Custom Knife Makers Produce Blades Beyond The Norm

A look at two knives in Larry Rosi's Bridgeville shop,

the one at bottom finished, the one at top in the

process of completion.

BY BOB FRYE

Bruce Godlseky is sure of at least one thing: Everyone needs a knife.

“If you think you can go through a day without some kind of cutting tool, you're wrong,” he said. “We're always using knives, scissors, something.

“The last 15 years, I don't think there's been one day I've left the house without a knife, at least one.”

His, though, are a little different. Owner of Birdog Forge in Kiski Township, Armstrong County, Godlesky makes his own.

That makes him one of a handful of custom knife makers in the region. But just how many exist is hard to pin down.

There are a couple of national and international organizations that represent these artisans, such as The Knifemakers' Guild and the American Bladesmith Society. None are particularly large.

The Guild, for example, has only about 150 members around the world, said secretary Charlie Mathews of Twin Blades in Statesboro, Ga. That is because becoming a member takes years of being judged by peers, among other criteria.

“It's not something for everybody,” Mathews said.

Pennsylvania doesn't have its own organization like some other states.

Those in the craft often know of one another, though, said Larry Rosi of L.J. Rosi Custom Knives in Bridgeville. Tinkerers by nature and often with a stubborn streak — Rosi won't allow a knife to leave his shop until he is satisfied with it, no matter what the customer thinks — custom knife makers are a tight-knit group willing to share information.

That's because they have one thing in common, he said. They're “knife junkies.”

“It's an addiction. It's a love. It's a passion,” Rosi said. “I don't know of one knife maker who ever quit until he just got to the point where he physically couldn't do it anymore.”

Why should customers like hunters and anglers want their products, though?

That's something many people ask, Rosi said. After all, a custom knife will be more expensive — perhaps significantly so — than a factory blade.

Makers cite two reasons: performance and looks.

Every type of steel has a limit to how hard it can be, Rosi said. Make it too hard, and it will chip.

“Factory knife makers lean toward keeping theirs on the soft side because they know you're going to use it for everything you're not supposed to,” he said. “It's not just going to be a knife. It's going to be a screwdriver, a pry bar and who knows what else.”

He takes his blades to their limits, which gives them better edge retention — meaning they stay sharp — longer and better.

“My thinking is, if you buy a Ferrari, why drive it at 50 mph? Run the heck out of it. It's the same thing,” Rosi said. “If you're buying a piece of high-performance steel, heat treat it to get all out of it you can.”

Custom knives are unique, too, Godlesky said. The blade can be made of Damascus steel with any one of several patterns in the metal, for example. It can be made longer or shorter, thicker or thinner and in various shapes. Handles can be anything from bone to antler to wood, like the chunk of apricot one customer wanted used because it came from a tree planted on the family farm by relatives a century earlier.

“They wanted a touch of home, I guess,” he said. “I do a bunch of stuff like that. Whatever you imagine you can do.”

Large-scale manufacturers can't offer that level of quality and craftsmanship, nor do they really try, Mathews said.

“They're in it to spit out knives by the thousands. We produce a different product,” he said.

That takes time. It can take five hours or more to create a single knife, “and if that's if everything goes right,” Rosi said. That's why most custom makers count the knives made in a year in the hundreds, he said.

There's a satisfaction in crafting each one, though, especially if they get used, Godlesky said. Some don't.

Some custom knife makers build pieces that, while theoretically functional, are made with every intention of being put on a shelf.

“People say what are you going to do with that $10,000 piece of art? Well, the answer is you're going to hang it on the wall and look at it,” Mathews said.

“Sometimes people ask you to build a knife like that just to display it. To me, using the knife, that's part of it. But some people just want to look at them.”

Neither Rosi nor Godlesky cater to that market. They make working knives intended for hunters, anglers, trappers, campers and other outdoorsmen.

Seeing one at work in the field is the ultimate reward, Godlesky said.

“There's nothing better than getting a photo someone's sent me of them with a deer or a bear or an elk and they're holding one of my knives,” Godlesky said. “That makes me smile.

“No matter how pretty a knife is, I don't want it sitting in a safe. I want to see blood on it.”

Information

Anyone interested in learning more about custom knives or seeing the work of local makers, Bruce Godlesky's Birdog Forge can be found at birdogforge.com, and Larry Rosi's work can be found atljrosicustomknives.com.

Information on The Knifemakers' Guild can be found atknifemakersguild.com. The American Bladesmith Society is atamericanbladesmith.com.

Bob Frye is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via@bobfryeoutdoors.

PA Hunting License Fees Could Double By 2025

By John Hayes / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The words “social” and “media” were rarely used together, and it cost 33 cents to mail a letter. In 1999, a gallon of milk was $2.88 and $5 got you a ticket to see “Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace.” And if you could drag yourself away from “The Sopranos” long enough to go hunting, a Pennsylvania adult resident license cost $19.

Just about everything is more expensive now, but the price of a hunting license is still $19 — the PALS automated licensing system deducts another $1.70 from your debit card.

The Game Commission has a leaner staff than in 1999, but personnel costs have increased by $35 million. Pennsylvania spends no general fund tax dollars on its wildlife commissions. The agency benefited from the boom years of shale gas leases, but most of that money, we’re told, has been spent.

In his spring financial report, executive director Matt Hough reminded legislators, without providing details, that if revenues were not raised services would be cut. He recommended a series of gradual license fee increases reaching $39 for an adult resident license in 2025. This week, Hough plans to press his case to the media as he continues to press the legislature.

Remember what you recently paid for a gallon of milk — the price may be relevant in 10 years.

Veterans With Disabilities Goose Hunt Announced

Forty applicants will have special opportunity at Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area.

 

Keith Harbaugh, director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Northwest Region, today announced a new initiative to honor military veteran hunters with disabilities. 

          “We are proud to offer qualified veterans with disabilities the opportunity to hunt geese from a blind in the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area located in Crawford County,” Harbaugh said.

          The hunt will be held on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015. This is outside of the established shooting days for the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area. This special opportunity will be limited to 40 successful applicants. Hunters may bring an individual to assist, if needed; but hunting will be limited to the lucky 40 hunters selected. 

          “We are working with volunteers that will be available to assist if the hunter wants and/or needs some help. We have worked closely with the Crawford County Veterans Administration to make this hunt happen,” Harbaugh said. “We are excited to offer this opportunity to honor these individuals who have sacrificed so much for our country.”

          Applications can be obtained from the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters, all six region office locations, and the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area. Applications also can be downloaded from the agency’s website www.pgc.state.pa.us.  Click on the icon advertising the Pymatuning Veterans with Disabilities Goose Hunt.

          Applications must be received at the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area, 9552 Hartstown Road, Hartstown, PA 16131 by August 24, 2015.

          A drawing will be held at least three weeks prior to the scheduled hunt. Successful applicants will be notified by mail.

 

QUALIFICATIONS

 

1. Any veteran who has a disability that consists of the loss of one or more limbs, or the loss of the use of one or more limbs, or who has a disability rating of between 60 and 100 percent disabled as certified by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and who meets all other qualifications of PA C.S. 34 (with regard to hunting license eligibility) and is otherwise mentally and physically fit, is qualified to apply to participate in this hunt.

 

2. Applicants shall provide a statement that the applicant is a veteran and that the qualifying disability was service incurred.

 

3. Successful applicants are required to possess a valid Pennsylvania hunting license, a valid Pennsylvania migratory game bird hunting license and a valid Federal Duck Stamp.

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

1. LEGIBLY PRINT all requested information on the application.

 

2. If this application is successfully drawn the applicant will receive a Permit Reservation with additional instructions which entitles them to hunt on the date listed above.

 

3. This application must be received at the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area by August 24, 2015. Applications must be mailed to the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area, 9552 Hartstown Road, Hartstown, PA 16131.

 

4. A drawing will be held at least three weeks prior to the date of the hunt. Successful applicants will be notified by mail.

 

5. Your name may only appear on one application for the Goose Hunt for Veterans with Disabilities. Application for this hunt does not preclude application to the regular season goose hunt.

 

6. This hunt will be conducted on September 25, 2015, outside established shooting days at the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area, to honor veterans with disabilities, therefore no unclaimed blind permits will be available. Successful applicants will not be permitted to invite additional hunters as is done during the regularly scheduled shooting days.

Lawmakers Debate Use Of Semiautomatic Rifles For Hunting In Pennsylvania

By Bob Frye

 

There's only one state left in the nation that does not permit hunters to use semiautomatic rifles in the field: Pennsylvania.

 

There was talk Monday of changing that.

 

The House of Representatives game and fisheries committee held a hearing in Harrisburg on two bills that would legalize that style of gun.

 

One, House Bill 233, sponsored by Rep. Curtis Sonney of Erie County, would legalize semiautomatic rifles of .223 or smaller caliber, with a six-shot capacity, for hunting coyotes, foxes and groundhogs. The other, House Bill 366, sponsored by Allegheny County lawmaker Rick Saccone, would limit centerfire semiautomatics to containing five rounds but makes no mention of caliber or species.

 

“That's the beauty of it,” Saccone told fellow lawmakers.

 

Under his bill, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which makes the rules regarding firearm type, seasons and species for all other weapons, would make those same decisions in regards to semiautomatics, he said.

 

It has the support of the National Rifle Association and others.

 

Matt Hough, executive director of the commission, told lawmakers the commission supports legalizing semiautomatics. It doesn't necessarily prefer one bill to the other, he added.

 

It does want a say, though. The commission would like the authority to decide which species could be hunted with semiautomatics and when, limit the guns to having six rounds in the magazine and chamber, combined, and prohibit their use for any species during overlaps with deer, bear, turkey or elk seasons.

“As long as we can regulate, we're fine,” Hough said.

 

Representatives of sportsmen's groups were split.

 

Kim Stolfer, of McDonald, a certified firearms instructor representing the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League and other organizations, said he prefers Saccone's bill, as did Randy Santucci of McKees Rocks, president of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania.

 

Stolfer said semiautomatics are becoming “more and more accepted in hunting camps” across the country, for multiple reasons. They are no more or less dangerous than any other type of firearm, he said, but do reduce felt recoil and muzzle jump and allow a hunter to remain on target when making follow-up shots at game. That has been recognized elsewhere for decades, he added.

 

“It's just been a long tradition in many other states,” Stolfer said.

 

Santucci pointed out that semiautomatics are not new to Pennsylvania. Hunters in special- regulations areas — the most heavily-populated parts of the state, surrounding Pittsburgh and Philadelphia — can use semiautomatic shotguns to hunt deer, while hunters statewide can use them to hunt turkeys, waterfowl and small game, he said.

 

Legalizing their use would give hunters the same “rights and respect” their counterparts get nationally, Santucci added.

 

John Kline, representing the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said that group's delegates debated the semiauto issue at their spring convention and found no evidence they are unsafe or lead to inappropriate uses by sportsmen, Kline said. They didn't all agree on which particular bill to support, though.

 

A majority favored Bill 233 because it represents an “incremental approach,” Kline said, but others preferred Bill 366, while still others didn't like either, feeling they intruded on the Game Commission's sole authority to make the rules regarding calibers, magazine capacities and seasons, he said.

 

If any bill passes, there will be “perceptions” to overcome, Hough said, such as the safety concerns that have prompted some landowners to suggest they'll post their property against hunting before allowing semiautomatic rifles on it.

 

“We have to educate them,” Rep. Dan Moul of Adams County told him. “That's your job.”

 

Bob Frye is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobfryeoutdoors.

Pennsylvania Hunting Licenses On Sale Now

Sales for 2015-16 hunting and furtaker licenses going on now.

          Hunting and furtaker licenses for Pennsylvania’s 2015-16 seasons are on sale now.

          New licenses are effective July 1, and are valid through June 30, 2016. All license fees remain unchanged.

          Licenses can be purchased online through the Pennsylvania Automated License System (PALS) website,https://www.pa.wildlifelicense.com. 

          Licenses also can be purchased over the counter at all Game Commission region offices and the Harrisburg headquarters, as well as through more than 600 in-state and out-of-state issuing agents. 

          A list of issuing agents is available at the Game Commission’s website, www.pgc.state.pa.us.

          The beginning of license sales for the upcoming seasons also serves as a reminder for Pennsylvania hunters who hold senior lifetime hunting or furtaker licenses, or combinations of those licenses. While those hunters need not pay a license or transaction fee, they must pick up new licenses and harvest tags.

          Additionally, those who hold range permits that allow them to use shooting ranges at state game lands are reminded that now-valid permits expire on June 30, and that new permits will need to be purchased for range use on and after July 1. 

          The permits, which are required for range users not possessing a valid hunting or furtaker license, are $30 and must be purchased by credit card through The Outdoor Shop on the Game Commission’s website, or at any of the Game Commission’s region offices or the Harrisburg headquarters.

          Licenses purchased through PALS are subject to a 70-cent transaction fee for each license or permit, and that fee is paid directly to the Nashville-based company that runs PALS.

          Through PALS, hunters can purchase not only their general hunting and furtaker licenses, but add-on licenses needed for archery or muzzleloader hunting, specialty licenses to hunt bears or set out after a second spring gobbler, permits to trap fishers and otters, and more.

          In short, what can be purchased from an issuing agent, can be purchased online.
          Hunters also can use PALS to apply for the elk-license drawing or purchase Deer Management Assistance Program permits. 

          Elk licenses are awarded by lottery and the deadline to submit an application is July 31. It costs $10.70 to apply and application fees are nonrefundable. 

          Antlerless deer permits issued through the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) also are available to purchase online for $10.70, and DMA 2 Antlerless Deer Permits are available for $6.70.

          County treasurers statewide on July 13 will begin accepting applications for antlerless licenses. Pennsylvania residents can apply beginning July 13. Nonresidents can apply starting July 27. Beginning Aug. 3, treasurers will begin selling the remaining unsold licenses for any wildlife-management unit for which licenses remain available. A second round of unsold license sales will begin Aug. 17.

          Except in Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) 2B, 5C and 5D, hunters may only apply for one license during each application period. In those WMUs, hunters may apply for an unlimited number of licenses. Only one license for WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D can be purchased during the initial round of sales, then beginning Aug. 3, up to three applications may be sent per envelope and licenses will continue to be sold until the allocation is expended.

          Over-the-counter antlerless license sales in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D begin Aug. 24.

          A bear license is required to hunt bears, and bear-hunting opportunities in some areas of the state begin as early as Sept. 19.

          The deadline to purchase a bobcat or fisher permit is Dec. 19, and otter permits must be purchased before Feb. 21. And those wishing to purchase a second spring gobbler license must do so by April 29, 2016. 

          Hunters purchasing their licenses early also might not be able to immediately get a copy of the 2015-16 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest regulations booklet. Some issuing agents won’t receive the booklets until late June. A complete version of the publication is posted on the agency’s website.  And hunters who don’t receive a printed copy of the booklet initially may return to the issuing agent and pick one up after the booklets are delivered.

Legislation Would Impact Sportsmen In PA

By Bob Frye

 

Pennsylvania lawmakers introduce a lot of bills in the House of Representatives and Senate each year. Only a relative handful become law.

 

So, take these for what they're worth.

 

But lawmakers already this year have introduced probably two dozen bills that would impact hunters and anglers and, in cases, inject a healthy dose of politics into wildlife management.

 

Two Senators, Richard Alloway and Sean Wiley, are co-sponsoring one that would allow the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to use proceeds from the sale of Lake Erie stamps in more ways.

 

Now, the money collected must be used to acquire fishing access or do habitat work within the Lake Erie watershed. Senate Bill 604 would allow the money to be used “for other projects that support public fishing” in that area.

 

It has the support of the commission and the S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie.

 

Rep. Neal Goodman is sponsoring House Bill 730, which would make it illegal to call turkeys in the 30 days prior to the opening of the spring gobbler season. That can “educate” turkeys and give some hunters an unfair advantage over others, he said.

 

The Game Commission has expressed concerns about how enforceable that kind of law would be.

Finally, Rep. Mike Hanna is sponsoring House Bill 671, which would take authority for deciding how many antlerless deer licenses to issue in any given year away from the Game Commission. An “antlerless deer harvest committee” consisting of licensed hunters appointed by the board of commissioners, the president pro tempore and minority leader of the Senate, and the speaker and minority leader of the House would make those decisions.

 

PHEASANT STAMP

 

Waterfowlers have long had to buy a federal duck stamp to hunt ducks and geese, with the money going to support waterfowl habitat and conservation.

Might it be time for an upland bird stamp, one required of people hunting pheasants, grouse, woodcock and the like?

A group known as Ultimate Upland thinks so. It has introduced a petition calling for the creation of the first federal stamp for upland habitat conservation.

Its goal would be put sportsmen in charge of “a new program to reverse the losses of upland habitat and the resulting negative impacts to the numerous species of wildlife that exist in those spaces,” said the group's founder, Brian Koch.

The group plans to survey hunters to get opinions on what a stamp should cost and how revenues generated should be used, while also going to lawmakers to rally support. Details can be found at uplandstamp.org.

 

CLEANING WATERWAYS

 

Paddle Without Pollution, the volunteer group that uses people in kayaks and canoes to clean area waterways has kicked off its 2015 season.

Volunteers have done cleanups on the Monongahela River, Chartiers, Slippery Rock and Ten Mile creeks and North Park Lake. Through October, the group will tackle cleanups on Pymatuning Lake, Lake Arthur, Lake Erie, the Allegheny River and more.

Volunteers are welcome, and a limited number of boats usually are available for those who preregister. The group's schedule is at paddlewithoutpollution.com/events/.

In the meantime, a film the group made about the ongoing development of the Presque Isle Water Trail is available for viewing on demand on Vimeo.com.

 

TAX-FREE

 

Lawmakers in Maryland, Texas and Tennessee have introduced bills that would create tax-free holidays on one or two weekends a year. At those times, people could buy firearms and hunting supplies without paying taxes.

Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina have similar laws in place.

 

Bob Frye is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobfryeoutdoors.