Bob Loveless
| Robert Waldorf Loveless | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 2, 1929 Warren, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | 2 September 2010 (aged 81) Riverside, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Kent State, Ohio |
| Occupation | Knifemaker |
| Awards | Blade Cutlery Hall of Fame |
Robert Waldorf Loveless (January 2, 1929 – September 2, 2010), a.k.a. Bob Loveless or RW Loveless, was an American knife maker who designed and popularized the hollowground drop point blade and the use of full tapered tangs and screw-type handle scale fasteners within the art of knifemaking. He is cited by other knifemakers and collectors as one of the most innovative custom knife makers in the world.
Loveless was born on January 2, 1929 in Warren, Ohio. When he was 14, he altered his birth certificate and joined the Merchant Marine and later served as an Air Corps control tower operator on Iwo Jima. He witnessed a number of knife fights in the bars of foreign ports, which he attributed to giving him an interest in knives.
In 1950 Loveless attended Chicago's Armour Institute of Technology (later renamed Illinois Institute of Technology - IIT) and took a course taught by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In 1951 he returned to Ohio and studied literature and sociology at Kent State.
In December 1953, Loveless returned to the Merchant Marine on a tanker based in New York. Loveless visited Abercrombie & Fitch in New York City in order to purchase a Randall Made knife. After learning there was a nine-month wait for the knife he wanted, he decided to make his own. He ground his first blade from a 1937 Packard Automobile spring found in a Newark, New Jersey junkyard and forged it on the oil-fired galley stove of the ship on which he was serving. After showing this homemade knife to the head of the Abercrombie & Fitch cutlery department he formed a relationship with the retailer to sell his knives.
From 1954 to 1960 Loveless made over one thousand knives called "Delaware Maids" and they became Abercrombie & Fitch's best-selling handmade items, outselling the Randall blades. Loveless admitted that these knives were copies of Randall's designs, but by 1960 he began making his own innovations which set them apart. Loveless was a founding member of the Knifemakers' Guild in 1970 and served as the club's first Secretary. Loveless went on to serve two terms as the Guild's president from 1973 to 1976.
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