Knives at gun shows?

Was that the "two guys gun show" in Pinellas Park? that was a pretty good small show, I used to go to the Tampa fairgrounds show years ago when deals were to be found but the last one I went to it was $10.00 parking, stand in a long line, no deals to be found, lots of city wanabe gangbanger types roaming around. that was it for me.
There use to be a good show in St. Pete at the Ft. Homer Hesterly building but the last time I went, about 12 years ago my friend borrowed $300.00 off my other friend and a St. Pete cop saw him do it and thought a straw buy was going down. man it got ugly, after we all got grilled as to what just transpired we had to wait a half hour till the background check went thru, I couldn't wait to get out of that building.
Another good story....one of the guys that ran "two guys gun show" had a gun shop in Clearwater and had put 4 brand new vinyl signs on the road right of way on two streets advertising his new shop,
this was years ago too, well code enforcement removed them and took and put them in a sign dumpster they have at one of the city utility departments.
guess which one...the one I worked at. I always looked in there for future target stands and targets and saw them, I pulled them out and brought them back to him in my personal truck.
he was very thankful and gave me a few boxes of ammo.
I recently retired and live in the woods far from there now, too friggin crowded in that area now.
 
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The best deal I ever got there was I met a guy in the parking lot bringing in two cannon barrels with 1" bores. I talked with him and turned out he made them, years late I connected with him again
and bought one, built a carriage, and keep it in my shop. where I live now I shoot it off in my yard, heck, it's 10:00 at night now and I could shoot it off, the only one that would get pissed off is the wife. :D
 
not to go off topic of knives at gun shows but thought you might like this, the wheels were built by Amish folks in PA.
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Thanks, I think the barrel's a little over 2'. right now I load it with 180 grains of blackpowder with a slice of bread jammed down the barrel but eventually I figure I'll be putting some kind of shot down there :D
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My last gun show, just before the pandemic shutdown, was here in Northern California at the Cow Palace. I seem to recall that ammunition sales were still legal, and I stocked up in all 5 calibers i might need if TSHTF. I do not remember seeing anything particularly interesting as far as knives, though.

One thing that struck me was that folks there seemed exceptionally polite compared to the general public. At even the slightest accidental contact (it was crowded) folks would say "excuse me, sir" or "sorry!". Kind of refreshing, actually!

It was noticeable that a lot more folks were wearing fixed blade knives then you'd see on the average city street. It makes me wonder whether people tend to be more polite in states allowing open carry of weapons . . . hmm.
 
I've been to a few gun shows that advertise as "Gun and Knife" shows, but the knife tables are few and far between. Often cheap Chinese and Pakistani knives, or vendors selling only a few nice vintage knives at huge mark-ups. I'll just stick to the knife shows if I want knives, which are also seeing less and less vendors.
 
I haven’t been to a gun show in a few years now and the last few that I did attend were disappointing. There were a few nice guns at a high price, scarce ammo and what was available was sky high. The knife table was pathetic, mostly cheap gaudy looking imports and very few USA made.

Around here now they are smaller shows with area vendors going back the last 20-25 years ago. Before that they would have 1or 2 big time national recognized vendors and a few celebrities and a big bbq feed to draw a crowd. That would bring out the good stuff and tons of great guns and ammo, reloading equipment and supplies and a dozen knife tables with mostly top USA made brands and custom made with some well known custom makers in attendance and only a few cheap imported knives on the back table . Area vendors were always looking forward to gun shows to boost their sales and get exposure with sold out shows. I think those days are gone now and the shows are smaller every year. Sad!
 
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