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A downside to globalization is the danger of losing your identity as a nation. The advent of the Internet aids the advancement of globalization and the Australian knife industry is in some ways adversely affected by the Internet facility. Put in succinct terms, some Australian knife buyers, armed with a computer keyboard and creditcard comb the world markets from dusk to dawn in search of unique and unusual knives, new releases and bladeware bargains.
Yep, there are some 'good snares' to be had, but I hear horror stories as well. That's the risk you take when you go dealing offshore. Things like; this isn't what I thought I ordered and I paid my money, but I'm still awaiting the goods... that was six months ago and it got seized by customs as a prohibited import and I landed the shipment OK, but the local police confiscated it saying it's unlawful to own and have now charged me. And faulty product warranty claims are easier to contend with in your own

Cover pic: 60th anniversary of the end of World War II  featuring the first issue Gregsteel stiletto,  manufactured by Gregory Steel Products Pty Ltd of Melbourne in Victoria.

During the late Edo period Japan was still ruled by the Tokugawa military clan and the Samurai, an elite class of warior who still wlaked the streets wearing a kimono and swords and demanded theirs rights as members of that elite class. It was at this time that Kenkichi Takasugi, sone of Shunkitchi, was born at Aolmori in Northern Japan. 

What does a 13 year old lad want for Christmas? A legendary Ka-Bar US MC United States Marine Corp) knife, says John. Being a knife collector as well as being his dad, I thought it was a good idea too, so instead of ordering one, I ordered two (one for myself).
The knives arrived on the 10th December 2004 nicely packed in their individual boxes. As this was John's first fixed blade knife and to distinguish it from mine, I arranged to have personalised initials engraved on the spine of each blade and also stamped on each sheath.
We were due to start on a six day trek along the Overland Track from Ronny Creek to Lake St Clair, at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania's Lake St Clair National Park the following week. Why wait for Christmas and waste a great opportunity to test the knives in a part of the world that is renowned for its wilderness and scenic beauty?

Ever stopped the think why you've got one... a little finger, that is? I mean, what does it do, apart from make up the numbers; otherwise we would all have four-finger hands? I suppose it gives you extra fingers to mark a ball using both hands in a pack of players on a wet day. Mind you for some bumble-handed buggers I used to play with twelve fingers wouldn't be enough to grab the footy. Now we're getting close to why we've got them - it's about grip. But how many people are 'conscious' of the potential 'extra' grip? Just because they're little fingers doesn't mean they aren't strong fingers!

Neither name needs any introduction to anybody halfway familiar with knives either past or present. Rodgers had an unsurpassed reputation for knife manufacture in the nineteenth century. It was said that the history of the firm was to a large extent the history of the cutlery trade in Sheffield. An extract from The Sheffield Knife Book by Geoffrey Tweedale. 
The Australian Stockman knife, a 3-blade pocketknife measuring 10-cm closed is by far the best known and perhaps the most used edged tool in regional Australia, particularly during the years of settlement.

W Jno Baker of Sydney, the biggest Australian mailorder knife firm of the 20th century, marketed a vast variety of multibladed pocketknives in the late 1800's, culminating in model 184 Baker's Six. It contained spear-point, clip-point, droppoint, sheep foot, lambfoot and castrator.

Cross Draw Knife Pouch – by Derek Wells After seeing a Boker (Germany) brand crossdraw knife leather pouch at, of all places, a wood show in Sydney in the early nineties, I was inspired to come up with a refined design for this pouch. The Boker pouch was pretty basic, not much more than a standard pouch with slanted belt loops; I thought I could do better.
The original prototype is the one that appears here seen in the photos, along with the Schrade Old Timer model 1230T and was fashioned using leather from an old boot, then hand stitched (pretty roughly) at the kitchen table. Since then I've carried the Old Timer in this pouch practically every weekend and it's travelled all over Australia with me.
Admittedly, the prototype isn't the prettiest piece of leatherwork you will ever see but it works, so there's been no big rush to produce a 'neat and tidy' version....

Such confusion. We call a knife by another name, say hawkbill, with the image of an Emu on the blade (it's even stamped Emu Brand), yet this item that looks like a linoleum cutter, but isn't, was made in Sheffield, England and was discovered in Tasmania. Wot is it? MyoId knife collecting pal, 'Feral' (Errol) Smith dropped it in my lap to tax my brain cells. He let me sweat a bit before giving me a few clues as to its origin and use. He picked up the item during a trip to the Apple Isle about 1997 and was told it had been used by powder monkeys to slit oilcloth to do with explosives in Southwest.

Character – A Reason for Collecting Old Knives – by Wrongway I have been collecting old knives most of my life. Ever since I was a small kid back in Godzone (New Zealand) I have hankered after various (sometimes nefarious) bladeware.It was just after WWII and Military knives and bayonets abounded; knuckle-duster-fighting knives, Nazi party daggers, bayonets from everywhere and Japanese swords... pretty much every household had wartime souvenirs of some sort.
So starting around age six or seven for a fair while I collected numerous 'special edition' celluloid handled 'cowboy knives'. These were invariably, cheap, flashy and poorly made and had a picture of Roy Rodgers or Hopalong Cassidy or some other boyhood hero on the scales. They had a pair of blades, usually pen and spear point and often a wire bail to attach the knife to your Boy Scout belt. Scout belts had a snap hook attached to the right hand side for just that purpose.

Kiradashi-Kogatana

A long name for a short knife, Kogatana is the Japanese word for knives, kiradashi refers to those knives mainly applied as woodworking tools, handy little blades for line marking and carving, as well as other intricate tasks where a very sharp, short blade is needed.
Made of hard steel laminated to soft, steel, kiridashis are usually beveled on one side only (also known as chisel-ground blades) either left or right hand side, depending upon the preferred hand of the user. 

Milspec- with Paul Bergen
Tactical Folders: Tried and Proved Trident The national distributor of SOG Specialty Knives sometimes sends me knives to trial. The SOG Magnadot and Trident folding knives stand out in my memory. Over a couple of years I trialed them on hunting trips. Whenever I went bush for a bit of R & R (rest and resuscitation) I took them with me; they played their parts well performing the many duties expected of bladeware whilst camping, climbing, bushwalking, canoeing and other outdoor things some of us tend to do when we escape from the 'big smoke' for a while.
Okay, I'll admit chopping down large trees or digging a camp latrine is mechanically impossible with a short blade, but hey, amongst pocket-carrying folding knives, the Magnadot is about the biggest, toughest, most capable folders you are likely to use.

Their would be some discerning users and collectors of benchmade forged bladeware that are wondering why top shelf, Top End custom knifemaker Simeon Jurkijevic has not  more prominently appeared on the pages of KA. POstponment- I'm way overdure to re-visit the far north of the continent. And when do, be assured the bladework of Simeon Jurkijevic will be a priority. 

August 15 1945 is officially recorded as Victory in Japan Day, the day after Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of Japanese forces This signified the end of World War Two sixty years ago after more than six years of bitter global conflict involving almost sixty countries.
Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigamitsu, on behalf of the Emperor, signed the surrender documents that were accepted by General Douglas MacArthur on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The samurai sword, symbol of power in Japan, was surrendered in the face of defeat.
Aussies and En-Zeds (ANZAC forces), responding to the call, distinguished themselves in theatres of war on the other side of the world, before having to get back quickly to protect the home-front against a rapidly advancing Japanese army to the north of Australia and New Zealand. British and American forces lent a welcome hand on the land in the air and at sea. Collectively they managed to beat back a very aggressive enemy in tough conflicts that were largely fought at close quarters in steamy jungle conditions.

Like a number of people who read this magazine, I'm qualified to carry a Seniors Card and that means we pre-date the 'baby boomers'. We are the 'war babies', which probably means we all learned to hunt in 'the fifties' .
Anyway, I certainly did, taught by my older brother and his hunting mates in the Darling Range and along the Avon River Valley beyond the upper reaches of the Swan River. During the late l800s this territory was the province of Moondine Joe, the west's best known bushranger. And at the time when I was born Australian soldiers were battling the Japanese along the Ramu River in Papua New Guinea. Such was the world in which I grew up as an impressionable kid living in the foothills east of Perth.

It happens... sometimes, when the best laid plans come unglued - literally! The problem goes back a few years and involves a handsomely crafted fixed-blade skinning knife by the late Bruce Crawley of Victoria with engraved bolsters by Phil Vinnicombe.
Bruce pinned and epoxied a pair of beautiful redwood burl scales onto the tang, furnished at each end by deovetailed stainless bolsters secring the scales in place. What could go wrong?

I must say that I stay out of Japanese sword identification. To accurately identify old bladeware from the 'land of the rising sun' requires special knowledge, a good deal of experience and some very good reference material. I am extremely fortunate to have George Trotter not too far away. George is a Nippon To student, a Japanese sword specialist and the author of Japanese Swords and Fittings in the Western Australian Museum. We introduced George to readers in the Spring 2002 issue of KA. Where George and Japanese swords are concerned, I lapse into 'watch and listen' mode.
A letter arrived from one of our readers in Tasmania, who was curious to learn more about the sword he purchased. I passed the enquiry on to George because I know he 'likes to keep his hand in' identifying a few blades a year.

Have you ever wandered out of a railway station and realised that during the time you were in there the dominant smell was meat pies? I reckon no matter where in the world you are, if you wander onto a railway station you will smell meat pies.
Admittedly in the Indian region they would probably be curried and in Asia they would have worked out how to stir fry them and the poms would fill them with kippers, but dammit, they would be meat pies. It appears to be the staple diet of train travelers. In the Sydney area it is not uncommon to jump onto the five o'clock workers train and be confronted by a worker on his way home with a pie in one hand and a cold, frosty tinny in the other. .
I had just walked out of the main Perth railway station where I had been bumping gums with a charming young lady from the Public Transport Authority about a suitable memento for the dignitaries, who were to be involved in the commissioning of the new spur line station at Thornlie (a suburb east of I Perth). We had decided upon a letter opener made from traditional railway line dog spikes. 

• Norman Sandow NZ
• John Suraski-WA
• Keith Fludder - NSW
• Wayne Barratt- NSW
• Alan Maisey - NSW
• Mal Hannan - NSW