Ken, our goal is to offer, from our pool of member knifemakers, the broadest selection of knives to best suit our member's tastes, within a price range that's in reach of as many members as possible.
This is not an easy task. However, I feel we have been fairly successful, considering all or most all knives go home with very pleased CKCA members.
Perhaps you could recruit new maker members whose knives more represent the styles you would like to see offered at our show. Or perhaps you can volunteer to help manage the Knifemaker/knives selection process for a future Mini-Show. I bet either solution would be more productive than complaining.
You should better differentiate between a critique and a complaint.
I admit I am confused as to how a show where almost every maker is a forged ABS Smith, where not a single Guild maker is represented, where the hottest segment of the custom knife marker, the tactical folder market, is repeatedly ignored . . . offers "
the broadest selection of knives to best suit [your]
member's tastes?" Did you send out an e-mail and poll the members on their tastes and the kinds of knives and makers they would like to see at the Mini-Show? If so, I apologize if I missed that poll and did not respond.
Furthermore, I am not sure why I should volunteer to do anything for your organization (I mean anything more than I have already done, such as a couple of years ago when I spent basically the entire Blade Show manning your booth and recruiting new members for your organization). And the CKCA
is YOUR organization - probably more truthfully named the Kevin Jones Knife Corporation, as the "members" have absolutely no vote or say in who runs your organization, or how your organization is run, or what it does. And since it
is your organization, that is of course perfectly fine - just best everyone understands the score.
And since it is your organization, is not my responsibility to recruit a more diverse group of makers for your organization. Your organization; your decisions. BTW, it is easy to post "attaboys" . . . and then sit on your wallet. But I am thinking that I might have had more skin in the game in terms of supporting the mini-show by
actually buying knives from the mini-show than most or all of the other posters on this thread. Maybe (?) all combined.
You posted a list of the makers
here in a public forum (not your personal CKCA Forum) in an open thread, which makes it fair game for comment. I complimented the makers, and politely noted the lack of representation of the Guild, of tactical folders . . . well of most anything but ABS forged makers, and commented that I believe that is a shame. It was not a complaint, and in fact was positive/constructive criticism from someone who has supported the mini-show with his own dollars, if you were able to recognize it. But if all you are willing to accept is kumbayas from folks who never put any skin in the game anyway, then maybe best keep it at CKCA where you call all the shots and you erase posts when you see fit, because it does not look like you control this forum.
