Thought you folks might like to have some feedback on the CAPE INTERNATIONAL CUSTOM KNIFE SHOW held this weekend at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa.
Folding knives dominated, indeed the show was a folding knife buyers dream come true! . . . everything from perfectly pocketable little $60 slipjoints to $440 damascus & mother-of-pearl masterpieces.
Graham Sparks was in fine form with a wonderful collection of slipjoint folders. Mirror polished blades and bolsters with a wide variety of handle materials made Sparky's knives ideal entry level collectables, or everyday carries. A new addition was his rendition of the famous Joseph Rogers teardrop handled folder with its longer sheepsfoot blade, a classic pocketknife. Those seeking a linerlock folder were spoiled for choice, indeed it must have been hell reaching a final decision! . . . Lourens Prinsloo, Louis Van Der Walt, Nico Pelzer, Bob Wilmot, and Willie Paulsen showed knives of flawless quality, only separated by personal choices of design and materials. All offered outstanding value for money for knives which could hold their own anywhere in the world. Lourens has perfected the ability to combine matt, satin and mirror polished finishes on his linerlockers and continues to explore different textures on bolsters and handle scales. Louis has recovered from the nasty experience of having an airline lose his luggage whilst on his way to the recent Blade Show in Atlanta, and showed a folder with a striking set of mokume bolsters! Bob offered tremendous value for money work, puting top class workmanship combined with exotic materials within reach of everyone. I particularly liked his new semi-Persian styled folder. Willie displayed some new linerlock designs, including a trio of miniatures to compliment their bigger brothers! Nico Pelzer was awarded "Best Knife on Show" for his damascus bladed & bolstered linerlock fitted with a beautiful set of gold-lip pearl scales. Nico coloured the blade and bolsters to match the scales, fitted gold pins and thumbstud, and file worked the spine to match.
Fixed blade enthusiasts were not left empty handed though . . . Rob Brown displayed a table to salivate over, a big sub-hilt recurve ground fighter, damasteel m-o-p & gold inlaid utilities, and hunters worthy of being art knives such were their quality of fit & finish. Bertie Rietveld, freshly back from the USA, brought a beautiful art dagger forged from his own damascus, together with an elegant bird & trout and his assisted-opening folder. Fanie LaGrange exhibited his usual design flair through his sculptured hunters, fighters and folders. Big knife enthusiasts were taken care of by Robert Bauchop with his traditional broadswords and big fighters, and Barry Burger with his collection of swordcanes (his new carbon fibre shafted swordcanes looked beautiful in the sunshine filtering through the exhibition halls windows, showing them off to their best). A table with a difference could be found with Gerhard Doyle where he blended his jewellers skills with those of a knifemaker. Gerhard showed his willingness to tackle anything from fine scalpels, automatic and assisted opening folders, Scottish dirks, to a butterfly folding knife, and embellish them with fine inlays and gemstones.
Damasteel proved to be very popular, both for blades and for bolsters. As I saw in Durban earlier this year, makers are seeking out new bolster material and damascus and mokume are being seen more often. Bertie Rietveld, Derek Rausch and Ettore Gianferrari all forge damascus and mokume, thereby providing variety to knifemakers. Many of the knifemakers are texturing their bolsters through stippling, peening, bead blasting and etching. Handle materials were taken care of via buffalo horn, giraffe bone, African hardwoods, mother-of-pearl and various ivories.
The prices aren't give aways in terms of South African currency, but for visiting American, British, French, Japanese or German knife enthusiasts they are like gifts from heaven! Where else could you purchase a flawless ivory handled linerlock with damascus bolsters or blade for less than $200 ? Me thinks some Forumites should get together and book themselves a little knife buying holiday in Cape Town next year . . .
A wonderful little knife show . . . still in its infancy, but with tremendous potential for knife buyers.
Regards, HILTON
Folding knives dominated, indeed the show was a folding knife buyers dream come true! . . . everything from perfectly pocketable little $60 slipjoints to $440 damascus & mother-of-pearl masterpieces.
Graham Sparks was in fine form with a wonderful collection of slipjoint folders. Mirror polished blades and bolsters with a wide variety of handle materials made Sparky's knives ideal entry level collectables, or everyday carries. A new addition was his rendition of the famous Joseph Rogers teardrop handled folder with its longer sheepsfoot blade, a classic pocketknife. Those seeking a linerlock folder were spoiled for choice, indeed it must have been hell reaching a final decision! . . . Lourens Prinsloo, Louis Van Der Walt, Nico Pelzer, Bob Wilmot, and Willie Paulsen showed knives of flawless quality, only separated by personal choices of design and materials. All offered outstanding value for money for knives which could hold their own anywhere in the world. Lourens has perfected the ability to combine matt, satin and mirror polished finishes on his linerlockers and continues to explore different textures on bolsters and handle scales. Louis has recovered from the nasty experience of having an airline lose his luggage whilst on his way to the recent Blade Show in Atlanta, and showed a folder with a striking set of mokume bolsters! Bob offered tremendous value for money work, puting top class workmanship combined with exotic materials within reach of everyone. I particularly liked his new semi-Persian styled folder. Willie displayed some new linerlock designs, including a trio of miniatures to compliment their bigger brothers! Nico Pelzer was awarded "Best Knife on Show" for his damascus bladed & bolstered linerlock fitted with a beautiful set of gold-lip pearl scales. Nico coloured the blade and bolsters to match the scales, fitted gold pins and thumbstud, and file worked the spine to match.
Fixed blade enthusiasts were not left empty handed though . . . Rob Brown displayed a table to salivate over, a big sub-hilt recurve ground fighter, damasteel m-o-p & gold inlaid utilities, and hunters worthy of being art knives such were their quality of fit & finish. Bertie Rietveld, freshly back from the USA, brought a beautiful art dagger forged from his own damascus, together with an elegant bird & trout and his assisted-opening folder. Fanie LaGrange exhibited his usual design flair through his sculptured hunters, fighters and folders. Big knife enthusiasts were taken care of by Robert Bauchop with his traditional broadswords and big fighters, and Barry Burger with his collection of swordcanes (his new carbon fibre shafted swordcanes looked beautiful in the sunshine filtering through the exhibition halls windows, showing them off to their best). A table with a difference could be found with Gerhard Doyle where he blended his jewellers skills with those of a knifemaker. Gerhard showed his willingness to tackle anything from fine scalpels, automatic and assisted opening folders, Scottish dirks, to a butterfly folding knife, and embellish them with fine inlays and gemstones.
Damasteel proved to be very popular, both for blades and for bolsters. As I saw in Durban earlier this year, makers are seeking out new bolster material and damascus and mokume are being seen more often. Bertie Rietveld, Derek Rausch and Ettore Gianferrari all forge damascus and mokume, thereby providing variety to knifemakers. Many of the knifemakers are texturing their bolsters through stippling, peening, bead blasting and etching. Handle materials were taken care of via buffalo horn, giraffe bone, African hardwoods, mother-of-pearl and various ivories.
The prices aren't give aways in terms of South African currency, but for visiting American, British, French, Japanese or German knife enthusiasts they are like gifts from heaven! Where else could you purchase a flawless ivory handled linerlock with damascus bolsters or blade for less than $200 ? Me thinks some Forumites should get together and book themselves a little knife buying holiday in Cape Town next year . . .
A wonderful little knife show . . . still in its infancy, but with tremendous potential for knife buyers.
Regards, HILTON