Circles of Change with Dr. Zara Larsen:
Where Your Path is Created by Walking on It
June 21, 2009
“I’m Ted, Jake’s and Jordan’s Dad”
Happy Fathers’ Day!
- The name Hat Creek T was inspired by a Larry McMurtry western novel and designations for sections of large ranches. I am a native of the Midwest, yet always thought I might end up living in the Southwest as happened unexpectedly in 2004.
- As an artisan I turned to specialty, one-of-a-kind folding and dagger knives, an outgrowth of over 30 years of engineering, manufacturing, and product restoration experiences (classic cars, wooden boats, antique farm engines, furniture) -- a blend of metal and wood working, stylized with gemstones and leatherwork, and each satisfying a discovery process amidst challenging design problems. And knives are portable – key with our giving up a historic two-story, post and beam barn shop when we moved from New England to Tucson.
- Damascus steel is tied to my family heritage, an amazing forging process developed by armorers in England hundreds of years ago for superior edged tools. Two pieces of steel are folded 1,032 times for eight striking vertical/horizontal direction patterns for the blades – raindrops, electrical fissures, and flows like rivers – with beveled blade edges at different turns.
- Each design is custom by design, with often the designs finding me over a period of months. All knives have unique handles made from either 50,000 year old mammoth tooth ivory, shed antler or exotic hardwoods stressed (burled, tightly entwined, made interesting by imperfections) from around the world.
- I have been on a ten year personal “circle of change” following over 25 years in the automotive business and corporate America. First a degree in architecture that played to my passion for space and simplicity of design, then to landscape architecture to blend residential and commercial environments with the earth/plants/mountains of Arizona. At times it has been a real struggle to re-center with a new identity – what am I? who am I?
- But one thing is certain, it’s been the joy of Fatherhood – and telling anyone at any time, “Hi, I’m Ted, Jake’s and Jordan’s Dad” – that means the most to me.
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