Knife show etiquette?

David1967 said:
I would not buy knife I could not handle, yet many knifemakers have "do not touch" signs on their tables. I do not even slow down there.
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My favorite "careful they're sharp" statement was a maker that had a few bandaids scattered among his knives on the table.

'nuff said!

I was at a show in NC and saw a man with his young son, probably 4 or 5 and you could see that this kid was EXTREMELY well behaved, but the glint in his eyes showed how badly he wanted to fondle the knives. One maker I saw picked up on this and after checking with dad, came around the table, got down on one knee and helped the boy handle every knife he wanted to look at. I'm sure it made the kid's (and dad's) day! That was pure class!

J-
 
"From the isle side of the counter, I sometimes see a maker talking to a potential customer that will fail to acknowledge others looking at his knives. I feel that eye contact and a nod at this point would not be asking too much and the viewer would feel that he was not being ignored. The potential customer could and will accept this small detraction as public relations on the sellers part." Swivelknife

That is a great point and it goes a long way toward creating two happy customers. I realize that most of us are making knives because we like to do it, and nearly everybody I've met in this business is a genuine pleasure to deal with and talk to. I would not want anyone to ever hesitate to look at our knives, talk about knife making. If a maker is busy give him a few minutes or stop back by later. The friends I've made while making knives is one of the best reasons to be in this business I can think of.

I don't know about checking the sharpness of a knife with your thumb damaging the edge, but I cringe a little inside every time someone does it at a knife show. I'm not worried about the knife, but I am concerned about your thumb. I know that everybody has been doing this all their life and I use the same procedure every day in the shop, but I have seen people that didn't expect the knife to be very sharp get cut. Shows can be crowded, you can get bumped from behind when you lest expect it and Murphy sees to it that it will be at the time when the most damage will be done. That's why I put that statement in my first post about bleeding on the table cover. Please take a band-aid when one is offered. No big deal. If you look, allot of us makers are going to be sporting the latest in band-aids ourselves. Happens to all of us.
 
Harry,
I also try never to touch the blade when handling a knife at shows so finger prints are not an issue with people like me. But if you place band-aids on the table for the less knowledgable ( some call them idiots ) why not put a clean rag on the table also?

Scott
 
I did see one guy at a gun show try to shave arm hair with a custom knife. He made a motion over his arm like he was going to do it, the maker politely told him to not try that at all, took the knife back, and talked with the guy. After the guy left, he rolled his eyes in the guys general direction. I was glad I was wearing long sleeves that day ;).
 
While I have attended many knife shows over the years, I just attended my first show as a seller at the Knifemakers Guild Show. I always try to stand and greet anyone who comes by my table but unfortunately standing for two days makes my back hurt so bad that I have to sit for a while. I placed a card under each knife which had all of the specs of the knife along with the price. I also put a dish of candy on the table. It was a good experience. I sold a few knives and enjoyed talking to the people.

I welcome people to handle my knives. I wipe off fingerprints afterward. No big deal. I can understand a "do not touch" policy on a high-end expensive art piece but I find most knifemakers are happy for you to handle and admire their work.

As mentioned earlier, I have have the experience a couple of times of being ignored while at a table. At this show alone, there were two occasions where the knifemaker was chatting with another seller behind the table and never acknowleded me standing in front of the table. I ploitely waited a reasonable amount of time hoping to be acknowledged and ask a question but then gave up and just moved on.
 
I have carried around a chamois and wiped a knife clean after handling. But, I understand how this may be adverse. I was once asked not to do that. I think I am qualified to handle a knife protectively, but the makers don't know this. Point taken.

Eye contact and a quick hello, in ANY retail transaction is the quick way to gain customers. I will gladly hang around to chat, when I am acknowledged. When I am not, I have no allegience to a table at all.

Harry knows that each customer of mine who comes in to get a knife photographed, gets a hello and a handshake from me. As it should be. At Blade I was swamped, but never too much to say a polite and respectful hello, even though my staff was taking care of business. It's just how it should be.

One thing that I always try to do when I am inspecting knives on a table and I want to move on, is a direct eye contact and a "Thank you" to the table holder. It shows I am courteous, but simply not interested. I find it disarms everyone in that uncomfortable scenario where you are going to walk away.

Coop
 
I'm not currently doing the show circuit, but what I used to hate was when other knifemakers crowded the front of my table asking endless steams of questions, (for hours on end), about how to make knives,... and the collectors couldn't even squeeze in edgewise.
 
Scott while we are concerned about a contaminated cloth being used, to us, it is mostly about people cutting them self. On the isle side of the table there is just too much of a chance someone could be bumped or distracted. If the knife slips someone might try to catch it. My brother and I decided early on that no knife is worth anyone getting hurt over. If we drop one of our knives, we just watch it fall. That is not a normal reaction, especially if the knife belongs to someone else. It has to be practiced. :D When we wipe a blade down, we are behind the table, sitting down and focused on what we are doing at the time. We try to lay the blade flat on a cloth and wipe down one side, flip it over and wipe the other. That way you have less risk of a finger slipping over the edge while you rub the blade. We don't want to get cut either.

It can sometimes get busy, thank goodness, and greeting every customer can be difficult. It shure helps though if you can. I also appreciate an acnowledgement from a customer. I know that not everybody is going to like my style of knife, but we both like knives and if you stop back at another show I might have one you like.
 
I think LOTS of custom makers need business classes! The customer pays your bills... be fair, and approachable.
 
hey Guy's! Good points all. For you makers, Renaissance was is fantastic!


The only real problem I've had is at gun shows in the years past. When they see a price sticker, they sometimes literally throw a knife back on a table. Many makers have experience this. They first fake shock. Roughly place the knife back down on the table. Than pick it back up again and ask why a knife would cost more than the 20.oo they get for one down at wally world. Gotta Love-it. No. I don't do gun shows any longer.


I have noticed that there are makers that think they are above the customers. Why in heck they are there is beyond me. If you don't want to deal with the public. Stay home! The Knife shop can be a lonley place. I get a good re-charge just meeting new people, and enjoy seeing old friend!. Mike
 
RogerP said:
What the heck is there to wipe off? When I am examining someone else's knife - whether it be a maker at a show or a fellow collector showing me his knives - I don't grope and paw the blade. I hand it back it the same condition it was handed to me.

Roger
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I totally agree Roger. I see no need to touch the blade, but it's a natural reaction to want to touch a smooth glossy surface. :confused:

Same with fine cars and motorcycles, people just can't seem to enjoy a beautiful mirror polished finished without touching it and leaving fingerprints. :eek:
 
Around here our gun shows ARE knife shows. The promoter calls them "gun & knife" shows on his signs and other forms of advertising.

I hate having to ask the price a vendor wants for whatever he's selling. Please put legible prices on or near items you hope to sell.

I don't bother speaking to dealers who sit there like disgruntled toads behind their tables, not even bothering to make eye contact.

I ALWAYS ask politely before I very carefully handle whatever is for sale, but I don't get obsessive and pull out a fine cloth to polish it afterward. Wiping down the item on display is the vendor's responsibility I think.

Finally, little punk kids (and other riffraff I can't name here for reasons of political correctness) have no business even being admitted to gun & knife shows, much less pawing over the dealers' wares while they slobber and carry on in low, conspiratorial tones with their stupid buddies about how bad, cool, and/or awesome something they should not even be allowed to touch is!
 
It is true that all kinds of people come to knife shows. We just take them as we get them. Sometimes they surprise you. At the Guild show last weekend, three kids about 14 or 15 (I have one the same age) stopped at our table. One was looking at a stag handle trout & bird. He asked if he could pick it up, then took it by the handle, examined the knife like he had been either making knives for years or collecting them for years. He asked a few questions, showed something about the tapered tang to one of his friends, who were standing there with their hands in their pockets, and then laid the knife back on the table. Charlie and I were impressed and wish we could have told his parents what a gentleman their son is.
Then we thought of the other end of the spectrum. At the Blade show in 2006, an older gentleman in a tweed coat and tie picked up a sword from the table of a Japanese guy across the isle from us. With out warning he started "going through his moves". He nearly hit an elderly lady standing in the isle behind him with a sword that was very sharp. Not one table holder was impressed with the way that guy emptied the isle. To us, that little display was as much the fault of the maker of the sword as it was the guy in the tweed suit doing the dance.
You have to deal with both extremes and everything in between.
 
I don't like it when people really like a knife and they endlessly haggle to get the price down. I don't mind knocking off a few bucks from the price, but these folks want to pay Walmart prices for custom work.

Then there is the guy who wants to endlessly talk loudly 4 inches from my face. I can see the food on his beard from lunch time and can smell the foul odor of his bad breath, while his saliva drizzles all over me and my work as he babbles on, and then never buys anything.

Then there are the serious study types. They come and study the knives, endlessly looking them over and then move on without saying one word.
 
One thing that would help those of us who are relatively new to knives is for the maker/seller to have a couple of small signs on the table that let us know of any particular courtesies they would like us to observe. For example, something that says "Please ask before handling a knife" would be great.

Another option would be to have the knives in display cases that can only be accessed from the dealer's side of the table. One of the dealers that comes to most of our area knife and gun shows does this and it works really well. It allows him to focus on the person he is dealing with without having to simultaneously try to keep track of a dozen other people.
 
MisterSat said:
I always try to stand and greet anyone who comes by my table but unfortunately standing for two days makes my back hurt so bad that I have to sit for a while.
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While not knife related, I have been a vendor at other shows. I also like to stand and greet, it just seems to make you more approachable. I came up with a solution, I found a comfortable bar stool which put me up level with the public and set it up close to the table.
 
The Do Not Touch signs don't bother me at all. I've found that if you express a genuine interest in the knife, the maker will be urging you to pick it up. But, understandably, he doesn't want every tom, dick, and harry (and there can be thousands of them at a show) handling this thing that he's invested hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars in. Also, a lot of people these days are wearing very hard rings, steel and even titanium. A soft gold ring won't damage much, but a titanium or steel ring can wreck a knife; so a maker wants to be able to remind someone to take off that Ti ring before handling that elephant-ivory-handled bowie with a hundred hours of scrimshaw on it. And I, as a buyer, appreciate buying a knife that hasn't been pawed over by every tom, dick, and harry.

My pet peeve is going to the table of a maker whose work you've admired and would like to see some of and all that's on display is a bunch of sold signs. Either bring some knives that are only for show or ask the buyers to let you put their purchases into your locked display case and leave them on display until the end of the day.
 
I don't like how makers ask you, or welcome you to pick up knives. Because if I'm just looking or examine what he has on his table, I may not want to take the time to pick up any knives. At times they make me feel inclined to do so, or that I will insult him if I do not.

If I see anything on his table that interest me enough to pick up, I will ask his permission before I do so.
 
At the NYCKS last November a couple of the dealers were total assholes with me. I was asking about selling a nice knife and got nothing but attitude and a blatent attempt to rip me off. No you can't buy my Crawford damascus knife for $200 and yes, its worth a lot more than that.

Just because I am from the UK does not mean I was born yesterday.:jerkit:

Total jerks...

Really really really annoyed me.

Knife makers were great though, no attitudes were detected.
 
When I used to go to shows the thing that bothered me the most was the makers that acted like they didn't want to be there. Sitting behind their tables with a bored, surly look on their faces. Something else that bugged the heck out of me was people that would pick up a makers knife without asking if it was okay.
 
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