Ladies and gentlemen I have placed the order for 50 copies of my book on clandestine knives. Depending on how well it sells will determine whether I have any more printed. Each one of this first run will be signed and numbered by me, the author. It is soft cover, full color, hundreds of photos, 167 pages long. Costs have risen about 10% just since I first got a quote. Inflation and taxes and other misc. fees also kept piling up. About a dozen copies are already reserved for friends and family. If you are seriously interested they will be avail in about 2 weeks, or less. I am waiting right now for a proof copy. Email me at [email protected] to get on the list. I am going to have to charge $55 including shipping in the US in order to make any profit at all. I appreciate your support.

Boy it must be the end times. My computer is running slower than constipated dog poop on a frigid Maine winter's day. I have rebooted twice and finally it has come to life. This makes it scary when you go to file something like a book you have been working on for years and it says the "program is not responding!" WHAT!! It finally filed and saved but it sure makes me nervous. I've saved it in several places including removable drives. 

On another topic I had to add in an additional page to the covert knives book and that was causing all sorts of  gastric distress. While not every maker of modern knives is listed in this book, those left out are in the next volume on full-size daggers. While I was waiting for my book to "save" I took a few more photos for the added page. That would seem a simple task, the problem is: "Where the heck did I store that knife?" Here is a photo of the overflow from one box while in the process of playing seek and find.

I finally did find the knife I wanted, in the very bottom of course. Its amazing how much time can be consumed with simple tasks. Taking photos is always a pain. Seems like there is always too much light, shadows, not enough light, shadows, glare off steel, reflections of me in the blade, etc. Wow, how do proffessionals do this? For those who wonder, The book is coming, honestly. 

I am also back working on the book I wrote five years ago on X-Daggers, Shanghai Daggers, First Patterns etc. The wait has been terrible but it has allowed me to collect additional data and knives to make it even better. It is very controversial; with quotes from many sources including veterans, credible authors, Wm. Cassidy, curators of military museums, Arms specialists, knife makers, etc. A lot of never before in print ground work went into this volume! It will change the way some people look at the history and evolution of the FS knife.

Okay you sharp eyed sleuths. Which dagger in the photo is a "fake" made by Paul MacDonald of Glasgow? No Ron you cannot play because you will say they are all fakes. LOL. Pick one knife from the top or bottom row. There is only one. Have fun. You may want to blow the image up to see them better.

Among these daggers are some from: England, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, California, Belgium, & Scotland. Several of them are in replacement sheaths.  Sorry the photo is a little fuzzy. I was very happy to be able to get one of Paul's X-daggers conversions. His work is tops.