2014 eccks?

Ditto.

Seth, did you travel very far for the show? I would still attend for the reasons you named if it was just a short drive. But for a longer "all day" trip, it is a different story for me.

And you have very refined taste! If that Lake knife is the one I am thinking of, I would bet that it was the priciest knife at the show. Let's just say that it sold for more than I spent on my car and my wife's SUV, brand new, combined. :eek:
 
Ken,

I'm VERY local to the show. I'm sure my calculus would be very different coming from your distance.

The Lake would be enough to cover a couple cars, a down payment on a house, or a year at Harvard without room and board! :)

Maybe some day, although I can't foresee it...

Seth
 
It is unfortunate that this show is getting this reputation, however I can understand why. But I would like to say that even though most of the high end makers might have sold out early or only had one knife for sale, there were a good number of very good makers that had plenty of knives available throughout the weekend. I know it's disappointing to travel and have considerable expense and then not be able to purchase or even see the knives that your interested in. I was set up there and had a great time visiting with customers and knife makers, but I do think the attendance was down from last year, hopefully next year will be better.
Seth, it was a pleasure seeing you again, hope you can make the blade show.
Joel
 
Joel Chamblin said:
It is unfortunate that this show is getting this reputation, however I can understand why. But I would like to say that even though most of the high end makers might have sold out early or only had one knife for sale, there were a good number of very good makers that had plenty of knives available throughout the weekend. I know it's disappointing to travel and have considerable expense and then not be able to purchase or even see the knives that your interested in. I was set up there and had a great time visiting with customers and knife makers, but I do think the attendance was down from last year, hopefully next year will be better.
Seth, it was a pleasure seeing you again, hope you can make the blade show.
Joel
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Hi, Joel.

Another maker and I were discussing the ECCKS by e-mail today, and I specifically mentioned you as one of the guys whose table I always like to see when I have gone in the past . . . and also one of the very few makers who has a table there and who ever posts in this forum (even though you don't post here often). Compare that to the AKA show where there are a bunch of makers who post here fairly frequently and we all get a chance to drool over stuff before the show even begins.

I guess as long as the promoter is happy, that's all that counts, right? It is his show.
 
Joel, I enjoyed looking at your knives again. I should have formally introduced myself.
 
The Sky is NOT falling. However, having a show with the harshest of winter days never helps?

I can only offer a barometer from my experience, and we worked as hard at this ECCKS show than we have ever. To us ECCKS = MAJOR success.

Every BIG name was here. If they all went home disappointed, this is news to me. Few that I talked with had anything but good news.

Jon, did you ask Steve D'lack how the show went for him? Ken was disappointed last year because there were no knives. I understood. However, that's usually a sign of good sales?

Then there must have been a lot of knives left over for collectors to choose?

This glass can be half full. :D

Coop
 
Coop you are right and once again have me reconsidering this although I was still disappointed. It depends on perspective. From MY point of view there was a lack of knives on makers tables and I saw many empty tables. No doubt, that means the top makers did very well and sold out immediately, but I wouldn't have even known they were there. Usually a sold out maker has a booklet with photos, or at least a presence at their table. I didn't notice this at the show this time around. I did not get a VIP pass but came after the show opened to the general public. I was too late. My view may not reflect sales. The heavy hitting makers most likely sold to the heavy hitting collectors right off the bat- but I still did not see these knives, and I certainly did not see alot of people in the isles of the show.

I know that my eyes automatically search for ABS and forged knives and its possible I just don't pick up on some of the other stuff. I remember Steve Dunn, Rick Dunkerly, John W. Smith and I believe Harvey Dean were at this show in the past years. And before that Don Hanson and Cliff Parker attended. Maybe the show is just not suiting my taste anymore, which is my problem more then anyone else. I am drawn to forged blades and hardly saw any!

Edit to add, this is still my "local" show and I will always attend when I can.
 
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SharpByCoop said:
The Sky is NOT falling. However, having a show with the harshest of winter days never helps?

I can only offer a barometer from my experience, and we worked as hard at this ECCKS show than we have ever. To us ECCKS = MAJOR success.

Every BIG name was here. If they all went home disappointed, this is news to me. Few that I talked with had anything but good news.

Jon, did you ask Steve D'lack how the show went for him?
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SharpByCoop said:
Ken was disappointed last year because there were no knives. I understood. However, that's usually a sign of good sales?

Coop
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Well, when you have a VIP pass and enter the show the moment it begins and there are still "no knives" then what is that a sign of? Maybe that makers sold out before the show? Maybe that others never brought anything to sell? How many knives did Juergen Steinau even bring this year to sell at the show? Hint: I believe that the answer is less than one. Please correct me if I am wrong about that.

Like I said, I am thinking that there are some makers who are there for other reasons than to sell knives on the show floor. Like delivering previously ordered knives and taking new orders. And BTW, I don't believe I ever said that there were "no knives" and if I actually said that, then I want to retract it right now. Of course there were lots of knives. But there were very few knives of the types I collect. And the makers who were there (or at least listed as exhibitors) who do make such knives had little if anything available to even see - never mind buy - on the show floor.

For example, this was last year just before 4 PM on Friday (first day of the show), facing the FRONT of the show floor. Not much more that I can say about last year's show besides this.

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But hey, I wasn't there this year. You were, so I will take your word for it. Maybe it was the greatest show of all time for all I know.

And I have no doubt that what you say is absolutely spot on from the perspective of the makers to whom you refer. But like I said, maybe some or many of those makers either did not plan to sell much (or maybe anything) on the show floor, and/or they sold what they brought before the show began.

Anyway, I am coming from the perspective of a lowly knife collector. Sales were good? Hey, good for the makers! But why should I or any collector really care about that when it comes to deciding whether to attend a show? Frankly I am not a maker and - no offense - I could care less whether a show is good for makers or not. My objectives when I attend a show are to actually see and handle as many knives which appeal to me as possible, and to buy knives which I like for as little money as possible.

But like I indicated above, it doesn't really matter whether I or any collectors like the show or not. If the promoter is happy, that's all that matters, right? So I believe that you are 100% correct when you say that the sky is not falling.
 
Hi all,

From a lowly beginner knife maker perspective, I thought the show was a blast. My wife and I met many knife makers from around the world. Where else in the New England area can I get this for 25$? For us, this show is a lifeline. Last year we were disappointed also. We got there Saturday afternoon and the above photo was pretty much it. So this year we went at 1pm on Friday. Much Better! I felt like there was a lot of energy and excitement at the show. I was pretty disappointed Jurgen did not have even one knife! He said he usually will finish it up in the hotel room but something about cutting heat treated screws and hotels rooms wouldn't jive. I am not a collector but I have to imagine that one of the appealing things about collecting these high end knives has to be the relative scarcity of them. How many 80+ hour knives can one guy come up with in a year? I too wish to see more forged blades, more traditional pattern folders, and high end Chef knives. It is just not that big of a show I guess.
 
As others have mentioned, it's a little disappointing to see so many empty tables. I know I'm not going to see a lot of the kinds of knives I connect with at the Jersey City show. I just go to meet and talk to makers, to see the fit and finish of their work and to be inspired. I don't waste their time giving them the impression I'm a buyer and I stay out of the way if they have a fish on the line. I tell them right off the bat that I'm an aspiring maker and they all seem to be happy to talk about their work and give advice. Knife guys are the best. Plus I go to see my teacher and to get his critique on the stuff I'm making. I did get to handle one of Claudio Sobral's bowies which was a great experience. I made some mental notes.
 
I like this forum because anyone has a different point of view and like to share it.
For me the show it was very good one of my best Ecck show, I met new collectors and spent time with old friends. The cold weather did not help and many people had problems with flights cancelled ( arriving and leaving N.J.).
I think that Steve D'Lack as always did a great job !
I look forward the next year and I hope will be a great success for makers, collectors and knife lover!!
Emmanuel
 
Mrs. Scurvy and I made the trip and we were very happy with the show. Much smaller and more intimate than Blade and much less random BS taking up space.

We had VIP passes so got in early on Friday and got to see everything before it sold out. I'll admit that come Saturday afternoon it was pretty dead but I found PLENTY to look at all day Friday. Saturday we stayed just to hang out with forum folks and play the lotteries.

It looked to me to have a good mix of vendors, tactical makers and old school/European makers. I have heard the NYCKS is almost all tactical knives which is fine by me!

I was crestfallen to find out that John W. Smith fell ill and wouldn't be there. He was the person I was most looking forward to meeting.

I met a lot of great people, got to chat with some very cool makers (Kirby Lambert, Brian Tighe, Bob Terzuola, Sean O'Hare, Eugene from Olamic, Scot Matsuoka, John Gray, RJ Martin etc etc etc) and got some superb knives.

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The wife won the Terzuola lotto on saturday. My first true grail.


All in all, a GREAT (but expensive) way to spend a weekend!
 
Here are pictures of a couple of knives from the 2014 ECCKS. I hope that you enjoy.

First up . . .

Those who remember my AKI 2013 thread will no doubt remember seeing Emmanuel Esposito's amazing 007 James Bond folding dagger with accoutrements.

Well, of course we all know that there have been more than one 007.

That was the "Sean Connery" version.

Here is the "Daniel Craig" version.


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And here is another of Emmanuel's knives from AKI:

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.

Note how he has clocked the screws on these knives. IMO, the attention to all those little details is one of the things that elevates his knives.
 
Does anyone have a picture of that Gold Lip Pearl Moro Corrado folder? That one really blew me away, I thought it would win something for sure.
 
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