With all my 30^th Year Limited Edition Series, I want to make knives that have inspired me to get started in this craft that has given me such joy. Many people encouraged me. I had worked with my father who was a great knife maker, but of course at the time, I never thought I could be as good as he was! One of the first people who really kicked my butt into thinking differently was legendary writer Jack Mitchell of “Gun World”.  I was at a sporting clay shoot with him, and at lunch was sketching different ideas for knives. I have always had an almost mystical attraction to Hawaii, and at the time had only dreamed of actually having a second home there, having never even been there myself! However a beautiful friend of mine, a yoga instructor had sent me a photo of her doing her exercises on the prow of a boat in the waters outside Maui. The grace of her body, the blue of the prow’s boat trim and deck, set against her matching blouse and shorts, not to mention the most stunning water I’d ever seen, had stuck with me. I had used up over a half-dozen napkins with these drawings, when Jack came over, and without have a clue what was on my mind (especially those yoga instructors legs, that could make me turn to Jello-O whenever I thought about them!) he said: “that’s a beautiful knife… it looks like the prow of a ship!” I was not only stunned, but I must say a bit embarrassed. I mean I was hoping he had no idea what “adventures” I was thinking of at that moment with me and the Yoga instructor on a desert island! But Jack was serious, and he told me that I should make that knife. At the time I thought that was impossible. I couldn’t see myself actually being able to create the graceful delicate lines of the blade, and had no idea how to create the layers of white and blue for the handle to match the beauty of that photo. So when I decided to create a series of limited edition knives for my 30^th Anniversary, I searched all over and found both my original sketches, and the original photo! And thus, “The Prow – Limited Edition” was born! I’m my own worse critic when it comes to my knives, and as a perfectionist am rarely totally please with what I do… but I must say, that this one did come out far above my expectations!