Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
At the urging of Matt Diskin, I have attended the last three USN Gatherings, and am always glad that I do.
They are great fun, and the show keeps growing, getting bigger and having a very strong following.
My wife kindly drove me to the airport very early on Friday morning, and I was in Las Vegas by 8:00 am, easy comfortable flight greatly improved by my new ipod shuffle 4th gen.
After knowing me for almost 20 years, Matt still cannot spell my last name correctly...it's annoying.....the desk clerk at the Planet Hollywood hotel and I laughed about it, while he photocopied my drivers license in order to give me the room keys(which to be fair, Matt paid for). The roomies this year were the "usual suspects", Matt, David Mirabile, Joe Paranee and myself.
Once we all had the suitable attitude adjustment, we went to the coffee shop Planet Dailies for breakfast. I ordered a Bloody Mary and the lobster omelet with a side of hollandaise sauce and bacon. Before anyone jumps on this, I lost 30 lbs from this time last year, and while not trim, am presenting a fairly slimmed shape. Planet Dailies is not inexpensive, but imo, they do a very nice job and are one of the better features of an otherwise fairly sucky Las Vegas hotel(lousy table odds, boring and featureless bathrooms, expensive amenities and very expensive alcoholic beverages.......)
The showroom setup is excellent, however. I spent a bit of time looking over Allen Elishewitz's table, a collection of knives with bronze and other metal bolsters, ironwood scales and lovely blades, mostly the Spatha pattern if memory serves, all between $750.00 and $850.00, representing excellent prices and top quality craftsmanship. Allen's work is always original, technically proficient and mind-meltingly precise.
R.J. Martin had his usual assortment of superb knives, mostly flippers on the Q36/Overkill design, but more importantly, a series of tactical pens created by his son, Matthew Martin, titanium with carbon fiber. Really nice pens, and I was tempted, but have found that the one-handed operation of a "clicky" is what I need.
This was found at Tuff Writer in the form of their black Precision Press pen. It is my new absolute favorite. Not the perfect pen to be sure, the clip needed to be polished and the cartridge replaced to a fine Fisher refill instead of the included Medium, but this pen is the heat, and we got a nice discount for purchasing at the show.(Paranee picked up the Operator in black, grudgingly)
Neil Ostroff of True North Knives was handing out frisbees to anyone that had arms, and I'm pretty sure that he was wearing green sneakers that matched the frisbees, but style points aside, Neil gave me a Surefire battery for a flashlight that I purchased from another vendor....and it is the little stuff like that which makes Neil a real prince in this community.....he is simply a good guy, always. Not a pushover, not a pussy, but a straightforward mensch.
Made way back to Matt's table and set out some of my own knives, as well as some owned by a friend which caused Joe to go apoplectic and insult said knives for the duration of the show....and I have no class?
Was able to spend some time chatting with Chad Nichols. I have developed a serious respect for Chad. He makes damascus, mokume and MokuTi for the knife industry. He is full time, and he delivers his goods, the quality promised, the price expected and within the timeline quoted.
I have close friends who make damascus for this industry, and they are often less than timely in delivering the goods. When a maker is holding up an order for a customer or a show because they cannot get the materials that they were promised...it is bad for the collector, for the maker and for the entire community. Chad is providing a good service, and I got the opportunity to see his sincerity and his commitment, and that is really something worthy of respect....so much so that I tried (in vain) to find a piece of MokuTi that spoke to me. Am absolutely sure that as time progresses, I'll find that "right" piece(I often purchase materials at a show to use on future knives, a nasty habit I was infected with by Peter Gill).
The show is usually a "gear" show for me, rather than a knife show, but I had a "delivery" to look over by David Sharp. It is the Dixon Fighter shown here.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...oe-is-bugging-me)/page2?highlight=david+sharp
I brought my stag handled Thad Buchanan Dixon Fighter along to compare(not flying with the Loveless, ever). Thad has been making knives full time since roughly 2005 and David has been doing it roughly a year, and you would think that the comparisons and critique would be easy, but they are not. There are so many fine points to a Loveless knife, and many of them can focus on individual preferences, because these knives are made one at-a-time and all feature very specific differences from knife-to knife.
David has balls of steel, because this comparison happened on the showroom floor in front of a number of other makers and collectors. If David was going to be hanging his ass out, he would be doing it in basically public view. I like both knives, both are very close to Loveless's original pattern and both are immaculately rendered. I would say that a collector looking for a GREAT deal on a Loveless style knife should place an order with David Sharp very quickly because as his time in knifemaking increases, so will his prices likely increase. Right now at his retail prices, David's knives are a wonderful combination of EXCELLENT value and top quality rendering. The "delivery" was delayed so that David can have Jim Cooper, Sharp by Coop, photograph this knife, and hopefully it is on it's way back to me very soon.(which I have been assured is in process)
I didn't pick up anything else on Friday, just hanging out with friends, and checking out knives. Phil Boguszewski was doing a lottery for 10 knives a day, and unfortunately, I only had minimal face time with him and Sue, and they are just superb people to chat and dine with. He had a mini-saber grind cobra with silver twill G-10 inlays that would have been a great addition to the collection.
Speaking about Phil, it is almost impossible to not mention MartinR....got a few minutes to hang out with him....serious collector, knows what he likes, articulate and always a pleasure to spend time with. Neil Ostroff introduced us, and if I don't see Martin at a show at this point, it is a disappointment.
We went to dinner at Rao's Las Vegas at Caesar's, and this included having to spend 1/2 hour on hold to increase the booking to 12 people which turned out to be unnecessary. I ordered the Clams Casino, White Bean and Escarole Soup, Caesar Salad, Vodka Penne, and Chicken Scarpariello...and the only thing that didn't suck was the wine. We have been there twice before and the food was excellent, but this time, someone just didn't care and poured salt over everything without tasting it, and it was total crap. No one was happy. The veal parmigiana looked different and it tasted different....it's like they were trying to kill the restaurant without burning it down first....will not be back.
After that, I went back to the hotel and slept while the boys decided to act like boys....and Joseph tormented Greg Lightfoot which I would have loved to been a witness to.
Next morning I packed up my luggage and headed out to the showroom after having some Maker's on the rocks....very pleasant way to start a day of vacation.
Picked up some titanium beads from Steven Kelly, some .50 cal magnets, and two revolver cylinder bronze beads from D22(that table always costs me money at the Gathering...their gear is simply that unique and that good, pretty much worth whatever it costs).
I got an Infilux single cell battery by NiteCore that has become my new edc, I like the magnetic ring brightness switch very much, and have since buffed, shaped and heat colored the clip and screws for a much more pleasing function and appearance.
Saturday morning I picked up one of the last Bodega knives on Todd Begg's table. It's got Silver Twill G-10 scales, and I like it very much, but it is a mid-tech and will most likely turn it for a profit, and pick up another or two. Todd is going to blow up in a big way, he was filming a Discovery Channel pilot or some such at The Gathering, and my feeling is that his work will become hot like Kramer's knives did....ie something that originally sold for $2,000 with a wait time of roughly 9 months becomes worth $7,000 and has a wait time of three years if you are lucky. In Todd's case, a knife that I purchased for $850.00 is going to go for $2,000+ with the release of the show. I could be wrong, but it's not likely.
Todd Rexford had a silent auction knife that was $11,000 when I left the show on Saturday and eventually sold for $17,000. The frames were cast bronze with titanium balls, the design of the blade was fairly boring and I fail to understand this phenomenon. You CANNOT say that there was not money in the room, and you cannot say that the purchaser of this knife was "wrong", but it does leave me vexed, and for someone with 25+ years in the knife industry, that is a bit unsettling. I think the "kids" are making their own new heroes without any of the traditional parameters/metrics like great craftsmanship or design as consideration. Those of you unfamiliar with Todd's work can see an example on page 62 of Knives 2013. I find the work clean, but fairly unoriginal, and certainly don't blame Todd for doing well at a show. I hope that all knifemakers and vendors do well at shows.
Other than some cool schwag purchased from The Show promoters(patches, challenge coin) that was about all I picked up. R.J. Martin and I had lunch together on Saturday, and he gave me a nice CAO cigar which I smoked for dessert, hung out a bit and split. It was a good show, and was GREAT to see all the friends that I don't get to see any other time of year.
You all should go!
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
They are great fun, and the show keeps growing, getting bigger and having a very strong following.
My wife kindly drove me to the airport very early on Friday morning, and I was in Las Vegas by 8:00 am, easy comfortable flight greatly improved by my new ipod shuffle 4th gen.
After knowing me for almost 20 years, Matt still cannot spell my last name correctly...it's annoying.....the desk clerk at the Planet Hollywood hotel and I laughed about it, while he photocopied my drivers license in order to give me the room keys(which to be fair, Matt paid for). The roomies this year were the "usual suspects", Matt, David Mirabile, Joe Paranee and myself.
Once we all had the suitable attitude adjustment, we went to the coffee shop Planet Dailies for breakfast. I ordered a Bloody Mary and the lobster omelet with a side of hollandaise sauce and bacon. Before anyone jumps on this, I lost 30 lbs from this time last year, and while not trim, am presenting a fairly slimmed shape. Planet Dailies is not inexpensive, but imo, they do a very nice job and are one of the better features of an otherwise fairly sucky Las Vegas hotel(lousy table odds, boring and featureless bathrooms, expensive amenities and very expensive alcoholic beverages.......)
The showroom setup is excellent, however. I spent a bit of time looking over Allen Elishewitz's table, a collection of knives with bronze and other metal bolsters, ironwood scales and lovely blades, mostly the Spatha pattern if memory serves, all between $750.00 and $850.00, representing excellent prices and top quality craftsmanship. Allen's work is always original, technically proficient and mind-meltingly precise.
R.J. Martin had his usual assortment of superb knives, mostly flippers on the Q36/Overkill design, but more importantly, a series of tactical pens created by his son, Matthew Martin, titanium with carbon fiber. Really nice pens, and I was tempted, but have found that the one-handed operation of a "clicky" is what I need.
This was found at Tuff Writer in the form of their black Precision Press pen. It is my new absolute favorite. Not the perfect pen to be sure, the clip needed to be polished and the cartridge replaced to a fine Fisher refill instead of the included Medium, but this pen is the heat, and we got a nice discount for purchasing at the show.(Paranee picked up the Operator in black, grudgingly)
Neil Ostroff of True North Knives was handing out frisbees to anyone that had arms, and I'm pretty sure that he was wearing green sneakers that matched the frisbees, but style points aside, Neil gave me a Surefire battery for a flashlight that I purchased from another vendor....and it is the little stuff like that which makes Neil a real prince in this community.....he is simply a good guy, always. Not a pushover, not a pussy, but a straightforward mensch.
Made way back to Matt's table and set out some of my own knives, as well as some owned by a friend which caused Joe to go apoplectic and insult said knives for the duration of the show....and I have no class?
Was able to spend some time chatting with Chad Nichols. I have developed a serious respect for Chad. He makes damascus, mokume and MokuTi for the knife industry. He is full time, and he delivers his goods, the quality promised, the price expected and within the timeline quoted.
I have close friends who make damascus for this industry, and they are often less than timely in delivering the goods. When a maker is holding up an order for a customer or a show because they cannot get the materials that they were promised...it is bad for the collector, for the maker and for the entire community. Chad is providing a good service, and I got the opportunity to see his sincerity and his commitment, and that is really something worthy of respect....so much so that I tried (in vain) to find a piece of MokuTi that spoke to me. Am absolutely sure that as time progresses, I'll find that "right" piece(I often purchase materials at a show to use on future knives, a nasty habit I was infected with by Peter Gill).
The show is usually a "gear" show for me, rather than a knife show, but I had a "delivery" to look over by David Sharp. It is the Dixon Fighter shown here.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...oe-is-bugging-me)/page2?highlight=david+sharp
I brought my stag handled Thad Buchanan Dixon Fighter along to compare(not flying with the Loveless, ever). Thad has been making knives full time since roughly 2005 and David has been doing it roughly a year, and you would think that the comparisons and critique would be easy, but they are not. There are so many fine points to a Loveless knife, and many of them can focus on individual preferences, because these knives are made one at-a-time and all feature very specific differences from knife-to knife.
David has balls of steel, because this comparison happened on the showroom floor in front of a number of other makers and collectors. If David was going to be hanging his ass out, he would be doing it in basically public view. I like both knives, both are very close to Loveless's original pattern and both are immaculately rendered. I would say that a collector looking for a GREAT deal on a Loveless style knife should place an order with David Sharp very quickly because as his time in knifemaking increases, so will his prices likely increase. Right now at his retail prices, David's knives are a wonderful combination of EXCELLENT value and top quality rendering. The "delivery" was delayed so that David can have Jim Cooper, Sharp by Coop, photograph this knife, and hopefully it is on it's way back to me very soon.(which I have been assured is in process)
I didn't pick up anything else on Friday, just hanging out with friends, and checking out knives. Phil Boguszewski was doing a lottery for 10 knives a day, and unfortunately, I only had minimal face time with him and Sue, and they are just superb people to chat and dine with. He had a mini-saber grind cobra with silver twill G-10 inlays that would have been a great addition to the collection.
Speaking about Phil, it is almost impossible to not mention MartinR....got a few minutes to hang out with him....serious collector, knows what he likes, articulate and always a pleasure to spend time with. Neil Ostroff introduced us, and if I don't see Martin at a show at this point, it is a disappointment.
We went to dinner at Rao's Las Vegas at Caesar's, and this included having to spend 1/2 hour on hold to increase the booking to 12 people which turned out to be unnecessary. I ordered the Clams Casino, White Bean and Escarole Soup, Caesar Salad, Vodka Penne, and Chicken Scarpariello...and the only thing that didn't suck was the wine. We have been there twice before and the food was excellent, but this time, someone just didn't care and poured salt over everything without tasting it, and it was total crap. No one was happy. The veal parmigiana looked different and it tasted different....it's like they were trying to kill the restaurant without burning it down first....will not be back.
After that, I went back to the hotel and slept while the boys decided to act like boys....and Joseph tormented Greg Lightfoot which I would have loved to been a witness to.
Next morning I packed up my luggage and headed out to the showroom after having some Maker's on the rocks....very pleasant way to start a day of vacation.
Picked up some titanium beads from Steven Kelly, some .50 cal magnets, and two revolver cylinder bronze beads from D22(that table always costs me money at the Gathering...their gear is simply that unique and that good, pretty much worth whatever it costs).
I got an Infilux single cell battery by NiteCore that has become my new edc, I like the magnetic ring brightness switch very much, and have since buffed, shaped and heat colored the clip and screws for a much more pleasing function and appearance.
Saturday morning I picked up one of the last Bodega knives on Todd Begg's table. It's got Silver Twill G-10 scales, and I like it very much, but it is a mid-tech and will most likely turn it for a profit, and pick up another or two. Todd is going to blow up in a big way, he was filming a Discovery Channel pilot or some such at The Gathering, and my feeling is that his work will become hot like Kramer's knives did....ie something that originally sold for $2,000 with a wait time of roughly 9 months becomes worth $7,000 and has a wait time of three years if you are lucky. In Todd's case, a knife that I purchased for $850.00 is going to go for $2,000+ with the release of the show. I could be wrong, but it's not likely.
Todd Rexford had a silent auction knife that was $11,000 when I left the show on Saturday and eventually sold for $17,000. The frames were cast bronze with titanium balls, the design of the blade was fairly boring and I fail to understand this phenomenon. You CANNOT say that there was not money in the room, and you cannot say that the purchaser of this knife was "wrong", but it does leave me vexed, and for someone with 25+ years in the knife industry, that is a bit unsettling. I think the "kids" are making their own new heroes without any of the traditional parameters/metrics like great craftsmanship or design as consideration. Those of you unfamiliar with Todd's work can see an example on page 62 of Knives 2013. I find the work clean, but fairly unoriginal, and certainly don't blame Todd for doing well at a show. I hope that all knifemakers and vendors do well at shows.
Other than some cool schwag purchased from The Show promoters(patches, challenge coin) that was about all I picked up. R.J. Martin and I had lunch together on Saturday, and he gave me a nice CAO cigar which I smoked for dessert, hung out a bit and split. It was a good show, and was GREAT to see all the friends that I don't get to see any other time of year.
You all should go!
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
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Thanks for sharing!
