HISTORY OF THE

AMERICAN
BLADESMITH
SOCIETY by B.R. Hughes
ABS Founder & Secretary, Board of Directors
Former Dean of Students for Texarkana College
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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

About the Author

B.R. “Bill” Hughes was born in El

Dorado, Arkansas, in 1932. His father
was a veteran of the Mexican Border
campaign and World War I, and his
mother had once been the queen of
the Hempstead County, Arkansas,
watermelon festival.

After graduating from El Dorado

high school, he enrolled at Hender-
son State University in Arkadelphia,
Arkansas, where he lettered in base-
ball, was editor of the college news-
paper and assistant editor of the Henderson yearbook, and was active
in the drama productions started by the school. He graduated in 1954
with majors in history and literature and a minor in speech and drama.

He began his teaching career in Huttig, Arkansas, where he met Car-

olyn, his wife, who has served as editor of The ABS Journal. Over the
next decade, he taught and coached at several Arkansas high schools
before joining the Texarkana College staff in 1965 as Director of Public
Relations. He retired from the college in 1995 after having served over
25 years as Dean of Students. During this time span he also served as
Commissioner of the Northeast Texas Junior College Baseball Confer-
ence, President of the Texas Junior College Dean’s Association, on the
National Health Council, and on the Advisory Council of the American
Red Cross.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

About the Author (Continued)

B.R. began his writing career in 1951 as a reporter on the El Dorado Daily
News, and later wrote for the Arkansas Gazette and the Monroe Morn-
ing World. He launched his outdoor writing career in 1961, and had
material published in Guns, Gun World, The American Rifleman, etc.
His first knife related articles were published in Gunsport in 1966 and a
bit later in Gun World. His first book on knives, American Handmade
Knives of Today, appeared in 1972, and a year later, in conjunction with
Jack Lewis, Hughes co-authored The Gun Digest Book of Knives. Over
the years, he has authored or co-authored five books and over 500
magazine articles on knives.

In 1976, he became one of the four founders of the American Blade-

smith Society, and served the society as secretary for many years. He
received the Knifemakers’ Guild’s Nate Posner Award and the ABS Don
Hastings Award, and has been named to Blade Magazine’s Internation-
al Hall of Fame and the American Bladesmith Hall of Fame.

B.R. and Carolyn have two children, Barry and Lee Ann, and two
grand-children, Cody and Cale.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

T
he American Bladesmith
Society owes a tremendous
debt of gratitude to the late
W. F. “Bill” Moran. Without Bill there
would be no ABS, no School of
Bladesmithing, no ABS Hall of Fame
and Museum, and in all probability,
the art of the forged blade would not
be alive today.

The seeds of the Society were sown at the 1972 Guild Show in Kansas
City. Moran had been elected chairman of the organization, which is
what they called the president in those days. He and I were chatting
and he explained to me his dream of creating a group whose sole pur-
pose would be the preservation and advancement of the forged blade.
At that time, there were less than a dozen practicing bladesmiths in
America, and this number was decreasing, not increasing, although the
number of stock removal knife-
makers was climbing dramatically.

I know now that Bill had already

Scene from the 1973 Guild Show, where Bill
Moran, along with his wife, Margaret, unveiled and
explained his “rediscovery” of Damascus steel to
show visitors and fellow knifemakers.
made a few knives with ham-
mer-welded Damascus blades,
and I have been privileged to in-
spect the first such knife he ever
made, but that didn’t occur until
after his death February 12, 2006.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

However, at the 1973 Guild Show, also in Kansas City, Moran stepped
down as chairman and at the same time he unveiled eight knives pos-
sessing Damascus blades. They were the talk of the show! Few people
really understood their nature, but Bill handed out mimeographed
sheets explaining not only what Damascus steel was, but basically how
to make it! There was no charge for this sheet; Bill gave them away.

Permit me a side trip at this juncture. From time to time, I hear others
claim to have made Damascus blades prior to Moran. Now, virtually
everyone who was anyone in the world of knives was in Kansas City
for the 1973 Guild show. All the big names were there, including Tommy
Bish, Ken Warner, and John Wootters. None of these worthies ques-
tioned the fact that Bill was the first American to successfully turn out
Damascus blades in the 20th century.

Now, back to the story of the ABS.

Moran’s reintroduction of Damascus steel gave bladesmithing a much

needed shot in the arm. It was impossible to produce Damascus if one
were not a smith, and immediately a number of knifemakers became
interested in learning the art of the forged blade. It would have been
virtually impossible for the ABS to have succeeded had not Damascus
steel reentered the picture, courtesy of Bill Moran.

Others followed in his footsteps. A few months after the Guild Show,
Bill Bagwell, a Vivian, LA smith, turned out his first Damascus blade,
and a few months later, Don Hastings, a Palestine, TX smith, duplicated
the feat. I cannot prove it, but I believe that Michael Connor, a Winters,

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

TX, smith and protégé of Hastings’, was the fourth American smith to
make Damascus, and the late Sid Birt, Nashville, IN was the fifth.

The 1976 Guild Show was held in Dallas. After the show, Bagwell invited
Moran to visit him at his North Louisiana shop, and this offer was ac-
cepted. Bagwell then invited Hastings to attend the get-together, and
at the same time, he invited me, as a knife writer, to come and share
the fun. Also present was the late Bill Jordan, a noted gun writer who
lived in nearby Shreveport at the time and was “Guns” Shooting Editor.
During the day, the three bladesmiths forged a blade in Bagwell’s shop,
heat-treated it, and rough finished it. Next they tested it, and Jordan
could scarcely believe his eyes! A bit later, he published an article on
the virtues of the forged blade which was reprinted with permission in
the eighth issue of “The ABS Journal”.

After Jordan left, the four of us talked, and Bill Moran mused again of
the need for an organization that might serve to preserve the forged
blade. It was at this point that Moran said to me, “Bill, if we play our
cards right, one of these days we could have 25 members!” I admired
Bill’s enthusiasm, but I privately thought that the most we could hope
for might be a dozen or so advocates. When we returned to our respec-
tive homes, we continued to work on the concept. We communicated
by U. S. Mail and a couple of conference calls, which were paid for by
Moran. Email would have expedited the process, but, unfortunately, it
was not available at the time. Finally we thought we were ready. On De-
cember 4, 1976, Moran flew into the Shreveport airport, where Bagwell,
Hastings, and I joined him in that facility’s coffee shop. We had a pretty
good grip on what we wanted, and we drew up the bylaws on a lined

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

notebook. Moran was elected president, Hastings treasurer, Bagwell

secretary, and I became the first director.

We grew slowly. In 1977 we added the late Jimmy Lile to our board as
a director. Jimmy was a past president of the Guild, and he served as a
liaison officer with that group. Somehow, a rumor started that we were
in competition with the Guild, and nothing could have been further
from the truth. We all thought the Guild was a grand idea, but we want-
ed to preserve the forged blade. It was that simple.

It should be noted that awarding journeyman and master stamps

was not a part of our original bylaws. This was added later, and at the
New York knife show in 1981, the first master bladesmith ratings were
awarded to, in alphabetical order: Bill Bagwell, Jimmy Fikes, Don Fogg,
Don Hastings, Bill Moran, and James Schmidt. As a sidelight, Moran
felt that if he could get a celebrity to make the presentations, it might
create a little interest. Deborah Harry, the rock star, was at the show
with her husband, who was a knife buff. Ms. Harry was kind enough
to award the stamps, and, as the crowd had been advised that this
was going to take place, it created considerable interest. I have always
doubted that Moran knew who “Blondie” might have been, since the
attractive lady who handed him his stamp looked nothing like Dag-
wood Bumstead’s wife!

In 1984, Bagwell resigned his master’s stamp and his post on the board.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

In approximately 1985, the ABS, in conjunc-

tion with the University of Wyoming, held its
first hammer-in at Dubois Lakes, WY. The two
Bills and Don comprised the faculty, and while
the venture proved successful in the board’s
eyes, the university chose not to continue the
hammer-in. At this point, I approached James
Powell, the Director of Continuing Education
at Texarkana College, where I was Dean of Stu-
dents. I suggested to James that it might be
a good idea for TC to sponsor a hammer-in
at nearby Washington, AR, where there was a Don Hastings, Bill Bagwell and
Bill Moran during the ABS
replica of James Black’s smithy. There is rath- organizational meeting. Photos
were taken by B.R. Hughes.
er substantial evidence that during the win-
ter of 1830-1831 James Bowie stopped at Washington and purchased a
knife from Black, whose replicated shop is a major point of interest at
the State Park located there. The Black shop features a working forge,
at which both Don Hastings and Bill Bagwell had served as resident
smiths.

So it was that in April, 1984, the first Texarkana College spring ham-
mer-in was held in Washington, with the four founders serving as in-
structors. Today, this seminar, named the Piney Woods Hammer-In, is
still going strong and is the “granddaddy of the hammer-ins”.

At approximately the same time that Bagwell resigned, Lile, for reasons
related to his health, also resigned, and Hanford Miller and Jim Phillips
were added to the board. Miller was a Maryland bladesmith and Phillips

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

a military historian and writer from New Jersey. A bit later, Paul Burke,
Sr., a Baltimore attorney, was elected to the board. By 1986, Hastings’
health was failing fast, due to leukemia, which had been in remission.
He was not able to fulfill his teaching duties at the 1986 Piney Woods
hammer-in, and James Crowell, a bladesmith from Mt. View, AR, who
was to receive his mastersmith rating the following fall, ably filled his
slot. Hastings died in September, 1986, and Hanford Miller was appoint-
ed to fill his post as treasurer. To honor the late founder, the ABS creat-
ed the Don Hastings Memorial Award, which is the highest honor the
ABS can confer. Other ABS awards include the Margaret Moran Silver
Slipper launched in 2001; the W.W. Scagel Award instigated in 1998; the
B. R. Hughes Award initiated in 1995; the W. F. Moran Award, first pre-
sented in 1998; the Antique Bowie Knife Collector Awards, instigated in
1995; and the George Peck Award which began in 1994.

By this time the ABS was holding an annual exhibition in conjunction

with the Tulsa Gun Show, the second largest show of its type in the
U. S. at that time. The Society met for three years in Tulsa, and slowly
began to attract national attention. Joe Cordova, a smith from Bosque
Farms, NM, and Jay Hendrickson, a Frederick, MD, bladesmith, were
named to the board, along with Jeffrey Harris, a St. Louis businessman
and knife collector.

It was during this period that the stipulations associated with attaining
a journeyman’s stamp and a master’s stamps were formulated. These
went into effect in 1988, and the first smith to attain a master’s under
the new requirements was Wayne Goddard, Eugene, OR.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

The year 1988 was a memorable one for the

ABS. Moran had previously expressed his
opinion that the ABS needed a school where
bladesmithing could be taught. In 1986, while
he was visiting Carolyn and me in Texarkana,
Bill and I met with the Pioneer Washington
Restoration Foundation in Old Washington,
and presented our views on the vital role the
Foundation could play in the preservation of
an art form – bladesmithing. Judge James
Pilkington, chairman of the group, and George
Peck, a member of the Foundation and a
A familiar sight to forged knife fans,
banker and knife collector, loved the idea, and Margaret and Bill Moran at the 1990 ABS
meeting and show.
before the evening was over, the Foundation
had voted to construct a suitable facility in Old Washington, with the
stipulations that the ABS would provide instructors from the ranks of
its master smiths, and that “someone” other than the Foundation would
handle all of the administrative details. I went back to Texarkana College
and recruited the assistance of James Powell, and we asked for an audi-
ence with Dr. Carl “Cheesy” Nelson, who was president of TC at that time.
We made our best pitch, but Dr. Nelson was skeptical. “If it’s such a good
idea,” he asked, “how come no one else is doing it?” At that time, fate
intervened. Jeffrey Harris, who had recently attended one of our ham-
mer-ins, called Dr. Nelson to express to the President his delight at what
had been taught at Old Washington, and how well it had been present-
ed. When Harris learned that Dr. Nelson was “considering” a proposal
to create a bladesmithing school, Jeff said that if this came to pass, he
would make a “significant” contribution to help get the school started.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

That seemed to be the turning point. Dr. Nelson reasoned that if a very
successful St. Louis businessman was willing to put his own money
into a bladesmithing school, it must be a good idea! The first blade-
smithing school in the history of the United States opened its doors on
the first day of May, 1988. Having Texarkana College serve as adminis-
trator of the school has meant so much to the ABS. TC is a fully accred-
ited institution of higher education, and this provided the school with
instant credibility. James Powell served as the director until 1991, when
the current director, Scotty Hayes, assumed leadership. One of Scotty’s
first actions was to instigate a fall Piney Woods Hammer-in. The school
was an immediate success, and it proved Moran was right, because the
membership of the ABS began to grow rapidly.

In 1988 the master smiths on the Board of Directors decided to make a

knife using the combined efforts of these smiths which would be auc-
tioned at the Society’s annual meeting. This custom continues to the
present and the record price for one of these knives was achieved in
2006 when a version of Bill Moran’s famous ST-23 featuring the last Da-
mascus blade he had forged was sold for $37,000. In 1990, the ABS Mas-
ter Knife of the Year Program was launched in which a master’s name
is selected at random from a group of volunteers to make a knife which
will be auctioned at the Blade Show. This program extended in 1997 to
include an ABS Journeyman Knife of the Year and the following year
an ABS Master Folder was added. The generosity of ABS members has
helped to make the auctioning of these four an anxiously anticipated
event at the annual show.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

In 1989 Gordon Bloomquist, a lobbyist from Oregon, was named to the

board and served until 2001.

In 1991, after 15 years of leadership, during which he did not receive so

much as one penny from the Society, Bill stepped down as president.
Jay Hendrickson was elected to be the new ABS leader, and Moran’s
last official action as chairman to appoint Joe Keeslar, a mastersmith
from Almo, KY, to the board. But the ABS leaders would not allow Bill to
retire so easily! They unanimously elected him “Chairman Emeritus”,
meaning that he would serve on the board for the balance of his life, if
he chose to do so and he did just that!

Jay proved to be an able adminis-

trator, and he filled in many of the
blank spots that had been empty
during the Society’s first 15 years.
Moran was an inspirational leader,
but he was not a “detail man”. Hen-
drickson was, and many of the cur-
rent ABS policies were established
during Jay’s reign. In 1994, Dr. James Don Hastings, Bill Bagwell and Bill Moran during
Batson, a mastersmith from Mad- the ABS organizational meeting. Photo taken by B.R.
Hughes, the other founder.
ison, AL, and Jerry Fisk, a master
from Lockesburg, AR, were named to the board. Joe Cordova succeed-
ed Hendrickson in 1995.

The annual show of the Society had been shifted to the Blade Show,
then in Knoxville, TN, in 1987, and later the site was shifted to Atlanta,

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

GA, where it remains today. “Blade Magazine” has proven to be a good

overseer of “The World’s Number One Knife Show”, and both the ABS
and “Blade” have profited from this association.

Paul Burke, who had obtained tax-exempt status from the IRS for the
Society in 1985, died in 1999. Dr. Batson assumed the reins of leader-
ship that same year, and proved to be a creative and imaginative pres-
ident. Johnny Perry, a South Carolina businessman, had been elected
to the board in 1997, and a year later, Houston Price, publisher of “Knife
World”, became a director. Hanford Miller, who had served as treasur-
er after Don Hastings’ untimely death, retired from the board in 2002.
Greg Neely, a master from Houston, TX, the current ABS president, was
elected to the board in 1998. In 2002 Bert Gaston, a master from Little
Rock, AR, was named to the guiding body, as was Rick Dunkerley, a
master from Seeley Lake, MT. The following year, 2003, Steve Dunn, a
master from Smiths Grove, KY, was named a director, and in 2004 Har-
vey Dean, a Rockdale, TX, master, was elected to the board. In 2003 Joe
Keeslar took over as president, and provided a smooth, steady hand at
the helm.

The ABS launched its own museum and hall of fame in Little Rock, AR
in 1995 in conjunction with the Historic Arkansas museum, located in
downtown Little Rock. This is a highly respected facility, and the ex-
hibits there take a back seat to no museum in the country! The most
recent Hall of Fame induction ceremonies took place in 2006. The first
year inductions were held in 1996 and these were in the “first class”:
James Black, Jim Bowie, Don Hastings, B. R. Hughes, W. F. Moran, and
W. W. Scagel. In 1997 the ABS inducted Houston Price, W. D. Randall,

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

and R. H. Ruana. In 1999 James Lile and Ken Warner were elected. In
2001 Dr. James Batson, Paul Burke, Jerry Fisk, Bruce Voyles, and Dan-
iel Searles were inducted. In 2003 Samuel Bell, Jeffrey Harris, Margaret
Moran, Al Pendray, and Steve Shackleford were inducted and in 2006
Clyde Fischer, Don Fogg, Jay Hendrickson, and Henry Schively were
inducted. If you’ve never visited the ABS museum and Hall of Fame,
you should. It’s something of which the Society and its members can
be very, very proud.

Inspired by the success of the Piney Woods Hammer-In, the ABS began
to sponsor a series of weekend seminars of its own. The first of these
events was held in August 2001 in Fruitport, Michigan with the assis-
tance of Dr. James Lucie. The following year the Michigan Hammer-In
was moved to Mike Bauer’s farm, also near Fruitport, where it remained
through 2004. Additional ABS hammer-ins have been held in Califor-
nia, Maryland, Montana, New York, North Carolina Winston-Salem and
Haywood Community College in Clyde, and Ohio. ABS members have
also been very active in weekend seminars held in Alabama, California,
Texas, France, New Zealand, and South Africa. The ABS Hammer-In
Program is under the co-direction of Dr. James Batson and Mike Vagni-
no. For the most part, Dr. Batson handles hammer-ins East of the Mis-
sissippi and Vagnino coordinates those west of the river.

In 2003, the ABS blazed new trails with an All-Forged Blade Exposition
held in Reno, Nevada. This has proven to be a most successful under-
taking and some observers have termed it, “the classiest knife show in
America”. The last Reno Expo was held in 2008 and in 2009 the extrav-
aganza moved to San Antonio, Texas, the home of the Alamo.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

The ABS has also stressed its youth program

and has interacted with the Boy Scouts of
America and the 4-H Organization on a number
of occasions. The first ABS youth hammer-in
was held in 2007 in Tennessee. Wes Byrd and
Larry Harley have been extremely active in the
promotion of this phase of the society’s efforts
to reach the youth of America. Tim Potier joined
the duo to present a series of demonstrations to the students of the
French Camp Academy in Mississippi.

In January, 2008 Robert Calvert, a banker-businessman from Ray-

ville, LA, was added to the governing group. Robert is a journeyman
smith, but he was added to the board for his business acumen. Another
change on the Society’s board occurred in January, 2008, when Jerry
Fisk submitted his retirement as second vice-president, having served
almost 14 years on the ABS’ governing body and contributing greatly
to the ABS in numerous undertakings. On December 1, 2008 Dan Cas-
sidy, a former career federal prosecutor and Journeyman Smith from
Salida, Colorado was elected to the board. In August, 2009, at the board
meeting in San Antonio, Texas, Bill Wiggins, a Journeyman Smith from
Canton, North Carolina was added to the board.

During 2010 and 2011 after many years of distinguished service in various
capacities, Johnny Perry, Rick Dunkerley, and Bert Gaston resigned from
the ABS Board. In 2011 Master Smiths Dr. Dan Petersen from Kansas, Kevin
Cashen from Michigan, Michael Vagnino from California, and Mark Zales-

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

ky, the editor of “Knife World”, were elected to the ABS Board of Directors.
Bill Moran, who died in Frederick, MD, February 12, 2006, was a staunch
believer that the ABS Board should not be composed only of blade-
smiths, although only a mastersmith may serve as Chairman of the
Board and president. Moran felt strongly that the board should include
businessmen, historians, journalists, and the like, as well as smiths,
to provide a sense of balance. The history of the ABS has proven that
Moran, as usual, was right. The sole purpose of the Society today is the
same as it was in 1976 – to promote and preserve the art of the forged
blade, and the path chosen to accomplish that goal is one of education.
It is the mission of the ABS to teach smiths how to turn out completed
knives that due to their quality and artistry will be marketable to the
public. Teaching is the role of the ABS.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

This near-life photograph of the famed smith Bill Moran working in his
Middletown shop was featured in a special calendar of Frederick area craftsmen.

The magnificent flagstone forge was built using rocks that were part of a stone
fence on the old Lime Kiln farm. Photo by Harriet Wise.

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 History of the
American Bladesmith Society
by B.R. Hughes

Above: Dedication
ceremony at the
Washington, Arkansas
ABS School of
Bladesmithing.
Bill Moran used a
Bowie knife to cut the
ribbon as
Dr. Carl Nelson,
Margaret Moran
and Judge James
Pilkinton look on.

Left: Bill Moran with

his pup, Duke, taking
a break at his famous
forge.

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