Dave Budd
Handmade Tools
For a long time I had wanted a logo that was simple enough to stamp, carve or otherwise mark my work with. Something that was not lettering as I am trying to make more archaeologically correct pieces for collectors and museums. Something that could be easily associated with me.
I tried various pictures based around my work, but they would always be too obvious and not unique to me: anvils and knives feature heavily in a number of bladesmiths’ marks. I tried plays on my name, with a flower bud being part of it, a stylised symbol using my initials. I also tried making up runes revolving around my name or initials. Everything I tried was too common, impractical, complicated or just plain naff!
Then I realised that my dog, Saxen, was more recognisable than me! I would go to a show and people would come to my stall and before looking at my stuff would ask where the dog was! So I thought about designing a logo involving him. Since he is a hound, his shape is quite unique and elegant. His appearance and type of breeding are also about as close as you will get to an actual dog from the Iron Age in this country. So I tried various profiles and head shots of him, but nothing was quite right. Then I was presented with a drawing of the Uffington White Horse in Wiltshire. So I crossed the white horse with my faithful hound and got the image you see above!
About Saxen
He was born on the 20th of April 2006, to Pinga (daughter of Teapot!). I met Saxen at a show in the July, where he was in a crate with his brethren at the stall of a timber framer (Dan Franklin). Saxen (originally named Flower!) was a gangly blond pup with big floppy paws, I fell in love! When I picked him up, Dan and I struck a bargain. The puppies were priced at £130, but being craftsmen we had better ways of doing things. Dan wanted a good strong knife, so I made him a knife in exchange for the dog. Dan felt that the dog wasn’t worth as much, so he gave me a large log of seasoned yew!
Two years later and he is a handsome young dog, who is fast becoming the best dog that I could imagine having around me. He is a lurcher, from a long line of lurchers in my neck of the woods. He has a number of breeds in his lineage, including: deerhound, greyhound, bedlington terrier, saluki and collie. He measures almost 30” to the shoulder and still has those floppy great paws! He will happily sit by my table at shows and lap up as much attention as people want to give him. He is child proof and loves it when small children stroke him, though he does kiss with tongues!
Saxen now has his very own Blog! The Iron Age Dog Blogspot.
When I first started making knives for other people I didn’t have a proper maker’s mark, so the blades were left nameless. At that time the only identifying mark was my name written in permanent marker on the back of the sheath. It either said “DAVE BUDD” (or simply “BUDD”) and was normally followed by a date of manufacture. I continued to do this until the end of 2002, when I made a few knives for the BKCG. Since I was about to start selling my knives to the wide world and not just to friends, I decided that I needed a recognisable mark.
Any knives that I made before 1999 had "BUDD" stippled onto the blade, but none of those have left my posession!
Blade Markings
How can you tell a genuine Dave Budd knife? Well here is the evolution of my maker's mark!
So the first 10 knives that I made for BKCG had a hand drawn acid etching of my initials DLB in a monogram. This was difficult for me to do with the equipment I had then, so was never going to last long. Then of course came my break from knifemaking while I went back to university for a year. This mark ran for only those 10 knives in late summer 2002.
When I returned to knifemaking I had a proper stamp made up with “DAVE BUDD ENGLAND” in small letters around a circle. I used this stamp exclusively on blades from the end of 2003 (when I went fulltime) until 2004 when I started to use my next stamp. The round mark is still used on some of my leatherwork to this day.
The next and longest running mark is my “Budd” stamp. I changed to this mark because it was easier to get a good impression in a forged surface than the round stamp. I chose a typeface that would be in keeping with the character of my work but still be legible. This mark ran exclusively from 2004 until the dog logo was introduced in 2008.
After a few years of use (thousands of impressions) the Budd stamp was getting a little worn and I was thinking of having it remade. But with the completion of my new permanent workshop, I wanted to introduce a new logo.
The logo that I settled on was the Black Dog described above. So in November 2008 I had it turned into a stamp for my work.
I’ve three sizes of Dog stamp; two for stamping the metal parts and a third that is used on leather or wooden handles when the metal would be too difficult to mark.
Until the Dog logo was introduced, blades that I made for other people to put handles on were not marked with my name. Some of the earlier blade blanks did have the Budd logo on them, but only the first dozen or so; after that I stamped Budd onto the tang or not at all. When the Dog was created, I started stamping the blades with the Dog and a zigzag line running underneath.
The reason for not putting my name on every blade is simply that I pride myself on the fact that I do every part of my knives. If somebody makes a knife with one of my blades, then in the future it may be taken as an example of my work. In some cases that could be very complimentary, but in others maybe not so much. The addition of the zigzag shows that the blade was indeed forged by me, but the rest of the knife was the work of another maker; that's assuming the stamp is researched!
an image will follow when I get a decent picture
The knives made while I’m at a show using the Iron Age forge do not bare any mark. That is because I don’t feel comfortable putting my mark on anything but the best quality knife, in which case it will not have a mark at all and you will have to judge it on style alone.
A note on other makers’ marks. I've always avoided using my initials to identify my work, mostly because I have very common letters. There is at least one other knifemaker that has the same initials as me. If you find that a knife has "DB" on it, then it is NOT one of mine, but by somebody else. Only knives that bare one of the above marks can truly be called a Dave Budd knife!
If you find a knife that you think may be one of my creations, then send me a photograph of it and I can confirm either way!
1999 - 2002
2002 - 2002
2003 - 2004
2004 - 2008
2008 - ?
