Are You Experienced? --- 2015 Seattle Knife Show

I'll end my show thread with photos I took at Andrew Meers' table.
I'd peg Andrew as one of the great cutlers of our time. His blend of artistry, materials knowledge and technical competence has no match, at least, none that I know of.
Most of the knifemakers at the show agree, which is why Andrew received the Maker's Choice award.

Cool guy, too. We had a really good conversation which had nothing to do with knives, and that only served to elevate my estimation of this interesting man.

His business card display stand was one of the coolest things I saw at the show.
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This is Andrew, holding what I think I remember him describing as a kindjal. It has some pesh kabz features, in particular the chainmail piercing point. It doesn't really much matter what you call it, it is what it is- Awesome!














This was my favourite kitchen knife of the show. You can't really see it, but there's a small ladybug designed into the bolster. I really liked the full tang construction, in particular how the slabs are fit flush top and bottom, but stand proud where they meet the bolster. And that steel...wow!




These straight knives were very interesting as well. The tangs are fully tapered with rope filework, which is scaled to the taper. Some crazy math going on here.
They feel great in hand, nicely balanced and a very tactile experience emblematic of Andrew's work. So much texture.





The knife on the bottom was the knife which clinched Andrew's Best Folder award win. These knives have little compartments built into the handles with a surprise inside!




I wish I had spent some more time looking at this piece. I didn't even notice the pattern etched on the outside til I saw my photo. That's the problem with taking pictures; I get so caught up in photographing the details that I actually miss some of them in person.
 
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I left the show with some goodies of my own. Unfortunately, they were mostly all pre arranged and so I didn't leave any money with any of the exhibitors. This is one of the reasons I like putting these threads together; I usually can't afford to buy stuff and assembling a thread to help promote this event makes me feel like I've contributed something, at least. Besides the joy of providing my sparkling and charming personality, lol!


Ben Tendick bro'd me out with this sweet t shirt;





Dave Lisch very kindly agreed to take delivery on this forged bronze sold that I bought from Phillip Patton, in order to save it from potential border crossing problems;







Bruce Bingenheimer provided me with a couple of photographic prints by Caleb Royer of the Bingalor folder that Bing and I co developed;



and also the prototype Icarus folder which you've seen already;





And with something of a bittersweet feeling, I received a blade from Claudio Sobral. At last year's show, I presented a pattern to Mike Quesenberry with the intention to work on a four way collaboration- my design, Claudio's blade, Mike's handle and guard, and another Mike's shaping of the jade handles.

After sending 3 different but similar patterns to Argentina, two of which were lost in the mail, Claudio forged this blade to my pattern faithfully, and did a hell of a job on it. It arrived just a week or two before this year's show, and was the first time I'd laid eyes on it.

Claudio had sent the blade to Mike, and Mike took me aside at the show to explain that he couldn't do the project. I would never try to impose work on an artist, and it is a real testament to the quality of character so fully filling Mike that he would explain to me honestly why this project wouldn't work for him. Of course, with his MS under his belt, his workload and subsequent wait time has increased, but more importantly, he felt that this project just didn't have his mark on it. No one would look at it and say, 'that says Quesenberry'! And I agree with him. I hope that we work on another project together in the future, because the fact is, Mike is a GREAT guy to work with. No bullshit.

The upshot of this development, is that now I have a project! I've sketched out a new handle, since the original would take skills that I do not have, and this piece will become a working tool, as opposed to an objet d'art. I'm looking forward to trying out some new(ish) concept in ergonomics and handle design and I'm fired up to get out into the wilds in order to test them out.





Wish me luck!





This concludes my event coverage. Again, I do apologize for not getting photos of everyone, there was a lot that I saw that I wanted to capture but couldn't. I got as much as I could, though, and I hope you enjoyed it.

At this point, I would like to open the thread to others of you who have photos you'd like to share. If you don't know about linking photos to your post, please feel free to send your photos to me, and I'll make sure they see the light of day.

Thank you for your interest, and to all who left nice comments!
 
Lorien,

Thank you much for all the photos and work taking them and the time posting them.By far the best review i've seen .

Also again It was a real pleasure to finally meet you. Looking forward to the next time.

Oh ya watched one of those videos of the ride down a bike trail that showed up on Bill's video. You guys are completely out of your mind.

Cliff
 
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Lorien, Thanks so much for the fantastic review. It is such a treat to see the show from another set of eyes. Was a lot of fun right to the end of Sunday.

See everyone next year

Bing
 
Lorien, thanks again for sharing your experience with those of us unable to attend. Great pics of what appeared to be a great show. Congrats on your new Bing folder.
 
Thank you, Lorien, for a thoroughly enjoyable review of the show. This was only the second knife show I've attended and it was somewhat overwhelming. I'm sure I'll be going back over your highlights again. I'm just finishing up a 2 week visit with my daughter currently living in Nanaimo. Been spending most of my time in the greater Nanaimo area and on the north Island along the inside coast. Fine country! I'll be back. Particularly looking forward to some kayaking in the Port McNeill area and some hiking at Cape Scott.

P.S. I'm sad you took down your initial Jimi Hendrix video. Quite enjoyed it.
 
It is always nice to have the kids involved. The boys have made a couple wooden knives with me. Letting them be involved in the knife show is always fun and my hope is they catch the knife bug! With the family there I got some time to go around the show, but there is always something I miss. Thanks for covering it so thoroughly!
 
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