How is Blade West going?

fishface5

fishface5

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I'm heading down tomorrow, is anyone there today who can give a report?
 
There right now. Very busy con center, good parking below the center.

The good; lots of booths, good showing from several production companies and independent custom makers.

The bad, some of the companies only brought items to show. Spyderco has a ton of things to look at, but none of them are for sale.
 
Was there for a couple of hours. A lot of vendors but fairly small area. Easy to see everything. I skipped all the equipment and supplies booths. I also skipped the retailer booths. Apologies for omitting some good stuff below - going from memory of what was notable:
  • Brian Tighe has a nice display. His knives aren't for me, but very nice stuff and definitely worth a visit.
  • I went by the Medford booth despite having a bias against their overbuild knives and some of Greg's opinions. Some of his smaller knives are very nice. Less overbuilt and he's doing some great patters and colors. Really good looking stuff. Greg was great to chat with as well. They have a nice display.
  • Benchmade is always great to visit.
  • Reate is there with some fantastic looking knives. I tend to not buy knives from China, but these are very nice.
  • Burnside knives is a local company making knives and some tools. Very nice couple doing this in addition to their real jobs. Knives are ok. Great skakeboard tool.
  • Olamic has some nice stuff on display, of course. Got to handle a Busker in person. I now get it. Not sure I'd pay $500 for one. I get why people compare the CRKT Pilar to it. The Pilar is not close, but is similar.
  • Begg Knives are great. Not my style, but really nice and helpful people at the booth.
  • ViperSharp is there. His dad is helping demo the sharpener - gotta love that. It's a good sharpener. Not sure it's great yet. I was very tempted to buy one. Great people and a nice design.
I'm forgetting one or two others who really impressed me. Will update later when I remember.

Spyderco has none of the new stuff (up and coming) to show. And no Sal or Eric. What the heck? They were busy and helpful. Got to handle some Spydies I hadn't seen before. Roadie is smaller than I expected but I get why people like it. Shaman is awesome in the hand.

CRKT, Leathterman, and SOG are there. Didn't stop at their booths. I skipped a lot of the fixed blade booths. Likely some great stuff there. Also skipped ZT, Kershaw, Cold Steel, and Steel Will. May stop by when I go back this weekend.

EDIT: Forgot to mention CRK. Obviously great stuff.
EDIT 2: I missed Koenig. Too crowded when I was there. Will see them when I go back.
 
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Good Show. My first, but no virgin to big gun shows. Like a mini SHOT Show, with only knife related items.

Enjoyed my visit to Benchmade yesterday which was in nearby Oregon City. Nice store and an area to look out on the factory floor. And -30% if Mil/LEO!

I could see this show getting bigger...seemed to be a lot of folks enjoying themselves.
 
My wife and I had a great time looking at many of the knives we’ve only seen pictures of and chatting with some of the vendors/makers. Especially enjoyed chatting with LT Wright, Greg Medford, Bradford, Dark Timber Knives, Tuff Writer, Spyderco and the TOPs Knives crew.
This was our first Blade show and we look forward to many more.
 
A few pics of what came home with me today.
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Awesome! I’m stopping by tomorrow. I’m planning on checking out CRK, Medford, Koenig and Olamic. I’m also going to swing by the Bradford booth and let them know their knives are awesome.

I’m hoping I don’t accidentally buy a Koenig Arius!
 
Walking through the ‘custom’ side, where most tables were subtly marked, we saw this:

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So, naturally, I insisted on stopping to take a closer look. Having never handled their stuff in person, I politely worked around other people stopping by and checked it all out.

The Busker was smaller than I expected, even having read others saying the same thing repeatedly. It’s tiny. Very impressive quality. Beautiful design. Great F&F. Gorgeous aesthetic touches. Even with my big hands, I could get a decent grip on it by using the choil-thing.

The Swish was big, and felt great in hand. The reasoning for the attitude of the blade in relation to the handle was evident and appreciated. Fantastic ergonomics, great action. They laughed when I flipped it, sharing how giddy I felt. It’s magic.

But, when this happened...

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...it was because I fell in love with this beauty.

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I have a thing for simple blade finishes, and plain Ti handles with a little subtle splash for fun. This thing is matte on the outside, with this finish on the floating backspacer and the *insides* of the handle scales:

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It’s also in M390, and hits my hand like it was moulded to fit me.

Say what you want about pocket jewelry. This mother****er is going to work with me. It’s going to live as Mike Vagnino and Olamic intended.

Also, my new-to-this-stuff buddy got a couple Steel Will pieces, including their Cutjack in OD green scales/black back spacer, M390 Blade.

My fiancée was very happy, as well. She didn’t blink at me dropping money on the Wayfarer. I think she was happy that we got so much in and were still out at a reasonable hour.

Definitely enjoyed it, highly recommend, and will be back next year.
 
My wife and I spent a few hours there— found out there’s a custom maker who lives just a few minutes down the road from me.

Lookong over the selection of nicer knives, both production and custom, really did drive home the realization that left handed users are just not a priority. Is it really that hard to tap a hole or two to make a clip reversible? ‘Parently so. Right-hand locks are fine, they’re what I’m used to, but why not even a token acknowledgement that lefties exist?
 
My take away:
  • I had a blast talking with the custom knife makers and checking out their work. I took home a bunch of cards and I intend on checking out their websites.
  • Thorburn knives are absolutely gorgeous, and absolutely out of my price range.
  • I was disappointed that the Koenig Arius didn’t feel as nice in hand as I thought it would, but the mini-Goblin was pretty awesome. I still want an Arius though.
  • I didn’t know Olamic was going to be there and I discovered that the Wayfarer 247 was amazing. I want one with a sheepscliffe blade.
  • Chris Reeve knives are very nice, but I don’t know if I’ll ever own one. Something about them just didn’t do it for me.
  • Medford Knives are as ridiculous in person as they look in pictures.
  • Microtech knives are crazy fun to play with.
  • I might like the ZT 0095 better than the 0456 now.
  • Cold Steel was doing knife fight demos and it was exactly the kind of think I’d expect them to do. Their knives are better than I thought they’d be too.
  • Jake from Hoback Knives spoke with me shortly about his work, and he was super nice. I don’t know much about him but he had some good stuff at his booth.
  • Brad from Bradford Knives was an awesome dude to talk with as well. I’ll probably end up spending a bunch more on his stuff eventually.
Definitely going back next year, and hopefully I’ll have some money to spend on knives.
 
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