A Brief Bio
In the writing room, at the OKCA show conversing with Bernard Levine, and enjoying the summer.
For those of you who are curious about Frank Trzaska here is the page to read. I was told this is supposed to be on every writers web page so I had to make one. To be quite candid it is harder to write this then most of the articles I have written. I am truly boring, spending most of my free time reading and researching knives, history and biographies. I have a real job that pays the bills around here. I have been in heavy truck and equipment maintenance professionally now for 34 years. I originally started writing about knives to keep my thoughts and notes in order. It would have been easier to buy a bigger filing cabinet. It was also very personal, I didn't do too well in English class at school. (I still can't tell you what an adverb is or a verb for that matter, a preposition is completely out of my league.) I loved History class but detested English, well at least the English they taught. That one stumped me early on, why did I need an English class, I spoke it every day? You see I write like I speak, a very simple philosophy. I have these thoughts that just pop into my head, that's my inspiration in writing, very simple actually, I write what I feel like, when I feel like it. The subjects are varied but they usually sway back to the intended subject, much like this piece is going. My favorite outdoor recreations include hunting, shooting, hiking and just generally being in the woods, you see I am a country boy. I have outgrown the fast cars and crotch rocket motorcycles, but they still linger in my blood, when I hear the roar, or smell the rubber, my mind drifts off into another place, I suppose that never leaves you, it's in the blood. I do have a motorcycle just not a speed demon one, a nice raked out Harley Sportster keeps me happy and my summers full. I have spent much of my active working life in the big Eastern seaboard cities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Atlanta but that doesn't mean I like them, that's just where the largest customer base is for my real job. We currently reside in the Peoples Republic of New Jersey after moving up and down the coast for a few years. We are back in the same town we started in and hope it to be the last move, I have learned to never say never. Married to my high school sweetheart, Karen, for 31 years, we have two children, Jake 28 and Lauren 26.
A list of my published articles on knives is listed below. We will not list the company newsletters, professional journal, "letters to the editors" of various newspapers, "op ed" pieces, and the countless "Freedom of Information Act" letters sent over the years which could be in the running for a Pulitzer or at least an Academy Award, hell they gave one to Jane so I figure anyone could get one right? Anyway those FOIA letters can get pretty fancy at times and the op ed pieces need to use words I can only figure out by looking to Mr. Roget's Thesaurus for help. If you don't use a few twelve letter words they don't want them in the intellectual section of the papers. See how that one was skillfully woven in there! Well here is that list we were talking about.
Articles in Knife World (all articles marked with an * are reprinted in the book Military Knives : A Reference Book) Back issues of the other Knife World articles are available through www.knifeworld.com
Collins Machetes * 1-97
Colonial Giant Jack Knife * 2-97
Kabar Generation X 3-97
Kabar TL-29 * 3-97
M1913 Patton Saber 4-97
American Military Edged Weaponry Museum 5-97
1880 Hunting Knife * 6-97
USMC Raider Stiletto * 7-97
Mystery Knives 8-97
M3 Trench Knife * 9-97
MC-1 Aircrew Knife * 10-97
Military Knife Books 12-97
Vietnam Demo Knife * 1-98
OSS Stiletto * 2-98
Product Improved Mark 2 Bayonet 3-98
Case V-42 First Special Service Force Knife * 4-98
Case Military Knives * 7-98
V-44... or is it? * 8-98
Knives That Didn't Cut it * 9-98
Mission Knives MPK * 10-98
Pilots Survival Knife * 12/98
Marbles Jet Pilot Knife * 01/99
M2 Paratrooper Knife * 02/99
1917 / 1918 Trench Knives * 04/99
Vietnam Tomahawk 05/99
Red Spacer Ka-Bar Mark 2 * 06/99
Colonial Mark-1 * 08/99
1918 MK1 Trench Knife * 09-99
Jet Pilots Survival Knife * 11/99
Ontario Mk-2 * 01/00
Dale Sandberg EDMF Knives * 02/00
Knives Born in Vietnam * 03/00
1849 Rifleman's Knife * 04/00
Lan-Cay M9 Bayonet 06/00
USN Non-Mag Dive Knives * 08/00
Lan-Cay M11 EOD Knife 09/00
Taylor Huff / Patriot * 11/00
USN Mark 1 * 12/00
Randall Model 15 Airman 02/01
Where Are They Now 03/01
Camillus: The Early Years of WWII 04/01
Camillus Mark 2 06/01
The Hughes Trench Knife Knife 07/01
Where Are They Now 2 09/01
What to Collect? 11/01
Trail Cutting Machete Part 1 12/01
Trail Cutting Machete Part 2 01/02
M1917 / FFL 02/02
UDT Rumors 03/02
WW II Bayonets (M1) 04/02
Stone Knives*** 05/02*** Co-Authored
German Sword and Knife Makers Review 05/02
Rangers Knife 06/02
Filipino Bolo Knife 08/02
Boker Survival Knife 09/02
V42 Again 10/02
John Ek Commando Knives 12/02
USMC Parachutist 01/03
The M4 Bayonet of WW II 03/03
Crozier Tech Knives 04/03
USMC HCK 06/03
M1905 HCK 08/03
M1909 Bolo 09/03
USMC Bayonet (Ontario) 11/03
M1910 Bolo Knife 12/03
The Q Knives 02/04
USMC Intrenching Machete 03/04
Camillus Military 2003 04/04
Krag Bowie Bayonet 06/04
Riser Cutters 07/04
M1942 Machete 08/04
Post War M1942 Machete 09/04
Ontario ASEK 10/04
Morey Mk1 Knives 11/04
Post WW II Mark 2 01/05
Camillus Bayonet 02/05
Reproduction Recognition 03/05
Fish Knives 04/05
USN Mark 3 05/05
The Ordnance Dept in WWI 06/05
M1939 Machete 08/05
Krag Bolo Bayonet 09/05
Little EOD Knife 11/05
USMC 1219C2 Pt I 12/05
USMC 1219C2 Pt II 01/06
Colonial M724 03/06
The Engineers Machete 05/06
Anderson Knife Co 06/06
Montana Power Co. 07/06
The USN Mark 2 08/06
Folding Machete 10/06
Corrections, Grab the White Out 11/06
The True V44 Case Machete 12/06
Model of 1917 C.T. 01/07
Type A1 Folding Machete 02/07
Patton Bayonet 03/07
SF Bolo Machetes 04/07
PAL RH36 05/07
MIL-K Knives 06/07
1998 M7 Bayonet Contract 07/07
In Search of MSI 10/07
SF Prototype Bolo 11/07
Goodbye Camillus 12/07
M3 Revisited 01/08
Ontario Rescue Knives 02/08
LC-14 & LC-14A 04/08
SOG Knives 01/10
Tactical Knives Magazine
LanCay Company Nov 05
Peloza Knives Sept 06
Fighting Knives Magazine
UDT Knives 09/94
Chute & Dagger Journal
Insignia Dagger 7/95
Society of American Bayonet Collectors Journal
USMC Unknown Bayonet Spring 98
Two bayonets per Rifle? Winter / 98
The Flaming Bayonet Winter /01
Special Heat Treated Bayonets Spring / 03
USN Mark 1 Plastic Bayonets Summer / 03
Send M1903 Bayonets 2005
Mark 1 Bayonet Prototype 2005
Patton Bayonet Winter / 06
Oregon Knife Collectors Association Newsletter
Kabar Commemorative 10/95
1918 MK1 Trench Knife 11/95
V44 12/95
USMC Stiletto 1/96
Case V-42 2/96
Mark II 3/96
OSS Stiletto 4/96
M3 Trench Knife 5/96
Vietnam Tomahawk 9/96
Jet Pilot Knife 10/96
Insignia Dagger 11/96
Product Improved Bayonet 12/96
1849 Rifleman's Knife 1/97
Trowel Bayonet 2/97
Knife Buying 3/97
Georgia Pikes 4/97
Theatre Knives 5/97
Bayonet Pt I 9/97
Bayonet Pt II 10/97
Bayonet Pt III 11/97
Bayonet Pt IV 12/97
Bayonet Pt V 1/98
Bayonet Pt VI 2/98
Bayonet Pt VII 3/98
The beginning of Knife Knotes, an ongoing discussion about knives, quotes, tall tales and the world in general with a cutting edge. Part 1 9/98
Notes Part II 10/98
Notes Part III 11/98
Notes Part IV 12/98
Notes Part V 01/99
Notes Part VI 02/99
Notes Part VII 03/99
Book Excerpt 04/99
Notes Part VIII 05/99
Notes Part IX 09/99
Notes Part X 10/99
Notes Part XI 11/99
Notes Part XII 12/99
Notes Part XIII 01/00
Notes Part XIV 02/00
Notes Part XV 03/00
Notes Part XVI 04/00
Notes Part XVII 09/00
Notes Part XVIII 10/00
Notes Part XIX 11/00
Notes Part XX 12/00
Notes Part XXI 01/01
Notes Part XXII 02/01
Notes Part XXIII 03/01
Notes Part XXIV 09/01
Notes Part XXV 10/01
Notes Part XXVI 11/01
Notes Part XXVII 12/01
Notes Part XXVIII 01/02
**** Too much to list... Steady through 12/07...
Edited for publishing / printing
Bayonets, Knives & Scabbards 1917 - 1945
Contributed to
U.S. Military Knives, Bayonets & Machetes Price Guide, Edition III & IV
Articles currently in progress, soon in a theater near you. If you can add to the research on any of these current topics please e-mail me at trz123@comcast.net
USN Deep Diving Knives
TL29
Mark 2 Sheaths
M1887 HCK
Survival Tools
M1917 Cutlass
FS and the Rangers
PAL Blade Co., the War Years
Camillus and Liberty Electric Co. E1 Escape Knives
Marbles of WW II
SRU-16
USN Mk1 & Mk2 machetes
LC-14B
Nguyen Dan
We also have the website you are now in. Started many years ago as a place to put some thoughts it has attracted Writers, Historians, Collectors and Users from every corner of the Globe. It has grown more then I could have ever imagined and is read (and copied much to my dismay) by hundreds of thousands each month. We do not advertise in any forms anywhere, it is all word of mouth. We have held off putting ads in the site although we have been pursued. We do not sell mailing lists or click information, it is all supported from book sales and document copies.
We have what I consider the best writers, researchers and historians in the business right here and are always looking to add information on US Military Edged Weapons and Tools.
Stick around, it's been one hell of a ride and hopefully many more years to go!