Are You Experienced? --- 2015 Seattle Knife Show

This is gonna be sweet!

Man, I only live about 20 minutes from (downtown) Seattle and "about" the same to Bellevue, and I still couldn't make it out there!!! :( .... I've still haven't been to any type of knife show, ever... and yet I had one of the biggest ones with some of the best makers in the world right at my back door for 3 days! It was torture! So I've just been living vicariously through others on FB...

You always do a great job of putting threads like this together. :thumbup: I really hope you do add captions to the prefunk pics when ya can, too much cool lookin stuff goin on in those pics to not! :cool: As always, I really appreciate you taking all the time to share all of your knife related experiences with us, whether it be in a WIP or something lke this. Now go get a good night sleep, you're gonna need it! ;) lol Thanks man!

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
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what an amazing weekend! i was honored and humbled to have the opportunity to display my knives alongside so many of the top makers around. it was cazy-cool to just be in the room. thanks to everyone who took a minute or two to stop by and take a look and have a chat. i'm full of inspiration, and already looking forward to next year! (and your show report, lorien!)
 
My wife and I got home last evening. Caught up on sleep and now will lay low for a day or so before I get back at it for Blade.

We had a great time. It was a really good show, met a lot of good folks, makers and collectors alike.

Looking forward to your review Lorien.
 
Dave and Andrea Lisch's PreFunk is intrinsic to the overall value of the Seattle show. Without it, the show would be much diminished, in my opinion.
Andrea and Dave put a lot into their component of the knife show, and it costs them financially as well as in terms of energy expenditure.

With that in mind, I'd suggest raising the ViP rates, limiting the number of ViP passes to a population that fits comfortably in the workshop, allowing only ViP pass holders access to the PreFunk, and sharing some of the additional pass proceeds with the Lisch folk to offset their financial costs. At some points, there really were too many people at the PreFunk, which makes it slightly less comfortable, and many times more dangerous. That speaks to the success of the event itself, and points to the importance of rethinking the management of it in terms of maximizing the quality of the experience for everyone. That's just my two cents, for what they're worth.

There was some kind of forging competition going on here, with Jason Knight MCing. I don't really know much about the details, so hopefully someone will add them for us. On the right in the brown shirt is Salem Straub, and in the green vest is Chuck Richards.

It's funny; you can see the photographer for the Seattle online news taking pictures in a lot of my pictures, and a lot of her pics online were from the same vantage points as mine. That's how you can tell a professional photographer- I've gotten to know Studio 4 over many years and it's taken me awhile to find the best spots to take photos from, but she found them right off the bat! Oh, and her pictures are FAR superior.






Here is a view of both halves of the work space. The half I'm in is the hand forging, grinding and finishing area. The other half has the hydraulic hammers, heavy machinery and steel layout tables.





An overhead view of the metals shop. Kikuo Matsuda is preparing for a grinding demo, (which has to been seen to be believed) while Daniel O'Malley prepares to do a sharpening demo. Bill Burke is at the forge and anvil, building a tomahawk which you will seen later.






Bill Burke, getting his hammer on, while Mark and Angela (?) Knapp look on.






I was trying to get a pic of O'Malley through a cracked pane of glass, but everyone moved and suddenly Jason Knight got captured! It'll be a theme; Knight photobombs abound. Geoff Keyes, (beard and hat) is in the background.






Kikuo here is working his magic. His grinding method left many a knife maker scratching their heads. He glues sandpaper to a fairly thin wheel, and grinds only from one direction. Since he grinds 'blind' more or less, you could say he does it by feel and could probably do it with his eyes closed. His grinds are often complicated, multi faceted, ones and his accuracy is very impressive.









Speaking of working magic, O'Malley can be seen here, summoning forth the spirits while his accolytes look on...






Actually, he's just sharpening knives, but the resulting edge is quite magical :)

 
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Your pictures are super. I forgot to ask, what is the make and model of that camera you use?
 
Gary, it's an Olympus E-PM1. Great little camera, need to get me a viewfinder and macro lens, then I'm set.
 
Oh, and I'll get the next batch of pictures up here some time today. Will probably do the same thing as last time; upload the pics then add captions later. Captions quadruple the amount of time to build a post.
 
Cool pics. I wish I could have made it. I was at a confrence up in Winthrop for the weekend.
 
Bill Burke is a force behind the Seattle show, and here he is!
He's welding up a tomahawk head for the throwing competition. You'll see this hawk later.






Charring the handle;





This is an 'on the ground' photo of the forging comp I mentioned earlier. That's Adam Desrosiers in the grey hoodie.






The incredibly buff Salem Straub. This guy's work has taken huge leaps forward in a short period of time. He is on my list of makers to watch.






Adam and Jason, smashing steel and stuff.







The guy on the right is Tristan Knight, Jason's progeny.






Tristan has some serious forge mojo. This apple certainly has not fallen far from the tree.






There was a really neat vibe this year. Seemed to me like a lot of the younger guys were getting on really well with the ole codgers. Perhaps Jason and Tristan set something of a tone as they worked together at the forge.

Wait til you see how the knife Tristan forged turned out. Too cool for school.

 
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This is some great stuff! That's cool kiku went their and did a grinding demo, I would not have imagined that happening in such a "bladesmithy" type setting, but it's very cool, would've looved to have seen that... Meh, who am I kidding, there's not one thing shown so far I wouldn't have loved to see :)

Looks like Tristan sure eats his spinach! ;) Can't wait for more :thumbup:

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
 
Over the top Lorien, great pics and thank you for sharing them. Looks like way to much fun :)
Cheers Keith
 
I enjoyed the pictures. It is very cool to hang out and enjoy each others company, at Lisch's shop, before the show. Wow Adam, you sure can forge a blade!!! It was fun to see you all at play. I have never seen another show like it! This was my first year as a table holder. Quite a bit of world class knives in a intimate setting. It was one of the best shows I have done and I am excited to do it again next year.
 
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I ran into Mark Knapp early, and got the opportunity to check out the knife whose construction he documented for us all here .

What a guy! I really enjoyed meeting him. He wins 'Best Suspenders' of the show, hands down :)






The handle had a lot of guys scratchin their head wondering how in the hell he did what he did. Check out the link above, that should help.






Gary House, Shane Taylor and Jason Knight, hangin out;






Gary House, checking out this cool bronze sword that Phillip Patton made, and which I had him send to Seattle for me to pick up and save him some $ and risk shipping up here. I picked this sword up from Phillip here on the forum, and I'm pretty sure the material itself was worth what I paid! I guess bronze swords aren't in demand as much these days, lol! And not only did I get a phenomenal deal, he also made a wall hanger for it, which you'll see later in this thread.






My ladies, finally able to check out Dave's tricycle, which they've seen so many times in photos. They had a great time in Seattle at the show, and at the zoo, (which I also have photos of).






Here's Dave Lisch, enjoying the BBQ pizza that Mareko Maumasi handily made for everyone;






And here's Clementine, hoping to get a bite or two of that pizza!






Dan Keffler, trying his best to look mean. Not very effective, imo :) Photobomb courtesy of Miss Arnold.






The knife that cleaved the world (championships);

 
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