New Tally - 115
Was able to score a very old school LUM stamped dagger off Ebay. I really like his older pieces.
Posts
New Tally - 114
The Extra Small Ti Chinese Folder, and the Extra Small Ti Folding Stalker are both gone.
New Tally -116
The following folders are gone: Chinese Slip-Joint w/Jigged bone Deluxe Chinese with Damascus blade and Oosic scales Black Micarta All-Rounder Black Micarta Folding Stalker with Thumb Ramp
Copy Update
Update: After speaking to the customer and the maker, both have agreed to acknowledge Bob as the influence, and will not make any further examples of the folders. I applaud their taking responsibility, even though it was strictly unintentional. I encourage any maker to continue with the Chinese Folder design, as long as the design is significantly unique. The Chinese Folder has a strong following among knife collectors, and has proven to be a popular design because of it's versatility as a folding knife.
Design Influence
Recently, on one of the popular knife forums, there was an instance of someone asking another knifemaker to make his rendition of Bob's Chinese Folder. When the pictures were posted, the end results were too similar to Bob's design that a debate arouse about what is original, and what would constitute a copy. The age old argument that Bob did not invent the design surfaced again. As was the case when Bob introduced the tanto design, he never claimed to have invented the Chinese Folder design, so that accusation is invalid. What he did was based his design on the original, and came up with his own version. The original design, called the Shi Lin in Chinese, is an ancient design. It was a slip joint with narrow neck and rounded handles. What Bob did was to update the design to modern lines, and added his own design elements. These included a liner lock, a different pivot geometry, and a new curved handle treatment. An additional design element was the use of the licensed Spyderco
For Lum Collectors
I'm offering two new items with this post. 1) A new blog to help collectors of Bob Lum's work to buy, sell, and trade his knives. It's still a work in progress, but I hope it'll help succeed in it's mission. 2) A new item to show support of this blog: a collector's embroidered patch. The design is a variation of my LumNut avatar, and reflects the purpose of this blog. Both are available here: http://lumknivesmarket.blogspot.com
New Tally - 120
Four folders are gone. Large Folding Stalker with Black Micarta Large Ti Folding Tanto Medium Ti Chinese Folder Ti Folding Skinner
New Benchmade Folding Tanto
Benchmade released a version of the Lum Folding Tanto II for 2009. The model is 760BK LFTi. This is a Benchmade branded variation of the Blackwater Folding Tanto. When I obtain one of the Blackwater versions, I'll post a comparison.
New Spyderco Chinese
Spyderco released a new version of the Lum Chinese Folder in June of 2009. Here are the latest versions in Foliage Green. They came in two configurations with VG-10 blade steel; Plain blade, model C65FGP; Black blade, C65FGPBK. Total run is 600 units each.