Johnny Stout in Blade mag

[BMiller]

Johnny, congratulations on having one of your knives pictured in Blade this month. It's awesome looking with the curved bolster and all the engraving. Tell us more about it.

When I turned to that page, I immediately recognized the first picture as an Appleton knife. It was Ray Appleton Sr whose knife I fell in love with about 15 years ago and kinda started the whole process of looking and wanting. I even called him and was amazed that I could actually talk to someone of that caliber. When I found out the one I wanted only cost about $3000 (15 yrs ago) I put that thought on hold and decided I better make my own. Now his son is also doing really cool stuff too.

Then I saw your knife and it's recognizable too. I've always liked your folders. Did you do the engraving as well? I'm looking forward to coming to your shop some day and seeing how a pro does it all.

Bill

[Johnny Stout]

Originally Posted by BMiller

Johnny, congratulations on having one of your knives pictured in Blade this month. It's awesome looking with the curved bolster and all the engraving. Tell us more about it.

When I turned to that page, I immediately recognized the first picture as an Appleton knife. It was Ray Appleton Sr whose knife I fell in love with about 15 years ago and kinda started the whole process of looking and wanting. I even called him and was amazed that I could actually talk to someone of that caliber. When I found out the one I wanted only cost about $3000 (15 yrs ago) I put that thought on hold and decided I better make my own. Now his son is also doing really cool stuff too.

Then I saw your knife and it's recognizable too. I've always liked your folders. Did you do the engraving as well? I'm looking forward to coming to your shop some day and seeing how a pro does it all.

Bill

Bill, thanks for the nice comments. Yes, I've been fortunate to have several of my knives in the past few issues of Blade magazine.

The knife in the current issue is my Zodiac double action folder that I made for the book by David Darom that will be released at the Blade Show at Atlanta in June. The feature will show pictures of the step-by-step process of the knife being made, as well as several shots of the bolsters being engraved by Joe Mason.

David lives in Isreal, so I would set up a work operation, take the picture, email it to him, wait on his approval to see if the angle, lighting, resolution, etc., was all satisfactory, then move on to the next work operation. As a result, it took about 3 months to build the knife but I'm pleased with the result, and Joe Mason did a great job adding his great engraving to the project. The picture shown in Blade Magazine was taken by Jim Cooper of "SharpbyCoop". The book will have different pictures of the knife shown.

The hard cover book will be the 3rd by David; the 1st being "Custom Folding Knives", the 2nd was "Custom Fixed Blade Knives"; this one will be titled, "Top 100 Custom Knifemakers". If you get a chance, Id recommend any of these to add to your library.

Bill, you're welcome anytime to come by the shop for a visit.

[rhrocker]

Johnny, good for you! I'm in David's book also with my Mesquite Mistress, but I doubt that I'll make the Blade magazine ) My knife was in the current issue of Knife though, and I'm happy about that. I bet you've had about 30-40 articles written about you and your knives, and no wonder, their magnificant! Congrats!