Air.177, The A/F folder was originally designed and prototyped by me for Col. Rex Applegate. I told the Col. what I'd done with his fixed blade after the fact. This worked out well because Gerber Legendary Blades in Portland Oregon picked up the knife and is continuing to do a very good job producing it. I brought in Butch Vallotton (famous auto opener knife maker) to help with the production of the custom versions of this knife. Those A/F folders are marked "Harsey-Vallotton". They were made with 154CM Steel, titanium handle frames and micarta handle scales. This custom A/F was featured on the cover of the very first issue of Tactical Knives magazine. IMPORTANT NOTE: Butch brought the key to making this folder a successful design. I had the profile nailed down but not the configuration of the folding joint. This was tricky because we wanted to rotate the entire blade into the handle so we could sharpen the top edge and still have it protected when closed. The geometry of the joint determines if we can do this or not. Butch came up with the concept of using the thumb studs on the blade as the stop pins for both the open and closed position. This let us keep lot's of steel around the joint of the knife, that is we didn't have to make a deep relief notch at the base of the blade to rotate full closed around an internal stop pin like on conventional liner locks. Keeping my mouth shut and letting Butch work that out really paid off. I then produced the hardened steel (D-2) master drill pattern plates that let us reproduce this mechanism for the custom run of knives. Pleae note that many other people who have knife companies thought this was a fine idea and now use it in their knives. DON"T EVER LET MY WIFE FIND THIS OUT: Maybe once or twice during this project Butch called and needed my help on the A/F folders down at his shop just off the Umpqua River. The correct weather conditions seemed to match this call for help. Upon my arrival the problem would be solved fast and rest of the day might have been spent fishing for smallmouth bass. That was a long time ago, don't have time to pull that off now. Bill

Bill:

You are a never ending source of education and amazement to me.

Thanks for the full version!

TR

P.S.- I take it you enjoy fishing then?

Next time we inva...I mean help Honduras, we'll have to take Mr. Harsey to Enrique's for black bass fishing. Bill Dance did a special on the lake.

I just hope Mark's sniper Gs didn't come back. LOL

Medic/Spotter - "THERE HE IS, GET THAT SOB! "Halcon 6, derecho 5."

Pilot - "Tigre 2, rojer derecho 5."

Eng/Sniper - "You two shut up, I'm trying to figure the rotor wash on the wind. And move your big-assed feet."

Medic/Spotter - "Forget all that math, I'll use the M79! And my feet are in proportion to the rest of my body, I'm big-boned."

Eng/Sniper - "DON"T SHOOT MY BAD GUY WITH THAT CANNON! Its not fair to blow them up. Show some respect."

Great story!

How about we just hop into Tocumen with him and take him up to Gatun?

That fishing is almost like work!

TR

Mr. Harsey, I have found that the thumb studs on the knife can be made to work in much the same way as the "Wave" that is found on Emerson knives. That is to catch the inside of the pocket and open the knife while presenting it. I do not know if this was intended or not, but it works quite handily.

Works for me, and its closer. Very few bad guys to shoot though. Hell, ya'll just come down here and I'll catch one and hold him and Mr. Harsey can stick him. We'll take pics for the website. LOL

"Notice how the front portion of the quillion is relatively unaffected by the ..." LOL

Air.177, About those thumb studs turning into fast opening device, uuh, not really. To NousDefionsDoc, Fishing with you guys sounds like a blast! No pun intended Sir. What caliber, I mean wieght and length fishing rod works down there? Can we cover this for Field and Stream magazine? Maybe the radio show would be better. Bill

The Parabellum lure seems to work well. Austrian 9 rods. LOL

DuPont lures with sinkers on 5 second fuses and a net. Alternate plan is M-67 Fragmentation spinners, if we can get fresh ones.

Radio for sure. Audio track alone should be enough to put us on vacation in the GrayBar Hotel for Quite a while.

TR

Looks like I'm going shopping for new fishing tackle. Reaper! Yes I like to do some fishing when time allows. I've found that if I bring home a bunch of trout or a steelhead that tastes good it's easier to get "permission' to go next time. The entire fly tying operation is hidden in various places in the shop for fast access and set up on the drafting table. One fly rod is always rigged and ready to place in back of pickup for emergency escape. This is clipped to the ceiling over my drafting table for fast grab and go. Bill

I cannot tell a lie, I've been fishing with Dupont lures, and , ugh, caught my limit.....

Don't worry you fish and game people, I was OCONUS.

TS

(and for the record, I/we had no friggin idea there was a submarine close by, honest.)

Does SF stand for "Special Fishing"? Boy do I have a lot to learn around here. LOL real hard. Bill

Don't answer that last question, I know better. Must be breathing too much shop dust. Bill

I have this mental imagine of some sonar geek with his head phones on looking at a screen. "HOLY CRAP SKIPPER WE'RE BEING DEPTH CHARGED."

Skipper, "Naw thats just SF fishing again."

Just my $.02 worth. CRKT Crawford/Kasper, and my grandpa's old hunting knife, don't know the name as it has been worn off. I used it as a kid to skin the fruits of my trap line, and took with me on deployment while in the Navy. Both have a great feel and take a good edge.

Good stuff here. Thanks

Skipper