Robert W. Loveless, True Legend

[Steve]

We went dove hunting once in Indio, CA, as reported above. It was great. He went deer hunting with a friend in northern California once, I recall, but we mostly only went shooting a couple of times. The closest I came to a deer hunt with Bob was on the YO Ranch in Texas, described above, when we drove to Houston for the show and when his best pal, Raymond Randall came home with me for the hunt and we missed getting a nice little three-point when Ray, or I clicked off the safety and spooked him. It was a great hunt, on the mountains west of Manti and the weather, everything was pretty much perfect, except that we missed out on that shot. I still have the .270, Pre-64 Mod. 70, yes, and the M59. I have never read "Game in the Desert." I pretty much worshipped O'Connor, too, until a year or so ago when I red in the Rifleman that he was pretty stuck on himself and not very nice to people, generally. I hated t read that! Went to the Engraver's and Gunmaker's Guild show in Reno last year and drooled over all the custom rifles, many of which were still being made ala O'Connor's ideas, as nice, light little mountain rifles. I met Al Biesen and saw some of his rifles when I was in Spokane at a gun show at the fairgrounds. Those rifles were the definition of perfection in my eyes. Most were O'Connor-types.

[jayers3673]

Yeah I read that too about O'Conner. It was either " His way or the highway" lolol.
He was very standoffish & had a stoic appearance until he got comfortable with someone.
I think most of his "demons" resulted with people who disagreed with him: especially when it came to calibers & rifles. Guys like Elmer Keith & some others. I think he has rolled over
in his grave several times now days with all the Magnum hype. But he could still make you feel like you were along side him when writing about his hunting trips. I really admired Elmer Keith too & enjoy reading his books which just happens to be opposite of O'Conner's views.

I have a Browning Safari 270 on a FN action made in '62 & a Husquarva 7x 57 that dates back to 1956 which just happens to be his favorite calibers I might add, whereas you probaby know. He always ascribed to the theory that " any gun good, shoot'um good ".

Sorry Steve, you got me rambling about the old days. I had much rather hear about Bob & his times.

[Steve]

I never met Jack. Maybe that's a good thing........ I stopped in at Elmer Keith's home in Salmon one day on my way home from Spokane, when I was working with Davis Knives, and he was more than hospitable. Took me back to his trophy room, a bldg. at the back of his house about the size of a garage and showed me his trophy animals. And there were a lot of them! He later said, "I'm sorry, son, but I promised to take my wife out to dinner for Mother's Day." That statement said a lot, about his kindness to others and also his role as a husband. After a little while, we said good by and I had a good trip to Utah, feeling lucky to have met this icon. I was surprised at his kindness. It didn't hurt that I'd dropped the Draper name, who'd done a few knives for him. Can one believe in the gospel of O'Connor AND Keith? I think so. Maybe Bob Loveless had a little of both of these fellows in him? I know he loved the 44 Special. He bought/traded for a Ruger Model 77, 6mm, once, also.

[jayers3673]

I think you can believe in the " Gospel " of both Keith & O'Conner, as you say. I know I can. Can you visualize Bob up there with Keith & O'Conner ? I would love to be a fly on the wallpaper listening to that consversation. One could write a whole new dictionary!!

[Steve]

Since we started this thread, we have had 5998 visitors. That's quite a tribute to Bob. Thank you all. I wonder who will break the 6000 mark?
Thanks again for your interest in this great knifemaker, no one will take his place in the annals of custom knifemaking.
WOW! Last night it was 6000, today we are at over 6100!

[Steve]

A young man dropped in the other day and I showed him how to grind a Loveless Fighter grind, you know, with that cool, slight "S-curve" in the center line. I was reminded of when I first got to the Loveless shop and Bob took the time to show me how to make that happen and then...........LEFT TOWN! Talk about frustration for a little while the next day! It took a lot of concentration and quite a few grimaces to be successful in grinding those 3 or 4 Boot knife blades, but when Bob got back he seemed happy with them. Either that, or he just let them go and somewhere out there are those few Boot Knives with pretty poor grind jobs! He gave me my lead and let me do my best and rarely actually criticized, he'd just tune this or that up to the way he liked it and show me the difference.

The only time he really cussed me, other than for tapping the knives on the vise, as mentioned above and when I sort of offended his friend, was when I appeared pretty grumpy in a photo that one of the guys took, out in Riverside, either Andy Mercado or Richard Barney, or maybe someone else. Anyway, we stood against the wall and his cigarette was in his left hand and the smoke was wafting up straight into my face and it showed on the look on my face. He was disgusted that I'd pull that kind of a face in the photo with him, it was only one of an assortment, until we discussed the smoke, then he understood. At least I think that's how it went! Maybe he'll be correct my memory, someday, if he remembers it differently. Generally his smoking didn't bother me, my dad smoked for 30 yrs. or so, but that day, and I do remember that day, it was really getting to me. Maybe I was in a bad mood, who knows? He generally didn't smoke around me in a way that bothered me.

[jayers3673]

Do you have a copy of that picture you can post? I would love to see that shot !

[Steve]

No, I don't know what happened to it, or any of those photos. Seemed like it was for a magazine article, or something. It would be fun to see.

[cappaletti]

He was to the knife making world what Stratavarius was to the violin world...

[Steve]

Very well put, Gene. In the end, Loveless' name will be one of the few that really made a difference. Not discounting all of the contributions of countless others, but the name Loveless will stand out.

[jayers3673]

Well, as you said before, " The name Loveless means what it means " and that is a fact, and it is indisputable !

[Steve]

Bob would definitely be interested in this celebration:

http://fortdouglas.org/jmb2011/index.htm

http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/...ml?CMP=OTC-RSS

A list of his inventions: http://fortdouglas.org/jmb2011/browningdesigns.pdf

Anyone who's ever fired a Colt 1911 45, Browning High Power, Auto 5, Win. Model 94, BAR, 50 Cal. BMG, etc., etc., etc. would be interested!
I don't know if Bob would drive to Utah to take part, but he'd certainly be interested!

[jayers3673]

I am sure Bob would have been most interested in the Browning Celebration. As "gunmen", we all should be. John Browning was a amazing talent with the number
of guns he invented -Rifles, shotguns, Pistols, guns for the Military, ect. My own array of Browning guns include a A-5, a 9 mm hi-power, Browning safari, Browning 81 & a 94.
BTW, did Bob ever make a trip to Utah that you know of?

[Steve]

I put Bob and John in kind of the same category as to their influence on their respective areas of expertise. Bot contributed so very much!

Bob made at least on, maybe two trips to Utah. One was on the way to Idaho to see Bernie Sparks, when we almost ran off the road in a snow storm going home through Logan Canyon and I believe another time, but can't remember for sure. He met my parents once or twice, this trip being one of them, another in Las Vegas at a show.

[Steve]

I was grinding and polishing some knives today, all but one a Loveless design, from the patterns that he gave me back in 1974, after my accident, heck, maybe it was 1975 by the time I got back to Riverside. He also handed me a bunch of stag, Micarta?, handle screws and counterbore, 154-CM blade steel, enough to get me going - and his blessing. At any rate, it just struck me how lucky I am to have all these patterns in my shop and have had all that time to work with Bob and get to know him, when so many knifemakers, even collectors, would have thought that they were so lucky if they had had the chance to meet him! My career has been truly blessed by all the great makers that I've been able to work with. I didn't know that day when I finally found my way and drove into Bob's driveway that I would be one of the very, very few who'd have the privilege of working right alongside him and get to know him like I did. He is a one-of-a-kind and I'm just feeling thankful for having that wonderful opportunity. I told him thanks many times and he told me thanks back, just like he did in that old green Guild Directory, when he said that he appreciated being able to wear a different hat, because I was there to keep the knives going. He was good to me.