Matthew Gregory
Chief Executive in charge of Entertainment
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
- Messages
- 6,390
I live a charmed life.
I don't know how else to put it.
From the outset, and straight through to it's closure, Blade Show 2016 was outstanding. Despite the heat, I had an extraordinary time. My journey began Thursday morning. I passed through airport security at Buffalo International Airport effortlessly, had barely sat down at my gate when boarding began, then, what felt like moments later, I walked through Atlanta's airport to baggage pickup where I found my boon traveling companion Mr. Mike (Mike157) awaiting my arrival with a limo driver that was gracious enough to offer his services to set us at our destination, the Wingate Inn, just across from the Cobb Galleria. We were checked in and anxious to see how to get around in no time.
Navigating our way from the hotel to the Cobb Galleria proved to be an interesting quandary. My past experiences at Blade show were LONG in the past, and frankly I was so thunderstruck and overwhelmed by it all that I barely remember any of it, and certainly not enough to offer assistance at this point. We found ourselves playing Human Frogger in late afternoon Atlanta traffic, vainly attempting to abide by the law and occasionally breaking the jaywalking codes, and somehow got to the home of the event. Niagara Specialty Metals was gracious enough to provide us with passes, and I needed to make contact with Jeff Rich, their sales manager, to pick them up. While waiting for his team to get their ducks in a row, Mike and I headed over to Coop's suite to drop off a blade he was going to shoot for me. Susan Cooper assisted me in getting the requisite paperwork filled out, the knife was dropped off, and we headed off in an anticipatory haze, not really knowing what we were doing but letting the currents take us where they were. Bumped into Eldon Talley and chatted him up a bit, and Tad Lynch, too. Both great guys.
Before we knew it, it was dinner time and we had to figure out what the heck we were going to do before I entered hypoglycemic shock. I have the metabolism of a flying squirrel, what can I say. Almost on cue, Jeff called and said that not only did he have our passes, but we were also welcome to have dinner with the NSM crew and a few of their guests.
And it was at this point that the truly charmed part of my life kicked in, in earnest.
As we were waiting for all the dinner party members to arrive, Jeff introduced me to some of his crew, Frank Cox from the left coast, Bob Skibitski, metallurgist from Crucible Steel. GREAT guys. Our introductions were brief, as everyone was hungry and we all set out. I'm a lefty, so i made a point of placing myself at the end corner of the table, with Mr. Mike next to me. At the end of the table was a big, burly chap with a bit of handlebar mustache, and we started to talk a pinch. From the start, it was apparent that this man had a BIG personality, and before I knew it I was being swept away by he and the other folks at our end of the table. As I live under a rock, it should come as no surprise that I didn't recognize anyone, but it didn't take too long to realize just what an opportunity I had fallen into. The bear of a man next to me was none other than Bill Harsey, across from me was Curtis Iovito Jr, and his father, Curtis Iovito Sr., of Spartan Blades. Holy COW were these guys too much fun! Oddly enough, I felt less out of place than I would ever have expected, and the entire dinner felt more like a family get-together (without the aggression and animosity
). Mark Carey was at the other end of the table, as was Anne Reeves of Chris Reeves Knives, and unfortunately I didn't get much chance to interact with them, as the table was long and crowded.
I made a point to scoot over to the Spartan Blades booth to score a new cover. Makes my bride happy, as she's been threatening to burn my old one for years...
After dinner, we headed over to the Pit, but our hearts weren't in it and we headed back to the hotel room to get some rest and prepare for the big day tomorrow.
We were up early, and amazingly Coop had already gotten a chance to shoot my blade, so we picked it up and headed over to the Diskin booth, where my buddy Joey P. was graciously allowing me to display it before it was picked up by it's new owner.
Joey's the man. It was about 9:30AM when we arrived at the booth, and we were just in time to witness Joey selling the LAST Diskin Wheels. They FLEW out of that booth!!!!
After a bit of good natured ribbing from my brother Joe, I was introduced to David Mirable. Joey and David are truly complementary personalities, and their energy is contagious. They are also BAD influences. I don't need much prodding to engage in shenanigans, and it wasn't long before I found myself cracking one of the Newland Wicked Whips bullwhips he had on display.
In the busy aisles of Blade Show.
Security didn't swoop down on me, so Mike and I commenced on our carefully laid plans to experience the Show. Almost immediately, the plan fell apart, but that didn't stop us from getting around!!!
We both agreed that we wanted to see Claude Bouchonville's table first, for a variety of reasons, and I'm really glad we did. Of all the knives I saw and handled at the show, Claude's had, by my estimation, the finest ergonomics.
Every single blade on his table was superb, and soon one of us had acquired one...
From this point forward, all other plans and schemes were for naught. I won't call it chaos, exactly, but it was certainly closer to that than anything else.
Here's a rapid pictorial, in no particular order, of some of the folks I saw. I have no good explanation why, but a ton of the photos I took with my phone just disappeared. I know I took photos of Don Hanson, Jason Knight, Burt Foster, and a handful of others, but the shots are simply gone. Frustrating!!!!
John Doyle:
So many people make great knives, but I find John's work inspiring, as well as intimidating. He's one of those guys that's just 'got it', if you ask me. Bumped into him a lot this weekend. I want a shirt from him.
Sam Salvati:
Been WAY too long since I've seen Sammy. Missed him dearly, and I'm really glad I got a chance to catch up with him. NO ONE swings a hammer like Sam!!!
Ryan Weeks:
This guy is on fire! I think everyone already knows that, but this was the first time I've had the chance to meet him in person, and he's yet another personality that you just want to hang out with.
Had to introduce myself to the guys at the Zombie Tools booth. Normally, I try to distance myself from the whole 'zombie' schtick, but these guys are nothing short of awesome. It's totally obvious that they're having FUN. Their energy is contagious, and their business model is dead-on. Love their stuff, and I think one of us bought something from them... Here's Dan Griffin, who was nice enough to pose with one of their new designs:
I WANT THIS SHIRT!!!!!!!
Kevin and Karen Cashen, two of my favorite people. Karen is always kind enough to allow me to badger Kevin. Our conversation was brief, but always full of humor.
Mace Vitale:
Yet another member of the Old Crew that I fell out of contact with, but it picked right up where it left off, and I made it a point to greasefinger every single knife he had on his table - just to inconvenience him, at least three times during the day. JUST like old times.
Had an awesome chat with Dan Keffeler. Can't remember why, but I think he was kind of a big deal or something...
We talked steel and heat treat for a bit, and moments later Brad Stallsmith from Peters Heat Treat showed up. Arrangements were discussed for a Super Secret Project I'm working on.
Checked back in at the Diskin booth periodically to let Joey and David bully me, and on one visit managed to weasel this piece from Sam Lurquin out of the display case while no one was looking:
Exceptional. Exceptional. Exceptional.
I don't know how else to put it.
From the outset, and straight through to it's closure, Blade Show 2016 was outstanding. Despite the heat, I had an extraordinary time. My journey began Thursday morning. I passed through airport security at Buffalo International Airport effortlessly, had barely sat down at my gate when boarding began, then, what felt like moments later, I walked through Atlanta's airport to baggage pickup where I found my boon traveling companion Mr. Mike (Mike157) awaiting my arrival with a limo driver that was gracious enough to offer his services to set us at our destination, the Wingate Inn, just across from the Cobb Galleria. We were checked in and anxious to see how to get around in no time.
Navigating our way from the hotel to the Cobb Galleria proved to be an interesting quandary. My past experiences at Blade show were LONG in the past, and frankly I was so thunderstruck and overwhelmed by it all that I barely remember any of it, and certainly not enough to offer assistance at this point. We found ourselves playing Human Frogger in late afternoon Atlanta traffic, vainly attempting to abide by the law and occasionally breaking the jaywalking codes, and somehow got to the home of the event. Niagara Specialty Metals was gracious enough to provide us with passes, and I needed to make contact with Jeff Rich, their sales manager, to pick them up. While waiting for his team to get their ducks in a row, Mike and I headed over to Coop's suite to drop off a blade he was going to shoot for me. Susan Cooper assisted me in getting the requisite paperwork filled out, the knife was dropped off, and we headed off in an anticipatory haze, not really knowing what we were doing but letting the currents take us where they were. Bumped into Eldon Talley and chatted him up a bit, and Tad Lynch, too. Both great guys.
Before we knew it, it was dinner time and we had to figure out what the heck we were going to do before I entered hypoglycemic shock. I have the metabolism of a flying squirrel, what can I say. Almost on cue, Jeff called and said that not only did he have our passes, but we were also welcome to have dinner with the NSM crew and a few of their guests.
And it was at this point that the truly charmed part of my life kicked in, in earnest.
As we were waiting for all the dinner party members to arrive, Jeff introduced me to some of his crew, Frank Cox from the left coast, Bob Skibitski, metallurgist from Crucible Steel. GREAT guys. Our introductions were brief, as everyone was hungry and we all set out. I'm a lefty, so i made a point of placing myself at the end corner of the table, with Mr. Mike next to me. At the end of the table was a big, burly chap with a bit of handlebar mustache, and we started to talk a pinch. From the start, it was apparent that this man had a BIG personality, and before I knew it I was being swept away by he and the other folks at our end of the table. As I live under a rock, it should come as no surprise that I didn't recognize anyone, but it didn't take too long to realize just what an opportunity I had fallen into. The bear of a man next to me was none other than Bill Harsey, across from me was Curtis Iovito Jr, and his father, Curtis Iovito Sr., of Spartan Blades. Holy COW were these guys too much fun! Oddly enough, I felt less out of place than I would ever have expected, and the entire dinner felt more like a family get-together (without the aggression and animosity
). Mark Carey was at the other end of the table, as was Anne Reeves of Chris Reeves Knives, and unfortunately I didn't get much chance to interact with them, as the table was long and crowded.
I made a point to scoot over to the Spartan Blades booth to score a new cover. Makes my bride happy, as she's been threatening to burn my old one for years...
After dinner, we headed over to the Pit, but our hearts weren't in it and we headed back to the hotel room to get some rest and prepare for the big day tomorrow.
We were up early, and amazingly Coop had already gotten a chance to shoot my blade, so we picked it up and headed over to the Diskin booth, where my buddy Joey P. was graciously allowing me to display it before it was picked up by it's new owner.
Joey's the man. It was about 9:30AM when we arrived at the booth, and we were just in time to witness Joey selling the LAST Diskin Wheels. They FLEW out of that booth!!!!
After a bit of good natured ribbing from my brother Joe, I was introduced to David Mirable. Joey and David are truly complementary personalities, and their energy is contagious. They are also BAD influences. I don't need much prodding to engage in shenanigans, and it wasn't long before I found myself cracking one of the Newland Wicked Whips bullwhips he had on display.
In the busy aisles of Blade Show.
Security didn't swoop down on me, so Mike and I commenced on our carefully laid plans to experience the Show. Almost immediately, the plan fell apart, but that didn't stop us from getting around!!!
We both agreed that we wanted to see Claude Bouchonville's table first, for a variety of reasons, and I'm really glad we did. Of all the knives I saw and handled at the show, Claude's had, by my estimation, the finest ergonomics.
Every single blade on his table was superb, and soon one of us had acquired one...
From this point forward, all other plans and schemes were for naught. I won't call it chaos, exactly, but it was certainly closer to that than anything else.
Here's a rapid pictorial, in no particular order, of some of the folks I saw. I have no good explanation why, but a ton of the photos I took with my phone just disappeared. I know I took photos of Don Hanson, Jason Knight, Burt Foster, and a handful of others, but the shots are simply gone. Frustrating!!!!
John Doyle:
So many people make great knives, but I find John's work inspiring, as well as intimidating. He's one of those guys that's just 'got it', if you ask me. Bumped into him a lot this weekend. I want a shirt from him.
Sam Salvati:
Been WAY too long since I've seen Sammy. Missed him dearly, and I'm really glad I got a chance to catch up with him. NO ONE swings a hammer like Sam!!!
Ryan Weeks:
This guy is on fire! I think everyone already knows that, but this was the first time I've had the chance to meet him in person, and he's yet another personality that you just want to hang out with.
Had to introduce myself to the guys at the Zombie Tools booth. Normally, I try to distance myself from the whole 'zombie' schtick, but these guys are nothing short of awesome. It's totally obvious that they're having FUN. Their energy is contagious, and their business model is dead-on. Love their stuff, and I think one of us bought something from them... Here's Dan Griffin, who was nice enough to pose with one of their new designs:
I WANT THIS SHIRT!!!!!!!
Kevin and Karen Cashen, two of my favorite people. Karen is always kind enough to allow me to badger Kevin. Our conversation was brief, but always full of humor.
Mace Vitale:
Yet another member of the Old Crew that I fell out of contact with, but it picked right up where it left off, and I made it a point to greasefinger every single knife he had on his table - just to inconvenience him, at least three times during the day. JUST like old times.
Had an awesome chat with Dan Keffeler. Can't remember why, but I think he was kind of a big deal or something...
We talked steel and heat treat for a bit, and moments later Brad Stallsmith from Peters Heat Treat showed up. Arrangements were discussed for a Super Secret Project I'm working on.
Checked back in at the Diskin booth periodically to let Joey and David bully me, and on one visit managed to weasel this piece from Sam Lurquin out of the display case while no one was looking:
Exceptional. Exceptional. Exceptional.
