- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 4,984
Man, what a show. It was a lot busier this year than last year. I think a lot of it is because we had some new faces here, Ryan (DCwhatever-Roman numeral ends up being 626) and Stu, who were flipping balisongs. That alone drew lots of folks there just to see some of the crazy flipping those guys do. Ryan's gonna mod a little subforum as soon as Spark makes it for us. It will be the DDR/HTM butterfly forum located inside this one.
I have some pics of the DRT - AP as well as a few folders, but I'm too beat to want to post them. Also took a few videos of the folders, mostly to show a friend who couldn't attend the show. I tell ya, after having helped out at the show since Thursday, I have a much healthier respect for Darrel and all the other knife makers/companies that do this every year. A lot of it is fun and games, but it's also pretty tiring. I may be local, but being stuck in traffic on the way home after a long day just makes you appreciate the smaller things in life, like being able to just sit your rear end down on a chair when you get home and relax with a tasty beverage.
For me, the best part of the show is meeting international folks. I talked with a guy whose accent I placed as that of German origin, being German myself. Spoke in German with him actually. We just talked knives and how strict knife law in Germany is. The guy was wanting a butterfly knife, but they are illegal to own in Germany, so all he can play with are trainers. They can't even own locking folders in Germany if they can be opened with one hand. If it locks, it has to be a two hand opener. I know...crazy. But, what really made the show for me was when a group of four Chinese enthusiasts came by the booth and asked if I had scissors (they bought 4 knives the day prior worth roughly 2grand to give away as Christmas gifts). The guy didn't speak much English so he just did the hand gesture of snipping scissors. Naturally, it's a knife show and who really carries scissors to a knife show? I pulled out my personal radian Gunhammer that I put a mirror edge on (25 degrees inclusive or 12.5 per side). The guys eyes popped open and he smiled. I just gave him the thumbs up. What they were doing was cutting up a cardboard box to ship back. As soon as the gentleman cut the first box he turned back, smiled, and gave me another thumbs up. It was just great to witness and to be able to extend a hand to our friends from other places. As soon as he cut that first box, the other 3 people (two ladies and another gentleman) all crowded around him to look at the knife, particularly the edge I put on it. Then the guy passed the knife around so they could all inspect it. This went on for a few minutes before he went on to finish cutting the boxes and getting them ready for international shipping. Afterwards, the gentleman of the group that borrowed my knife wanted to clean the edge since it had tape residue on it. I shook his hand and just said, it was okay.
Back to DDR/HTM stuff though. Darrel had some the new Blackie Collins tribute knife there as well as the Lightfoot Bullwhip. There were a host of customs as well, but those sold out before the show even started. Neil Ostroff (or was it Darrel?) informed me that TNK will have another exclusive Gunhammer run with a new bladeshape that I have yet to see. I'm supposed to expect them in my inbox in the next couple days, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Master Seargent Grady Burrel (sorry if I'm misspelling his last name) was there with a new fixed blade knife design that HTM will start selling. Unfortunately, we didn't have a prototype at the show, so no pics. It has a patented retention system so you can't get the knife knocked out of your hand. It's got an upswept or clip point design. Dirk had several knew fixed blade designs over at our second booth. I wish I took pics, but I was pretty busy helping at our main booth.
Outside of Darrel's booth, I didn't do much looking around. The booth kept me pretty busy for most of the time I was there. I did make a few trips to the Spyderco booth to talk with Michael Janich and Sal. Lemme tell you, I'm so excited about some of the stuff they're wanting to do, but I was privileged with information I cannot actually tell anyone else, so we'll leave it at that. Let me just say one word though. Jani-song. Beyond that, you'll just have to wait and see and cross your fingers. Many people don't know, but the Jani-song is the one knife that I'm most excited about. I ask Janich about it every year.
I think that's about it for the show. I have to apologize if a lot of this seems like rambling. I'm pretty tired as I said. I at least managed to split stuff into paragraphs.
EDIT: And before anyone asks, yes, I'm still trying to come up with a contest to give away the custom DDR AXD that's worth over a grand. I have not forgotten about that.
I have some pics of the DRT - AP as well as a few folders, but I'm too beat to want to post them. Also took a few videos of the folders, mostly to show a friend who couldn't attend the show. I tell ya, after having helped out at the show since Thursday, I have a much healthier respect for Darrel and all the other knife makers/companies that do this every year. A lot of it is fun and games, but it's also pretty tiring. I may be local, but being stuck in traffic on the way home after a long day just makes you appreciate the smaller things in life, like being able to just sit your rear end down on a chair when you get home and relax with a tasty beverage.
For me, the best part of the show is meeting international folks. I talked with a guy whose accent I placed as that of German origin, being German myself. Spoke in German with him actually. We just talked knives and how strict knife law in Germany is. The guy was wanting a butterfly knife, but they are illegal to own in Germany, so all he can play with are trainers. They can't even own locking folders in Germany if they can be opened with one hand. If it locks, it has to be a two hand opener. I know...crazy. But, what really made the show for me was when a group of four Chinese enthusiasts came by the booth and asked if I had scissors (they bought 4 knives the day prior worth roughly 2grand to give away as Christmas gifts). The guy didn't speak much English so he just did the hand gesture of snipping scissors. Naturally, it's a knife show and who really carries scissors to a knife show? I pulled out my personal radian Gunhammer that I put a mirror edge on (25 degrees inclusive or 12.5 per side). The guys eyes popped open and he smiled. I just gave him the thumbs up. What they were doing was cutting up a cardboard box to ship back. As soon as the gentleman cut the first box he turned back, smiled, and gave me another thumbs up. It was just great to witness and to be able to extend a hand to our friends from other places. As soon as he cut that first box, the other 3 people (two ladies and another gentleman) all crowded around him to look at the knife, particularly the edge I put on it. Then the guy passed the knife around so they could all inspect it. This went on for a few minutes before he went on to finish cutting the boxes and getting them ready for international shipping. Afterwards, the gentleman of the group that borrowed my knife wanted to clean the edge since it had tape residue on it. I shook his hand and just said, it was okay.
Back to DDR/HTM stuff though. Darrel had some the new Blackie Collins tribute knife there as well as the Lightfoot Bullwhip. There were a host of customs as well, but those sold out before the show even started. Neil Ostroff (or was it Darrel?) informed me that TNK will have another exclusive Gunhammer run with a new bladeshape that I have yet to see. I'm supposed to expect them in my inbox in the next couple days, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Master Seargent Grady Burrel (sorry if I'm misspelling his last name) was there with a new fixed blade knife design that HTM will start selling. Unfortunately, we didn't have a prototype at the show, so no pics. It has a patented retention system so you can't get the knife knocked out of your hand. It's got an upswept or clip point design. Dirk had several knew fixed blade designs over at our second booth. I wish I took pics, but I was pretty busy helping at our main booth.
Outside of Darrel's booth, I didn't do much looking around. The booth kept me pretty busy for most of the time I was there. I did make a few trips to the Spyderco booth to talk with Michael Janich and Sal. Lemme tell you, I'm so excited about some of the stuff they're wanting to do, but I was privileged with information I cannot actually tell anyone else, so we'll leave it at that. Let me just say one word though. Jani-song. Beyond that, you'll just have to wait and see and cross your fingers. Many people don't know, but the Jani-song is the one knife that I'm most excited about. I ask Janich about it every year.
I think that's about it for the show. I have to apologize if a lot of this seems like rambling. I'm pretty tired as I said. I at least managed to split stuff into paragraphs.
EDIT: And before anyone asks, yes, I'm still trying to come up with a contest to give away the custom DDR AXD that's worth over a grand. I have not forgotten about that.
