Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
I don't take pictures, so here is a link to Roger P's thing:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=559719
...so I catch the red eye from here to Atlanta, and land at around 6:30 am on Thursday...Dan Favano http://www.iqknives.com is on the flight with me, a few rows back, and my business partner Peter is at the airport already with Matt Diskin and the Vallotton clan. We pile into a minivan/SUV thing and head out to the event area. We were all staying at the Sheraton Suites except Dan and Matt, who scored rooms at the Waverly.
The Sheraton is all suites, and you get a mini fridge and microwave, as well as a lot more(like double) space for about the same monies....however...you have to hike the skybridge or risk your life crossing 8 lanes of traffic to get there. That said, the jury is still out on which I like better...the breakfast at the Waverly is better, as are the amenities in general. Peter and I crashed from about 10:00 am until 3:30 pm, and I headed over to the show room. Gave 3 knives to Kenny Rowe to make sheaths for....I use Paul Long for the good stuff, and Kenny's sheaths for the less good stuff...they both make great sheaths. Spent the rest of the time jawboning with a bunch of the fellas, got a preview of what Anders Hogstrom brought(AWESOME dagger) as well as Cliff Parker, and bummed around until they threw us out at 6:00 pm, and then went down to the pit to hang out with RAN for about 1/2 hour until I belatedly realized that I had an inaugural CKCA meeting to head out to at the Olde Mill Steakhouse http://www.oldemillsteakhouse.com
Now the service(1 person helping about 40 people) was excellent, but the food is very average, and I am convinced I got food poisoning from the stuffed shrimp appetizer which was very, very ahhhhh, average. The people in attendance were superb...and I was glad to be there, even though I was late. Larry Bailey and I wanted to make badges at the dinner, but we had the wrong size laminate, so we tabled it for the future....and I announced to Larry I was about to get my drink on, he kindly gave me a ride back to the Waverly.
My buddies Thomas W. and Jeff Goddard were in the pit, and getting lit....they introduced me to EDITED DUE TO PERSONAL REQUEST...she kept the attitude going all danged weekend.....1st of all, she wasn't THAT hot, and second, if a woman is going to come at me like a man, I'll give her what she wants, I don't care if her husband is the cop that beat Kimbo Slice....gots me, beyotches? Tim Galyean http://www.galyeancustom.com is doing his own thing now, full tilt, and he scored me a t-shirt. I saw Kent(straper) in the pit, and asked him about what Allen Elishewitz had with him, did he have a Silver Fox e-lock with bolsters? Damn skippy, he did...Kent showed me where Allen was and I requested and was granted, dibs..woo hoo!!
So we do the pit thing, and head back to the room, and Larry calls, he had gone to Kinko's and scored 100 of the correct laminate sleeves at 11:30 pm and got a sweet deal, bless him, and I see John Perry who has a knife for me, and invite him and his buddy(Larry?) up to the room for some scotch, and gimme my knife...which is a sweet, sweet folder with sculpted bolsters....and we drink for a bit, and they leave and me and Peter are BS'ng and now it is 4:00 am and time to crash.
Friday, 8:00 am....I am still drunk...but it is time to get to the show floor...oh, yes ladies and gentlemen.....setup on Thursday is a tough environment to socialize in because the doors are open, and the AC is NOT on, but Friday morning is cool and crisp on the show floor, and there are not many customers milling about... get to say my good mornings, and hug the lovely wives. Mike Ruth http://www.ruthknives.com had some REALLY impressive stuff on his table, BTW, due to being inebriated, could not specifically tell you what they were, a Valhalla fighter stands out in the memory banks, but I inordinately enjoyed razzing his daughter's boyfriend(which I am sure he did not dig too much, lol.) I saw Gary House and put in dibs for the other damascus crowbar he made. The one purchased at the OKCA show in Eugene got so much interest that I brought it with me for show and tell at Blade. Got to catch up with Peter Gill and RAN a little bit and then headed over to the stock removal/Knifemaker's Guild side of the room to BS with RJ Martin http://www.martinsite.com a little bit, and then noticed that Allen Elishewitz was on the other side of him, and setting up. Allen is a superb machinist, and the e-lock is a unique and simple lock that works quite effectively(I get a Woodrow for weird locks). The one that I picked up(sorry, Anton..ha ha) is a Silver Fox http://www.elishewitzknives.com/Knives_Detail_Gallery_SilverFox.asp, that has bronze anodized titanium bolsters, what I am pretty sure is desert ironwood and a Chad Nichols carbon damascus blade...thanked Allen effusively, and moved on.....so now it is about 9:45 am or so, and I motor over to Culpepper Company http://motherofpearl.net for two sets of stag scales priced fairly high, and about the nicest I have seen in almost a year...so I got them, two nice rawhide stingray skins for japanese sword handle wrap, and a couple 1 3/8" squares of nice color black lip pearl which should be excellent for inlay of some sort( would very much welcome suggestions on use for them) Danbo and Peter Gill have convinced me that purchasing handle material, once you know what you are doing, is much better than being at the mercy of what a maker has in stock or has to get to make your knife...better to send it to the maker, and (hopefully) know what you are going to get.
At shows like this, there are so many MORE people that you don't get to meet/see than you do. With makers, a lot of the time, there is someone else talking with them, and you can only stand around for so long waiting, before you have to go somewhere else...so there is quite a bit of that...you do the best that you can, and catch up with the rest later.
Rob Patton http://www.pattonknives.com had a SMOKIN' F-S dagger on his table in damascus that was SOOO tempting, but it was handled in damascus as well, when African Blackwood was really called for...we got to catch up for a bit, looks like 2008 is going to be an excellent year for Rob, he has just moved to North Carolina....filled out the 20 or so cards for the Bose lottery, and while I am doing that, I meet BladeForums moderator Blues(Elliot) and get to shake his hand...very cool guy, and wandered over to Matt Diskin's(Volcan Knives) table....good looking stuff, I got 20 to show around, here in SoCal, and they make great gifts too, don't they?
And then.......I got to hang out with Gus(Bastid), Jeff(Gig) and Ren(Ren the Devil's Trailboss)....happy, happy, joy, joy!!!! Because I have been trying to meet them all for over 3 years, for different reasons....I wanted to sample Gus's goats, get some fresh intel from Gig, and go cycling in the tulips with Ren...none of which I got to do...BUT...I did hang out on the loading dock with the bastids while Ren chain smoked light cigarettes, frikkin' cork, a real man CHEWS his cigarettes and swallows the delicious juice, but I wouldn't know, because I gave up my REAL man card when I got married....it was a great visit, with some great guys, and....yes....it made me late for my 1:00 pm CKCA meeting in The Pit.
We did the meeting, they started with out me, REALLY, harumphh, made some high level decisions and everything was fine, I went to the bar adjacent to the pit after, started feeling like crap, so I ate a chicken sandwich with basil pesto mayo, some fries, and my man Jaye hooked me up with some Makers' and IPA to wash it all down with, twice....some fellas started drifting in, and I got to see a Kerry Hampton Sodbuster, which I want...then I went up to the Bose drawing, and did not get drawn for anything, but Bastid did, and so did Kerry hisself(he hangs tight with the Bose boys). There were about 250 people at the Bose drawing, it was pretty neat, but hot and sweaty, and nasty, and smelly, and there was too much sausage and not enough pooty tang, so I was real glad to get out of that mess intact. Then I went over to Allen's table and thanked him for selling me the Silver Fox again, and told stupid jokes with him, the guy Larry from BladeArt, I think and Dave Stark from SteelAddiction http://www.steeladdictionknives.com, he is a great guy, done me real kindly a few times on deals.
Then I started feeling really crappy...and was walking out of the room to get some water, towards the back, and saw Chuck Bybee of Alpha Knife Supply http://www.alphaknifesupply.com, who is a really good friend, and then Peter Gill, and Russ Andrews, the great new MS, and Scott, and Matt Lamey, who is MUCH younger, hipper and shorter than I had imagined, as well as bald...I was thinking a crusty OLD dude like Jimmy Fikes, and the reality is he is three years younger than I am...and I wanted the fellas to see the damascus crowbar...and fetched it from RJ Martin, and went back, showed it to them, and promptly puked at the entrance to Alpha Knife Supply's booth.....they thought I was not breathing right....and washed the puke off my face in the bathroom, puked some more, went back and apologized, and puked my way back to the hotel room, where I puked for about another hour...and went to bed at 7:00 pm.......I puke about once a year, for reference...this was by far the weirdest at a knife show...the "magic" brownie that I ate definitely had something to do with it, but mostly, it was the frikkin' shrimp appetizer at the Olde Mill...phaaakkkk!
Saturday, up at 8:00 am again, feeling strong, but puking so much has damaged my vocal cords a little bit, and I now sound like Froggy from The Little Rascals(before some of your time, hell, before my time, bless reruns) Peter has been having trouble sleeping, so he decides to crash on the sofa, and he'll catch up later.
I jog across the street again, and it doesn't feel too good, but all the antacids, anti-gas and proton pump inhibitors are doing their job, so death is not eminent. 1st stop is, yup, you guessed it, Alpha Knife Supply, for some handle materials. I was in the booth, and had to belch, and the look of horror that crossed Brenda Bybee's face was priceless..informed her that I was done puking, she looked quite relieved. Got stabilized redwood burl, stabilized amboyna burl, a STELLAR piece of stabilized sheoak burl, and a stabilized piece of red mallee burl. There is no specific designated use at this time, but have been thinking a lot outside of the ironwood box, and wanted some options...it is hard when a maker is not specific about what the wood looks like, say for example, when Burt Foster is building a knife for me, he will send photographs of the wood, and make some recommendations..as we all know, all wood was not created equal. I also have some fine african blackwood, and a good piece of lignum vitae.
After leaving the Alpha Knife Supply booth, go around to the tables in the back of the room, behind the curtains to watch Chuck Bybee and daughter Jessica sort through fossil ivory. Just can't find anything that floats my boat, where is Don Hanson to make a recommendation when you need him, lol. We sit for a bit, and I make my apologies for puking again and move on.....
To R.J. Martin's table for a brief chat...like his new Zing model of flipper very, very much, but want a "dress" model, something I can carry in my pocket, with bolsters, polished G-10 and a shiny blade, which I asked him for the other day. We'll see if what is wanted is gotted, right? Stop back by Allen Elishewitz's table to explain about the food poisoning(it was making me understandably twitchy) and thank him for the great knife again. Knife maker Richard Wright http://www.richardswright.com was in that general section of the room, and his work is exceptional, but not inexpensive. Bill McHenry and Jason Williams always told me that Richard did exceptional work, and they were, as usual with regard to this, correct. An added bonus is that Richard was selling some pieces by an obviously serious collector, including Jason Williams and other fine makers, about 10 pieces in all, nicely laid out.
After this, decided that some food was in order, and got a barbecued chicken sandwich from the back of the room...it wasn't bad, the chicken was whole breast meat, and properly cooked, Bill Ruple http://www.rupleknives.com came up behind me, and said he would pay for my lunch, but had already paid(We go back a little), and told Bill that I thought he had a real shot at being the next Tony Bose, and he opined that it was a goal of his...he does have some mad skills with slipjoint knives.
I spent a bit of time on Friday with Bailey Bradshaw http://www.bradshawcutlery.com, but most of the time was on Saturday. He brought my katana blade with him, wlhich he had for a much overdue sharpening/edge polishing, and I brought the handle furniture from home....so together, we made a sword, and I was able to compare it to the one that he had made with him at the show. I like mine better, but the other katana was a serious beast! The dagger that Bailey had was my favorite piece that he has done yet, INCLUDING swords, gorgeous engraving and a lapis lazuli insert in the handle. Liked his integral knives quite a bit, but for me the blade was definitely an inch too short...and I left my label maker at his table on Saturday morning, and spent the day wondering how I was going to explain this to my wife, who specifically told me not to lose it...
Continued on Post #34.....
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=559719
...so I catch the red eye from here to Atlanta, and land at around 6:30 am on Thursday...Dan Favano http://www.iqknives.com is on the flight with me, a few rows back, and my business partner Peter is at the airport already with Matt Diskin and the Vallotton clan. We pile into a minivan/SUV thing and head out to the event area. We were all staying at the Sheraton Suites except Dan and Matt, who scored rooms at the Waverly.
The Sheraton is all suites, and you get a mini fridge and microwave, as well as a lot more(like double) space for about the same monies....however...you have to hike the skybridge or risk your life crossing 8 lanes of traffic to get there. That said, the jury is still out on which I like better...the breakfast at the Waverly is better, as are the amenities in general. Peter and I crashed from about 10:00 am until 3:30 pm, and I headed over to the show room. Gave 3 knives to Kenny Rowe to make sheaths for....I use Paul Long for the good stuff, and Kenny's sheaths for the less good stuff...they both make great sheaths. Spent the rest of the time jawboning with a bunch of the fellas, got a preview of what Anders Hogstrom brought(AWESOME dagger) as well as Cliff Parker, and bummed around until they threw us out at 6:00 pm, and then went down to the pit to hang out with RAN for about 1/2 hour until I belatedly realized that I had an inaugural CKCA meeting to head out to at the Olde Mill Steakhouse http://www.oldemillsteakhouse.com
Now the service(1 person helping about 40 people) was excellent, but the food is very average, and I am convinced I got food poisoning from the stuffed shrimp appetizer which was very, very ahhhhh, average. The people in attendance were superb...and I was glad to be there, even though I was late. Larry Bailey and I wanted to make badges at the dinner, but we had the wrong size laminate, so we tabled it for the future....and I announced to Larry I was about to get my drink on, he kindly gave me a ride back to the Waverly.
My buddies Thomas W. and Jeff Goddard were in the pit, and getting lit....they introduced me to EDITED DUE TO PERSONAL REQUEST...she kept the attitude going all danged weekend.....1st of all, she wasn't THAT hot, and second, if a woman is going to come at me like a man, I'll give her what she wants, I don't care if her husband is the cop that beat Kimbo Slice....gots me, beyotches? Tim Galyean http://www.galyeancustom.com is doing his own thing now, full tilt, and he scored me a t-shirt. I saw Kent(straper) in the pit, and asked him about what Allen Elishewitz had with him, did he have a Silver Fox e-lock with bolsters? Damn skippy, he did...Kent showed me where Allen was and I requested and was granted, dibs..woo hoo!!
So we do the pit thing, and head back to the room, and Larry calls, he had gone to Kinko's and scored 100 of the correct laminate sleeves at 11:30 pm and got a sweet deal, bless him, and I see John Perry who has a knife for me, and invite him and his buddy(Larry?) up to the room for some scotch, and gimme my knife...which is a sweet, sweet folder with sculpted bolsters....and we drink for a bit, and they leave and me and Peter are BS'ng and now it is 4:00 am and time to crash.
Friday, 8:00 am....I am still drunk...but it is time to get to the show floor...oh, yes ladies and gentlemen.....setup on Thursday is a tough environment to socialize in because the doors are open, and the AC is NOT on, but Friday morning is cool and crisp on the show floor, and there are not many customers milling about... get to say my good mornings, and hug the lovely wives. Mike Ruth http://www.ruthknives.com had some REALLY impressive stuff on his table, BTW, due to being inebriated, could not specifically tell you what they were, a Valhalla fighter stands out in the memory banks, but I inordinately enjoyed razzing his daughter's boyfriend(which I am sure he did not dig too much, lol.) I saw Gary House and put in dibs for the other damascus crowbar he made. The one purchased at the OKCA show in Eugene got so much interest that I brought it with me for show and tell at Blade. Got to catch up with Peter Gill and RAN a little bit and then headed over to the stock removal/Knifemaker's Guild side of the room to BS with RJ Martin http://www.martinsite.com a little bit, and then noticed that Allen Elishewitz was on the other side of him, and setting up. Allen is a superb machinist, and the e-lock is a unique and simple lock that works quite effectively(I get a Woodrow for weird locks). The one that I picked up(sorry, Anton..ha ha) is a Silver Fox http://www.elishewitzknives.com/Knives_Detail_Gallery_SilverFox.asp, that has bronze anodized titanium bolsters, what I am pretty sure is desert ironwood and a Chad Nichols carbon damascus blade...thanked Allen effusively, and moved on.....so now it is about 9:45 am or so, and I motor over to Culpepper Company http://motherofpearl.net for two sets of stag scales priced fairly high, and about the nicest I have seen in almost a year...so I got them, two nice rawhide stingray skins for japanese sword handle wrap, and a couple 1 3/8" squares of nice color black lip pearl which should be excellent for inlay of some sort( would very much welcome suggestions on use for them) Danbo and Peter Gill have convinced me that purchasing handle material, once you know what you are doing, is much better than being at the mercy of what a maker has in stock or has to get to make your knife...better to send it to the maker, and (hopefully) know what you are going to get.
At shows like this, there are so many MORE people that you don't get to meet/see than you do. With makers, a lot of the time, there is someone else talking with them, and you can only stand around for so long waiting, before you have to go somewhere else...so there is quite a bit of that...you do the best that you can, and catch up with the rest later.
Rob Patton http://www.pattonknives.com had a SMOKIN' F-S dagger on his table in damascus that was SOOO tempting, but it was handled in damascus as well, when African Blackwood was really called for...we got to catch up for a bit, looks like 2008 is going to be an excellent year for Rob, he has just moved to North Carolina....filled out the 20 or so cards for the Bose lottery, and while I am doing that, I meet BladeForums moderator Blues(Elliot) and get to shake his hand...very cool guy, and wandered over to Matt Diskin's(Volcan Knives) table....good looking stuff, I got 20 to show around, here in SoCal, and they make great gifts too, don't they?
And then.......I got to hang out with Gus(Bastid), Jeff(Gig) and Ren(Ren the Devil's Trailboss)....happy, happy, joy, joy!!!! Because I have been trying to meet them all for over 3 years, for different reasons....I wanted to sample Gus's goats, get some fresh intel from Gig, and go cycling in the tulips with Ren...none of which I got to do...BUT...I did hang out on the loading dock with the bastids while Ren chain smoked light cigarettes, frikkin' cork, a real man CHEWS his cigarettes and swallows the delicious juice, but I wouldn't know, because I gave up my REAL man card when I got married....it was a great visit, with some great guys, and....yes....it made me late for my 1:00 pm CKCA meeting in The Pit.
We did the meeting, they started with out me, REALLY, harumphh, made some high level decisions and everything was fine, I went to the bar adjacent to the pit after, started feeling like crap, so I ate a chicken sandwich with basil pesto mayo, some fries, and my man Jaye hooked me up with some Makers' and IPA to wash it all down with, twice....some fellas started drifting in, and I got to see a Kerry Hampton Sodbuster, which I want...then I went up to the Bose drawing, and did not get drawn for anything, but Bastid did, and so did Kerry hisself(he hangs tight with the Bose boys). There were about 250 people at the Bose drawing, it was pretty neat, but hot and sweaty, and nasty, and smelly, and there was too much sausage and not enough pooty tang, so I was real glad to get out of that mess intact. Then I went over to Allen's table and thanked him for selling me the Silver Fox again, and told stupid jokes with him, the guy Larry from BladeArt, I think and Dave Stark from SteelAddiction http://www.steeladdictionknives.com, he is a great guy, done me real kindly a few times on deals.
Then I started feeling really crappy...and was walking out of the room to get some water, towards the back, and saw Chuck Bybee of Alpha Knife Supply http://www.alphaknifesupply.com, who is a really good friend, and then Peter Gill, and Russ Andrews, the great new MS, and Scott, and Matt Lamey, who is MUCH younger, hipper and shorter than I had imagined, as well as bald...I was thinking a crusty OLD dude like Jimmy Fikes, and the reality is he is three years younger than I am...and I wanted the fellas to see the damascus crowbar...and fetched it from RJ Martin, and went back, showed it to them, and promptly puked at the entrance to Alpha Knife Supply's booth.....they thought I was not breathing right....and washed the puke off my face in the bathroom, puked some more, went back and apologized, and puked my way back to the hotel room, where I puked for about another hour...and went to bed at 7:00 pm.......I puke about once a year, for reference...this was by far the weirdest at a knife show...the "magic" brownie that I ate definitely had something to do with it, but mostly, it was the frikkin' shrimp appetizer at the Olde Mill...phaaakkkk!
Saturday, up at 8:00 am again, feeling strong, but puking so much has damaged my vocal cords a little bit, and I now sound like Froggy from The Little Rascals(before some of your time, hell, before my time, bless reruns) Peter has been having trouble sleeping, so he decides to crash on the sofa, and he'll catch up later.
I jog across the street again, and it doesn't feel too good, but all the antacids, anti-gas and proton pump inhibitors are doing their job, so death is not eminent. 1st stop is, yup, you guessed it, Alpha Knife Supply, for some handle materials. I was in the booth, and had to belch, and the look of horror that crossed Brenda Bybee's face was priceless..informed her that I was done puking, she looked quite relieved. Got stabilized redwood burl, stabilized amboyna burl, a STELLAR piece of stabilized sheoak burl, and a stabilized piece of red mallee burl. There is no specific designated use at this time, but have been thinking a lot outside of the ironwood box, and wanted some options...it is hard when a maker is not specific about what the wood looks like, say for example, when Burt Foster is building a knife for me, he will send photographs of the wood, and make some recommendations..as we all know, all wood was not created equal. I also have some fine african blackwood, and a good piece of lignum vitae.
After leaving the Alpha Knife Supply booth, go around to the tables in the back of the room, behind the curtains to watch Chuck Bybee and daughter Jessica sort through fossil ivory. Just can't find anything that floats my boat, where is Don Hanson to make a recommendation when you need him, lol. We sit for a bit, and I make my apologies for puking again and move on.....
To R.J. Martin's table for a brief chat...like his new Zing model of flipper very, very much, but want a "dress" model, something I can carry in my pocket, with bolsters, polished G-10 and a shiny blade, which I asked him for the other day. We'll see if what is wanted is gotted, right? Stop back by Allen Elishewitz's table to explain about the food poisoning(it was making me understandably twitchy) and thank him for the great knife again. Knife maker Richard Wright http://www.richardswright.com was in that general section of the room, and his work is exceptional, but not inexpensive. Bill McHenry and Jason Williams always told me that Richard did exceptional work, and they were, as usual with regard to this, correct. An added bonus is that Richard was selling some pieces by an obviously serious collector, including Jason Williams and other fine makers, about 10 pieces in all, nicely laid out.
After this, decided that some food was in order, and got a barbecued chicken sandwich from the back of the room...it wasn't bad, the chicken was whole breast meat, and properly cooked, Bill Ruple http://www.rupleknives.com came up behind me, and said he would pay for my lunch, but had already paid(We go back a little), and told Bill that I thought he had a real shot at being the next Tony Bose, and he opined that it was a goal of his...he does have some mad skills with slipjoint knives.
I spent a bit of time on Friday with Bailey Bradshaw http://www.bradshawcutlery.com, but most of the time was on Saturday. He brought my katana blade with him, wlhich he had for a much overdue sharpening/edge polishing, and I brought the handle furniture from home....so together, we made a sword, and I was able to compare it to the one that he had made with him at the show. I like mine better, but the other katana was a serious beast! The dagger that Bailey had was my favorite piece that he has done yet, INCLUDING swords, gorgeous engraving and a lapis lazuli insert in the handle. Liked his integral knives quite a bit, but for me the blade was definitely an inch too short...and I left my label maker at his table on Saturday morning, and spent the day wondering how I was going to explain this to my wife, who specifically told me not to lose it...
Continued on Post #34.....
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Last edited:
She's sure to return in at least one future Chapter...
