This catalog was ordered by Dan Carr in 1979. It only offered one knife, a hollow grind, with the Bowie profile as an option.
Dan ordered the knife with all the fixin's. His was the first stainless steel bowie ever made. Les made sure it was perfect. Here begins the story of one of the most dedicated, friendly, customer-oriented, visionary and quality-driven knife companies that has ever existed: The Benchmade Co., in all of its incarnations.
Dan says: "My catalog is earlier, late 1979, very early 1980. This is a single page catalog featuring only one knife, a Hollow Ground Blade, with Bowie grind being optional. You will see for yourself when I send. Part of catalog that is missing is the order form that I bought my knife with. Order form was as follows:
Hollow grind with brass handles with micarta inlays (choice of colors; black, red, snakeskin. White being the $10.00 option.)
Stainless steel handles + $25.00
Bowie Grind Blade + $35.00
Belt case + $6.00
I sent 75 cents for this catalog from an advertisement in the Soldier of Fortune mag. My knife was ordered with all options and I still have it today, my favorite. Look for mail."
A big thank you to Dan Carr for this material.
On the making and delivery of his knife, Dan wrote:
"George,
There are photo's on the disks, some of mine and one that Chuck G did for me. I sent my knife to him a few years ago and he featured it on his web page. It's still in his galleries somewhere. The post card is from Reberta Deasis informing me there would be another delay in making my knife. I was supposed to have it in April after a 12 week delivery time but as can be seen by the receipt, I waited much longer. Les and I talked on the phone about once a month while the knife was being made. He told me mine was the first all stainless bowie that they were making and he wanted it to be perfect. Dudley has what appears to be the twin to my knife only with black macarta inserts. He calls it the evil twin. Glad you enjoyed the stuff. I'll look for it on your site. Dan C."
Pictures of the knife he ordered, the one pictured in the catalog with all options, by Dan Carr and Chuck Gollnick are also included below.
