PROFESSOR INTEGRAL
When T.M. “Ted” Dowell made a knife, the sum of the parts was almost always something of excellence. Known as one of the best custom knifemakers of his era, Dowell understood the sweep of the curve and the subtleties of the angle. And when he finished, everything added up. After all, he was a mathematician, too. Go figure!
Many who met Ted during a knifemaking career that spanned more than four decades recall seeing him at a show dressed in a suit and tie, a table of fine, handmade knives laid out before him with his wife, Betty, at his side. The two of them never missed a Knifemakers’ Guild Show for 40 years, proud of an unbroken string of perfect attendance that stretched until 2010.
Dowell popularized the integral knife, made from a single piece of steel and known to many as the . He was best known for his hunting and skinning knives, and also his art knives and the precision-built Funny Folder. He was one
