On July 27, 1999, Weever was inducted into the Knifemakers Guild at its annual meeting.
To be honored with membership, a knife maker must be nominated by active members and serve a three-year probationary period during which he prepares and shows knives he has made at the annual KG show and sale.
“My mentors were the late Martin Pullen from Granbury and Clay Gault from the Austin area,” he said. “The KG meetings are shows held in various cities across the United States. I’ve been to Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando in recent years. The guild is made up of 400 members from the United States and several foreign countries.
“Some of the work there is at the artist level — using gold inlays, scrimshaw engraving — selling for $15,000 to $30,000. I’m not in that league. But a guild is an exchange of ideas. I am not a bladesmith, who pounds metal out and spends time making the blade. It comes to me in strips of different crusty thicknesses. I do not forge the steel. I buy it and grind the blade out by hand.”
The knife handles come from horns and antlers — in five-inch by 1.5 inch slabs.
“There have been two phases in my work. In the past I had settled down with a traditional stick knife. Then, I began making pocket knives. I had so many orders for those that I had to stop making them.
“Elephant sheaths have become my trademark. I plan to eventually highlight them at safari shows. I finish one, and it’s gone. I’m holding on to my work for a while.”
Serving in his own way
In March 2007, as Weever watched the news and saw U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, he wanted to help. His idea was to design and make a tactical military knife that could be used in extreme war conditions by members of U.S. Special Forces.
“I wanted to make a knife for the war effort and contribute it to our country — to help our troops better defend themselves. But I didn’t know how to go about it. To be honest, I didn’t know how to design a knife to kill a person — essential for war.”
Then he received a telephone call.
“At a gun show I had sold a knife to a dealer from Odessa, and he sold it to Jeffrey Wemmer from Monahans in January 2007. Wemmer called me later, wanting a left-handed sheath, as well. I learned that he is a military webbing supply expert.”
The two men had much in common. Each is a patriotic adventurer.
“We clicked. He is more verbose than I. I told him I’d like to contribute to the military effort with my knives, but didn’t know how to get them to the front-line troops. He provides an entire catalog of equipment for the forces that they buy personally before they are sent into the field. He told me he’d help me on the design.”
Wemmer made a sketch and mailed it. Many planning discussions took place on the phone. Weever added his own modification and mailed it back. After more discussions on the sketch, he made a prototype and sent it to Wemmer. All together these communications by mail and telephone took more than two months.
But there was a flaw in the knife.
“The handle was too short. Our special forces are big men — with larger hands than mine.”
Weever made changes, and after two more months of discussions and revisions, got approval on a second prototype. He spent the next six months creating 25 of the hand-crafted knives.
“After nine months, Jeffrey and I met for the first time in person at a Dallas Safari Show. We discussed how the knives were to be distributed. Each knife will be boxed with Wemmer’s letter, giving the history of how the knife came about and what we need from the recipient [how the knife performs in the field]. We are asking that this report be made by e-mail or letter back to us.
“Wemmer will fly to Iraq in the next 30 days to hand out 10 or 12 of the knives to mountain troops, Marines and Special Forces. The remainder will be disbursed by his contacts in the military world. All of the originals will be at no cost to the troops.”
Weever remembers the pride he felt when he gave away his first military knife.
“A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier rang my doorbell at my home. The Bronze Star recipient had been sent by a local church friend to me for a knife. I was so proud to give it to him. His name and location must be kept secret.”
Weever makes the knives, but he said others also contribute to the cause.
“Paul Bos of Idaho did the heat treating of the blades; Crucible Steel of Arlington donated the S30V steel; Texas Knife Makers Supply of Houston donated G-10 handle material, and Pop’s Knife Makers Supply from Georgia donated the stainless steel bolts,” he said. “All provided the finest of their supplies to me at no cost since they knew it was going to our troops.”
He understands how each soldier is loved by family.
The Weevers have three children, Lesly Spencer of Aubrey and Todd Weever and Grant Weever of McKinney. They have three grandsons. The Weevers attend Cleburne Bible Church.
Sue Weever said John is glad to be able to do something for his country.
“He has told me several times that he would go, himself, if he could,” she said.
Weever looked down at his gleaming creation and said, “I can make 50 of these in a year if I work very hard at it. It’s the least I can do.”
I thought about John Weever, living his life on the edge of adventure, searching for one thrill after another. How interesting that as he quietly serves his country now with his hands and his heart, he has found the greatest excitement of all.
This story was suggested by Linda Fagan.
Larue Barnes may be reached at
laruebarnes@yahoo.com.