Sometimes the "Holy Grail" isn't material. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite knife makers ever....Warren Thomas. He specializes in titanium and carbon fiber knives. While we were talking he told me that he once worked for Oakley on special projects. This story would be told much better by him, but I'll try to hit the high spots. They would send him over scaled resin composites for him to recreate in metal for the x-metal series during early research. He also told me that they were going to do the oil rig in carbon fiber with aluminum bands and icon and had him machine pieces for its design which was later changed to plastic or similar. He also showed me a prototype Minute Machine watch bezel and band. In case you were wondering about the resin composite pieces. His shop was damaged by a hurricane. I don't remember which one, and most everything was stolen by looters including many of his knife tools. He also did work for the CIA and FBI. His tactical pen and cig is often marketed as a DNA sampler or tire puncture device. Might as well be taking a tuna core sample. The pen is titanium and carbon fiber, will not set off metal detector and looks like a regular pen under x-ray. He also did work for Beretta and NASA. Anyway, thought it was a pretty cool story to share. He's still making knives on a limited basis. I picked up this one off titanium neck knife. Adding an example of his carbon fiber/titanium knife to show his craftsmanship. Hoping I am not breaking a rule, as this is Oakley related. I did get permission from Warren to post this, as he's not a member.
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