought he was a leather worker and not a bladesmith. Arguably the best that ever was at recreating frontier sheaths, belts, holsters and other related items. His work looked correct for the period and had a used but well cared for appearance. I thought from what I had read on bladeforums.com a long, long time ago that he just did that and not knives.  He collaborated with Ken Beatty and other bladesmiths.  Gib Guignard mentioned by Stormcrow above with Burrows was another.  All three have passed as near as I can tell.

I should have found the money back then.