Anyone ever seen this...
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Stevie Ray
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- Location: Virginia
I'm gonna post this just because it hasn't been mentioned ... :) Forget the 440C and the bluing in the grooves. What about the fact that you can see the screws of the aluminum version ... on both sides ... Even in his pics. No screws like that on the Ti version of the Herbst. And, the fact that his clip is bead blasted vs. the Ti-versions's polished stainless.
Steve
I just found this thread and the corresponding thread on BladeForums. I wondered how I missed it. Turns out I had left for Europe in late February for the UK and A'Dam meets followed by the IWA show in Germany. I didn't get back until mid March and the dust had already settled.
For the Record:
I remember Kristi asking me about the Rollert Damascus Police and I told her that Steve Gartin had commissioned the piece while he worked for us. I told her it was a point at issue with Steve and me. Steve had commissioned a number of customs, (eg: the original David Yellowhorse collaborations).
Not bad ideas, mind you, but I felt that he was overstepping his authority to commission what was supposed to be Spyderco product without my knowledge.
Now mind you Steve Rollert is a very good blade-smith and does excellent work. The issue over the knife was that it was Steve’s project on his own. I don’t remember ever seeing the knife, but the argument was already in motion. The project never went anywhere, but I don’t remember what the details were.
While I have never met Chas, I had read some of his posts on Rec.knives when he and Steve were participating in that forum. I know that he and Steve had been friends for a long time and that he studied KunTao and several other styles that Steve knew. As I remember, his posts weren’t positive towards me.
Steve Gartin came to work for Spyderco in '82 or '83 when we were doing a promotion with Sears. We were demonstrating our Sharpmaker and the knives that we had in production at the time. The Worker model and the Mariner model were already in production in ’82 and the Hunter and Executive model followed in ’83. Actually the original name for the “Executive” model was “Clippette” and it was Steve’s suggestion that caused me to change the name of that model.
Steve was an exceptional salesman and a good member of the Spyderco team. He worked as an outside salesman until 1988 when he came “in-house” to be the sales manager.
Most of his sales were done at shows in California when he was on the road. He had requested to work in that part of the country. He was one of the “Road Warriors” as we were called when working shows and fairs.
He worked during the same time as Lynn Laseter, Jim Oddo and “Cookie” Blackard. All really great salesman. (Jim Oddo is now my brother in law, I still communicate with Lynn Laseter on occasion, Cookie passed away a couple of years ago. I’ve not communicated with Steve for many years).
Steve and Tamara married during his time at Spyderco. Steve and I were pretty close. I was the best man at his wedding and Gail was the Matron of honor. We knew his kids and had been to his home.
Steve was one of the best martial artists I knew. He helped bring computers into Spyderco and was a good sales manger. We spent many hours together. I had and still have a great deal of respect for him.
We ended up disagreeing on some business directions for Spyderco. He had requests for salary and benefits were beyond our ability to meet.
He resigned in April of 1990 and went to work for Western Cutlery. Those were emotional times. Looking back, I guess that if we both weren’t so “pig headed”, we might’ve worked things out and he would probably still be with Spyderco. We have a number of crew that are still with us since the “old days”.
sal
For the Record:
I remember Kristi asking me about the Rollert Damascus Police and I told her that Steve Gartin had commissioned the piece while he worked for us. I told her it was a point at issue with Steve and me. Steve had commissioned a number of customs, (eg: the original David Yellowhorse collaborations).
Not bad ideas, mind you, but I felt that he was overstepping his authority to commission what was supposed to be Spyderco product without my knowledge.
Now mind you Steve Rollert is a very good blade-smith and does excellent work. The issue over the knife was that it was Steve’s project on his own. I don’t remember ever seeing the knife, but the argument was already in motion. The project never went anywhere, but I don’t remember what the details were.
While I have never met Chas, I had read some of his posts on Rec.knives when he and Steve were participating in that forum. I know that he and Steve had been friends for a long time and that he studied KunTao and several other styles that Steve knew. As I remember, his posts weren’t positive towards me.
Steve Gartin came to work for Spyderco in '82 or '83 when we were doing a promotion with Sears. We were demonstrating our Sharpmaker and the knives that we had in production at the time. The Worker model and the Mariner model were already in production in ’82 and the Hunter and Executive model followed in ’83. Actually the original name for the “Executive” model was “Clippette” and it was Steve’s suggestion that caused me to change the name of that model.
Steve was an exceptional salesman and a good member of the Spyderco team. He worked as an outside salesman until 1988 when he came “in-house” to be the sales manager.
Most of his sales were done at shows in California when he was on the road. He had requested to work in that part of the country. He was one of the “Road Warriors” as we were called when working shows and fairs.
He worked during the same time as Lynn Laseter, Jim Oddo and “Cookie” Blackard. All really great salesman. (Jim Oddo is now my brother in law, I still communicate with Lynn Laseter on occasion, Cookie passed away a couple of years ago. I’ve not communicated with Steve for many years).
Steve and Tamara married during his time at Spyderco. Steve and I were pretty close. I was the best man at his wedding and Gail was the Matron of honor. We knew his kids and had been to his home.
Steve was one of the best martial artists I knew. He helped bring computers into Spyderco and was a good sales manger. We spent many hours together. I had and still have a great deal of respect for him.
We ended up disagreeing on some business directions for Spyderco. He had requests for salary and benefits were beyond our ability to meet.
He resigned in April of 1990 and went to work for Western Cutlery. Those were emotional times. Looking back, I guess that if we both weren’t so “pig headed”, we might’ve worked things out and he would probably still be with Spyderco. We have a number of crew that are still with us since the “old days”.
sal
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zenheretic
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Manix Guy 2
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- Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 1:49 pm
- Location: Central Illinois
Wow
Interesting thread , a nice bit of history uncovered here . MG2
