- Joined
- Mar 21, 2005
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- 3,355
Went to the NCCA show today, saw a lot a nice knives. A few notes on the stuff I spent most of my time looking at
>Howard Hitchmough: He had two knives at his table, a lockback and a liner lock. These pieces were unbelievable, the liner lock literally left me slackjawed. If I remember correctly from what Howard told me, the handle was O1 tool steel that had been hot blued. It had an elliptical pearl inlay that looked incredible, had a lot of fire to it and was surrounded by a gold border. I was hesitant to handle it but Howard said go ahead and try it. The action was very smooth, felt like a million bucks. The lockback had a mammoth ivory handle with really cool patterns. Both knives had stainless damascus blades, filework and a lot more detail than I recall to write here. I really cant say enough about how gorgeous these knives were. Also, I must note that Howard and his wife were so nice. They were very friendly and I chatted with them for the 10 minutes or so I was at their table.
>John Kubasek: His tactical folders were solid and really smooth to open. What I really liked though were some dressier folders he had with hawkbill damascus blades. Not a really severe arc to them like a Spyderco hawkbill, but just enough to give them an aggressive look which I thought was cool.
>Kelly Carlson: I saw a lot of his knives at the show, very nice folders. Some of them had some exotic materials. There was one in particular with snakewood scales and CF bolsters that almost made me run out to the ATM, but I resisted. Very clean lines on Kellys knives.
>Paul Farinas table had a lot of nice stuff, some of which he mentioned hed recently gotten out in Vegas. There a nice little Scot Matsuoka flipper, had a cool recurve blade. There was a Ken Onion model with a studlock, but I didnt handle that one. He had a Howard Viele/Liong Mah knife that was really sweet. Had the Spyderco opening hole and ball bearing lock. Very solid knife and a cool design. Lastly, there was a Darrel Ralph Gunhammer Radian AO. It had a damascus blade and damascus handles with what I think were mammoth inlays. This piece was built like a tank, rock solid and hefty. The AO kicked strong. Ive never held another knife that was such a combination of stout construction and beautiful design/materials. A super impressive knife.
There was another dealer there whose name I forgot to get, he had some nice tactials. A couple of monster Striders, RJ Martin fixed blades (I got to handle a Rampage, thats one crazy blade) and a nice fixed blade by Mike Irie, called the Sweet Tooth.
>Chuck Gedraitis: I have one of Chucks knives that I posted on here a while ago. He had some more great folders and two nice fixed blades. One folder in particular that was eye-catching had pearl handles and damascus bolsters, 1095 blade with a hamon and a sculpted steel backbar. He also had an all-damascus wharncliff folder with awesome color and texture on the liners, a folder with mammoth ivory handles and blued damascus bolsters that are a great color combination, and also a folder with blacklip pearl handles and sterling silver bolsters with a really cool pattern sculpted on them.
Oh yeah, Chuck had this one other knife, a slim little slipjoint with a damascus blade and buffalo horn handles. This one somehow found its way into my pocket and came home with me. Ive got one picture of it so far, some more will follow. Shown next a Mini UMS, which I also got at the show.
>Howard Hitchmough: He had two knives at his table, a lockback and a liner lock. These pieces were unbelievable, the liner lock literally left me slackjawed. If I remember correctly from what Howard told me, the handle was O1 tool steel that had been hot blued. It had an elliptical pearl inlay that looked incredible, had a lot of fire to it and was surrounded by a gold border. I was hesitant to handle it but Howard said go ahead and try it. The action was very smooth, felt like a million bucks. The lockback had a mammoth ivory handle with really cool patterns. Both knives had stainless damascus blades, filework and a lot more detail than I recall to write here. I really cant say enough about how gorgeous these knives were. Also, I must note that Howard and his wife were so nice. They were very friendly and I chatted with them for the 10 minutes or so I was at their table.
>John Kubasek: His tactical folders were solid and really smooth to open. What I really liked though were some dressier folders he had with hawkbill damascus blades. Not a really severe arc to them like a Spyderco hawkbill, but just enough to give them an aggressive look which I thought was cool.
>Kelly Carlson: I saw a lot of his knives at the show, very nice folders. Some of them had some exotic materials. There was one in particular with snakewood scales and CF bolsters that almost made me run out to the ATM, but I resisted. Very clean lines on Kellys knives.
>Paul Farinas table had a lot of nice stuff, some of which he mentioned hed recently gotten out in Vegas. There a nice little Scot Matsuoka flipper, had a cool recurve blade. There was a Ken Onion model with a studlock, but I didnt handle that one. He had a Howard Viele/Liong Mah knife that was really sweet. Had the Spyderco opening hole and ball bearing lock. Very solid knife and a cool design. Lastly, there was a Darrel Ralph Gunhammer Radian AO. It had a damascus blade and damascus handles with what I think were mammoth inlays. This piece was built like a tank, rock solid and hefty. The AO kicked strong. Ive never held another knife that was such a combination of stout construction and beautiful design/materials. A super impressive knife.
There was another dealer there whose name I forgot to get, he had some nice tactials. A couple of monster Striders, RJ Martin fixed blades (I got to handle a Rampage, thats one crazy blade) and a nice fixed blade by Mike Irie, called the Sweet Tooth.
>Chuck Gedraitis: I have one of Chucks knives that I posted on here a while ago. He had some more great folders and two nice fixed blades. One folder in particular that was eye-catching had pearl handles and damascus bolsters, 1095 blade with a hamon and a sculpted steel backbar. He also had an all-damascus wharncliff folder with awesome color and texture on the liners, a folder with mammoth ivory handles and blued damascus bolsters that are a great color combination, and also a folder with blacklip pearl handles and sterling silver bolsters with a really cool pattern sculpted on them.
Oh yeah, Chuck had this one other knife, a slim little slipjoint with a damascus blade and buffalo horn handles. This one somehow found its way into my pocket and came home with me. Ive got one picture of it so far, some more will follow. Shown next a Mini UMS, which I also got at the show.
