Gun shows

S

samwereb

Joined
Aug 3, 1999
Messages
441
You guys are often referring to upcoming trade shows. How about gun shows? Any experience with those? Would they be a good place to begin selling knives?
 
Anywhere that you can get yourself in the public eye! In the old days, I went to just about any event where there might be someone interested in knives. Most of these affairs can be fickle. Gun shows often are a hit and miss operation until you establish yourself as a presence at a given show. I still attend the local gun show here in Great Falls, mostly because the show coordinator calls me and asks if I would please attend. I look at it as a win/win situation, simply because it's two miles from the house, and even if only one piece of damscus barstock leaves the table, I'm ahead. It is certainly a different crowd than you will find at most Knife shows.........and you will likely hear a lot of "You want what!....for a knife!" But that's your chance to educate the public, and begin building a customer base.



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Ed Caffrey
"The Montana Bladesmith"
www.caffreyknives.com
 
I show my knives and sell at least a few at gun shows. I go to about 12 per year. Alot of times Im the only knife maker there and get some attention. Ed is right about educating the public. They know much more than they did a few years ago because of the exposure of the makers in the gun shows. There are usually knife enthusiasts mixed in with the gun nuts. You can pick them out with a little experience and save some of your breath on the just browsers. Its my Idea of fun for the weekend and almost always pays unless you take the whole family along for a wild weekend of spending your profits. Bruce
 
I started out doing gun shows. It is a great place to meet and educate the public. They're also usually a little less expensive than the knife shows (for table prices). It's a great place to start. Many people who go to gun shows are also interested in knives. But you meet a lot of "You made that?" kind of people too. So use the opportunity to educate. There's an advantage to doing your local gun shows in that many people find out you're right in their "back yard". You can get a lot of repeat customers that way also. Many of the knife shows I do aren't local. The best way to find out is try a few. I went in as a visitor the first few times (just paid at the door to get in) to see what they were like.
I now do only knife shows pretty much but I did the gun/knife shows for years before getting to this point.

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Gene Osborn
Center Cross Metal Works
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword...
Hewbrews 4:12
 
They can be the best of times and the worst of times. Good shows where they sell quality, high priced guns often attract a good knife buying audience. The shows that cater to the wierdo's (they're the ones who wear camo 6 days a week and a camo tie on Sunday) can be a complete waste of time. Mostly, they buy only the $15 Ninja swords, and look at you strangely because your little knife costs more than their big one.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
We get a good(?) mix of both kinds of gun and knife nuts here at the northwest Indiana gun shows. I look for knives almost exclusively anymore. I have all the guns I want at the moment.
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I used to do the gun & knife shows too but I missed a few years when my house burned and it is like trying to start over for customers and finding a spot. Now I try to only do custom knife shows and concentrate on the quality instead of the quantity of my knives.

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Ray Kirk
http://www.tah-usa.net/raker
 
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