Warther Hunter

I ordered it at the WRCA Knife Expo and it arrived the other day.  The Warther production Hunter is a nice looking knife.

The script W seems new, but the jewelling is a Warther trademark

I’m not a huge fan of Warther knives.  While they make kitchen knives, custom folders, fixed blades and letter openers, it seemed they were stuck in the past making the same production knives year after year.  

This is also tempered by a story my Yee Sing Kung-Fu instructor, Les, told me.  

It seems he ordered a knife from Mooney Warther.  It was just an ordinary folder, but they would incorporate a silver dollar as a bolster in your knife.  Les wanted one with his birth date on it.  After waiting a significant amount of time the knife was ready and Les had his father drive him to Dover, OH to pick up the knife. 

As Les told the story, in the year since they agreed on a price, placed the order and placed a deposit, the price of silver rose quite a bit.  Mooney didn’t want to honor the original price.  Les stood his ground and got the knife for the original price, but what kind of adult tries to jack a kid up for a few more dollars? 

That was Les’s side of the story and the impression a 12-year-old has about a business transaction can be flawed.  Still, that story has always left a sour taste in my mouth.

But this year (2016) Warther Cutlery has released their first production hunting knife.  So I bought one. What’s really noticeable is the jewelling Warther does to their blade.  It is great branding.  When I look through old kitchen cutlery, I just need to look for the jewelling.

I’m kind of entranced by their first production hunting knife. The 5-inch blade is made of CPM S30V steel for the steel junkies.  I don’t follow steels very much, but so many of my folders use this steel and I like the way they cut and resharpen.  The Warther handle is G-10 and it sports stainless steel bolsters.  I like stainless steel because it doesn’t react with the fatty acids in processed leather like copper or brass to form green goo.

I also admit the knife is part investment.  There always seems to be a market for Warther knives, at least in Northeast Ohio.

Should you buy one?  I don’t know, but I suspect it would make a great present to the outdoorsman in your life.

It makes a great general camp knife as well

Wooden Pliers

In this part of Ohio the hot ticket for knife fanciers are wooden pliers cut from a single piece of bass wood by Mooney Warther.  I vaguely remember watching him making one on the Johnny Carson show, but I may have seen that film clip at the Warther Museum.

Here’s a link showing Mooney’s son Dave, showing how to make them yourself. 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a16518/ernest-mooney-warther-david-warther-wooden-pliers/

I’ve got to admit that getting one as a present is just below make-it-yourself on the coolness scale.

Knife Expo

I'm flogging WRCA's Warther Memorial Knife Expo pretty hard for a variety of reasons.

One: I liked Dale Warther.  I didn't know him as well as some club members did, but I was always happy to see him.

Two: It's a good knife show.  I'd like to see more custom builders, but we're working on that and have asked several new ones to attend.  This show will give collectors a chance to see some really great knives.

Three: A number of club members think the club will fall flat on it's collective face.  We've had trouble with the last couple of places and we are trying to find a permanent home.  Everything is expensive as compared to times when gasoline was a $1.25 a gallion.  This location is no exception.

The knife show will be May 16 and 17 at the Buckeye Expo center in Dalton, Ohio just off of route 30.  Admission is $5 per person but we'll wave the fee for scouts and military in uniform.

 I suspect you'll find just about any kind of knife you're interested in at the show.

We are also running a great raffle with prizes over $1000.  Second price is a ZT 350STTS AND a Benchmade 531 Pardue AXIS.  I sell Benchmade and I can't get this one!

Here's the raffle flyer and I hope to see you there!!!

If i win first prize, I'll offer to trade with the second prize winner!!

Edging Around

The December meeting at WRCA was “Warther knife night”.  Perhaps the best known Warther is the patriarch, Mooney.  Known for both knife-making and his love of carving scale model steam-powered locomotives, Mooney created a little spot of knife heaven in Dover, Ohio. 

Each monthly WRCA meeting has a theme, but you can show off anything you want. 

The images of carving s have nothing to do with Warther, but the owner thought they were cool.

I knew Mooney made combat knives for WWII.  These knives are more works of art than combat ready knives. 

Warther women's tactical knife or watch the knife, my fingers never leave my hand!

He had his ideas of what a combat knife should do.  I’m not sure they fit current notions and perhaps not even WWII notions. 

Regardless of my opinion, Warther combat knives fetch extreme prices from collectors.

I was not aware that Mooney made reduced scale combat knives for women.  One of the club members showed what he claimed Mooney called a purse knife for women in the military service.  The knives had a slightly smaller handle and a thin, shorter, more stiletto shaped blade than the GI fighting ones. The sheath still had a loop to wear on your belt but no eazy way  to attach it to the inside of a purse

The blade and handle seem out of proportion to each other and the guard seemed over large.

The one showed was made for, if I remember correctly, Mooney’s oldest daughter because she asked for one.  She has since passed on, but knife resides with a cousin.

Warther kitchen and pocket knives are perhaps best known for the jewelling on the blade and the unique use of silver coins as bolsters and are quite collectable.  I know a number of people who have had custom knives made with a coin with special date on it. 

One of the guests showed off some very old 1950ish ivory-handled Warther knives.  He indicated our government is still trying to prevent the sale of ivory in the US.  He may own the knives, but he cannot sell them or leave them to a beneficiary in his will.  Since they were harvested from elephants 3-4 decades ago their sale and ownership will not harm a single elephant.

To prevent elephant poaching, our government would like to take the profit out of it.  By preventing the sale of any elephant ivory, even from those killed in the 1950s, they hope to dry up the market.  The irony is the same day WRCA met, NPR had a broadcast in which they explained ivory sales in China, driven by their expanding middle and upper classes, are going to though the roof.  Of course China has no problem saying one thing and doing something else.


Each meeting has a door prize and I won a nice Bear and Son trapper.  It was our 2010 club knife.  Bear and Son are out of Georgia and make their knives locally.  The stag is pretty, and for a friction folder it’s a very nice knife.

WRCA Club knife 2010

Reason 27 why I carry a pocket knife.
To eat your lunch with it.

At least I didn't have to run it down and kill it, cook it and then eat it!

England continues to ban pointy knives and has declared war on ordinary kitchen knives.

It’s had to make a snide remark about that.  Anything thing I could say would only subtract from the complete lunacy and make whole mess less of a surreal farce.  

Oh, wait I have one:  Thank God, I’m an American.