ABS Reno Expo 2008 review

Bruce,

Your push dagger was really cool, and the engraver that came to look at it was no other than Sam Welch...one of the best in my opinion. His scroll work is so elegant, and he carves animals as well as I have ever seen.

I hope we can all get a look at it after he takes his turn.:D
 
The Craftsmens Guild of Mississippi is a highly respected group of artisans who use the jury system. Being a Fellow in this organization, I have been judged four times, once every three years for the first twelve. At the end of twelve years members are no longer juried. At any time, as a member of this guild, you may display at virtually any other show in the country and the jury process is waved for you. These other organizations know that we have very tough standards committees and they respect that.

As an ABS Mastersmith, I was also juried for both JS and MS. I can't think of a tougher group of judges than were assembled that morning in Atlanta. Those five particular knives that all MS candidates submit that day are the result of months or even years of work. The quillion dagger itself may take a year to complete. My oppinion is that in a way, the MS is a little bit like a curse. The construction of those five knives involved, sleepless nights, irritability, upset stomachs, long hours, fights with the wife and family (nine times out of ten being your fault) etc., to insure the quality required to pass the test. From the moment you are awarded that ranking, every single knife you make must be at least as good as those five and hopefully better.

Having to be juried-in to a knife show is on some level, insulting. ABS Journeymen and Mastersmiths should be trusted to maintain the high standards they are known for without without being "tested" every time they want to set up at a high-end show. Those who let their standards slide simply won't sell any knives and will stop attending on their own accord.
 
I would like the ABS to set up a way for collectors to give input on who they want to see next year. I'd like that process to be anonymous, verifiable (not by everyone, but maybe by the show attendees?), and objective.

I've always wondered why the AKI attendance is decided by the makers and not the collectors & dealers who come to the show. (On the other hand, if it ain't broke ... ) :)
 
Bailey Bradshaw said:
Bruce,

Your push dagger was really cool, and the engraver that came to look at it was no other than Sam Welch...one of the best in my opinion. His scroll work is so elegant, and he carves animals as well as I have ever seen.

I hope we can all get a look at it after he takes his turn.:D
Click to expand...

Bailey, Thanks for the great compliment. I too am impressed with Sams engraving. I cant wait to see what he does with it and you can be sure I will flaunt it on the forums.:)
 
I just had a chance to read everything, and like everyone, I am under the dilusion that anyone cares what I have to say, so...

I liked the changes in format. Sure, there's some tweaking to do, but it's sure better than the 40 year old format of "put knives on table and smile for three days. " I think that sometimes it's ok to change for change's sake. However, I want to make clear that was not the intention of the show committee. They put a lot of thought into the changes, and for the large part, I think it worked.

One thing I found interresting was that as a maker, I had very little chit-chat time with other makers. Usually, on Sunday, we all walk around while it's slow and catch up. In the past, I've had long conversations with nearly everyone who comes, and I feel like I know everyone a little, and I only see most of them once a year. This year, it was all bang, boom, and it was over, and I'm saying goodbye to guys I never acutally said hello to. Tim Hancock had the table behind me and I hardly said more than a quick "hi" til about 3 on Saturday afternoon.

This show will continue to evolve. It presents a little "chicken or the egg" dilema, as indicated by Bailey. Makers generally want to have a place to sell their very best work - even a reason to push themselves to new places, as long as there is someone with the means to give a sale a chance. However, the collectors with the means and the desire to buy such a knife will not come unless they suspect that high quality work will be present. I think that after six years of the show, the work has undeniably progressed, and the collectors who attend expect that.

The show was envisioned as a Mastersmith only show, and was offered as such the first year. But, when they got only about half the makers they needed, they opened it to JS and Apprentice smiths. The show was an unknown quantity that first year. Since then, many who turned down the chance to go that first year have been stuck on a waiting list - soem very fine makers for sure. However, the show committee started a tradition that first year of awarding those with faith in the unknown that first year with first shot at the next year. The turnover at the show is very small from year to year compared to others, and I'd bet that 75% of the tables this year were held by guys who were there on year one.

If you plan on coming to San Antonio, which you should, just save that trip to the zoo for after the show. We don't want you stuck in the hospital with heat stroke til after you've had a chance to get some knives....:)
 
The new show format worked well for me. I learned some important things and will use what I learned at next years show and other shows. I liked having the chance to talk to customers that were not rushing to the next table. I also liked knowing that those who put their name in my box did so because they had looked around and decided I had what they wanted.

I had 8 knives and had multiple names in for 7 of them. The 8th knife I sold later in the day on Saturday. It was nice because I was able to keep several knives on the table for people to look at throughout the day on Saturday. I allowed customers that I knew to put their name in on Friday even though they had to leave before the drawing on Saturday. Any that were drawn were shipped on Monday. This works for known customers but I learned not so well for people I don’t know.

I wanted to take the pressure off having to be back to my table within 15 minuets of the drawing so I put a star on the card if the customer wanted the knife regardless of what else he/she might have been drawn for. I had a new customer that got drawn for 2 pieces; he had a star on his card so I held the knives all day Saturday. When he didn’t return to the show I released the knives to the 2nd drawn 1 hour before the show closed. I will not make this “star” offer again to someone I don’t know. I even had another new customer offer me double the price for one of these knives, but having told the 1st guy I would hold the knife I turned down the offer.

Daniel
 
Had a great talk with Larry Fuegen last night. The reason that i called him was that I was incredibly impressed with the bowie he took to Reno. He emailed me some images, so I thought I would share. The images have been compressed, so they won't be the highest quality, but they are still pretty good.

fuegenbuckaroo.jpg


fuegen2.jpg


fuegen1.jpg


My personal opinion is that Larry is as good as it gets.
 
Larry also emailed me an image of just about the nicest San Francisco style bowie that I have ever seen. Thought maybe you would like to get a look at it as well.

fuegen4-web.jpg


This image shows the knife in a display stand with a matching set of spurs and straps.

fuegen6.jpg
 
That is out of this world... :eek:

As a side note, carved straight laminate damascus is one of the most beautiful material and very rarely used. I really like that.
 
Mr. Fuegen does phenomenal work. I hope to see it in person some time.

Thanks for the pictures.

Peter
 
Geez, so we all see what Larry has been working on for the last, ohhhh, three years....! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Out of this world! What a complete project. A joy to behold.

Fuegen: I pronounce his name 'FWĀGĔN' I've heard it pronounced 'FĀGEN'. Help me out.

Coop
 
SharpByCoop said:
Fuegen: I pronounce his name 'FWĀGĔN' I've heard it pronounced 'FĀGEN'. Help me out.

Coop
Click to expand...

I thought it was the latter, but I have heard both used with just about equal frequency. Somebody clue me in as well.

Roger
 
Don't want to be a smartass but I think the name originates from Germany (or there abouts). If so the name is pronounced Fügen (Fuugen) but that is rather difficult in English.

Marcel
 
Don was probably set straight by Larry himself, so I would think that the way he was told to pronounce it would be the correct way.

If someone that has the last name Favre can pronounce it Farv, then I guess that the way something is spelled isn't always going to indicate how it is pronounced.
 
"Faygen" Larry and Linda are friends he is an incredible talent and she knows her way around a kitchen a very fine palate
Keith Thanks for posting em
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top