New Website Articles posted...ABS JS and MS testing help

EdCaffreyMS

EdCaffreyMS

"The Montana Bladesmith"
Morning Everyone!

I just finished posting TWO new articles on my website. I have taken the ABS JS and MS tests, and tried to break them down, hopefully to help folks succeed. You can find them here: Knifemaking Articles Index page This will take you to the main index.... The articles are titled: "The ABS JS and MS Test...The Performance Phase" and "The ABS JS and MS Test.....The Presentation Phase".

I know there is no way I could be all inclusive, and I'm sure folks will have questions, so please feel free to contact me...and if I can't answer a question, I'll either find out, or at least point you in the right direction.

This has been my project while being laid up, so I hope you enjoy the articles, and more so, hope they can be helpful.

Finally, I want to make this very clear...I am not officially speaking for the ABS with these articles! That is not my place or my intent. Only the ABS President and the ABS Board can make official ABS policy. Everything contained in these articles is based on my personal knowledge and experiences..and is an attempt to help others achieve their ABS JS and MS ratings.
 
I have not used solder on a guard in years, and I would hope that anyone who is testing for either JS or MS wouldn’t use it. Solder is nothing more than a moisture seal, used to prevent moisture from getting under the guard/handle, and rusting a knife from the inside out, and is just horrible to clean up and finish. Far more modern methods are available,


I find that surprising . I always considered ABS style knives to be fairly traditional looking and believed that soldered joints would suit them more and be a defacto requirement.


Do not try to round the butt ends of your handles! To most who are judges this just says, “I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just tried rounding it off.” Leave the end of the handle with a nice radius from top to bottom, and only LIGHTLY knock the sharp edges of the sides off with a few passes of hand sanding. DO NOT DO THIS ON YOUR BELT GRINDER!

I don't fully understand your meaning here.
do you mean that some submissions have a fully spherical ball convex shape on the butt end?


Can you give more explanation, or maybe some photos?
 
Solder is not a requirement. By today's standards, a "good" solder job means that you can't see the solder anyway. As a judge, if I can see any solder joint on a presentation knife, it better be a super good job. ANY pit, lump, bump, or discoloration is going to raise a red flag to a judge, especially at the MS level. In my entire time as a member of the ABS, I have only seen a couple of solder joints that I can recall, that I think would pass.

I'll see if I can explain my meaning about the handles. In most cases the end of a handle will have some kind of radius on the end of the handle (back end) going top to bottom, or bottom to top, the side to side radius is what I am talking about....generally when a maker tries to put a side to side radius on the butt end of a handle, it just winds up looking amateurish, but just not clean and professional. Keeping with the type of knifes that you want to make for your presentation testing, gently knocking off the sharp edges on the sides of the butt end of the knife is whats called for. You want it to be crisp and clean, but it must also feel good in the hand without sharp edges that catch or cut into the hand.

I don't currently have any close-up pics of what I'm talking about, but will try to remember to take some in the future.
 
Ed
I have put off joining the ABS, not for any reason in particluar really but I have been thinking alot about it lately. Other that JS/MS ratings what are some of the benefits of being a member?

Sean
 
Hi Sean!

If a person participates, the ABS will expose you to the best Bladesmiths in the world, most of which you otherwise might not have access to.

It can be a long, and sometimes difficult road, but if you choose to go for the JS and MS ratings, its a journey that will build your knifemaking knowledge, and ultimately will make you a better knifemaker. There is a level of credibility bestowed upon those who achieve the JS rating. Achieving the MS rating puts you in a somewhat elite group of Bladesmiths, as there are just over 100 who hold the title in the entire world...in many peoples' eyes, that lends a huge deal of credibility. Does it help you sell more knives? I can put it like this.. prior to achieving my MS rating, every detail of every knife order was discussed with a customer. After I achieved my MS rating, customers would call and say "Ed, I'd like XXXX, just keep in under $$$$" Thats what I call having a great time making knives!...when a customer has the faith and trust in me to give me only minor direction, and allow me to enjoy creating a knife for them, they always will get a better knife than someone who tries to dictate every detail to me. Maybe this is just happenstance, but I never sold a $1,000+ knife until I achieved my MS rating.

As with most things you will get out of it, what you put into it. If the ABS never did another thing for me, I would pay my annual membership dues just to keep my MS stamp....yep, its been that good for me. Like any other organization, there are people who will have a chip for the ABS, but in my experience, those folks are the ones who have a "sense of entitlement" attitude, and have never invested anything into it, but want everything out of it.
 
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