All About Pocket Knives

I've seen some knives by Jay Bigler offered. Anyone know about this knifemaker and his reputation?

I have. Jay Bigler is my father. As to his reputation among the larger community of knife collectors, I cannot really attest. However, locally, among friends and family and a few collectors that I know of through the years, his work was well liked. Dad himself was a beloved and respected member of our community. I saw your post years ago when you first posted it, but was not a member of this forum then. I registered as a member the other day, and decided to look this post up so that I could reply to you. Thank you so much for being interested in Dad and his work.

MaryJayn Bigler wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:33 pm I have. Jay Bigler is my father. As to his reputation among the larger community of knife collectors, I cannot really attest. However, locally, among friends and family and a few collectors that I know of through the years, his work was well liked. Dad himself was a beloved and respected member of our community. I saw your post years ago when you first posted it, but was not a member of this forum then. I registered as a member the other day, and decided to look this post up so that I could reply to you. Thank you so much for being interested in Dad and his work.

If you have some of your dad's work could you post for all to see

Here is a little info;


viewtopic.php?f=37&p=949639#p949639

If you have some of your dad's work could you post for all to see
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I was just commenting on the post that you linked to about how best to see Dad's work -- through a private fb group and through my ebay listings of his knives. I don't see a way to post pictures here. Please advise on how to do that and I shall put some pictures up

MaryJayn Bigler wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:04 pm If you have some of your dad's work could you post for all to see

I was just commenting on the post that you linked to about how best to see Dad's work -- through a private fb group and through my ebay listings of his knives. I don't see a way to post pictures here. Please advise on how to do that and I shall put some pictures up
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From the forum homepage https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/ scroll down to AAPK Tips & Tricks, then from there scroll down to find how to post pictures from your particular device. AAPK provides ample storage and prefers pictures be posted on the site, not on a third party site where they may disappear if the member doesn’t keep them updated there.

Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

Thank you, Ken.

Here is a photograph of a folding knife that was recently sold. Although not fully embossed, this knife is marked with the “Jay Bigler Maker Anna IL” stamp, so this is likely one of his early folding knives – placing it around 2001 to 2004.

Yay! It worked! I have posted a couple of pictures of a knife. If you would like to know who we are talking about here, here are a couple of pictures of my dad, Jay Bigler. One is a photograph of Dad around 1994 or 1995 when he first started teaching himself to make knives. By the time of his stroke in 2012, this space and two other rooms in this building (a converted kennel -- Dad, a quail hunter, used to have bird dogs compete in horseback field trials) were completely full of equipment and supplies for his knifemaking hobby.

MaryJayn Bigler wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:33 pm I have. Jay Bigler is my father. As to his reputation among the larger community of knife collectors, I cannot really attest. However, locally, among friends and family and a few collectors that I know of through the years, his work was well liked. Dad himself was a beloved and respected member of our community. I saw your post years ago when you first posted it, but was not a member of this forum then. I registered as a member the other day, and decided to look this post up so that I could reply to you. Thank you so much for being interested in Dad and his work.

Hi MaryJayn! I read through this entire thread as well as following the links others provided, and I just want to say that from the only picture of one of your Dad's knives I was able to see, he must have been a top-notch builder, because the knife I saw was simply gorgeous, definitely my kindda knife. I tried to go to your ebay store to view more, but for whatever reason it came up, "No items to display",(perhaps because you don't ship outside the US and I'm in Canada?). I see you figured out how to post pics so please show us some! It's great to have you as a member and to AAPK! Mark!

MaryJayn Bigler wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:15 pm Yay! It worked! I have posted a couple of pictures of a knife. If you would like to know who we are talking about here, here are a couple of pictures of my dad, Jay Bigler. One is a photograph of Dad around 1994 or 1995 when he first started teaching himself to make knives. By the time of his stroke in 2012, this space and two other rooms in this building (a converted kennel -- Dad, a quail hunter, used to have bird dogs compete in horseback field trials) were completely full of equipment and supplies for his knifemaking hobby.

Beautiful knife M.J., and your Dad being a self-taught builder makes his creations that much more special!

Madmarco wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:20 pm

Hi MaryJayn! I read through this entire thread as well as following the links others provided, and I just want to say that from the only picture of one of your Dad's knives I was able to see, he must have been a top-notch builder, because the knife I saw was simply gorgeous, definitely my kindda knife. I tried to go to your ebay store to view more, but for whatever reason it came up, "No items to display",(perhaps because you don't ship outside the US and I'm in Canada?). I see you figured out how to post pics so please show us some! It's great to have you as a member and to AAPK! Mark!
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Hi, Mark. Thank you! I don't ship outside of the U.S. I guess that is why you cannot see the knives that I have there. Here is one that has been sold. The “J Bigler” semicircle dates it sometime from 2004 to early 2012. Dad would be so pleased that you have called him a top-notch builder. He didn't start making knives until his retirement in 1993 when he sold his lumberyard dealership. Once in a while through the years that he did that (1958-1993), he built houses to sell.

MaryJayn Bigler wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:48 pm

Madmarco wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:20 pm

Hi MaryJayn! I read through this entire thread as well as following the links others provided, and I just want to say that from the only picture of one of your Dad's knives I was able to see, he must have been a top-notch builder, because the knife I saw was simply gorgeous, definitely my kindda knife. I tried to go to your ebay store to view more, but for whatever reason it came up, "No items to display",(perhaps because you don't ship outside the US and I'm in Canada?). I see you figured out how to post pics so please show us some! It's great to have you as a member and to AAPK! Mark!

Hi, Mark. Thank you! I don't ship outside of the U.S. I guess that is why you cannot see the knives that I have there. Here is one that has been sold. The “J Bigler” semicircle dates it sometime from 2004 to early 2012. Dad would be so pleased that you have called him a top-notch builder. He didn't start making knives until his retirement in 1993 when he sold his lumberyard dealership. Once in a while through the years that he did that (1958-1993), he built houses to sell.
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Another gorgeous knife M.J.! I guess great minds think alike regarding not being able to view your ebay knives! LOL! Your Pop's sounds like he was a very talented man, not only a teriffic knifer but a carpenter to boot! Some folks have all the talent!

I was just commenting on the post that you linked to about how best to see Dad's work -- through a private fb group and through my ebay listings of his knives. I don't see a way to post pictures here. Please advise on how to do that and I shall put some pictures up.





I don't know if you have considered this or not but you could sell any remaining knives and related items you may have left of your fathers here on AAPK for a much lower commission that Ebay charges you. Very easy to set up and Bryan does a great job of keeping things straight.

just bob wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 7:58 pm I was just commenting on the post that you linked to about how best to see Dad's work -- through a private fb group and through my ebay listings of his knives. I don't see a way to post pictures here. Please advise on how to do that and I shall put some pictures up.





I don't know if you have considered this or not but you could sell any remaining knives and related items you may have left of your fathers here on AAPK for a much lower commission that Ebay charges you. Very easy to set up and Bryan does a great job of keeping things straight.

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't know that knives could be sold through here. That is something to consider. However I must say that I have been very pleased with how ebay is able to handle all the monetary transactions for me and acts as a go-between (rare occurrences) if needed with the buyers. And, of course, members of the knife group always get the first opportunity before the knives are posted elsewhere.

hello justbob . to post a picture go below the box you write in to "attachments " and transfer a computer file to the writing box . and these are good looking knives in this discussion

Thank you for the information about how to post photos. I was able to figure out how to do that. And thank you for the appreciation of my Dad's (Jay Bigler's) work.

I ran across a link to this posting today along with another one about my dad's knives and thought that those here would like to see a recent find of Bigler knives. Through the years I have found knives that Dad made all over the house, his work spaces and even in his vehicles. A few years ago, I found 22 more, and I thought for sure that I had found all of them. Well, I was wrong. Several weeks ago, I was looking for something in one of the cabinets where Dad stored a lot of his supplies and other stuff. I saw a Jantz Supply box. Curious, I figured it was going to be supplies. I was wrong. It held four early (pre-1997) knives. Wow! Later, I thought that maybe I should go through some of the other boxes in that cabinet. It was like finding buried treasure. Including those in the Jantz box, there were 98 knives in all -- 90 were pocket knives.