90-year-old knifemaker Glenn Marshall calls these
lockbacks his "three most favored folding hunters."
Sporting blades of D2 tool steel, they are "designed
especially to fit the hunting guide's needs."
(Glenn Marshall photo)


Glenn Marshall called the other day, all excited about a new knife he was making in celebration of almost 80 years of knifemaking and his 90th birthday (June 22). I can’t imagine even living to 90, much less making knives at that age—heck, I can’t even make them at 55—but Glenn is doing just that in his shop in Mason, Texas.

What makes Glenn’s story especially remarkable is that he is one of only seven members of a large unit to live through World War II—though just barely. A Navy demolition man, the Petty Officer 1st Class Gunner’s Mate survived an explosion on Okinawa that cost him an eye, ear, his spleen and his gall bladder.

He made knives before the war, after the war and makes them to this day. He loves not only building knives but talking them and the people who make them.

He’s known knifemakers from Harry Morseth to Joe Kious. He said Kious makes some of the finest knives anywhere, and that Joe’s shop is so clean, “You can eat off the floor.” Glenn also admires the work of Tom Overeynder. Glenn recalled how long, long ago, Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer© Bob Loveless approached him at his show table and asked him how to make knives. “I told him a few things and gave him a copy of one of my patterns,” Glenn recalled. He was especially fond of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer© Bill Moran. “Every time I saw him I wanted to hug his neck,” Glenn noted. He said he liked D.E. Henry, too.

He doesn’t get around as much as he used to, so knife shows are pretty much a thing of the past for him. He misses them a lot, though, and loves to talk about how he and his wife, Frances, would go out to dinner with his friends after show hours in the good ol’ days. “We had some great times,” he recalled.

Glenn makes fileworked lockback folders in a style reminiscent of the 1970s and ’80s—which should come as no surprise, of course—and fixed blades for hunting, camping and other uses. He said he likes native woods for handles, especially desert ironwood, mesquite burl and others. (In fact, he told me he was looking for a special book by Constantine’s about woods and would appreciate any information about how he might find one.) Blade materials include 440C and CPM 440V stainless steel, and O1 and D2 tool steel. Since he has only one eye—a 90-year-old one at that—he said some of his knives “might have an extra scratch or two.”

If you know Glenn, call him at 325.347.6207 and wish him a happy birthday. Even if you don’t know him, call him and wish him a happy birthday. (And if you know how he can find that Constantine’s book, tell him.) One thing: When you call, be prepared to talk knives. Since Glenn doesn’t display at knife shows anymore, he will be anxious to pick your brain to make up for his lack of knife-show talk time.

Oh, as for the anniversary knife he’s making, he said he will send it to BLADE® when he’s finished so we can photograph it and do a story about it in a future issue. Stay tuned. (For more on Glenn, see “Greatest Generation Knifemakers” in the July 2005 BLADE.)

Knife Show Updates
According to Dave Harvey, co-producer of the Solvang Custom Knife Show, the show will become a biennial event starting in 2010. There will be no show in 2009. Contact Harvey at 805.688.3612 info@nordicknives.com for more details.

In case you missed it, the Plaza Cutlery Custom Knife Show, set for Oct. 4 at the Costa Mesa Hilton in Costa Mesa, California, will be held at the former site of BLADE Show West. (BLADE Show West will be at a new venue, too, the Monarch Hotel, in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 26-28. Call Mary Lutz at 715.445.4612 ext. 13313 mary.lutz@fwpubs.com for more information.)

Formerly a Doubletree Hotel and also a Red Lion Hotel, the Costa Mesa Hilton will host the Plaza Cutlery Custom Knife Show in a room at the lobby level rather than that of the room used on a lower floor as at past knife shows held in the facility. Contact Delavan at 714.549.3932 www.plazacutlery.com for more details.