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"Ever
since 9/11, I have thought about a special knife to express my
feelings about this country. A knife… especially in the “Bowie
Style”, what with the recognizable “American” line of the
back of the blade formed straight for most of its length, then
tapered concavely toward the point… would be a natural for such
a tribute. I knew I wanted to make something… perhaps even more
than just one custom project… but frankly, when I saw all the
“quickie” products thrown on the market to jump on the
bandwagon, I decided then and there to wait until I could make
something that came totally from the heart, and said more about
being an American than about the tragic event.
The
Declaration of Independence has always been very special to me. My
father gave me a beautiful parchment copy when I was very little,
and I kept it over my bed for many years and read it almost every
night. Having older sisters can be a pain, as I’ve mentioned
before, and what happened with me and this document was no
expectation! One day in the summer, when I was around six, I was
horsing around with my friend Paul in my bedroom, when our
rough-housing got a bit over-charged and he threw me over his head
into my wall! I not only made a good size dent (I always had a
very hard head!), but knocked my beloved Declaration of
Independence right off the wall, and in my haste to scramble back
up and chase after Paul (who got scared and was running away!), I
inadvertently stepped on the frame, and tore the parchment copy to
ribbons! I felt terrible, but to make matters worse,
my oldest sister, who loved to bust my balls, even at that early
age… convinced me that the document I had just destroyed was the
REAL ORIGINAL Declaration of Independence and now that I had destroyed
it… America was no longer free! She told me that we could no
longer enjoy “Life”, “Liberty” and “The Pursuit of
Happiness”… and it was all my fault! She was not only going to
tell Mom, but the whole country, and they were going to be really
mad at me!
I
was so terrified that I ran outside and hid behind the incinerator
for the rest of the day, until my Dad finally found me way after
supper and convinced me that they were just pulling my leg.
It’s
strange, because I felt the same sense of fear and loss on 9-11.
Again, I felt like someone had stepped on our freedoms, tore them
to ribbons, and the horror of that loss poured over me once again.
As I watched what was happening in New York and Washington, DC, I
was, once again, that little boy hiding behind the incinerator,
terrified about having lost our freedoms. On that day, numbed and
in shock, like the rest of the nation, I tried to go about my
business. I had to pick up a custom “Particulièrement Choisibar”
bar of 420 Modified “Fortement ouvré” Stainless Steel.
It was one of the best forged raw bars that I had ever seen. But,
like the rest of the country, my mind was elsewhere, and I
didn’t notice that I had given them the wrong dimensions, and
the bar was actually three times the size I wanted!
Finally,
a few months ago, I picked up this bar again, and realized when I
had obtained it… and it hit me at once, that I could use this
one bar to make three “freedoms”… all strong and special on
their own, but together, unified to create what makes up
America.
Thus
“FREEDOM 3” was born. “Life”, “Liberty” and
“Happiness” are as precious on their own, as they are as a
team, which is why I decided to let them be sold, either
separately, or as a group. I used special materials to give each
one their own symbolism… again from the same bar of steel, just
as our forefathers created the greatest document to freedom, and
thus the greatest country in the world from so many separated
unalienable rights, yet connected with one strong ideal.
It
is therefore perhaps more about the celebration of America, than
it is a memorial. But I feel that now, more than ever, we need to
celebrate what we have… what we are, than morn what we feel we
may have temporarily lost”.
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