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Charles Turnage Materials Entrepreneur – by Stephen Garger

By
Charles Turnage Ivory

Editor’s Note: Longtime KNIFE Magazine Staff Correspondent Stephen Garger passed away this week (5/16/2021). We have decided to share this, his final cover article from our November 2020 issue in his honor. Thank you for your years of contributions. Requiescat in Pace sir.

Charles Turnage Materials Entrepreneur
By Stephen Garger

Mammoth tooth ivory was a topic among my first knife articles, and one of the experts consulted was Charles Turnage. As was my habit with assigned article sources (largely contacted via phone), I sought Charles out at the Blade Show to meet and thank him. We ended up in one of those conversations you truly enjoy yet have no chance of remembering any content because the majority of time is spent laughing and cracking wise. At the next table scrimshander Sandy Brady 
(scrimshaw-by-sandra-brady.com), who would do yeoman’s work against the inane ivory laws, jokingly admonished us for “having all together too much fun” and we settled down. A bit.
Recently a friend mentioned he met an interesting guy at a knife show and asked if I happened to know a Charles Turnage. That long ago Blade Show encounter came to mind, one thing led to another, and I contacted Charles on a hunch his story would be compelling. I wasn’t disappointed!

This article first appeared in the November 2020 issue of KNIFE Magazine. Premium Online Members can read the whole thing by clicking the blue box below.

Charles Turnage
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H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.

3 Comments

  1. Reply
    davidmccarty

    Mammoth tooth makes some of the most beautiful handle material there is.

  2. Reply
    Del Corsi

    This is just a terrific example of an epic “Garger” piece! His David Yellowhorse article was also one of my favorites. So sad to hear that Steve Garger passed away. Thoughts and prayers with Steve’s family, same to Mark and his Knife Magazine family as well.

  3. Reply
    Jim Stoddard

    A very uplifting & moving testimonial to friendship, and an acknowledgement of how a life well-lived can inspire & impact others. I enjoyed several of the articles you mention, and it sounds like he raised the bar for all of us. Thanks for telling his story & I’m sorry that you lost a friend, and we all lost a great wealth of inquiry & insight. And, anybody who writes a book about his dog is worth paying attention to! Jim

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