- Joined
- Oct 8, 2001
- Messages
- 12,329
Folks,
Now HERE's a tale that has a good ending!
A couple of month's ago I came upon a listing on eBay for a 'Hudson Rare Quality Knife'. It was a crummy picture of a battered knife with a big chip in the blade. I emailed the seller, who knew little about it and took forever to respond. He did say it read 'Hudson' on one side and 'MS' on the other. Hmmmm. And no that isn't engraving, but scratches on the guards. Yow! (Rob Hudson for those who are unfamiliar is a VERY heralded Mastersmith from Maryland, whose work is rarely available. He won the Art Knife International in 1996).
I then found Rob Hudson's email and sent him a pic of the knife. NOT alluding to where I got it, but that I had an opportunity to purchase this knife. (I'm not tipping my hand to ANYONE, and it still had seven days left till it closed!) Did he have any history on it? Could he repair it? Here's his email back to me:
" Hi Jim,
Wow, I never thought I'd see that knife again! It has an interesting
history and probably a lot I don't know about. A guy named Mike Gugliotti
took several courses from me and eventually ordered this knife. Here's the
story:
Mike was one of the toughest, strongest, and coolest men I've ever met. He
was a circus strongman and I think high wire stuntman but his main
occupation was as a hardhat salvage diver in NY harbor and other places. He
loved hunting wild boar by various means---each time getting more risky.
Finally he evolved the hunt into a scenario where he would have the dog
handlers drive the 250 lb. boar down a trail in the canebreak TOWARDS Mike
who waited with only a knife. He would hold the knife straight in front of
him and let the boar impale itself on it. He wasn't at all satisfied with
the knives he tried so he designed one and had me make it. That's the one
you are interested in. It was supposed to open the widest possible wound
and then stop the pig from sliding onto the handle. He used it succesfully.
The nick may have come from hitting a bone, or maybe just some dumb kid
playing with it. Unfortunately, at 165' feet underwater, Mike's diving
helmet imploded and he was killed (maybe 10 years ago).
Who is offering the knife to you? I assumed his son got his knife
collection. I can grind the blade down but it is a lot of work. Normally I
rough grind, file and sand the blade while it is still soft, then I harden
it. This one is already hard so it will take a while. Luckily the nick
didn't go past the temperline so it will still be a good knife. Its
definitely one of a kind!
Thanks for your letter. Hope to hear from you again.
Best,
Rob Hudson "
So I bid the minimum ($325.00) and I wait.......
I'm the high bidder for the duration of the auction, and the auction closes at 2:20am EST. At 11:30PM, I place a support bid upping it to $380.00 and go to bed. After nine days no action, I'm pretty certain no-one wants to touch it. For whatever reason, I wake up at 2:10am and look at the clock. Hmmmmm. Sleepily, I go into the office just to ensure my place. BUSTED! There is another bastid who outbid me at $385.00 !! (I KNOW youre out there reading this!) Well, I made my $$ decision and closed the deal
in the final moments with another bid. Fortunately, I'm left as the high bidder at $406.00. WHEW!
After the usual transaction stuff, the knife gets sent to me. It's HUGE and beat up. I send it immediately to Rob to give me a prognosis for cost. He emails me back and gives me three options all at increasing prices and levels of restoration. Of course I opt for the 'Big Enchilada' package. It's worth it. We talked over it's history again, and I told him that this knife, as long as I owned it, would never be used again, and that Mike Gugliotti's great memories and character were still intact--even in restoration, if not more so. Rob agreed emphatically. Rob was also excited to work on the knife. He said he always learns from earlier stuff and improves from review.
Here's a pic of the knife as I rec'd it. The eBay pics were worse. It was a gamble.
http://www.fototime.com/{663F94BF-0A0A-11D6-BF72-00A0C9AAC4A3}/picture.JPG
So within a few weeks, the knife is back at my door. Rob has reworked the entire knife. He was able to regrind the blade to a new profile, refinish the guards and handles, and refinish the sheath as well. All look like new! There is one scar left in the guard by his mark, which will serve as a reminder to me of it's historied past.
Here's a composite of the knife as it looks now:
http://www.fototime.com/{663F95ED-0A0A-11D6-BF72-00A0C9AAC4A3}/picture.JPG
Rob says that this knife would probably range about $1500-$1800 from him these days with who-knows-how-long of a wait. My total investment is much less than 1/2 of this. AND I got a knife with some real history. (So I feel)Oh yeah, dimensions? 9 1/2" blade 14 1/2" OAL. BIG!
I can't tell you how friendly and likable Rob Hudson has been to deal with. I am always impressed with the Knife World, and he is a stellar example of a Mastersmith. Obviously his work is world-class. Very cool.
Thanks for reading this far!
So, any other Rob Hudson fans out there? And, most importantly, any other Mike Gugliotti stories? He sounds like a man we ALL would have liked to have known!
Coop
Now HERE's a tale that has a good ending!
A couple of month's ago I came upon a listing on eBay for a 'Hudson Rare Quality Knife'. It was a crummy picture of a battered knife with a big chip in the blade. I emailed the seller, who knew little about it and took forever to respond. He did say it read 'Hudson' on one side and 'MS' on the other. Hmmmm. And no that isn't engraving, but scratches on the guards. Yow! (Rob Hudson for those who are unfamiliar is a VERY heralded Mastersmith from Maryland, whose work is rarely available. He won the Art Knife International in 1996).
I then found Rob Hudson's email and sent him a pic of the knife. NOT alluding to where I got it, but that I had an opportunity to purchase this knife. (I'm not tipping my hand to ANYONE, and it still had seven days left till it closed!) Did he have any history on it? Could he repair it? Here's his email back to me:
" Hi Jim,
Wow, I never thought I'd see that knife again! It has an interesting
history and probably a lot I don't know about. A guy named Mike Gugliotti
took several courses from me and eventually ordered this knife. Here's the
story:
Mike was one of the toughest, strongest, and coolest men I've ever met. He
was a circus strongman and I think high wire stuntman but his main
occupation was as a hardhat salvage diver in NY harbor and other places. He
loved hunting wild boar by various means---each time getting more risky.
Finally he evolved the hunt into a scenario where he would have the dog
handlers drive the 250 lb. boar down a trail in the canebreak TOWARDS Mike
who waited with only a knife. He would hold the knife straight in front of
him and let the boar impale itself on it. He wasn't at all satisfied with
the knives he tried so he designed one and had me make it. That's the one
you are interested in. It was supposed to open the widest possible wound
and then stop the pig from sliding onto the handle. He used it succesfully.
The nick may have come from hitting a bone, or maybe just some dumb kid
playing with it. Unfortunately, at 165' feet underwater, Mike's diving
helmet imploded and he was killed (maybe 10 years ago).
Who is offering the knife to you? I assumed his son got his knife
collection. I can grind the blade down but it is a lot of work. Normally I
rough grind, file and sand the blade while it is still soft, then I harden
it. This one is already hard so it will take a while. Luckily the nick
didn't go past the temperline so it will still be a good knife. Its
definitely one of a kind!
Thanks for your letter. Hope to hear from you again.
Best,
Rob Hudson "
So I bid the minimum ($325.00) and I wait.......
I'm the high bidder for the duration of the auction, and the auction closes at 2:20am EST. At 11:30PM, I place a support bid upping it to $380.00 and go to bed. After nine days no action, I'm pretty certain no-one wants to touch it. For whatever reason, I wake up at 2:10am and look at the clock. Hmmmmm. Sleepily, I go into the office just to ensure my place. BUSTED! There is another bastid who outbid me at $385.00 !! (I KNOW youre out there reading this!) Well, I made my $$ decision and closed the deal
in the final moments with another bid. Fortunately, I'm left as the high bidder at $406.00. WHEW!After the usual transaction stuff, the knife gets sent to me. It's HUGE and beat up. I send it immediately to Rob to give me a prognosis for cost. He emails me back and gives me three options all at increasing prices and levels of restoration. Of course I opt for the 'Big Enchilada' package. It's worth it. We talked over it's history again, and I told him that this knife, as long as I owned it, would never be used again, and that Mike Gugliotti's great memories and character were still intact--even in restoration, if not more so. Rob agreed emphatically. Rob was also excited to work on the knife. He said he always learns from earlier stuff and improves from review.
Here's a pic of the knife as I rec'd it. The eBay pics were worse. It was a gamble.
http://www.fototime.com/{663F94BF-0A0A-11D6-BF72-00A0C9AAC4A3}/picture.JPG
So within a few weeks, the knife is back at my door. Rob has reworked the entire knife. He was able to regrind the blade to a new profile, refinish the guards and handles, and refinish the sheath as well. All look like new! There is one scar left in the guard by his mark, which will serve as a reminder to me of it's historied past.
Here's a composite of the knife as it looks now:
http://www.fototime.com/{663F95ED-0A0A-11D6-BF72-00A0C9AAC4A3}/picture.JPG
Rob says that this knife would probably range about $1500-$1800 from him these days with who-knows-how-long of a wait. My total investment is much less than 1/2 of this. AND I got a knife with some real history. (So I feel
)Oh yeah, dimensions? 9 1/2" blade 14 1/2" OAL. BIG!I can't tell you how friendly and likable Rob Hudson has been to deal with. I am always impressed with the Knife World, and he is a stellar example of a Mastersmith. Obviously his work is world-class. Very cool.
Thanks for reading this far!
So, any other Rob Hudson fans out there? And, most importantly, any other Mike Gugliotti stories? He sounds like a man we ALL would have liked to have known!
Coop
