Oak Lawn show report

S

Summerland

Joined
Oct 13, 1999
Messages
567
Sat at the Oak Lawn (Chicago) Show . . .

Bumped into Danbo and Mongo right away--one of the highlights of my day was seeing selections from Danbo's bowie collection. I got to handle quite a few of the knives you have seen posted in this forum in the last two months. :D

Todd had also brought his goodies for show and tell (see his pics in the following thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=269049 )

Attendance seemed to be down, with fewer makers than usual, but I stopped by the following tables:

Craig Camerer brought some large knives, including an outstanding bowie;

Mike Zscherny had some beautifully embellished folders--one was a real eyecatcher that had MOP scales carved in a diamond pattern with tiny inlaid gold pins in each diamond;

Bob & Linda Dozier had a table with their usual excellent offerings, several with ivory and ironwood scales;

Pat Nihiser was displaying several folders--very impressive work and rock-solid lockup. I picked up one of his knives and I'm very happy with it; I think he has a great eye for the flow of lines in a knife.

Then my wife, daughter and I drove up to the restaurant owned by fellow forumite Masterchef, who treated us like royalty and cooked up a superb dinner. While I gorged myself on pasta with seafood in a cream mushroom sauce, he pulled out some massive folders from his collection for me to look at..

All in all, an excellent day!
 
Thanks for the report Summerland - much appreciated. How about some details on that outstanding Camerer bowie? No doubt the "Danbo traveling knife show" was a highlight. He has some awesome knives to be sure. Hopefully he took some pics as well.

Cheers,

Roger
 
Roger,

I'm afraid I didn't have a camera, so no pics. The bowie had a heavily fileworked ferrule of blued steel and an ivory (?) handle. The colors contrasted beautifully.

Maybe we can prod Craig into posting a photo :D
 
All in all, it was a pretty good time. I'm fairly certain that Danbo taught Summerland's daughter the Baron von Raschke "Claw"... no doubt one of the most important things to teach a child!
Unfortunately there were quite a few empty tables by Saturday because of the cluster-f*ck of events involving an upside down automatic, an attendees hand, EMT's, and police. The bleeding individual commented that he had been stuck by an auto and this forced the EMT's to report to the police etc. Should've just said he cut himself with a knife.:grumpy:
I was very happy that the Dozier's were at the show... I spent quite some time BS'n with them. Them southern boys sure get to talkin'! Craig Camerer showed up with 4 gorgeous knives: the award winning bowie that he previously posted, ivory handles and blued checkered fittings. Also had a gorgeous mammoth ivory (?) bowie with blued checkered fittings and about a 7" 1084 blade. He had a gorgeous ironwood handled fighter/bowie and an incredible ironwood handled hunter. Craig really understands handle and blade ergonomics, that hunter felt great in about four different hand positions.
My personal haul consisted of a Ray Cover slipjoint with gorgeous stag handles and I also broke down and got the Camillus Dominator after playing with it for half the show. Camillus really has a winner with this knife... fun to knifesturbate with also.
I had Danbo and his wife over for dinner Saturday nite... we gorged on some good Uncle Bub's BBQ. After dinner, Danbo and I had us a good little knife show. Of course, his collection is amazing while mine pales in comparison... but I'm doing my best to deplete his and add to mine at the same time.;)
 
This show was great for many reasons. The main reason being the friends I have in the area. Mongo,Summerland, Todd762 and Wire Edge Roger being on that list. Bob Dozier is a great guy and his wife is an absolute sweetheart. I felt obligated to pick up a new Dozier Ranger. This is a big, honkin knife! I also picked up another little dangler style knife by a Japanese maker named Ohta. Great knife in the Loveless style with ATS34 blade and ebony handle.

Just for the heck of it, I bought an old Finnish Pukko knife. A couple of teeny nicks in the edge, but nothing that wont sharpen out. These old Finnish knives take and hold an unbelieveable edge!

I came about as close to buying that Camerer ironwood hunter as a person can, but it was gone when I had made my mind up. The fancy Camerer bowie that Mongo is talking about with the checkered and blued fittings actually had fossilized Sea Cow bone for the handle. Too much for my pocketbook, but as nice as they come.

And, Mongo's Daughter is now an expert at "The Claw" as well! :D
 
On a bad note... :( I understand there was a cutting accident that involved a hospital visit-and then the police. I was told there was an automatic that did the dirty work, and makers were scrambling to hide anything with a button afterwards.

Any better info than mine?

Coop
 
by my understanding, some individual triggered the mechanism of an auto while holding it incorrectly causing it to fire into his hand. Foolishly and/or ignorantly, the stabee told the EMT's exactly how it had happened and they were obligated by law to report it to the police. The police then came and made it be known that anyone with autos had 1 hour to clear out or face the consequences. Apparently quite a few dealers left, but I'm sure there was probably an auto or two well cached away. I personally did not see any, but I don't pay much attention to them anyway. The end result was quite a few empty tables in an otherwise full show traditionally. This did leave quite an impression on the overall quality of the show. I for one was counting on a particular dealer being there that always seems to have a nice collection of Dr. pattern slipjoints. He was nowhere to be seen by Saturday's show. :( :grumpy: Oh well, it probably saved me some money.
 
Hey guys! The ivory handled bowie that Paul Basch bought in Denver was displayed on my table. On saturday Paul noticed that I didn't have many knives left on my table and told me to take that bowie and put it on my table to display. He is a truly nice guy!
The pic is the other bowie I had on my table. It had about a 7" forged blade of 52100. Blued mild steel fittings that were filworked, coin-edged and checkered. The handle was stabilized seacow bone. This knife also won Best Straight knife of the show.
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I'm glad you corrected my mistakes on that beautiful bowie... this one sure is a gorgeous knife. I hope Craig posts a pic of the ironwood fighter too.
 
Here is the pic of the fighter. I will measure the knife tomorrow morning and post specs.
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Are you reading that correctly, Mongo? He will measure the knife. That means you can still own it! :)
 
Thanks Mongo, for the details.

There's always another knife for you somewhere... :)

Coop
 
Thanks for the picture of the fighter Craig. It is knives like that that are getting me really interested in sculpted handles.

Is the clip sharpened on the fighter?
 
The clip is not sharpened. This knife really fits into the hand well with the palm swells and the swells on the butt.
 
Heh heh, he said butt. :D


Sorry, couldnt help but lapse into a little Beavis & Butthead.
 
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