Artistry in pocket-knives

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 17

Artistry in pocket-knives

By

GARRY ARTHUR

There are plenty of times when it would be handy to have a pocket-knife that you could open with one hand, without bringing your teeth into it.

That was Mark Ross’s reasoning when he was casting around for an idea for something novel in the way of cutlery. He is a self-taught Australian knife-maker, now working at Springston, who has invented a cunning little knife that can be flipped open in the palm of one hand.

He hopes it will make him a fortune. He has applied tor a patent, and has high hopes of making good sales to

tourists and more through exports. His idea was to devise a folding knife that folded in a different way to the ordinary ones, whose essential design has not changed, he says, since Cleopatra’s time. The result is a' radically different knife that folds into the handle sideways. The handle itself is a sprung frame. Pressure on the hinge releases the lock, allowing the blade to be flipped open. Releasing the pressure locks it in the open position. ' It is not a flick-knife, because the blade does not spring out of the handle — it has to be flipped out by a

movement of the hand. The inventor was worried, however, that it might be regarded as a flick knife, because he was advised by one American firm that it would probably be classified as such in the United States, where flick knives are illegal. Mr Ross went to the police in Christchurch, but was assured that it would not be illegal in New Zealand even if it was a flick knife, as long as it was not carried with felonious intent.

Hand-made, except for a little milling of the fitted parts, the prototype knife is made of the best Swedish steel, highly polished. It took Mark Ross six

months to design the knife, and now that he has perfected it he plans to go into production with an initial “run” of 100. Because of the hours of handwork and the high price of the special steel, they will cost $75 each. But he says he knows that people who appreciate a good hand-made knife will be prepared to pay that. He recently made a 12in Bowie knife specially for a window display in a Christchurch sports store, and although it cost $lBO, it sold within a week. So did another knife he

made for the same display, a 6in hunting knife priced at $125. Both were bought by tourists.

He sees his knife-making as a form of art expression, and puts a lot of thought into the lines and final appearance of each knife.

His knife-making began simply because he has always wanted a good knife for himself — one that would keep a good sharp edge. Although he had done a bit of work in engineering shops, he had to teach himself the arts of grinding, polishing and honing — so successfully that he now has knives so sharp that they will shave the hairs off his leg like a new razor.

His hunting and skinning knives are made of 6mm steel and have a unique fullwidth tang, giving them great strength as well as adding to the appearance of the handles.

He fashions the hilts from solid brass and makes the handles of West Coast rata. He even designs and makes the leather sheaths, and had invented his own plaiting to secure them.

At present Mark Ross works in a corner of his father-in-law’s workshop, making his knives at. night and ar week-ends. But he has such confidence in his new folding knife that he has ploughed all his savings into it, and soon hopes to be making them full-time.