Sept 20, 2006
I first met Osa back in 1994 as a young 1st Lt in the Marine Corps. I met him at his store in Ft Supply Ok on my way home to McAlester to see my mother on the way to my first combat deployment. We talked about making a knife that would hold up under the pressures of combat. I am a Christian and I believe that nothing happens by chance and after talking to him I arrived on the east coast and went to Bosnia, I lost track of Osa for several years and many combat deployments. I was looking for custom knives again after 9/11 and ran across his website. I was glad to find his address and phone number again and gave him a call. He remembered me after all those years and we started to discuss a knife. I want a huge Bowie and he came through in incredible style with a knife that can hack your way through anything, or if you want knock them out with the butt plate. I was so impressed with the knife that after I got to Iraq and saw that though it was an excellent knife that it was a little to big for the cockpit of my F-18, I called on my friend Osa again. I told him I needed Bowie that was more compact, and that we need a rush order. About a month to the day Osa not only had my knife there, but two others that my fellow Marines had ordered. We were taken back by the fit and finish of the knives that were not only a deadly tool of war, but a work of art also. I have carried Osa’s knives with me on over a hundred combat missions in the air and half as many on the ground. His knife was with me when I was hit by an enemy explosion and had to fight my way out in the issuing fire fight. The explosion did not damage the knife at all and I felt safe knowing that if I ran out of bullets that I had the finest knife made to fall back on. I have purchased a total of five knives from Osa for myself and friends and each one is as fine a tool that money can buy. I would recommend his knives for any situation; his blades are help win the war on terror and have save lives.
Semper Fi
Lt Col T. J. Ardese
“Tonto”