Arkansas Custom Knife Show-- A day after.

MAURICE

MAURICE

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Jul 14, 2000
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I got there at about noon,and set to looking for forumite MaxTheKnife...couldn't find him,so I went by Ray Kirks table to say hello. He's got a few new ones out,bird and trout knives going for a little more than a bill. Forged 52100 steel with different handle materials. Ray was a pleasure to talk to,as always. Then I made my way,slowly around the show,drooling all over the different knives...Then I saw it! Brad Duncans table! I was surprised to see him there,as the Arkansas show is mostly ABS guys,and probably about 80 or 90 percent forged blades. So I stopped and chatted it up with him. He told me about his 'SharpFusion' blades,with a spine of 440c or 154CM or whatever,but with a stellite cutting edge. Very Cool! I wound up ordering one of his autos.After that I made my way to Knife Arts table and checked em out. Had a lot of good stuff. A handfull of Andre DeVillier's, a few of Aaron Fredericks knives (very impressive,makes me all the more excited about getting my JW Smith folder),and other assorted bladewear. Had lunch with Max and his wife,then had lunch (again) with Danbo,soul brother of rambo. We went to pizza hut (I was getting full by this point) and ogled the waitress...think Julia Roberts,but blonde,and about 19. :D
I was very pleased to see both Paul Basch and Amy Hinchman there. As you may or may not know,Paul had a stroke earlier this year,but I am glad to say he seemed MUCH better. He asked me about my Camel Back pack, and I showed him what it was...he got to talking about how you could put your beer in there,and be set! lol.
Afterwards I swung by Murray Carters table,and met the Japanese Bladesmith...this guy knows how to make a knife! Very well made,excellent edges,and laminated steel blades. Had several nice neckers for sale,along with some kitchen knives that looked top notch. Then I roamed around looking for old man Fisk...had seem him a couple of times during the day,but when I was looking for him,he wasn't around. I eventually found him and introduced myself...The guy is a character! Funny as hell,and a nice guy to boot.He talked me into going to the ABS pizza party after the show (God,I was full by then)...So I hung around until 6 pm,then went upstairs to the party. Lot of (you guessed it) Smiths there... too many to mention. I got a kick out of watching everyone scramble to the table to get their food before Fitch got up (Just Kidding,John! ;) ). Talked knives with Fisk and Danbo some more,and got to handle a nice little lockback that Jerry had made,but said wasnt good enough to sell...What the hell was wrong with it,bastid?!

Anyway,that was pretty much it for the show for me. Didn't buy anything due to my broked-ness (got to many knives on order to go buying more ;) ) but had a good time meeting with everybody and drooling...maybe some other attendees will chime in here and tell us more...


-mo
 
Thanks Mo,
Sounds like your were in good company all weekend :).
 
Great show all all weekend long! Friday night, my wife and I got there in time to catch a few of the knifemakers setting up. Murray Carter was hanging around the entrance, hoping to get a table for the show. He noticed the 2 backpacks I had with me and asked to check out some of my knives. After looking at several of my knives, he mentioned that he hadnt had dinner yet, so I insisted that he join my wife and I for Fazoli's. Not expensive or fancy, but good Italian food. You should see that Carter guy eat! I thought he was going to lick the plate. Murray is one heck of a nice guy and told us all about his story in becoming a Japanese village blacksmith. Amazing story.

Saturday morning was busy. More people at this Arkansas Custom knife show than I had seen in the 4 years that I have attended. Since a good chunk of my money was alloted for the Ron Newton stag bowie that I had ordered a year or so ago, so I was trying to be pretty selective with my remaining funds. I did pick up a super nice camp bowie from Roger Massey. Something about Roger's knives that I cannot resist. He makes the kind of stuff that you can look at for hours and not see anything uneven or crooked. My bowie is a forged 1084 clip shaped bowie with 10" blade. Rope fileworked nickel silver guard, groove filed collar and striped maple handle.

Next was Al Dippold; I picked up a neat little neck knife ground out of marquenced 15N20 with thin G10 slabs. Bud Nealy sheath came with it. This knife weighs close to nothing. Sharp as S#*t!

I couldnt resist Murray Carter's knives, and grabbed a warncliffe Muteki model with black G10 slabs. Razor sharp. Also picked up a Muteki utility knife from Murray with about a 4" blade of his laminated steel and cocobolo slabs.

Lunch with Mo was a lot of fun. We went to Pizza Hut and had a supreme pizza with lots of oogling of our pretty young waitress, who looked like a young Julia Roberts. Mo showed me his sweet Carson model 4 with 420V blade and maroon micarta handles. I'm not a big folder man, but I would buy that one.

After lunch it was time to go pick up my Ron Newton bowie. I figured that since the bowie was already sold to me beforehand, there was not hurry in taking it off Ron's table. Boy, what a knife! Blade is 8" of forged, marquenched 52100. Nickel silver guard and buttcap, with copper inlayed engraving on the guard and engraved buttcap. Choice stag carver for the handle. This bowie is as close to a perfect knife as can be had. Already had several offers to buy the knife; a couple of them from makers themselves.

John Fitch took 3 awards; Best bowie, Best of show, and Best fighter. He deserved those awards; the man lives knives.

No more money left to spend on knives, so I spent the rest of the show walking around and meeting people and talking to knifemakers. This show was a blast! I recommend it to anybody near Little Rock next year.
 
Here is a pic of the Ron Newton bowie. I actually got lucky and found that sheath on Kenny Rowe's table. All he had to do was put the snap on the keeper strap.
 
Danbo, your pictures just kill me man. Those are some beautiful knives you picked up.

Great report too. Sounds like you guys had a great show

Say, whose anvil is that in the pictures, Danbo? It looks like it hasn't seen much use lately... what's wrong? ;)
 
Those pictures were taken by me with my digital camera set on the lowest resolution setting. The anvil is an unused and rusty old one sitting outside of John Fitch's shop.
 
Great report, thanks!

I don't know which Bowie I like better. But I can't say I've seen any I've ever liked more! WOW!:eek:

You got great taste. Awesome.

Coop
 
:p

Both of those bowies are about as close to perfect as it gets.
Massey also had this gorgeous damascus folder with MOP inlays. Very nice...
 
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