20 years on Bladeforums

Chief

Chief

Chief Master Sergeant USAF (ret) 1975-2000
Platinum Member
Joined
Nov 15, 1998
Messages
3,044
Joined Bladeforums 20 years ago while proudly serving on active duty in the USAF. Was a Chief Master Sergeant, the highest enlisted grade, E-9. Once promoted to Chief Master Sergeant, you were no longer referred to as "Sergeant", your official term of address became "Chief", or "Chief Master Sergeant". By law only 3 percent of the military is allowed to serve as E-8s and E-9s, with history showing the breakout is E-8s 2 percent and E-9s 1 percent. Being in the top 1 percent of your chosen profession is something to be proud of. At the time I was the Maintenance Superintendent of the 576th Flight Test Squadron, with 300 plus troops (50 plus Senior NCOs including two other Chiefs) responsible for test launching Peacekeeper and Minuteman III ICBMs from Vandenberg AFB, CA. Elected President of the Base Chief's Group. Choosing my nick was easy. There came a time when my family needed me more than the Air Force, so after 24 plus years in the ICBM business I retired and moved back close to where I grew up. Opened a knife business, "Chief's Cutlery", was a certified Microtech Dealer with a link on their web site. Sold lots of Microtechs but had a falling out with Tony M. and decided to quit the business. Had a second career with AT&T but now fully retired. Enough about me.

To celebrate 20 years on Bladeforums, am giving away some knives. To enter you have to 1. Do a good deed and post about it. The good deed should be done with this GAW in mind, or something recent, not from several months ago. Examples are giving blood, delivering Meals on Wheels, picking up trash for Adopt-A-Highway, giving a bag of groceries to folks who need help, donating to Toys for Tots, you get the idea.

To enter this GAW you must also agree to 2. In the future when you sell a traditional knife on Bladeforums you agree to leave leave the asking price posted. This will help establish a fair going rate to protect members from overpaying or underselling. If you can't agree to this, you have a hidden agenda and this is not your GAW. Let's make/keep the Traditional world a more friendly place.

If you are a flipper, meaning you buy knives from dealers with the sole intent of immediately selling them for profit, this is not your GAW.

If you own an extensive collection of knives, (further defined as plenty of cash to buy whatever you want so you probably have 50 plus knives) this is not your GAW.

If the only time you post is to enter GAWs, this is not your GAW.

If you are entering to resell, this is not your GAW.

To enter 1. state your good deed AND 2. you agree to leave pricing AND 3. select which knife you would like, A, B, C, or D. A is the ebony TC barlow on the left, B is the smooth white bone TC barlow on the right in the first pic. C is a two blade stag 14 in the second pic and D is the Elk 99 in the last pic. All are new in tube, shipping on me. Will let this run a week and use an online random generator to select the winners. Special shoutout to my favorite GEC dealer and Bladeforums sponsor @gunstockjack , Charlie waynorth waynorth , and the folks at GEC. Let's go do some good deeds and good luck!

TCbarlow14pair-1.jpg


forsalestag14-1.jpg


forsaleElk99-1.jpg
 
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John not many folks climb to the top 1 percent of their profession. A great accomplishment and something to be most proud of. I just want to say I appreciate your contribution of protecting the rest of us during all those years of military service. Thank you for your presence on the porch and the example you set. A fantastic GAW my friend. I am not entering because I have won enough already. Good luck to the entrants.
 
This is not my GAW as I have an extensive collection of knives but I just wanted to say thank you for your contributions John!
 
I'm in and thanks for your generosity!!!

We have a gentleman in our small church that his parents lost everything they had in the Paradise, CA wildfire and he doesn't have much to give and lives in the Midwest so I spearheaded a love offering for his parents to get them some of the basic things they need we were able to get them a nice love offering sent by Thanksgiving.

As for leaving prices on sales I always thought that was only the far way to do it.

I really like the #14.

Thanks for your service.
 
John, thank you for posting this "In the future when you sell a traditional knife on Bladeforums you agree to leave
the asking price posted. This will help establish a fair going rate to protect members from overpaying or underselling."
I don't know how many times I've seen a knife up for sale only to see sold where the price has been.
Oh...and thank you for the give away.
 
Wonderful legacy building Chief.
Thank you for your service :thumbsup::cool:
Great GAW as well.
Not an entry
 
You're a special guy John, congratulations on the milestone :) Those are beautiful knives, and this is an incredibly generous giveaway :) :thumbsup:

I like the idea of performing acts of kindness, and we are lucky enough to see a lot of them here on The Porch :) If there were more good deeds in the world it might be a nicer place, and it's great to see that encouraged. For a very long time, I have tried to perform as many good deeds as possible, at least one a day, and I hope that it might make the people I have helped think a little, and perhaps help someone else out when they need it. That way the acts of kindness multiply. It always makes me feel good to put a smile on someone's face :)

I've neither bought nor sold a knife on the exchange, but I like your idea John :thumbsup:

It sounds like you have led a full life my friend, and I hope you enjoy many happy years of retirement. Thanks for your service, and for dazzling us here with your wonderful knives. Thanks for this generous giveaway :)

I hope you won't mind if I don't throw my hat into the ring, I don't often enter giveaways, like to give other folks a chance, but when I do enter I seem to have luck on my side, (Thanks Tom @Whetsone39 - https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/zorro-rides-into-town.1622618/), and I've received a huge amount of kindness and generosity from the great folks here on The Porch, during the 13 years I've been here myself :)

Good luck everyone, and thanks again John :thumbsup:

Jack
 
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I'll enter not for the chance to win but just to be part of it all and also I wanted to comment with appreciation, I don't comment very much, but it's the little things you all do here that make this forum one of the best. I'm currently serving in the military, not the same branch as you though. My good deed (to the horror of my wife) is to cover a night CQ shift of another soldier with a child at home. For those of you who may not know what that is, it's basically a 12 hour shift sitting at a desk all night. (lots and lots of caffeine). I was initially debating as to whether i should take it, but when I saw your thread well I guess it was the push I needed. Anyway I'm always in support of leaving price (and if possible pictures nd information!) in threads. And as for my choice well I suppose the elk 99. Thank you for the GAW!
 
Congratulations on your 20 years here, and thank you for your service. I come from a family full of men and women in the service.
Thank you for hosting this very thoughtful and generous giveaway as well, those knives are very tempting and I'd love to own one but I cannot enter.
I've got a new knife in the mail right now.

Good luck to all who enter, I look forward to seeing the kinds of good deeds that are done.
 
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Wow John first thank you for your sevice3 to our country, second congrats on 20 years on BF you are another example of the character of folks here on the porch and that is simply outstanding.
I would like to participate in this GAW but I hate tooting my own horn but I just gave a neighbor the money to pay her cable bill also as many of you know I had to sell my collection last year and am trying to rebuild so I am far from having an extensive collection. Knife B would be my choice.
Thank you so much for the opportunity my friend.
 
Congratulations John. From all our interactions on BF it's not a surprise to know of your accomplishments in the USAF. I'll fulfill the requirements in your GAW but its not an entry because I have more than enough knives. Thank you.
 
Chief, sir, heck of a giveaway indeed. :thumbsup: I always like to see a nudge for folks to give something back outside of themselves. I think you should add a requirement to be able to perform 20 pushups. ;)

You may want to define "extensive." Kind of a subjective term and I'm not sure whether it dq's me or not.
 
Chief, I'm in
To be fair ,I didn't know about your give away till I got home from the grocery store. While in line ,there was a young mother in front of me that had two little children,maybe 2 & 3 ,and a cart of stuff.
She was paying with a EBT card and Was about 40 bucks short. She started culling through the stuff,pulling things out. No smokes ,beer, but food and paper products. I ,like you ,am a double retiree .Whats Forty bucks ,I've peed away a lot more ! I handed Her two 20s and wished her a merry Christmas.
I always leave the selling price (pet peeve).
I would would love to have B.

Thank you for the chance ,you old lifer ! (takes one to know one )
Doug
 
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