The cutlery industry lost one of the truly greats with the passing of Mel Pardue over the weekend. Pardue was a legendary knife maker with more awards than folks have hair on their heads. He was a BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame® member and a voting member of the Knifemakers’ Guild for almost four decades, 14 of those years as a member of the board of directors, the final 10 as vice president. Mel Pardue also received the Ron Little Award in 1992 and is a past winner of the Guild’s Red Watson Friendship Award. In 2016, Mel was presented with the BLADE Show’s Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award for his outstanding work in teaching and mentoring his fellow makers in the art of building knives.
I can’t begin to count the number of Pardue designs that were produced by our friends at Benchmade in the 20 + years they collaborated.
Mel Pardue was respected by all and admired by his many students and knifemakers he mentored over the years. Rest In Peace Mel Pardue.
FOG HORN 