That makes good sense if you live in the NY/NJ area, but for those of us that have to travel long distances at fair expense, a show needs to offer more than 75-100 tables of makers. Like the sights and sounds of mid-town Manhattan once a year. I normally have a long list of things to do outside the knife show. Last year it was the Japanese arms and armor exhibit at the Met art museum. That is the big draw for the NY custom show for out of towners. Otherwise, just go to the Blade show and cover all the same bases.
Are you going to NJ this year Bruce?
I go to ALL shows that I consider local.
There is nothing in what I posted deals with anything other than local collectors supporting the show. Of course if you love going to New York and working in a knife show, then obviously you should support those shows too. Whether I attend this year or not has nothing to do with what I posted.
I have attended numerous New York Custom Knife Shows. The year following 911 I spent six months in negotiation with Joe Mangariciana attempting to buy the New York Custom Knife Show.
The hold up in closing the deal was during the show in 2001, Bill Clinton had held a fund-raiser in the hotel and they closed off the main elevator, forcing all the show attendees to take the freight elevator to the show. Joe was going back and forth with the hotel over that and he couldn't get the following year's contract finalized until the 2001 show was settled. After six months of it we felt it was too close to the show date to take over, so we backed off, with the possibility to picking up our talks after the show that fall. Somewhere along the line Joe and Steve closed their deal, which was for the best. Obviously a lot of New Yorker's in positions of authority think differently about knives than this ole Tennessee knife trader/editor.
In the past year I've been to the Knifemaker's Guild Show in Louisville, Solvang in California, Dalton, GA NKCA show, Blade Show in Atlanta, events at Smoky Mountain Knife Works in Sevierville, the two Parker shows in Sevierville, the Texas Knife Collectors Show in Austin. and...
I will be attending the ABS Mastersmiths show in San Antonio in a few weeks, and this coming weekend I will be back at Sevierville at National Knife Museum for the Buck Collectors Club show. I'll be at the Knifemakers Guild show this year, and have tables at the NKCA Louisville Knife Show. I will be managing the Knives Illustrated Spirit of Steel show the first weekend in November in Knoxville, TN. I understand what it is like to travel distances to go to a show.
I have a conflict with the New York Custom Knife Show this year, so I will not attend.
(And I almost forgot, Jim Parker and I founded the Blade Show, ran it in partnership with him for 4 years, and on my own for nine years).
I do feel that I have paid the dues, and continue to pay the dues, that would qualify me to make a comment about a knife show.
If you want to only go to shows with over 100 makers, other than the Blade Show, you will be spending a lot of time at home. Other than the Blade Show, once you take out the dealers, the suppliers, the publications, etc, what other shows have over 100 makers?
As for me, I want to go to more than one knife show a year.
What did I say in my earlier post that was incorrect?
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