Who originated the "Forrest WWll Blade" ?

[J. Clarke]

The company that Paterson founded has a Web site with several articles that he wrote about this. The initial deal was $10,000 plus $15,000 for each OEM customer. That was $25,000 up front. Later, just before the PC was announced, Microsoft bought it outright for $50,000. Later there was a lawsuit such that SCP ended up getting over a million dollars, but that wasn't really part of the "deal".

[J. Clarke]

Actually, the "shop" was a manufacturer and it was called "Seattle Computer Products" and if that's the last you heard you haven't heard anything in a very long time, because he worked for Microsoft for a while, quit, and went back to work for them in 1990 and has been there ever since.

[Duane Bozarth]

You apparently mistook my meaning...I was pointing out that hammering is such a "long gone" art as the OP seems to think. Any refurb shop will have the capability as well as quality manufacturers.

[Gusty]

1-As I expected, there are those that must take any kind of an article no matter how positive, pick it apart and look for some arguing point or a negative comment to make. All I stated was that 1- I was a satisfied customer of Forrest and 2- that I was directing my plug for Burns Tools to those that were not happy with Forrest and or those looking for another source of an equally or better blade or service. 2- As for the art of hammering, let me give an example of an instance that may prove both humorous and helpful. One day I took my dad to the most exclusive men's store in my area to pick up a suit jacket that I had to have altered. Upon receiving it and putting it on, my dad noticed that there was a slight imperfection on the back side of the shoulders. The salesman said that he would call the "taylor" out to check on it. The taylor arrived and began to examine the jacket. He stated: "what's wrong with it?" Because I had it on I could not see the area in question but my dad pointed it out to the taylor at least twice. The taylor stated again that there was nothing wrong with it and made it appoint to tell us that he was the taylor, as though we or at least my dad did not know what he was talking about. WRONG. My dad was an older Italian who came from a city of taylors that made both his and his brother's suits by hand for years. Kaps of Lawrence and Louies of Boston. He knew what "tayloring" was all about because he was used to the best. My dad was very patient with this man and showed him where the fault was and the taylor became irritated at us because we questioned him. Remember that we are the customers and that we were in a very expensive store. Well when the taylor was finished, my dad said to him...."You call yourself a taylor? All the taylors are dead. All you are is an alterator." We left without the coat. I should have gone to Kaps or Louies. A lot of their clothes are imported from Italy and France where the art of tayloring was still in existance. This was around 1981.

I am sure that there are some good taylors remaining in this country somewhere but they are far and few. This is an art and most people today are not interested in the tayloring business as it once was in its hayday back in the old days. That era was replaced with mass production where the personal touch had been taken away. Old timers like dad that were used to high quality clothing could not accept the average suit found in most stores so they kept going to to places like Kaps or Louies and paid the price for fine tayloring. Most American manufactures of high end clothing then had to import Italian taylors to work in their factories along with immigrants from other countries that had the talent to produce fine men's suits.

Now again, a lot of you will see the point here but there will be those that will disect this apart and make all kinds of negative statements. SO WHAT!

Point is that there may be some fine "hammerers" out there somewhere but the majority of them are long gone. This is what I meant. I only wanted the group to recognize this older man who is responsible for the blades that most of you use even though it may be a Forrest or a Freud or whatever. Don't get so picky will ya? Life is too short. I am older that most of you here I am sure and because I raised two boys I know what it is to listen to them tell me how old fashioned I am and that they know more that good old dad. BULL. Wait until they get to be my age. Then they'll get it and so will some here. Cheers again, Gusty

Duane Bozarth wrote:

[Swingman]

Life is indeed short and I, for one, am not picky at all ... particularly when faced with such a display of consistency. AAMOF, I wouldn't think of asking if that tailor's name was indeed, "Taylor", or remarking upon how appropriate it was, if that were the case, that he got into the tailoring game. I mean, you don't run across a tailor name Taylor everyday ... remarkable, more or less.

[Patrick Conroy]

"Gusty" wrote in news:1114706117.577361.272270 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :)

I just pulled up

I see lot'sa Taylors.

Taylor's not an Italian name is it? Did it get "EllisIslanded"?

[Prometheus]

True. My uncle John, and his son (John Jr.) still hand-hammer blades, and as far as I can tell, they do a really fine job of it, Plenty of small shops around that use old techniques as a matter of necessity.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam