Fall ABS Hammer-in

[SharpByCoop]

I offer a full report on the Bladesmith's Q&A Forum It was just held this weekend up in Nassau NY.

But I just thought I'd tell you that there were opportunities there for collector's that were RARE! Pay attention to these in the future...

Robbin Hudson brought a number of knives for sale, as well as his 'Dragon's Head' letter-opener/knife. I bought one of these. Also was a rare appearance of Don Fogg with some table knives. I was lucky enough to get a small cord-wrapped utility with a wonderful hamon and ultra-crisp grinds. His own sheath, too. All for peanuts, comparatively! Jerry Fisk had a few ones, too. I am having 'non-buyer's remorse' for passing on this one! Dan Farr had some great ones, too and justified his 'Best New Maker' status. Just couldn't afford them all...

Notables present were: Batson, Schwarzer, Fisk, Keeslar, Fogg, Hudson, Dellana, Barnett, Dean, Hendrickson, Stephan, Bell, Derringer, J.D. Smith, Szilaski, Davis. Lots of other area knifemakers were present, too. Unfortunately, Bill Moran was NOT there due to a cold or flu.

The biggest thing I came back with? The being a part of the unwaivering Fellowship of Knifemakers, as each one of these top-level makers shared everything they knew. This is a great world we're involved with!!!!

Coop

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Sure wish I could make it to one of these hammer-ins. It sounds like they would be a heck of a way to get a great education on knives and knifemaking. Might even get a guy interested in getting more involved in the industry in some way.

 

[jjtjr]

I drove three hours on Saturday to Nassau NY and it was one of the best times I ever had a knife event. The demonstrations were great. The show was like an ABS allstar event, in the Northeast we usually don't get that many Mastersmiths in one place. I found out that Jerry Fisk deserves his reputation as one of the nicest people in knifemaking. .Everyone else was friendly and relaxed. I hope that the ABS will continue this in the future, as I would like to go for three days next time. In addition I picked up a couple of great knives.

Jim Treacy

 

[J.Loose]

As Coop said...

It was amazing. It was thoroughly educational and great to meet so many of the folks whose careers I've previously only seen from afar.

If you live in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic states and didn't make it this year you should absolutely plan on coming next year. As someone said... we've never really had an event with the top makers teaching and demostrating over here. I can think of more than a couple things that would have taken me a few more years to learn because I would have had to save my pennies for airfare... some things you only learn in a personal context.

And talk about a great knifeshow! You Collectors who didn't show up missed out!