James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Kershaw Adjustable Fillet Knife | Seven 7 Step Fishing Custom Blade Set w/ Hard Plastic Sheath
1 min read
Unless you’re accustomed to struggling with the wrong size of knife for the fish you happened to catch, you may wish you had the money or the space to carry a full set of fillet knives with you. Kershaw makes fixed blade fillet knives from six inches blade length to nine, but they take up a lot of room in the tackle box. Consider Kershaw’s Seven Step instead — their full range of blades and more, in one adjustable knife.
With the adjustable Seven Step Fillet Knife, you’ll get a narrow and flexible fillet blade of 420J2 high carbon stainless steel, notched to set firmly at half-inch stages from a short 5-1/2 inch cutting edge — small enough for pan fish — to a full-sized 9-inch blade for that fish you’ve only imagined. The construction is simple and not quite foolproof. Depress the locking lever in the back of the handle to lift the locking pin from the slot cut in the spine of the blade. Carefully adjust the blade length by manually shifting it in or out of the hard plastic handle. Make sure the locking pin seats solidly in the blade notch before resuming work.
Effectiveness will depend very much on the care you give this interesting knife. If you let filth accumulate in the handle, the lock won’t be as reliable, and this style of construction will definitely take more time to clean than a fixed blade with solid components. The size and effectiveness of this new grip also doesn’t quite match the Kershaw fixed blade solution, but considering the versatility of this knife, it’s an acceptable trade-off.
The Kershaw Seven Step comes with a hard plastic ABS belt sheath built to hold the knife at its minimum length of 10-1/4 inches.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
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Unless you’re accustomed to struggling with the wrong size of knife for the fish you happened to catch, you may wish you had the money or the space to carry a full set of fillet knives with you. Kershaw makes fixed blade fillet knives from six inches blade length to nine, but they take up a lot of room in the tackle box. Consider Kershaw’s Seven Step instead — their full range of blades and more, in one adjustable knife.
