Blade Show Yesterday....a couple of random thoughts

G

godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
795
I have attended every Blade Show since it came to Atlanta and this one was by far the least attended of any I went to. I get there ahead of time and utilize an exhibitor's pass to scope things out. Usually the swarm hits like a tidal wave when they let the folks with VIP passes in at noon.....you didn't even notice it this year when they came in! I would roughly estimate (of course it's only my opinion) that the crowd was about half of the usual at the noon VIP rush...

Noticed more than a few "big names" were not in attendance that I see every year.

Stag was there and reasonably priced. Ivory was higher than normal in price, but there. Mammoth ivory was a little more scarce than usual. Steel was more limited than in the past and all I saw was 440C, D2 and 1080. Desert Ironwood was there, but not like before...not much high end stuff that blew my socks away....kinda pricey, but not as much as I thought it would be.

I know...not much of a report, but it was worth what you paid for it! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.
 
I know that good mate Shawn McIntyre passed his MS and also picked up the Huges award. I figure his feet have not touched the ground yet. Probably sold out as well the dirty rotten mongrel:thumbup:


Peter
 
Least attended? I don't know what show you were at, but I saw a line to get in the doors that ran all the way down the hall. ???

I didn't see that hooligan Del Raso fellow, though.
 
G'day Dan, I saw you coming so I hid. Just kidding mate, I'm home in Melbourne freezing my ass off. If you catch up with Shawn can you please give him a pat on the back for me and tell him I'm really happy for him.

Peter
 
Wow! Congradulations to those guys! I didn't even know J. was going to go up. I bet that's nerve wracking, right Bruce?
 
Its sure great to hear that our own forum boys have all grown to the point that they are now Master Smiths.
Congrats Guys!
 
Congrats to the New MASTER SMITHS

I cant wait till I get to be one.
Like star wars A LONG LONG TIME FROM NOW IN A DISTANT KNIFE SHOW LOL
 
I read in the Custom Knife forum that Karl Andersen had received his JS cert.

Congrats to all on your accomplishements!
 
Yep, congratualtions to those fellas!
I had a gunstock maker pal there to buy some ivory for me, but we agreed the prices were too high this year. He did pick up some nice stabillzed dyed scales, though.
 
There were two lines all the way down the hall.

One for people that already paid their admision fee and another waiting to pay.

My wife and I arrived at 11:40 and had to wait in line untill 12:50 to pay our VIP fees.

In past years you might have had to wait half an hour in line.

I think they might need a little more help at the window on Friday.

Picked up some supplies and got to talk to some great people.

Charles
 
Ihave had a ball myself. Got to meet loyal customers face to face, see old friends and be lucky to help pass on some of the things I have learned to new makers. Been very steady traffic all day reallym
 
Had a good first show, the noon line was pretty long as far as I saw. I waited about 10 minutes on the sidelines for the rush to clear and the guards just let me in. I think it would have taken a little longer for the rush to clear.

Was great meeting some makers I've only talked to on here, including Brian and Danbo.

Cap
 
I don't know about the crowds (I was home sick for the second year running!:grumpy::mad::(), but I had a good 'crew' there at my table.

We had a good result, I think. Sold out on folders and 10 of the new Fixed Blades.

Had the little glass trophy for "Most Innovative Design" and the latest issue of Tactical Knives (with my folder in it) on the table too. :)

No complaints from me:thumbup:
 
Were you at the same show I was? lol. The VIP line last year went toward the south side of the venue. This year, it went to the north and they had to run the line into the empty 4th bay down by the courtyard. There was still a ticket line line that ran most of the way down the hall at 2 pm. The noise on the show floor was so loud that I had trouble hearing normal conversation. As for the stag, there was some good stuff, but the carvers were small to medium sized for the most part. There seemed to be quite a bit of blue and green mammoth ivory, albeit at high prices. What there was a LOT of that was absent last year was very nice ironwood. It was VERY pricey, though. Jantz had 2000 pairs of scales and 300 blocks. I ended up with 10 stag tapers, two blocks of wild exhibition grade ironwood burl, some 15N20 from Ray Kirk and a bit of a hangover from sitting around the bar with Jason Knight, Adam DeRosiers, John Perry, James Rodebaugh, Derrick Wulf and Aldo Bruno drinking Makers Mark.:yawn:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top