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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Evening of the Cutlery Arts show review
- Thread starter Kohai999
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2001
- Messages
- 12,336
...to part deux. Plaza Show.
I'm all ears!
Coop
I'm all ears!
Coop
Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
Easy, Jimmy, easy! How would you like it if someone asked you to hurry a photograph?
I'm trying to do my best work here! It's all from memory, you know?
Thomas and I didn't sleep really well because the thermostat in the room didn't work. The AC would not kick in, so we got ready for the show after about 5 hours of lousy sleep, and checked out of the room. We let the front desk know about the lock and the thermostat, and to their credit, they knocked the room bill in 1/2. Had we known that, we MIGHT have ordered room service.
After checking out, we meandered down to the hotel bar/dining area around 9:00 am to see about getting some breakfast, but it was about an hour wait, and I was not that hungry. I satisfied my cravings with an excellent Bloody Mary made with Absolut Peppar. Very tasty!
At the bar on Friday night, I gave Ed Wormser a ration of crap about his baseball hat, by Ed Hardy. I said it looked like a disco ball on his head. He asked me if it was a compliment or a slam, and I answered that it was a little bit of both. Ed and I have a much different sense of humor.
As a slight aside here, the bottom line is that it pisses me off to no end that MY culture has been packaged for mass consumption. It used to be if you wanted a tattoo, you got one, and that was your entre' into the tattoo world, now you can buy the clothes and watch the TV shows without any ounce of blood.
Back to the show.
I saw Bailey Bradshaw going into the showroom, and followed him in, around 9:45 am, as I had brought a Howard Clark wakizashi and a Paul Chen Wind and Thunder wakizashi for comparison and show-and-tell. This was a good time to talk about this stuff, with room to move and no one else around. Good times! Bailey is not only and ABS MS, but he is also a very good swordsmith, with the ability and knowledge to become a truly great swordsmith, so I am doing what I can to share my experiences and insights into that realm.
After Bailey and I got finished, the room opened, I dumped my stuff behind and to the left of his table(to his credit, without asking, but I figured that we are good like that, and if it was an etiquette breach or faulty assumption, that he would let me know, thank you very much, Bailey).
The room for the Plaza cutlery show is like a basic ballroom/banquet hall at any hotel, no windows, decent airflow, few entrances or exits. Adequate, but not noteworthy
I started the rounds with dropping slips on Phil Boguszewski's table, Tim Galyean's(2 knives) and John Young's(can't remeber how many, but maybe 4?) table. They were doing a lottery/raffle drawing for the remaining knives, which is cool, but it always seems like someone wants to break the rules, tipping the scales in their favor. Not pointing fingers, but to me, integrity means do the best you can, to be the best person you can, and that means one person/one slip. Enough about that.
Said good morning to Todd Begg, and look at the Liong Mah designed ring folders that he had. Todd is one HELL of a machining machine, and these folders are really in the genus of something different.
Went over to talk with Darrel Ralph, and put fingerprints on all his wares. Have been thinking about the Gunhammer MT blade for a while, and he had a few in DLC with tritium, which appeals to me, and was leaning towards a manual for a number of reasons. My choices were one of two, I believe, but he had a damascus bladed model with a walrus ivory inset that was also appealing. That one was an AO, and that decision was a tough one. My biggest beef with the DESIGN aspect is that I vastly prefer scales on both sides of a knife, and Darrel prefers one side only, to show off the framelock. Can respect it, but it is tough for me to give in on this choice. I told him I would think about it.
Found Wally Hayes, after leaving Darrel's table, and showed him the wakizashi's as well. The "Ninja Tanto"(HATE the name) was stuck in my head, and Wally and I chatted about it. He agreed to make a san mai constructed model with damascus sides and a tool steel core, with white same'(rayskin). Am very much looking forward to this knife!
Went back to Bailey's table, as he agreed to introduce me to Allen Elishewitz. Have met Allen twice before, and the reception was lukewarm at best, found Allen to be aloof and disinterested. Frankly, at the times, I did not care enough to push it.
Regardless of that, found his work to be of top caliber, specifically his machining ability, and this was confirmed post-purchase by various and well-known knife makers. Bailey and Allen both being from the Great State of Texas helps by way of intro, yunno. Wanted Allen to make a small modification to a knife purchase from Mr. ebosshoss(I got my other one from the most excellent Neil Ostroff from True North Knives), and Bailey volunteered to make the introduction. The response was night and day, sometimes, it is just about approach. Allen became animated and interested, and I found myself liking him, quite a bit.
Went back to Darrel's table on oogled the wares some more. At this point, Thor(ThorIam) came up and said hey, and we bopped around for a bit.
Went over to Rick Hinderer's table, and he had about 7-9 kubaton/pen combos for sale. I needed an extra wrench, which he tendered gratis. Word to the wise, center punches work better for tightening the kubaton if you are using the pocket clip. That is how I "bent my wrench" in the first place. Two things that I found about Rick is a) he is a very laid back and mellow person, very passionate about his work, and b) he is as short as I am, which I did not expect.
Met Straper, from the Custom Knives and Guns Forum, and talked with him for a bit, and chatted a bit more with Win Heger and his lovely wife.
It was now time for the Phil Boguszewski drawing at 12:00 pm. Think there were 6 knives on the table. The big draw on these, in addition to the fact that they are fantastically executed flippers, with no play, is that the price from Phil is very reasonable, and that they IMMEDIATELY sell on the aftermarket for up to 5x the purchase price. Didn't get drawn, but another knifemaker's wife did, and you KNOW that is an indicator of desireability.
The cool thing about the drawings was that it kept the pitch of the show at a HIGH! The Tim Galyean drawing was at 12:30 pm, the John Young drawing at 1:00 pm, and the Ernest Emerson drawing at 1:30 pm. Galyean and Young, understood, due to rarity and skills, but someone, someday will have to explain the appeal of the Emersons. Nice, well constructed, but BORING, and the grind is ON THE WRONG SIDE if you are right handed. Didn't get drawn for anything else, but it was worth pitching in, anyway.
Taking Thor's studied recommendation, pulled the trigger on the Darrel Ralph Gunhammer AO with damascus and walrus inlay. It was a good deal, and found the overall package intriguing. Had to work on the knife a bit to optimize it(side to side play), but Darrel knows what he is doing, and has a unique adjustment figured out, involving a spacer/stop pin AND the pivot. Very clever.
Also purchased one of Bailey's Sawby self-locks with stag, and a CPM 154CM blade. Too nice to pass up, and after some Garssonizing, the stag looks AWESOME.
Made it back to Don Hanson's table, chat with Don and Canine Forge(Joe) a bit, and ogle over the mosaic folder, burn it into the memory banks.
A word about Strider Knives. Don't care about the politics at all. LOVE the RC and got one from Josh Lee, who I have known for years. Josh is of the best knife people, that is that. If he works for Strider, they must be at least a little A-OK, and I find Mick Strider to be extremely funny, with an excellent and wicked sense of humor. The RC is a wicked cool knife, and there is not anything quite like it on the market. Big, brutal and refined in one package.
Went back to chat with Allen Elishewitz for a little while before leaving, and we talked about guns, knives, and martial arts, some of my favorite subjects!
Allen is VERY alright in my book, after this show!
Time to leave, say goodbye to everyone, and hit the road. Awesome show!! Have chatted with Bailey since, and Don Hanson III, twice, may have a folder worked out, and he recommended a slipjoint maker to me for a knife, will be ready in a year.
Thanks for reading, and the comments. Always appreciated!
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
I'm trying to do my best work here! It's all from memory, you know? Thomas and I didn't sleep really well because the thermostat in the room didn't work. The AC would not kick in, so we got ready for the show after about 5 hours of lousy sleep, and checked out of the room. We let the front desk know about the lock and the thermostat, and to their credit, they knocked the room bill in 1/2. Had we known that, we MIGHT have ordered room service.
After checking out, we meandered down to the hotel bar/dining area around 9:00 am to see about getting some breakfast, but it was about an hour wait, and I was not that hungry. I satisfied my cravings with an excellent Bloody Mary made with Absolut Peppar. Very tasty!
At the bar on Friday night, I gave Ed Wormser a ration of crap about his baseball hat, by Ed Hardy. I said it looked like a disco ball on his head. He asked me if it was a compliment or a slam, and I answered that it was a little bit of both. Ed and I have a much different sense of humor.
As a slight aside here, the bottom line is that it pisses me off to no end that MY culture has been packaged for mass consumption. It used to be if you wanted a tattoo, you got one, and that was your entre' into the tattoo world, now you can buy the clothes and watch the TV shows without any ounce of blood.
Back to the show.
I saw Bailey Bradshaw going into the showroom, and followed him in, around 9:45 am, as I had brought a Howard Clark wakizashi and a Paul Chen Wind and Thunder wakizashi for comparison and show-and-tell. This was a good time to talk about this stuff, with room to move and no one else around. Good times! Bailey is not only and ABS MS, but he is also a very good swordsmith, with the ability and knowledge to become a truly great swordsmith, so I am doing what I can to share my experiences and insights into that realm.
After Bailey and I got finished, the room opened, I dumped my stuff behind and to the left of his table(to his credit, without asking, but I figured that we are good like that, and if it was an etiquette breach or faulty assumption, that he would let me know, thank you very much, Bailey).
The room for the Plaza cutlery show is like a basic ballroom/banquet hall at any hotel, no windows, decent airflow, few entrances or exits. Adequate, but not noteworthy
I started the rounds with dropping slips on Phil Boguszewski's table, Tim Galyean's(2 knives) and John Young's(can't remeber how many, but maybe 4?) table. They were doing a lottery/raffle drawing for the remaining knives, which is cool, but it always seems like someone wants to break the rules, tipping the scales in their favor. Not pointing fingers, but to me, integrity means do the best you can, to be the best person you can, and that means one person/one slip. Enough about that.
Said good morning to Todd Begg, and look at the Liong Mah designed ring folders that he had. Todd is one HELL of a machining machine, and these folders are really in the genus of something different.
Went over to talk with Darrel Ralph, and put fingerprints on all his wares. Have been thinking about the Gunhammer MT blade for a while, and he had a few in DLC with tritium, which appeals to me, and was leaning towards a manual for a number of reasons. My choices were one of two, I believe, but he had a damascus bladed model with a walrus ivory inset that was also appealing. That one was an AO, and that decision was a tough one. My biggest beef with the DESIGN aspect is that I vastly prefer scales on both sides of a knife, and Darrel prefers one side only, to show off the framelock. Can respect it, but it is tough for me to give in on this choice. I told him I would think about it.
Found Wally Hayes, after leaving Darrel's table, and showed him the wakizashi's as well. The "Ninja Tanto"(HATE the name) was stuck in my head, and Wally and I chatted about it. He agreed to make a san mai constructed model with damascus sides and a tool steel core, with white same'(rayskin). Am very much looking forward to this knife!
Went back to Bailey's table, as he agreed to introduce me to Allen Elishewitz. Have met Allen twice before, and the reception was lukewarm at best, found Allen to be aloof and disinterested. Frankly, at the times, I did not care enough to push it.
Regardless of that, found his work to be of top caliber, specifically his machining ability, and this was confirmed post-purchase by various and well-known knife makers. Bailey and Allen both being from the Great State of Texas helps by way of intro, yunno. Wanted Allen to make a small modification to a knife purchase from Mr. ebosshoss(I got my other one from the most excellent Neil Ostroff from True North Knives), and Bailey volunteered to make the introduction. The response was night and day, sometimes, it is just about approach. Allen became animated and interested, and I found myself liking him, quite a bit.
Went back to Darrel's table on oogled the wares some more. At this point, Thor(ThorIam) came up and said hey, and we bopped around for a bit.
Went over to Rick Hinderer's table, and he had about 7-9 kubaton/pen combos for sale. I needed an extra wrench, which he tendered gratis. Word to the wise, center punches work better for tightening the kubaton if you are using the pocket clip. That is how I "bent my wrench" in the first place. Two things that I found about Rick is a) he is a very laid back and mellow person, very passionate about his work, and b) he is as short as I am, which I did not expect.
Met Straper, from the Custom Knives and Guns Forum, and talked with him for a bit, and chatted a bit more with Win Heger and his lovely wife.
It was now time for the Phil Boguszewski drawing at 12:00 pm. Think there were 6 knives on the table. The big draw on these, in addition to the fact that they are fantastically executed flippers, with no play, is that the price from Phil is very reasonable, and that they IMMEDIATELY sell on the aftermarket for up to 5x the purchase price. Didn't get drawn, but another knifemaker's wife did, and you KNOW that is an indicator of desireability.
The cool thing about the drawings was that it kept the pitch of the show at a HIGH! The Tim Galyean drawing was at 12:30 pm, the John Young drawing at 1:00 pm, and the Ernest Emerson drawing at 1:30 pm. Galyean and Young, understood, due to rarity and skills, but someone, someday will have to explain the appeal of the Emersons. Nice, well constructed, but BORING, and the grind is ON THE WRONG SIDE if you are right handed. Didn't get drawn for anything else, but it was worth pitching in, anyway.
Taking Thor's studied recommendation, pulled the trigger on the Darrel Ralph Gunhammer AO with damascus and walrus inlay. It was a good deal, and found the overall package intriguing. Had to work on the knife a bit to optimize it(side to side play), but Darrel knows what he is doing, and has a unique adjustment figured out, involving a spacer/stop pin AND the pivot. Very clever.
Also purchased one of Bailey's Sawby self-locks with stag, and a CPM 154CM blade. Too nice to pass up, and after some Garssonizing, the stag looks AWESOME.
Made it back to Don Hanson's table, chat with Don and Canine Forge(Joe) a bit, and ogle over the mosaic folder, burn it into the memory banks.
A word about Strider Knives. Don't care about the politics at all. LOVE the RC and got one from Josh Lee, who I have known for years. Josh is of the best knife people, that is that. If he works for Strider, they must be at least a little A-OK, and I find Mick Strider to be extremely funny, with an excellent and wicked sense of humor. The RC is a wicked cool knife, and there is not anything quite like it on the market. Big, brutal and refined in one package.
Went back to chat with Allen Elishewitz for a little while before leaving, and we talked about guns, knives, and martial arts, some of my favorite subjects!
Allen is VERY alright in my book, after this show!
Time to leave, say goodbye to everyone, and hit the road. Awesome show!! Have chatted with Bailey since, and Don Hanson III, twice, may have a folder worked out, and he recommended a slipjoint maker to me for a knife, will be ready in a year.
Thanks for reading, and the comments. Always appreciated!
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2001
- Messages
- 12,336
As a matter with little choice sometimes, I do my best work under pressure. Apparently so do you. Aren't you happy you got this out, now.Easy, Jimmy, easy! How would you like it if someone asked you to hurry a photograph?
All from MEMORY? Damn. (I've lost too many brain cells back in the early seventies...)
No surprise that you guys would mesh. Who can dismiss the work and gentleman that Wally makes and is?
:thumbup: Thanks again. Few people can condense this much information and present it afterwards like you have done. I can't. But I sure enjoy looking through your words.Best,
Coop
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2005
- Messages
- 3,972
Go to 'Blade Discussion Forum' for pictures and thread about all that has occurred since then. A sad state of affairs.
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From personal experience, I agree with you about Wally Hayes and Allen Elishewitz - they both do excellent work and are top notch people. I think Allen is a little quieter than Wally when you first meet him, but he is a great guy - he's treated me very well, and treated my teenage son like an "adult" which both of us appreciated. Wally is very outgoing, but has also been very helpful to me and again very friendly and "cool" with my son, and that says alot about someone in my book.
Bill
Bill