Blade Show West. Any thoughts on the anoucment there will be a new Blade Show West

Sidehill Gouger said:
I'll surprised if the new Blade Show West hits much more than 100 tables. None of the past ones did. The Oregon Knife Collector Show has been around since the 70's. It has had its ups and downs but it is still the best all round knife show on the west coast.
Click to expand...

Arguable.

We have discussed OKCA at length in the past, but the Plaza Cutlery Show is all meat, and no filler. Couple suppliers, couple dealers and a LOT of premier makers. Pretty sure it's over 100 tables. It's in Anaheim and VERY well attended.

Some good friends are going to BSW, so i my wind up there after all.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Blade Show West should have stayed in Orange County CA,
by now it would have been great.
 
Zero.zero interest in blade show west. Especially in Portland. I've been there. More than once. It has some nice brewpubs. But otherwise . . . third tier city that wants to pretend it's second tier. Expensive, restrictive, and unpleasant. And what is there to do there, anyway? I believe they have tried several times to even ban pocket knives but were only stopped by the Oregon Supreme Court. Other than maybe NYC, hard to imagine less knife-friendly venue for a knife show. Pretty useless city, IMO.

Atlanta is pretty much perfect. Very knife-friendly locale. LOTS of cheap flights in and out. Lot of decent cheap hotel rooms nearby. Tons of dining options from dirt cheap to fine dining. You need a car to experience it best. Welcome to the 20th century. And BTW it's already the 21st century. :p Never had any difficulty parking, and car rentals in Atlanta are also ridiculously cheap. And Atlanta can be a lot of fun for those who are not too lazy to get off their duffs and go experience it.

The best thing that is likely to happen is they have a decent show that crawls along for a couple of years and then disappears. Again. The worst is that they siphon makers from the real Blade Show and thereby wound it and it never recovers.
 
drf1 said:
Blade Show West should have stayed in Orange County CA,
by now it would have been great.
Click to expand...
I assume it moved because it wasn't doing well there. But the question is still where would it prosper? I, for one, would not spend a single dollar to support a show in California and never have. Vegas might work but Oct is too close to the Gathering. And that is a show that is growing.
 
Replying late. Just read this and felt compelled to reply.

The Virginian said:
Zero.zero interest in blade show west. Especially in Portland. I've been there. More than once. It has some nice brewpubs. But otherwise . . . third tier city that wants to pretend it's second tier. Expensive, restrictive, and unpleasant. And what is there to do there, anyway? I believe they have tried several times to even ban pocket knives but were only stopped by the Oregon Supreme Court. Other than maybe NYC, hard to imagine less knife-friendly venue for a knife show. Pretty useless city, IMO.
Click to expand...
Been here ~20 years and am not aware of any proposed bans. Oregon has some of the least restrictive carry laws in the country - almost no statutes for knives. Mostly based on case law which makes it vague at best. People carry 4" knives here without any trouble. Knives over 4.75" may have issues. The rules that do exists are for concealed knives, and in Oregon if a clip is visible it's not concealed. So you're pretty free to carry whatever you want so long as it's partially visible. I don't know any knife people who ever worry about what they're carrying.

As I mentioned, it's vague. I'm not aware of anybody ever having issues for carrying and would guess that about 98% of what people here carry would qualify as legal.

I have no issue with you not liking Portland. I will correct you when you tell others it has restrictive carry laws. Portland is probably more of 4th tier city, unless you consider the areas populated with a lot of visible tattoos and piercings. Those parts are probably 5th tier.
 
Last edited:
The ‘vague’ part you write of, about how ANY Law is/could be/maybe interpreted....you state you’ve been there 20 years and still have no concrete idea....would make me very wary and I sure don’t want to spend good money to go to/stay in a ‘4th or 5th tier city’.

Doesn’t enthuse me....
 
You seem to be trying hard to believe Oregon has restrictive knife carry laws. My point is (and was) that there's very little statute. The courts are defining this as cases come up. This is very different than interpreting a state law or local ordnance. It's not my intent to "enthuse" you about coming to our (shithole) city.

I'm asking you to please stop spreading misinformation about the ability to carry here.
 
Last edited:
I know I can carry and conceal pretty any knife, or heck a sword for that for that matter here. One of the only ones you can’t conceal is a double edge knife.
And even then, you can carry one, just not concealed.
 
Ben, thanks for the additional clarification.

Fwiw, you can legally open carry guns in Oregon as well. However doing so in cities will likely mean you have a bad day (likely arrested for brandishing or inciting). Getting a concealed carry gun permit is easy here so there's no reason to open carry a gun.
 
RipD said:
The point is (and was) that there's very little statute. The courts are defining this as cases come up.
Click to expand...

I completely understand and would never want to be the one embroiled in a previously undetermined/undecided statute and become Case Law in Oregon....y’all have great time. :D
 
BenR.T. said:
I know I can carry and conceal pretty any knife, or heck a sword for that for that matter here. One of the only ones you can’t conceal is a double edge knife.
And even then, you can carry one, just not concealed.
Click to expand...

You mean I should have been EDC'ing a sword this whole time, instead of just a pocket knife? :D
 
Resurrecting this thread to suggest that unless Blade gets it's ASS IN GEAR AND STARTS GIVING OUT ATTENDEE INFO ON BLADE SHOW WEST, it will be another BIG TIME FAILURE -AGAIN!

Presuming health allows, I'd be there spending money, but if no info, not about to, honey.
 
Last edited:
The Virginian said:
Atlanta is pretty much perfect. Very knife-friendly locale.
Click to expand...
Knife "friendly" perhaps, but I do believe that up until very recently (and perhaps still) many of the attendees of the Blade Show were regular violating the knife laws of Georgia by carry fixed blades around the area with blades over 5 inches long and no Georgia concealed carry permit. ;)
 
jdm61 said:
Knife "friendly" perhaps, but I do believe that up until very recently (and perhaps still) many of the attendees of the Blade Show were regular violating the knife laws of Georgia by carry fixed blades around the area with blades over 5 inches long and no Georgia concealed carry permit. ;)
Click to expand...


PA carry permit reciprocates with Georgia :)
 
betzner said:
Resurrecting this thread to suggest that unless Blade gets it's ASS IN GEAR AND STARTS GIVING OUT ATTENDEE INFO ON BLADE SHOW WEST, it will be another BIG TIME FAILURE -AGAIN!

Presuming health allows, I'd be there spending money, but if no info, not about to, honey.
Click to expand...

I agree Bob. They need to update the website. I have been receiving emails about it though.
The lodging link is up, but I don't see a link on the website. It was supposedly released to the public on April 9th.

https://book.passkey.com/event/49590475/owner/2698962/landing

I for one hope to see you there!
 
I'll be there! Wish I'd have known the dates earlier, as I'll just be getting back from three weeks vacation in Hawaii, but unless there's a national emergency I'll be in Portland Friday night. And I HATE that drive on Fridays. If I'd known earlier I'd have got a table.

I try to get to every knife oriented show in the PNW, but it's hard. Mainly due to really poor marketing. Finding out at the last minute is a PIA, and hard to work around. Still, there are so many really good makers up here, as well as collectors, there's no reason a show shouldn't succeed.

I've done hundreds of trade shows. I've been in every major convention center in the USA and a number of those in Europe and Asia. For non-industry shows the issues of how to get there, what's the family going to do while you're coon-fingering sharp, pointy, things, and where can you stay are big concerns. I didn't mind Atlanta back when I lived in Alabama and could get there fairly easy. The town isn't that hard to get around, the food (away from the Cobb) is good, hotels are no problem, and folks are friendly. On the West Coast I would have thought Seattle or San Jose would have better venues, but Portland is a lot like Atlanta. Stay around the Rose Center, Jack London Square, or across the river in Vancouver. There's loads of parking, the center is well laid out, and if they open all the food stalls there's no reason to leave before the doors shut. It's also a very gun/knife friendly town; the Rose City Gun Show is the biggest on the West Coast now that Pomona has bit the dust.

PNW is affluent and outdoors oriented; this show can succeed, but it needs to get the word out ASAP!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top