- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 12,944
I am sure if you are new here or not heard of me that you would like to know a bit about me. I use my initials as my screen name on most forums I belong to unless the system they use at the forum I register on refuses to allow me to use just three letters, but I am known by Steve to my friends. My full name is Stephen Taylor Rice. I am a veteran from the Air Force. I am married and my wife and I met in the Air Force in the Dental Corp. We both worked as professionals in the dental industry all our lives.
I separated from the service after my first six year term in the Air Force and went on to work at several dental supply companies where I sold a lot of equipment. My wife stayed on as active duty moving from active duty AF to active duty Indian Health Service and no we are not Indian but we lived in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington State, Alsaska, and other states like, Iowa, Illinois, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas before that in the Air Force. The IHS is a branch of the Coast Guard believe it or not and April, my wife eventually retired from active duty service with them as a Commander receiving the pension of 50% of pay grade after 22 years of service. We've lived all over the country as you can see and seen the world thanks to that experience and some other experiences we created on our own. Due to the nature of my job I was able to find work anywhere and over the years I worked for three different companies until 2002 when we both retired.
My son Brandon, our only child is a Federal Agent now living in West Virginia. He is 29 years old and married. I am quite proud of Brandon, he served in the National Guard for close to 10 years while going to school at the same time and did a tour of active duty for 18 months, 4 for training in NY and 14 which were spent in Iraq. It was the worst 14 months of my life and I am heart felt glad he got home in one peace mentally and physically. Some of the men that went over there with him did not. My wife and I currently live in N.E. Oklahoma where we've lived for 20 years. I grew up in West Virginia being born in Cumberland Maryland.
Since April and I said goodbye to dentistry and all to do with that except taking care of our own teeth all I do now is what I want to and mostly that involves working on folding knives which has been a passion of mine since my grandfather gave me my first pen knife at an early age. What you see mostly in the way of folding knives is what I prefer to work with these days. It is fortunate that the majority of the work I'm asked to do is my preference I guess, but I think when you look around my forums, or my blog, Face Book, or My Space accounts you will be able to tell in short order the type of folders I specialize in and stick with.
I rarely touch fixed blades also referred to as sheath knives anymore for work. I refer most slip joints (non locking type folders that have finger nail nicks in the blades to open them for those of you that don't know what that is) out to others these days as I really don't enjoy the pinned type folders as much to work on as the take apart screw together type although I do like them and own some. It is true I have worked on some pinned folders and probably will allow a few but my preference is what I try to stick with at this time. Although I rarely work on pinned types of knives anymore I once did back in the 70s and 80s. Unfortunately I sold a lot of the equipment needed to properly service those types of folders so what I can do on them is very limited.
I sign all my knives and my work with my runic lettering traditional punch I had made up with my STR signiture which was both easier to do with just three letters since I have to punch it with a ball peen hammer to stamp anything and also it was less money to purchase. This stamp and how I've always signed "STR" on my knives is why I prefer that for my screen name since I was already using that for years before forums even existed. Anyway, most of my work is going to have that stamp somewhere on it. On production folders I've worked on I stamp them on the inside if I do a new lock or rebuild the entire folder or some other larger job like that. Where ever I put it I am sure to put it where its easily found without the need to take the knife apart. My custom knives are usually signed on the outside unless the design or some grooving prevent this in which case I'll stamp it on the inside. I also sign all my custom pocket clips on the underside although some early ones did go out unsigned. Prototypes may end up signed or unsigned. Proto-type folders stand out because they are not nearly as refined or finished looking as one I sell so if you do happen to get hold of one and it just looks off or rough thats probably what it is. There are a few floating around out there.
Oh yeah, I am not a big fan of logos or writing on blades so I rarely sign a blade at all on ones I sell. I actually like nice clean blades. I prefer them clean and mark free rather than having writing on them,particularly if the writing is such that it stands out. Sterile is the term we knife nuts use to describe a clean blade, much like Chris Reeves does with his Sebenza when it comes to this preference. If I did sign a blade in the past it was one I signed by hand using my dremmel and a dental diamond burr and that is my way of remembering it was a special give away knife or some other kind of special deal folder for a friend or family member. Many of those have ended up getting sold or traded later. One time one was even lost and found its way back to me so I use that hand done signiture as my way of knowing it is one of my give away knives should I see it again down the road on a warranty call.
Well, thats about it I guess. Please make yourselves at home. Post freely. Ask questions and if you are a maker or knowledgeable knife nut shine your light. I am always open to learning and growing in this practice of knife making.
STR
I separated from the service after my first six year term in the Air Force and went on to work at several dental supply companies where I sold a lot of equipment. My wife stayed on as active duty moving from active duty AF to active duty Indian Health Service and no we are not Indian but we lived in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington State, Alsaska, and other states like, Iowa, Illinois, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas before that in the Air Force. The IHS is a branch of the Coast Guard believe it or not and April, my wife eventually retired from active duty service with them as a Commander receiving the pension of 50% of pay grade after 22 years of service. We've lived all over the country as you can see and seen the world thanks to that experience and some other experiences we created on our own. Due to the nature of my job I was able to find work anywhere and over the years I worked for three different companies until 2002 when we both retired.
My son Brandon, our only child is a Federal Agent now living in West Virginia. He is 29 years old and married. I am quite proud of Brandon, he served in the National Guard for close to 10 years while going to school at the same time and did a tour of active duty for 18 months, 4 for training in NY and 14 which were spent in Iraq. It was the worst 14 months of my life and I am heart felt glad he got home in one peace mentally and physically. Some of the men that went over there with him did not. My wife and I currently live in N.E. Oklahoma where we've lived for 20 years. I grew up in West Virginia being born in Cumberland Maryland.
Since April and I said goodbye to dentistry and all to do with that except taking care of our own teeth all I do now is what I want to and mostly that involves working on folding knives which has been a passion of mine since my grandfather gave me my first pen knife at an early age. What you see mostly in the way of folding knives is what I prefer to work with these days. It is fortunate that the majority of the work I'm asked to do is my preference I guess, but I think when you look around my forums, or my blog, Face Book, or My Space accounts you will be able to tell in short order the type of folders I specialize in and stick with.
I rarely touch fixed blades also referred to as sheath knives anymore for work. I refer most slip joints (non locking type folders that have finger nail nicks in the blades to open them for those of you that don't know what that is) out to others these days as I really don't enjoy the pinned type folders as much to work on as the take apart screw together type although I do like them and own some. It is true I have worked on some pinned folders and probably will allow a few but my preference is what I try to stick with at this time. Although I rarely work on pinned types of knives anymore I once did back in the 70s and 80s. Unfortunately I sold a lot of the equipment needed to properly service those types of folders so what I can do on them is very limited.
I sign all my knives and my work with my runic lettering traditional punch I had made up with my STR signiture which was both easier to do with just three letters since I have to punch it with a ball peen hammer to stamp anything and also it was less money to purchase. This stamp and how I've always signed "STR" on my knives is why I prefer that for my screen name since I was already using that for years before forums even existed. Anyway, most of my work is going to have that stamp somewhere on it. On production folders I've worked on I stamp them on the inside if I do a new lock or rebuild the entire folder or some other larger job like that. Where ever I put it I am sure to put it where its easily found without the need to take the knife apart. My custom knives are usually signed on the outside unless the design or some grooving prevent this in which case I'll stamp it on the inside. I also sign all my custom pocket clips on the underside although some early ones did go out unsigned. Prototypes may end up signed or unsigned. Proto-type folders stand out because they are not nearly as refined or finished looking as one I sell so if you do happen to get hold of one and it just looks off or rough thats probably what it is. There are a few floating around out there.
Oh yeah, I am not a big fan of logos or writing on blades so I rarely sign a blade at all on ones I sell. I actually like nice clean blades. I prefer them clean and mark free rather than having writing on them,particularly if the writing is such that it stands out. Sterile is the term we knife nuts use to describe a clean blade, much like Chris Reeves does with his Sebenza when it comes to this preference. If I did sign a blade in the past it was one I signed by hand using my dremmel and a dental diamond burr and that is my way of remembering it was a special give away knife or some other kind of special deal folder for a friend or family member. Many of those have ended up getting sold or traded later. One time one was even lost and found its way back to me so I use that hand done signiture as my way of knowing it is one of my give away knives should I see it again down the road on a warranty call.
Well, thats about it I guess. Please make yourselves at home. Post freely. Ask questions and if you are a maker or knowledgeable knife nut shine your light. I am always open to learning and growing in this practice of knife making.
STR
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