On Vacation in North Carolina

[dweb1897]

Today was the first day of a vacation I have dreamed about for long time. After 21 hours of driving, flying, and layovers I pulled up at Herman Williams house in N.C. It was an awful long day and as you can imagine , I'm beat. Here's a few goodies though.

[orvet]

Have a great time Doug, bring home some great knives and stories.
And by all means give Herman my best!

[Chase]

Lucky Dog.....Getting an Invite to the Master Schrade Customizers home!

I hope you guys have a Great Visit and my Best to Both of you!

Respectfully,

Tom

[glennbad]

That's a bucket list item for sure! I'm jealous...

[KnifeSlinger#81]

[dweb1897]

Day 2
Lots of stories and lot's of knives to look at. I got to look at a lot of knives that had been in the sample room...like this old Hammer Brand with a P38 attached.

. I'd ordered a Damascus blade that "we" put some factory pre-drilled scales on. I'm no fan of lanyard holes so it got filled with 2 different mosaic pins.

[TripleF]

Soooooooooooooooo awesome.

I almost didn't click on this because the title was about a vacation to NC, and I've already been there.
Shoulda been.....Visiting the home of Schrade Guru Herman WIlliams!!!

[dweb1897]

Day 3 Looked thru lots of knives and parts and picked out a few future projects. There is a new Daddy Barlow with smooth yellow bone scales somewhere in my future along with a 6OT with a blued ducks unlimited blade. A big Buck Bowie that I had bought came in the mail and it's going to get re-handled on Monday most likely. I picked up a set of pinecone scales 2 years ago at the Oregon Knife Collectors Show and finally got a knife that they'll fit.

[orvet]

Sounds like a great time Doug. I can't imagine how many great parts Herman has, not to mention knives to be made!

[Schradenut]

What an amazing experience Doug. I am sure you will be lapping every little thing up.
Being in the presence of greatness and working with the "Man" us ordinare Joe's only dream about.
One thing Doug, your time with Herman will finish ever so fast.
Suck it up mate,
Tony.

[dweb1897]

I realize this isn't a Schrade knife but this is what Herman and I worked on today.

Picked these scales up at the Oregon Knife Show a couple years ago.

[doglegg]

Wow dweb!!! The experience and the knives. You are going to have a hard time topping this vacation. I am both proud and happy for you.

[philco]

Doug I think it's very cool you're getting this opportunity. I know you've been a big fan of Mr. Williams for a long time so I can well imagine what a thrill it is for you to be able to share time with him there in his shop. Give him our best from here at AAPK.

[Chase]

I would compare your visit and time spent with Herman as an equivalent to winning the Lottery!

It just doesn't get any better than that!

Tom

[Tony_Wood]

Awesome. The only thing this thread needs is more pictures! Any pics of his shop? Workbench? Tools?

[Meridian_Mike]

Awesome. The only thing this thread needs is more pictures! Any pics of his shop? Workbench? Tools?

very AWESOME.....

Yep, more pics.... more knives!

[dweb1897]

I'll be home soon and will have a lot of pics to post. I'm just too buy having a good time to sort through them right now.

[dweb1897]

I would compare your visit and time spent with Herman as an equivalent to winning the Lottery!

It just doesn't get any better than that!

Tom

I'm awful lucky to have had an opportunity to get to know Herman and develope a friendship. If I had the choice of talking NASCAR with Dale Sr. or knives with Herman, old Dale would take 2nd place...and that's not something he did very often.

[Chase]

I couldn't agree with you more...

Tom

[dweb1897]

One of the things that I found out on this trip is that in the last 20 years the airlines have managed to get the seats a lot smaller, closer, more uncomfortable, more expensive and offer a lot less service. It's taken me a few days to get caught up back home and to get caught up on rest. The week I spent with Herman was better than I imagined...and I've got a pretty good imagination. I used to work about 45 miles from where Herman lives so I got to visit a good friend and my first dog's resting spot...Acorn I. Acorn II passed this last November and Acorn III is keeping me company now. All part pit, female brindles. The weather was hot and the humidity higher than I was used to. Herman has trouble with back pain so I tried to keep the shop time down, which is hard to do when Herman has knives to work on. We spent a lot of time talking and I sure enjoyed the stories. Herman plays a pretty good lick on the guitar and was working on learning a new bluegrass song...maybe I should say an old bluegrass song, Deep River Blues by Doc Watson and it was a rare privilege to get to listen to him play. Zane, a collector and friend that Herman and I only knew through emails and skype came down from Georgia for a couple days and that was a treat as well. I'd ordered 3 damascus "Sharpfinger" blanks and Herman had predrilled factory stag handles complete with shield for them...they were used on the SMKW SFO Sharpfinger with the New York Knife Co. Walden tang stamp.

Herman putting his name on the blades

Shaping and polishing the scales

The blanks were not drilled for a lanyard but of course the scales were. We decided to fill in the lanyard hole with mosaic pins
Herman cutting the mosaic pins

A hammer and anvil mosaic pin on one side and a dog paw on the other

[doglegg]

Thank you dweb for the pictures and insight. Happy for you that you got to have such an experience.

[dweb1897]

20 years ago when I lived in N.C. my good friend Garney Hembree had me over for Christmas. His 10 year old son Heath, saw that I didn't have a present to open so he went into his bedroom and took his prized Rebel Flag off the wall and gave it to me as a Christmas present. That boy's generosity made a heck of an impression on me. Garney and I hadn't been in touch since then but I managed to track him down before I left home. I sent him some pics of my Bowie collection and me mentioned how his son had always wanted a good user Bowie. It just so happened that I had an old Western W49 sitting in my nightstand drawer. I'd bought it years ago out of the trunk of some guys car at a yard sale and she was pretty rough. I sent it ahead and when I got down to Herman's we worked on cleaning it up. It was sure a pleasure to say "thank you" to that young man 20 years later.

Herman shaping the handle on my new Buck Bowie.

Some of the treasures I brought home.

An old Hammer Brand with a P38 attached that came out of the Schrade sample room...sure seems like a good idea to me.

I not only got to see the the bone jigger that was built in Schrade's machine shop but got to watch Herman jig some bone for a project I have coming up. Don't bother asking what it looks like or how it works, I was sworn to secrecy and wouldn't even consider betraying Herman's trust. I will say that it was not what I expected.

[dweb1897]

Here's a blade blank that I'd sure like to talk Herman in to fixing up for my collection...anybody ever hear of a 162OT?

Spent a day at Herman's camper. I enjoyed listening to the stream almost as much as I did the good barbeque.

About 500 yards from where my first dog Acorn is buried

[dweb1897]

I want to thank everyone for their good words and for letting me share this vacation with you...there is talk about Zane, Herman and I meeting in Atlanta next year for the Blade Show. Keeping my fingers crossed.