Joe D. Funderburg

[yaro5]

Hi All,
I just recently identified a knife I have owned for many years as having been made by Joe D. Funderburg. I know he was a member of the Knifemakers' Guild in the 80s. I was hoping someone on this forum could fill out any background information they had on him.

Thanks

Joe

[rjswanson]

very first time logging on and happened to see Joe's name right on the the first page.
Mr. Funderberg made some very beautiful knifes with a lot in the style of cooper (brazed guards) and I was fortunate to see a few of them at his house in Los Osos Ca.
He is not making knifes any longer and have not met him, but have spent some time with his son in law who is a knife maker also.
you can see his work in early annual editions of knives and in the early American blade (now blade magazine) editions.
He has made some very nice knife and fork sets and very nice DE blades.
There was one for sale at Nordic Knives in Solvang recently, but was gone before I had a chance to get over there, I believe it was a push dagger.
The mark you have on the knife I see, is his mark and I would hang onto this piece of history from a very talented maker.
I don't know if this helps with what you were looking for, but I know you have a high quality knife made in the early years of a guild member.

[A T Barr]

A very warm welcome to both of you.

A.T.

[rjswanson]

Thank you for the welcome Mr Barr, sometimes I wish I lived in the middle of the states where it seems most of the prominent quality knifemakers live, trying to work this craft from books and videos is just not the same as hands on with an experienced craftsman.
As mentioned, Joe Funderberg lives just down the street, however retired from knifemaking quite a long time ago.
I am very fortunate in that Nordic Knifes is just a few towns over and can see all the great makers work as finished. (it's not hard to tell the wife we need some smorgasbord at least every other month!)
Thank you again for the welcome.

[yaro5]

Originally Posted by rjswanson

very first time logging on and happened to see Joe's name right on the the first page.
Mr. Funderberg made some very beautiful knifes with a lot in the style of cooper (brazed guards) and I was fortunate to see a few of them at his house in Los Osos Ca.
He is not making knifes any longer and have not met him, but have spent some time with his son in law who is a knife maker also.
you can see his work in early annual editions of knives and in the early American blade (now blade magazine) editions.
He has made some very nice knife and fork sets and very nice DE blades.
There was one for sale at Nordic Knives in Solvang recently, but was gone before I had a chance to get over there, I believe it was a push dagger.
The mark you have on the knife I see, is his mark and I would hang onto this piece of history from a very talented maker.
I don't know if this helps with what you were looking for, but I know you have a high quality knife made in the early years of a guild member.

Thanks for the info.Sorry for the delay in replying. After a month I had stopped checking the page for a while. I've had the knife for quite a few years and have just recently identified the maker. I have found some info in Knives 91 page 203. Thanks for the additional info. Here's the knife in question.

Joe

[rjswanson]

very nice example of his work, i remember seeing the template for this fighter.
do you find the guard brazed on or soldered?

[yaro5]

Originally Posted by rjswanson

very nice example of his work, i remember seeing the template for this fighter.
do you find the guard brazed on or soldered?

This knife is not something that I usually collect, but there is something about it that really appeals to me. I mostly collect folders and consequently don't know too much about the construction of these type of knives. How do I tell the difference between brazed or soldered.

[rjswanson]

sorry it took so long to get back here, joe used to assemble a lot of his guards as john cooper used to and that was to brass braze the blade
rather than silver solder. so you can see at the front joint what looks like a large filet of brass or a small filet of solder, and from this angle of the picture i cant tell but but very easy to tell-big differance.
take care,rjswanson

[yaro5]

Thanks for the info. To my untrained eye it looks to be brazed. I have to say that the scan does not do this knife justice. The fit, finish and overall quality are exceptional.

Joe

[rjswanson]

yes, i agree, joe's work was top notch as all the guild members and pictures are never as good as holding it in your hand.
hang onto it, this is a knife you can hand down and has a lot of history.
rjs