Denver Show Pictures and Thoughts

Logan Pearce

Logan Pearce

Awesome Sauce Smith (A.S.S)
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
374
The Professional Knifemakers Association (PKA) Denver Show was held on August 21-23rd, 2015. I have never been before and wasn't sure what to expect, since I couldn't find a whole lot about it on the forums. I figured I would try it out for fun, plus my better half has never been to Colorado.

I took as many pictures as I could to give you guys an idea of what it was like, in case you ever decide to venture out there in the future. I wish every show had a review and pictures so I would know what is the best fit for me. So here goes!


The show venue was big and the atmosphere laid back. Some of the makers didn't make it this year because of health problems. The only makers that I knew was Craig Camerer and Jerry McClure, but the PKA group seemed to become an instant family. There was a small crowd at the door when I arrived at the show and I wasn't even late for this one. ;) I don't know any of the makers here well enough to ask if they had a good or bad show. I do know that the makers around my area sold knives every day. The crowd wasn't huge, but it was steady and most of the people that came seemed to walk out with something in their hands.

I sold most of my knives the first few hours and they let me keep them on display through the show, which snagged me over dozen orders. The knives that seemed to sell really well were the ones priced around the $400-$1,500 range. I would say that 80% of the makers at the show are stock removal, which was what worried me a little bit about coming to the show as all my blades are forged. Turns out there are a lot of people in the area that are interested in forged blades. Score. :cool:


Aaaaand in typical forum pre-defensiveness; please forgive the bad photography. :rolleyes: The ceiling was black and I wasn't the show photographer. However, next year I will be. So the knife pictures will be better. With the pictures, I tried to get the makers card in the picture as well. That way I would remember who made what, because I forget all that after taking a hundred or so pictures.


Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the show/trip through my eyes.



1 by PKA Show, on Flickr





2 by PKA Show, on Flickr






3 by PKA Show, on Flickr





4 by PKA Show, on Flickr








6 by PKA Show, on Flickr








7 by PKA Show, on Flickr








8 by PKA Show, on Flickr







9 by PKA Show, on Flickr







10 by PKA Show, on Flickr







11 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Stek Knives:


12 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Craig Camerer:



13 by PKA Show, on Flickr





14 by PKA Show, on Flickr






15 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Harvey King:


16 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Raffle knife by Mike 'Whisker' Allen, who was not able to make it to the show because of health problems. I hope you get well soon, Mike!



17 by PKA Show, on Flickr





19 by PKA Show, on Flickr





20 by PKA Show, on Flickr





21 by PKA Show, on Flickr






22 by PKA Show, on Flickr






23 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Wayne G. Hensley



24 by PKA Show, on Flickr





John Barlow, who is retiring and wanting to sell off some of his handle material.



25 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Around lunch, I went across the street for this. I believe there was a restaurant in the convention center, but they were wearing suits and I typically don't eat at places like that while wearing shorts and a shirt with a clever innuendo on it. So I settled for subway, which doesn't sell pizza anymore. Wtf, subway? I digress. What more could you ask for? Liquor and subway across the street. Now I know why sales were so good. :p



27 by PKA Show, on Flickr




Pizza hut is here too. Hiring even, if you need to make a little more money to help with your knife addiction.



28 by PKA Show, on Flickr





And back to the show, we go!




29 by PKA Show, on Flickr





30 by PKA Show, on Flickr





31 by PKA Show, on Flickr





I need ALL of this. Charles Turnage said for the right price..


32 by PKA Show, on Flickr




I didn't even look to see if this guy had a card.




33 by PKA Show, on Flickr






34 by PKA Show, on Flickr





35 by PKA Show, on Flickr





36 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Mike Irie


37 by PKA Show, on Flickr




38 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Louis Linton



39 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Jacob Wilson



40 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Jerry McClure



41 by PKA Show, on Flickr




42 by PKA Show, on Flickr







After the show we decided to look around the convention center and found a theatre.



43 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Which sucked. lol. Then again, I'm probably not the theatre type. :yawn:




44 by PKA Show, on Flickr




Ended up being entertained here better than the theatre.



45 by PKA Show, on Flickr







I will post the award winners and pictures in a few hours! Until then~
 
Nice report and photos Logan. Thanks for posting these. I've never been to the Denver show but always wondered about it.
 
Thanks for the review and photos, Logan! Nice job.

Wonder why this show isn't promoted on the forums?

Was there a designated smoking area at the show? ;)
 
No problem, guys! And thanks!


Don Hanson III said:
Thanks for the review and photos, Logan! Nice job.

Wonder why this show isn't promoted on the forums?

Was there a designated smoking area at the show? ;)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why it isn't promoted, Don. At the show they really didn't have any banners or anything at the actual show to let people know where it was. I didn't have a hard time finding it, but every time I went outside for something randys (random people) would be like, is the knife show in here? I feel like all the knife shows should have some big banner outside of the venue letting people know. Even at the Arkansas one there should be one. Buuut what do I know. :D

I'm not sure if there was a smoking area, if only I had someone there to find it for me. :rolleyes: lol
 
I still don't know what exactly the rules for competing for the awards are. Bird & Trout/Hunting Knife was the same category, which was addressed at the PKA meeting on Saturday and the two will be split up, but I'll post more about that once I have the pictures finished. I am hoping that they actually have a guidelines for the rules made up when they launch the new PKA website, but idk if they will or not.

If I recall correctly, the judging started around 12 pm on Friday and the winners were announced at 2 pm the same day.

Award Winners:

Back row from left to right:

Best Tactical/Fighting Knife: Craig Steketee (I think?)
Best Damascus Knife: Jerry McClure
Best Hunter/Bird & Trout Knife: Harvey King
Best of Show: Fred Ott
Best Kitchen Cutlery Set: Tom Buckner
Best New Maker: Steve Mitchell


Front row from left to right:

Best Art Knife: Logan Pearce
Best Hand Forged Primitive Blade: Mike Brickman
Best Miniature Knife: Jacob Wilson
Best Bowie/Camp Knife: Jacob Wilson
Best Folder: Eddie Baca
Best Donated Knife: Vance Corich



I believe that is right. I know that I am right about at least one:



Award 2 by PKA Show, on Flickr







Award 0 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Award 1 by PKA Show, on Flickr







Best of Show:


Award 3 by PKA Show, on Flickr



Oh how he radiates excitement!


IMG_7901 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Tactical/Fighter:



Award 4 by PKA Show, on Flickr









Hand Forged Primitive, Mike Brickman:


Award 5 by PKA Show, on Flickr



Award 6 by PKA Show, on Flickr








Best Miniature, Jacob Wilson:



Award 6 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Best Bowie/Camp Knife, Jacob Wilson:



Award 8 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Best Bird, Trout, Hunting, Cutting, etc, etc, Harvey King:



Award 9 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Award 16 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Best Damascus Knife, Jerry McClure:



Award 10 by PKA Show, on Flickr








Best Folding Knife, Eddie Baca:




Award 11 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Award 12 by PKA Show, on Flickr






Best Kitchen Cutlery Set, Tom Buckner:



Award 13 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Award 14 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Award 15 by PKA Show, on Flickr





Best Donated Knife, Vance Corich:


Award 17 by PKA Show, on Flickr







Best New Maker, Steve Mitchell:




Award 18 by PKA Show, on Flickr








And best art knife, Logan Pearce:


Pearce 002 by chuckbop36, on Flickr




Whaaat? You thought I was really going to give you some crappy picture of my knife? :D
 
Thanks for the pictures, commentary and that's sure a sweet blade! It deserves a name :)
 
Love the dagger and wonder how it was not best of show. I have attended and photographed at the Denver show on a couple of occasions and posted to here and at least once to CKCA and likely they are on my site found in the sig file here.

Just a thought Logan -- try going 3200 ISO with incandescent color balance and see how you like it. Quite a few makers I did not know either as more guys come around all the time. We always enjoyed Denver as well as the city itself especially all the nice art galleries from which we have purchased a few items.

Thanks for providing coverage of this show.
 
THANKS Logan for making the effort to put this review together, I really enjoyed it.
And congrats on your award, Beautiful dagger.
 
Last edited:
Don Hanson III said:
Congrats on the award, Logan! Nice Dagger!
Click to expand...

Thank you, Don! Oddly enough it started out as a sword...then became a dagger. lmao


brownshoe said:
Thanks for the pictures, commentary and that's sure a sweet blade! It deserves a name :)
Click to expand...


It's my pleasure! The name of the dagger is Maleficent. ;)


Murray White said:
Love the dagger and wonder how it was not best of show. I have attended and photographed at the Denver show on a couple of occasions and posted to here and at least once to CKCA and likely they are on my site found in the sig file here.

Just a thought Logan -- try going 3200 ISO with incandescent color balance and see how you like it. Quite a few makers I did not know either as more guys come around all the time. We always enjoyed Denver as well as the city itself especially all the nice art galleries from which we have purchased a few items.

Thanks for providing coverage of this show.
Click to expand...


If it wasn't for the pictures that you and Buddy did before, I would never have considered going to the show in the first place. I will definitely try the different ISO with incandescent color balance! Denver's Botanical Garden's corpse flower bloomed and died while we were there. I thought it was kind of fitting. lol. Seriously, thank you, Murray.



Kevin Jones said:
THANKS Logan for making the effort to put this review together, I really enjoyed it.
And congrats on your award, Beautiful dagger.
Click to expand...


Anytime! and thank you. :D

Are you going to be able to make it to Jerry's show this year? We have already started the pre-show video. I just need to get Kyle and J.R.'s parts recorded and then I will be posting that up.




I should be posting the Saturday events this evening.
 
Great show report and pictures. I know how much time it takes. Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks for the great review of the show and once again, congrats on the beautiful dagger. Looking forward to seeing you here in Branson soon and to what you bring to the show.

Gary
 
The picture coverage of the show is very nice but not noting the names
of the table holders makes it lack any true value for the general viewers.

You missed a great chance to really introduce so many knife makers to the world
by displaying well photographed pictures that mean something only to very few...

Think about this next time...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Gary Mulkey said:
Thanks for the great review of the show and once again, congrats on the beautiful dagger. Looking forward to seeing you here in Branson soon and to what you bring to the show
Click to expand...

I look forward to it!



ddd said:
The picture coverage of the show is very nice but not noting the names
of the table holders makes it lack any true value for the general viewers.

You missed a great chance to really introduce so many knife makers to the world
by displaying well photographed pictures that mean something only to very few...

Think about this next time...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
Click to expand...


I have listed the names of the makers that I could remember. Typically, I am just trying to get as many good shots as I can, so it is a little difficult recalling the makers later, unless I know them. Shows like the AKA are easier, since I know most of them. I will keep it in mind and try to do better next time. ;)








Saturday morning had a good line of people at the door.









They didn't have my PKA name tag finished by the time I made it to the show, so I made my own.











My tomahawk.













My Vulcan knife and how crafty my price tags were. Brittani was thrilled with how prepared I was.



















Dick Waites.


[/url






[url=https://flic.kr/p/y1wJiu]





Steve Myers Sr.














Jim Krause










Joe O'Neill











Some people brought a lot of color to the show!

















Michael Irie












One guy was set up sharpening knives for the public.












Ooooooh. I do.











M.A. Craig brought some ABS style work to the show.










and some kitchen knives.




















Eddie Baca and his wife.




























A few collections were set up at the show as well.
























Fred Ott



















This was the best thing about Saturday. Friday was fun, the people that came to see the show were regulars. Typically, people who already knew what they wanted and etc. On Saturday a lot of people that came brought their children and seemed to be educating them about knives. I know some were potential knifemakers, but I feel that teaching the younger generation is key to keeping the knife community alive and thriving.























And pet friendly. :D













The show closed up around 5 on Saturday. I had plans to go skydiving, but then they said that they were going to have the PKA meeting at 5:30. So no adrenaline rush for me.





President of the PKA, Craig Camerer started the meeting out the right way.











By giving us all food.








I managed to grab a couple of pieces that didn't have jalapenos.




















Dick Waites (sec./tre) of the PKA addressed a few issues. Announced the new PKA members and discussed the changing of a few of the awards.









Wayne Hensley, the Vice President of The Knifemakers' Guild came up and talked about the ivory ban in place of Doug Ritter who wasn't able to stay around. Stressing the importance of helping out with the Knife Rights to protect all of us that deal in pointy objects. There was also some talk about the I.C.C.E show that is coming up soon.









After it was all wrapped up, we headed out. While driving we saw a banner that said something about this:






So I got my dose of adrenaline after all. Also, my advice if you decided to let your inner redneck out by going to a NASCAR race is to bring ear plugs. We were like; 'Oh cool! No one is sitting on the front benches. Idiots.' We figured out pretty quickly why. lol




And then we ate here and had some off key karaoke.



 
Logan -- I know it is very difficult to do lots of photos and still get all the names but one thing I have found is if I go to a table to get images, I try to photograph the maker with the knives included in the shot. Then go to the closeups of the knives, using a knife + business card making sure it is one that can be seen in the original image. Then just remove the card and take the same shot again if it a knife you wish to highlight. My biggest amount of time is taken in editing as I remove most of the stuff that does not add to any of the image presentation. I just can't remember everyone's name so I "cheat" and then often will still ask members of BFC to add names where I may have folks in a group, some of which I simply just don't recall the name of. Just a couple ideas you may find of value.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top