Big Sky Conference

I'll probably just drive myself over, but it is nice to have some company on a 8-9 hour drive.

Just in case anybody thinks I haven't been working on this test knife business... ;)

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There's actually half a dozen of these in my shop as I've been doing a lot of testing. Hopefully it will pay off.
 
Well, no test for me this week-end. Had some issues in the shop and am just not happy with the test blades. This is not a test I want to fail... especially in front of 150 people.

Gonna have to be another time. :)
 
Sorry Nick.

Awful quiet around here from the attendants. Must be having a good time. :)

Coop
 
SharpByCoop said:
Sorry Nick.

Awful quiet around here from the attendants. Must be having a good time. :)

Coop
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I hear there's good times being had by ALL and there were some outstanding knives at Friday night's show. As quite a few dealers attended the show, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these knives popping up on the net in the next week or so. ;) :)
 
Awful quiet around here from the attendants. Must be having a good time.
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I was wondering that myself.

I hear there's good times being had by ALL and there were some outstanding knives at Friday night's show. As quite a few dealers attended the show, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these knives popping up on the net in the next week or so.
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Lets hope there will be a review with some pics of the knives very soon.

Marcel
 
I'm eager to see pics too. Especially interested in anything Don Fogg might have brought...
 
Just got back. I had a great time, but missed the knife show put on by the attending makers that weren't at the private show. I got a flat tire and had to get into Missoula before the tire shops closed.

I got to forge a blade under the tutelage of Bill Burke. He's a very good instructor.

There were some great knives at the private show. My favorites were a fantastic Dean D-guard, Josh Smith's push dagger, Owen Wood's folders and a John Young Loveless style fighter.

I tried taking some photos, but they were terrible. Hopefully someone with more skill than myself was able to get some photos.

More later.
 
I had a great time over the weekend!! The seminars were top notch.. My thanks go out of course to Josh for again hosting what is probably the most top rate Hammer-in anywhere. Also to Don Fogg, Larry Fuegen, Harvy Dean, and Owen Wood for so graciously sharing their knowledge with us all...
 
I had a good time and learned a lot, but did not get to talk with friends as much as I would have liked to, as Josh keep things moving very fast so there was little time to visit. All the classes where very good but I was blown away by Owen Wood. His take on damascus and knife making are sure to to have huge impact on the future of knife making. I will be watching to see who was inspired by his demo and think it will be clear to see. Thank's to Josh for putting together what has to be the best way to spend the weekend for anyone who loves the art of knife making. A good time was had by all.
 
The seminars were a great way for collectors to learn about all the work that goes into making knives. If more non-knifemakers took in events like this there would be a lot less people that think that custom knives are overpriced.

The slipjoint making demontstration put on by Harvey Dean was an excellent example of this. There is a huge amount of work that goes into making one. It is so high precision that I am amazed at the very reasonable prices that many makers are charging.

Owen Wood put on a demonstration on how he makes his amazing multi-bar composition blades. He also showed how he makes herringbone damascus. He is a perfectionist that was able to make it look a whole lot easier than it is. He also did a talk on knife design that was the most important demonstration for me. It educated me in how to look at knives critically and voice what it is that makes a knife appealing or unappealing to me. Owen is an incredibly nice gentleman and I enjoyed meeting him very much.

Still more to come.
 
Don Fogg did four demonstrations. Forging, grinding, clay heat treating and finishing. He made the forging look easy. Don no longer has a grinder, he uses files, but he still knows how to use one. It was interesting to see how clay is applied and to see it create a hamon. He used Satanite for the clay. Don showed how to do a superb hand rubbed finish.

Larry Fuegen did demos on sheath making and carving. Both were very informative.

The amount of information available at this event was worth the price of admittance in itself.
 
And a good time was had by all! The show and hammer-in were a blast, speaking of a blast, shooting the bowling ball out of the home made cannon was certainly an unforgettable highlight of the event and blowing up the anvil wasn't to shabby either.

Great knives, great people, great food and drink. Many thanks to Josh & Jodi and all the others that helped make this a fun weekend. I am looking forward to next year.
 
The best part of these types of events is the great people that you get to meet. There were new people there this year and it was a joy to meet Hans (Brightred), Steven, Thor, Owen wood, Don Fogg, Michael Donato, Eric and Cameron Eggly, Nick Wheeler and Scott Sawby. Seeing the many returnees from last year was a gas as well.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
The best part of these types of events is the great people that you get to meet. There were new people there this year and it was a joy to meet Hans (Brightred), Steven, Thor, Owen wood, Don Fogg, Michael Donato, Eric and Cameron Eggly, Nick Wheeler and Scott Sawby. Seeing the many returnees from last year was a gas as well.
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I talk to you I don't know how many times and Nick Wheeler of all people gets mentioned before me???????????????what is this world comeing too?:barf:
 
My girlfriend and I drove up from Phoenix this year - decided to take advantage of the location to spend a week visiting the Bozeman & Glacier National Park area with some friends. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was spectacular - got to do quite a bit of hiking and exploring - made for a great week.

The show & hammer-in were both excellent again this year.

There were a few changes to the show this - it was slightly larger (both in terms of makers & collectors) and makers had the opportunity to put one of their pieces up for bid instead of draw.

In terms of knives, some of the highlights for me were:

- Don Fogg's bowie - beautifully executed and priced well below what it could have brought

- Josh's push dagger - somewhat longer than usual blade (beautiful damascus) with a carved ivory handle, very nicely displayed as well in a custom magnatized frame, still kicking myself for not having bid on it

- Harvey's D-Guard bowie - beautifully proportioned and absolutely stunning steel

The hammer-in was great this year - Don Fogg's demonstrations were a lot of fun to watch and very informative - he had four different demonstrations covering forging a blade, grinding the blade, clay heat treatment of the blade and polishing the blade. Unfortunately the polishing demo was the last one on Sunday and I wasn't able to stay for it.

Owen Wood's demos on damascus and forging together three different bars of damascus to make a dagger blade was a lot of fun to watch. Definitely makes you appreciate just how much work can go into a single small blade.

Larry's demos filling in for Wolfgang were similar to last years on sheath making & carving, but still fun to watch. I think my girlfriend liked the carving demo the best and she thinks it'd be fun to give it a try.

And of the course the canon on Friday was a highlight again as usual - too much fun.

Thanks to Josh and all the makers for putting on a really first rate show!
 
Erik, I was mentioning new people that I hadn't met the year before. It was great getting to see you again. One person that I did forget to mention was John Young.

Jeremy, I agree with your choices for highlight knives and for me would add the John Young fighter, Josh Smith's take-down fighter and the Owen Wood folders.

All the knives at the private show were very nice. Larry Fuegen's stuff is always top notch. Rick Eaton's folders were beautiful, as were Scott Sawby's, Josh Smith's and the one by H. H. Frank. Other than the ones by Owen Wood, my next favorite folder was the slipjoint that Harvey Dean had. That was a heck of a nice knife.

The Sawby folders looked great, but their actions were not smooth. I think this was because the etched damascus was not polished smooth within the pivot area and might have caused the grittiness.
 
Help me along: Wolfe Loerchner did not make it? Scott Sawby did, but was only a participant of the show?

Where was the show? The nice art gallery from last year's show?

There sure was an abundance of talent, by all means!

Coop
 
Erik- It was just a matter of winning the crowd over by having facial hair on Saturday and then not on Sunday. It was sort of like a magic trick, and come on... who doesn't like magic tricks???

:D ;)
 
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