It’s time for my picks for the most visible knife ads of the year. By “most visible,” I don’t necessarily mean the best or even the most tasteful ads but rather the ones that seemed to garner the most attention—which, right or wrong, is what ads are about a lot of the time, isn’t it?

•TOPS’ “__it Happens” ad. As I told TOPS’ Mike Fuller, I was against this ad because magazines are concrete objects that are around for years, even decades. If any off-color words are printed in a magazine, those words are there for as long as a copy of that particular issue of the publication exists. When Mike and I agreed to disagree on the ad, he reasoned that such language is standard procedure among many in the military and law enforcement, and that the soldiers and officers he knew approved of the ad. (In a close vote, the BLADE® staff chose to run the ad.) I have no problem with Mike or TOPS, nor am I the best at keeping my spoken word cleaned up. I’m just against using off-color words in print.

•Benchmade ran a couple of clever ads concerning the Nakamura 480 and the Rift. The copy for the Nakamura ad simply said “Collect all one,” which seemed to infer that the knife is so well made, buy the one and it will last you a lifetime—a refreshing concept in an age of orchestrated obsolescence. The copy for the Rift read, “The only time this knife will get handed down: in a will.” A tad dark, perhaps, but effective in relating how much the knife would mean to its owner.

•Smith’s “Be an edge expert at the flip of a switch” ad for its electric Edge Pro Compact sharpener is one that appeals to us dullards who need angle-guides to sharpen pencils.

•The BestSwords.com ad of the scantily clad lady holding a 32.5-inch sword which, according to the ad, is “the world’s first massive sword hidden in a belt.” We received a lot of complaints on this one from those who objected to their children seeing it, among others. The ad read, “Never feel naked…never!!!” I don’t know about the buyer of the sword feeling naked, but the young lass in the ad could not have been blamed if she did.

•Gerber’s “Hey America, remember when meat used to come in its original package?” ad. In this instance, the “original package” would be the animal’s skin, which the ad’s Gerber Freeman drop-point hunter is designed to remove. What if many take their game kills to game processors for dressing, etc.; processors still use knives, don’t they?

•Spyderco’s “No rust for the weary” ad pertaining to the company’s knives with nitrogen-based H-1 blade steel is a play on words that captures the spirit of the stainless steel in question.

•Speaking of Spyderco, company founder and Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer© Sal Glesser has called a tactical knife a knife you have to make do for whatever you need it for at the time, whether that means to cut a person out of a wrecked car, defend yourself from attack, etc. TOPS gets mention here again for its ad with the “Tactical Steak Knife.” When it comes to cutting a juicy, mouth-watering steak, few situations require a knife more “to make do for whatever you need it for at the time.”

•Boker’s “One piece of art” for its “Leo-Damascus V Custom” is another play on words, this time for the Leo’s one-piece integral construction.

•And the No. 1 most visible ad goes to Lansky Sharpeners’ “Number One” ad showing a hand holding up an index finger indicating “we’re No. 1”—with the top joint of the finger lopped off, ostensibly by a very sharp knife brought to a keen edge with a Lansky sharpener. I’ll never view the “we’re No. 1” chant quite the same again. (“We’re No. Three-Quarters,” maybe?)

Clinton, Karwan Succumb

Two long-time industry veterans, Tom Clinton and Chuck Karwan, passed away late this past summer. A dealer of Randall knives, Clinton maintained a multi-table display of Randalls at the BLADE Show. He was extremely knowledgeable of both Randalls and Vietnam-era SOG knives. He was 73.

Karwan wrote about knives for many years. He was a graduate of West Point and served nine years in the Army. He was 61.

Both men were extremely well regarded in the industry and were fine gentlemen and family men. BLADE gives both a 21-knife salute.