Capt., I certainly understand your feelings on the question, and you persuasively argue your position with passion, eloquence and courtesy.

I agree that the blade numbers etched on the RKS knives are indeed wickedly confusing, especially to a new RMK collector, and that the dual numbering system was probably not the best way to go, especially to avoid confusion down the road.

I've read the RKS newsletters on the club knives, so I understand what the numbers represent. For club knives with two low numbers, however, I can never seem to recall which number is for the knife and which is for the original buyer's RKS membership. And then, to add to the confusion, there are apparently some later RKS knives with only one number (as per the newsletters, it seems that the original buyer had the option to not include his RKS membership number on the blade). Good luck figuring that one out without doing a bunch of research (or asking the experts here).

I would distinguish the RKS etchings from the currently proposed BMK stamp, though, as we are only discussing one unique knife rather than a limited edition or numbered series of knives. As they say in Highlander...There can be only one!

Having said that, and while conceding the strength of Capt.'s position, I'd still prefer to see a blade stamp commemorating this as the first BMK forum build.

Some of the other suggestions...a COA, a special sheath stamp, a unique spacer arrangement, are all excellent ideas. In theory, any of these would work to distinguish THIS knife from any later orders of 'the KTF build knife'. The problem with something not 'on' the knife (like a COA), however, is that it has a tendency to get lost or separated from the knife. I'm pretty careful with paperwork, but sooner or later, some things gets misplaced, misfiled or just plain lost.

Thanks for listening. And if I'm outvoted here...it's all good. My tastes in designing the forum build knives seem to run counter to the majority on many of the design elements, but I'm still having fun, learning a great deal, and the Capt. is correct...this will be a beautiful knife that its new owner will be proud to have.

Bob