- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
I didn't honestly know which was preferable - jumping into an existing Blade thread - or starting another one.
Since I can't really get too much of Blade, I went this route.
First of all, I will not be doing my usual pictorial review. I effectively had a half-day at the show Friday, so this was by far my most compressed Blade experience. No chance in heck to get photos of makers and their knives in any kind of numbers - and Murray is doing a fantastic (and tireless) job with show coverage so the forum membership will have that in any event.
Thursday
....was about as much fun as I've had at Blade. And Blade is always massive fun. Got onto the floor around 3, and found that my partner in crime - Peter Gill - who had arrived a mere hour earlier, had already made two EPIC scores from a dealer on a DHIII bowie and a Jason Knight dirk. The dude is a serious hunter-killer - I kid you not. Ran into a bunch of makers and fellow collectors doing some early recon - meet, greeet, chat... and before I knew it, 6 o'clock had arrived and a general request was made that we all get the hell out. Okay - not a bad thing, since I was still dragging around my travel bag and basically hadn't eaten anything but half of a plastic airport sandwich the whole day.
Fed and freshened, I found myself back at the Pit around 8. Hooked up with a bunch of old friends like Paranee and Joe (Canineforge), Danbo (it's not a show if he's not there) as well as meeting some new ones like Jeff (manixJ). Also met up with Sam Lurquin and his friend Frederic, who in addition to being a seriously cool dude in a seriously badass kinda way, also helped serve as translater. Though I have to say that Sam's English seems much improved since last year where we really couldn't manage much conversation given my embarassingly poor command of French. Booze was imbibed. Tales were told. Some too damned funny to be true, and funnier still because they were. Played around with the too-cool Diskin autos that Paranee was showing about. Terrific blade and an even better value. Closed out the bar and still hung around until around 2:00am before caving in to the need for sleep. Unlike Paranee, I am not running on a surgically implanted bio-nuclear power cell.
Showtime
Just some random thoughts on makers and knives that stood out in my all-too-brief stroll around the showroom floor.
Sam Lurquin
I’ve been wanting one of Sam’s knives for the longest time. Mission accomplished. Sam clearly busted it to get ready for this show – and ready he was. He brought somewhere around 10 or 11 knives – hard to tell because they flew away fast. The caliber of collectors snapping them up (and Les Robertson also snagged two) also speaks well of just how well his work was received. I’m not including myself in that comment, because I freely admit just being silly-in-love with the designs. But dudes like Joe Richardson and Joe Paranee Ryan Hays (and a few other forumites as well) who know their stuff and are serious about their steel were snapping them up as well.
Leave it to Sam to make a small personal-carry utility knife look like a badass fighting bowie. Of all the knives Sam brought, this little one was my gotta-have-it fave:
Special thanks Sam - you know why.
But my absolute fave was draped over the shoulders (in a killer rig) of Sam’s good friend Frederic – and has been his personal carry piece for some time.
Sam – consider this a FIRM order for a similar piece with a wood handle of your choice and maraging steel for the blade. As soon as possible would suit me just fine.
Roger Massey
A long-time bladesmith has really stepped up his designs and made them more contemporary, while still retaining classic traditional lines and the flawless fit and finish that have always defined his work. Tasteful engraving and striking handle treatments (stippling, checkering, carving) have really given his pieces a bump in curb appeal.
Shawn McIntyre
No surprise to hear he’s doing great work, but I’ve not before seen intricate Damascus or mind-blowing hamons of the caliber that graced his table in quantity this year.
John White
One of the few makers where I want EVERY single knife on his table. The highlight for me this year was a spectacular Japanese-inspired fusion-type piece that was hard to define but rocked my world rather substantially all the same. John posted it in the blade preview thread, but the level of awesomeness required hands-on waving about to be fully appreciated.
CKCA Cancer Research Knife
You’ve seen the piece in pictures. If you were lucky enough to see the knife in person, you’ve also seen an example of the truly sublime. You don’t get better than this knife. You only get different. If you don’t have a ticket (or better, several) you’re nuts.
Michael Ruth Jr.
His sword took best of show and completely took my breath away as well.
Dave Lisch.
Dude is a Damascus genius. Together with Tom Ferry, Dave is a maker whose patterns both delight the eye and confound the mind as to how they could possibly have been created. Below, Dave gives Jimmy Chin the lowdown on a Damascus piece which claimed the Best Damascus award.
Jimmy Chin
I had no idea he had ascended to such heights of the craft. No idea at all. The dude is a rock star. You need to know the right people just to get a glimpse of his knives these days. And expect a background check. I kid, of course – a more humble, self-effacing guy you will not meet. He had two knives for display only – and man, just DAZZLING Damascus and very well-conceived designs.
Jason Knight
All he does is make completely freakin’ awesome knives, with a particular facility with bowies and large fighters. A contemporary take on the bowie knife – raised clip Damascus recurve in stag – claimed the award for top knife in that category this year. A damscus / ironwood piece in more traditional lines will be heading to Paul Long and then to Coop and then to me.
I’ll add in some more when I can. All can feel free to chime in with knives and or makers that made a real impression on them over the course of the weekend - love to hear your thoughts whether you post them here, in your own thread or in any other thread.
Roger
Continued.....
Tad Lynch
is REALLY onto something with his integral pieces. The double guard fighter he had at the show (see preview thread) not only is every bit as lean and fast as it looks - it is also quite slender and really lends itself to, shal we say, unobtrusive carry. Very high on the list of knives that made me wish I had unlimited funds available. Or just enough more.
Pricing
One word: aggressive. Two more: highly competitive. While there were certainly a few pieces in the, shall we say, "fully valued" category, my overall impression was that your buying dollar went further this year than most. Consider this comment primarily within the confines of the forged fixed blade category because that's where I primarily was. I don't offer an analysis of why this might be - other than the somnolent economy and deep talent pool no doubt played their parts. But I saw a lot of $1500 knives on the table for $1,200. In fact, the $1000 - $1200 zone seemed to be practically teeming with overwhelmingly compelling offerings. And to whomever it was that bought the flawless $500 two-blade trapper (which I think might have had just a touch of engraving) right out from under me off Roger Massey's table, I hope you gave Roger a big hug and maybe a kiss, too. (Just kidding about the 'bought out from under me' - ya snooze, ya loose - this I know well).
I'm open for new intel!
With Blade still (at this point) being the primary venue for JS and MS testing, it always provides a great opportunity to check out emerging talent from the newly minted JS class. I will invariably make it a point to check out the test knives, because qiute often there are some really worth noting. This was how, for example, I first clued in that a maker named Quesenberry had an exceedingly bright future ahead of him. This year, however, time simply didn't permit. If you guys who did have the opportunity saw some work that impressed you in particular, please share the intel!
Since I can't really get too much of Blade, I went this route.
First of all, I will not be doing my usual pictorial review. I effectively had a half-day at the show Friday, so this was by far my most compressed Blade experience. No chance in heck to get photos of makers and their knives in any kind of numbers - and Murray is doing a fantastic (and tireless) job with show coverage so the forum membership will have that in any event.
Thursday
....was about as much fun as I've had at Blade. And Blade is always massive fun. Got onto the floor around 3, and found that my partner in crime - Peter Gill - who had arrived a mere hour earlier, had already made two EPIC scores from a dealer on a DHIII bowie and a Jason Knight dirk. The dude is a serious hunter-killer - I kid you not. Ran into a bunch of makers and fellow collectors doing some early recon - meet, greeet, chat... and before I knew it, 6 o'clock had arrived and a general request was made that we all get the hell out. Okay - not a bad thing, since I was still dragging around my travel bag and basically hadn't eaten anything but half of a plastic airport sandwich the whole day.
Fed and freshened, I found myself back at the Pit around 8. Hooked up with a bunch of old friends like Paranee and Joe (Canineforge), Danbo (it's not a show if he's not there) as well as meeting some new ones like Jeff (manixJ). Also met up with Sam Lurquin and his friend Frederic, who in addition to being a seriously cool dude in a seriously badass kinda way, also helped serve as translater. Though I have to say that Sam's English seems much improved since last year where we really couldn't manage much conversation given my embarassingly poor command of French. Booze was imbibed. Tales were told. Some too damned funny to be true, and funnier still because they were. Played around with the too-cool Diskin autos that Paranee was showing about. Terrific blade and an even better value. Closed out the bar and still hung around until around 2:00am before caving in to the need for sleep. Unlike Paranee, I am not running on a surgically implanted bio-nuclear power cell.
Showtime
Just some random thoughts on makers and knives that stood out in my all-too-brief stroll around the showroom floor.
Sam Lurquin
I’ve been wanting one of Sam’s knives for the longest time. Mission accomplished. Sam clearly busted it to get ready for this show – and ready he was. He brought somewhere around 10 or 11 knives – hard to tell because they flew away fast. The caliber of collectors snapping them up (and Les Robertson also snagged two) also speaks well of just how well his work was received. I’m not including myself in that comment, because I freely admit just being silly-in-love with the designs. But dudes like Joe Richardson and Joe Paranee Ryan Hays (and a few other forumites as well) who know their stuff and are serious about their steel were snapping them up as well.
Leave it to Sam to make a small personal-carry utility knife look like a badass fighting bowie. Of all the knives Sam brought, this little one was my gotta-have-it fave:
Special thanks Sam - you know why.
But my absolute fave was draped over the shoulders (in a killer rig) of Sam’s good friend Frederic – and has been his personal carry piece for some time.
Sam – consider this a FIRM order for a similar piece with a wood handle of your choice and maraging steel for the blade. As soon as possible would suit me just fine.
Roger Massey
A long-time bladesmith has really stepped up his designs and made them more contemporary, while still retaining classic traditional lines and the flawless fit and finish that have always defined his work. Tasteful engraving and striking handle treatments (stippling, checkering, carving) have really given his pieces a bump in curb appeal.
Shawn McIntyre
No surprise to hear he’s doing great work, but I’ve not before seen intricate Damascus or mind-blowing hamons of the caliber that graced his table in quantity this year.
John White
One of the few makers where I want EVERY single knife on his table. The highlight for me this year was a spectacular Japanese-inspired fusion-type piece that was hard to define but rocked my world rather substantially all the same. John posted it in the blade preview thread, but the level of awesomeness required hands-on waving about to be fully appreciated.
CKCA Cancer Research Knife
You’ve seen the piece in pictures. If you were lucky enough to see the knife in person, you’ve also seen an example of the truly sublime. You don’t get better than this knife. You only get different. If you don’t have a ticket (or better, several) you’re nuts.
Michael Ruth Jr.
His sword took best of show and completely took my breath away as well.
Dave Lisch.
Dude is a Damascus genius. Together with Tom Ferry, Dave is a maker whose patterns both delight the eye and confound the mind as to how they could possibly have been created. Below, Dave gives Jimmy Chin the lowdown on a Damascus piece which claimed the Best Damascus award.
Jimmy Chin
I had no idea he had ascended to such heights of the craft. No idea at all. The dude is a rock star. You need to know the right people just to get a glimpse of his knives these days. And expect a background check. I kid, of course – a more humble, self-effacing guy you will not meet. He had two knives for display only – and man, just DAZZLING Damascus and very well-conceived designs.
Jason Knight
All he does is make completely freakin’ awesome knives, with a particular facility with bowies and large fighters. A contemporary take on the bowie knife – raised clip Damascus recurve in stag – claimed the award for top knife in that category this year. A damscus / ironwood piece in more traditional lines will be heading to Paul Long and then to Coop and then to me.
I’ll add in some more when I can. All can feel free to chime in with knives and or makers that made a real impression on them over the course of the weekend - love to hear your thoughts whether you post them here, in your own thread or in any other thread.
Roger
Continued.....
Tad Lynch
is REALLY onto something with his integral pieces. The double guard fighter he had at the show (see preview thread) not only is every bit as lean and fast as it looks - it is also quite slender and really lends itself to, shal we say, unobtrusive carry. Very high on the list of knives that made me wish I had unlimited funds available. Or just enough more.
Pricing
One word: aggressive. Two more: highly competitive. While there were certainly a few pieces in the, shall we say, "fully valued" category, my overall impression was that your buying dollar went further this year than most. Consider this comment primarily within the confines of the forged fixed blade category because that's where I primarily was. I don't offer an analysis of why this might be - other than the somnolent economy and deep talent pool no doubt played their parts. But I saw a lot of $1500 knives on the table for $1,200. In fact, the $1000 - $1200 zone seemed to be practically teeming with overwhelmingly compelling offerings. And to whomever it was that bought the flawless $500 two-blade trapper (which I think might have had just a touch of engraving) right out from under me off Roger Massey's table, I hope you gave Roger a big hug and maybe a kiss, too. (Just kidding about the 'bought out from under me' - ya snooze, ya loose - this I know well).
I'm open for new intel!
With Blade still (at this point) being the primary venue for JS and MS testing, it always provides a great opportunity to check out emerging talent from the newly minted JS class. I will invariably make it a point to check out the test knives, because qiute often there are some really worth noting. This was how, for example, I first clued in that a maker named Quesenberry had an exceedingly bright future ahead of him. This year, however, time simply didn't permit. If you guys who did have the opportunity saw some work that impressed you in particular, please share the intel!
Last edited:
Next best thing to being there has to be reading your enchanting narrative!
Three days of sequestering behind closed doors till exhaustion doing work. I did manage a few smiles and handshakes in between the tasks.
