Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
Lagging, sorry!
Took, and passed, my nidan test in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu on Thursday night before leaving, and practiced some biru jutsu before passing out....5:15 am came WAY too early.
Gorgeous weekend in Oregon, flew into Portland via Alaska, they do a nice job, crew picked me up and we motored over to Clear Creek distillery http://clearcreekdistillery.com/index.php for some tasting and provisions....they do the BEST job on the Left Coast with fruit distillation, and they were able to scare up a bottle of McCarthy's Whiskey that sold out in ONE DAY!
We hit the OKCA show running and I immediately met Spencer Reiter of SAR Knives, http://www.sarknives.com once in the show hall...I mean, was in the door one hot minute....we talked about Forum stuff, and not once did he try to sell or show me a knife, focused instead on introducing himself as a person, and trying to get to know a little about me in 20 minutes or so....showed a lot of passion, honesty and integrity, and I enjoyed getting a chance to chat with him.
After a while, some of the Busse knives that Idaho Skunk and Randucci had on the table caught my eye, and I investigated. There was one, an Annniversary piece, that I liked a lot, but it was around $600.00, and that is over the limit for a production knife, from where I sit, what do you guys think?
http://www.bussecompanystore.com/knives.htm
I went to Grant and Gavin Hawk's table. My business has been buying Hawk knives since 1995, and this year was no different, picked up a RAM II with curly koa handles, even though the blade is short by about 3/16".
As I made my way up and down the aisles, I was disappointed by what I did see(a LOT of basic drop point hunters) and by what I did NOT see(really eye catching stuff by new makers/surprises at value prices.) As an example.....I met a fellow named Jerry Johnson from Utah, and saw his work for the first time.....really, really nice grinds, good leather, was solidly put together, I believe that he said he made knives since the late '60's.....his ironwood handled subhilt, which was a 7 out of 10 was $850.00......had it been $650.00, I would have paid it...not saying that it was not worth it, just not to me.
Saw Dave Lisch, and he asked me to sit with him for a spell, and go over his work together. We talked about some of the trials that he is going through, trying to make something artistic, and well crafted, and I found his passion and dedication to be inspiring, and pointed out a few things that caught my eye....I think after sitting for a while, he understood my points, and I can tell you al, his steel is incredible, impossible to get a real feel for it in pictures, up close it takes on a much greater dimension....I saw none of the usual basic issues with his damascus that you can see in many makers starting out, specifically, pattern deformation and weld flaws....stuff was very clean.
Got a brief visit with Bruce Bump http://brucebumpknives.com, don't know why it didn't get mentioned before....it was a quick, pleasant chat, and I wanted to check out Bruce's table, but must not have.
Bill Burke was hanging out with Gary House, right next to Jerry Johnson's table, I wanted to go back for a second look, yup, real nice, yup, still pricey......Bill had a TWO blade slipjoint at this show, great walk and talk, already sold for a very respectable price, and told him that if he built a wharncliffe/clip trapper in stag, I'd take it, so I hope he does!....I forgot, Bill Burke mentions it below.....Murray Carter http://cartercutlery.com has been looking at my face at least twice a year for 8 years, I have purchased knives from him, and he cannot seem to remember my name(he did however, attempt to entice me to sign up for his Japanese sword making class, which I am sure is a bargain at $8,000)..even a Steven would be appreciated....which pisses me off, so Bill helped him out, and we will see if he redeems himself at Blade....Gary had two tire irons/crow bars made out of damascus, one mosaic, and one twisted "W's", and we came to an agreement on the twisted "W" one....had to be one of the cooler items in the show, and I carried it around for the rest of the day like a swagger stick.........sadly.....
...because my next stop was Bill Siegle's table, he had all kinds of great hard- use knives for super reasonable prices...and in looking some over, I dinged the edge on one with my crowbar.....If someone did that so me, I'd be mad pissed, so I made Bill take a dinner/scholarship/"please don't hate me, I'm a feeble idiot" donation to offset his time in having to deburr my booboo....on the plus side, the crowbar emerged unscathed.
Briefly stopped by the table of Phil Wilson www.seamountknifeworks.com, have one of his kitchen knives, and it is probably the favorite of many, he had some superb hunting knives, and kitchen knives.
I stepped outside to hang out with Matt Diskin, and got to see TNT Begg(Todd N Tanya) www.beggknives.com who had the Claw knife for show, quite nicely balanced, really does make one want to swing about causing havoc, and a group of very nice neck knives, including a bombin' clip point, CPM154CM, with 2 3/4" blade, 6 1/4" OAL, that I HAD to have, sweet deal at 2 bills/ish....one of the leather fellas will be making me a pocket sheath for this beauty. Good seeing themses againses!
The "theme" for this show(which I don't recall, ever being done before) was the Japanese blade....My Sempai, Robin Ramirez was in town to do a demonstration, along with another fine, fine iai practioner, Scott Irey....Fred Lohman http://www.japanese-swords.com was there with some great stuff for sale, Barry Ross and his wife from CAS Iberia www.casiberia.com and Steve Strauch...just to name a few....there was some really great stuff and great people who support the JSA community, and the response was very flat, to be polite...to not be polite, it was sort of a waste of time, imo.....Barry Ross(the CEO of CAS Iberia) travelled all the way from the east coast and the two times that I stopped by his table, there was no one there...it is a damned shame!
While out in the parking lot with Matt, Chuck Gollnick did a drive-by, and handed me a KnifeRights button www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 which is cool, didn’t have one and sent in my $$ back in the day to be a Charter cornerstone mucky-muck….I hope these guys get it together!
Back in the show room, saw Terry Davis and Bill Ruple www.rupleknives.com, who share, besides being slipjoint makers, the unique distinction of having nothing but printed materials on the table….Terry, I can understand, but Bill? Bill does every show in the country, shows up with a few knives, and gets cleaned out in 2 minutes, if a dealer doesn’t get to him first. If ever a mandatory minimum and lottery system was in order, it would be for the good Bill Ruple.(This is not sour grapes, I already have a superlative wharncliffe trapper from him…I got lucky a few years ago)
Crap, now I KNOW I am losing my damned mind.....I was at Raymond Richard's www.hawknknives.com table for over 10 minutes. He makes some really, really compelling stuff, had a pile of nixe fixed blade knives on the table and some of the nicest hardening lines that I saw in the show....he also makes the handles sized for very large hands, which is a problem for me, as I wear a small glove.
Around this time, my crew started getting restless, we showed up to the show at 2:00 pm, and left about 6:00 pm, got straight at the Valley River Inn www.valleyriverinn.com for $300/night for a 700 sf suite, and got our drink on. We ate at Sweetwater’s in the hotel, very good food(prime rib for me, elk medallions for the boys, I think Matt had a salad, lol)…..I cannot in any way knock the restaurant, or the food, but I have eaten there about 20 times, and one craves new adventures occasionally, and there is not much to be had in Eugene, OR.
Martin Schempp, Eric Glesser and my Sempai, Robin all came up to the room, and we had a nice party going until 1:30 am or so, and then, lights out!!
Saturday, up and drinking McCarthy’s magic elixir at 7:30 am…we checked out, loaded up and headed to the show, on the floor by 11:00 am. Got to visit a bit with my good friend J.P. Holmes who laid this killer set of custom made titanium chopsticks on me www.jphknives.com/000_0356.JPG ….I gotcha back, J.P…..
After walking aimlessly for 5 minutes, I ran into Chuck Richards www.woodchuckforge.com at his table, and got to chat for a real brief minute….guy doesn’t look a day over 45, it always blows my mind…simply doesn’t age….anyway, he had some KILLER Damascus on the table, and there was a blade in a radial pattern that I really liked a lot….grinds are very clean, weld patterns are bold and the blade shapes are very pleasing to the eye….I like what I saw, but did not have the time to engage in more detailed discussion.
Got to chat with Scott Ickes for a quick minute as well. Was really impressed with his table layout...did not know that it was his first show. While the mustard patina knives did not do much for me(don't care for the look) the shapes, execution and value were quite good, and I really thought think that he may be onto something....my advice was pretty simple, when doing a show like this, bring your "A" game, or stay home....he listened, a lot of others don't, or don't care...and that is pretty sad.
I picked up a "s" model Cyclops from Spencer Reiter in the morning, and promptly screwed it up, by grinding while intoxicated..just wanted to pointy up the tip a schosh.....just too stupid to learn, the last time I did that, I picked up a new facial scar, and luckily escaped losing an eye.
Got to see Ed Schempp for a short bit, I always look forward to seeing him, he is an excellent person.....he had maybe two/three custom knives on the table, and some Spyderco's, looked more like a display than a sales table, Ed.
Ed is a semi-retired wheat farmer from Ephrata, WA who knows as much about steel as many metallurgists, and he always talks like he is high on acid, but his mind is sharper than any knife in that room, ask Sal Glesser some time.
I went to watch the enbu that Robin and Scott put on, but was pretty disappointed, because they did not cut...they are both very accomplished cutters, but the plan is to do it next year, and make it much more dynamic and crowd pleasing.
So with that, we said our goodbyes, and hit the road.....back to Portland, at the Embassy Suites, dinner at Portland Steak and Chop house, www.portlandchophouse.com, and some subsequent "adult" entertainment http://marysclub.com , http://portland.citysearch.com/profile/8489096/portland_or/cabaret_ii.html , http://magicgarden.ypguides.net .
And that was that.
A lot of the people that attend this show are my friends...I enjoy seeing them...but not enough to get a table anymore(had one for 12 years, did not go to the show for two, and went as an attendee this year), and not enough to stay for the whole thing...Eugene is a depressing, depressed liberal college city, and the locals who attend are not big custom buyers.
I think that Dennis Ellingson does the club and show a total disservice, not because he is a bad or mean person, but because he is a stubborn person who does not listen well, but that is between more important people than I, and I have been vocal with my issues. Eugene is flat-out a bad place to have a custom knife show, and the emphasis should be on $$, not how many people do or don't come through the door. In 1996, the waiting list to get a table for legit custom makers and manufacturers was over 50...and the enthusiasm is still there, but the business management, and willingness to ignore it in the interest of a fun time is not....this is a business for a lot of us, and we have been told for years that it would be better if we treated it like a hobby.
Thanks for the well wishes....I have not "left", read all the time, just not posting, and will not until after Blade. I am wrestling with ways to be more effective, and not get caught up in the petty squabbles...which is difficult, because I like to fight.
All this stuff is MY opinion...if it works for you, keep it, if not, throw it back.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Took, and passed, my nidan test in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu on Thursday night before leaving, and practiced some biru jutsu before passing out....5:15 am came WAY too early.
Gorgeous weekend in Oregon, flew into Portland via Alaska, they do a nice job, crew picked me up and we motored over to Clear Creek distillery http://clearcreekdistillery.com/index.php for some tasting and provisions....they do the BEST job on the Left Coast with fruit distillation, and they were able to scare up a bottle of McCarthy's Whiskey that sold out in ONE DAY!
We hit the OKCA show running and I immediately met Spencer Reiter of SAR Knives, http://www.sarknives.com once in the show hall...I mean, was in the door one hot minute....we talked about Forum stuff, and not once did he try to sell or show me a knife, focused instead on introducing himself as a person, and trying to get to know a little about me in 20 minutes or so....showed a lot of passion, honesty and integrity, and I enjoyed getting a chance to chat with him.
After a while, some of the Busse knives that Idaho Skunk and Randucci had on the table caught my eye, and I investigated. There was one, an Annniversary piece, that I liked a lot, but it was around $600.00, and that is over the limit for a production knife, from where I sit, what do you guys think?
http://www.bussecompanystore.com/knives.htm
I went to Grant and Gavin Hawk's table. My business has been buying Hawk knives since 1995, and this year was no different, picked up a RAM II with curly koa handles, even though the blade is short by about 3/16".
As I made my way up and down the aisles, I was disappointed by what I did see(a LOT of basic drop point hunters) and by what I did NOT see(really eye catching stuff by new makers/surprises at value prices.) As an example.....I met a fellow named Jerry Johnson from Utah, and saw his work for the first time.....really, really nice grinds, good leather, was solidly put together, I believe that he said he made knives since the late '60's.....his ironwood handled subhilt, which was a 7 out of 10 was $850.00......had it been $650.00, I would have paid it...not saying that it was not worth it, just not to me.
Saw Dave Lisch, and he asked me to sit with him for a spell, and go over his work together. We talked about some of the trials that he is going through, trying to make something artistic, and well crafted, and I found his passion and dedication to be inspiring, and pointed out a few things that caught my eye....I think after sitting for a while, he understood my points, and I can tell you al, his steel is incredible, impossible to get a real feel for it in pictures, up close it takes on a much greater dimension....I saw none of the usual basic issues with his damascus that you can see in many makers starting out, specifically, pattern deformation and weld flaws....stuff was very clean.
Got a brief visit with Bruce Bump http://brucebumpknives.com, don't know why it didn't get mentioned before....it was a quick, pleasant chat, and I wanted to check out Bruce's table, but must not have.
Bill Burke was hanging out with Gary House, right next to Jerry Johnson's table, I wanted to go back for a second look, yup, real nice, yup, still pricey......Bill had a TWO blade slipjoint at this show, great walk and talk, already sold for a very respectable price, and told him that if he built a wharncliffe/clip trapper in stag, I'd take it, so I hope he does!....I forgot, Bill Burke mentions it below.....Murray Carter http://cartercutlery.com has been looking at my face at least twice a year for 8 years, I have purchased knives from him, and he cannot seem to remember my name(he did however, attempt to entice me to sign up for his Japanese sword making class, which I am sure is a bargain at $8,000)..even a Steven would be appreciated....which pisses me off, so Bill helped him out, and we will see if he redeems himself at Blade....Gary had two tire irons/crow bars made out of damascus, one mosaic, and one twisted "W's", and we came to an agreement on the twisted "W" one....had to be one of the cooler items in the show, and I carried it around for the rest of the day like a swagger stick.........sadly.....
...because my next stop was Bill Siegle's table, he had all kinds of great hard- use knives for super reasonable prices...and in looking some over, I dinged the edge on one with my crowbar.....If someone did that so me, I'd be mad pissed, so I made Bill take a dinner/scholarship/"please don't hate me, I'm a feeble idiot" donation to offset his time in having to deburr my booboo....on the plus side, the crowbar emerged unscathed.
Briefly stopped by the table of Phil Wilson www.seamountknifeworks.com, have one of his kitchen knives, and it is probably the favorite of many, he had some superb hunting knives, and kitchen knives.
I stepped outside to hang out with Matt Diskin, and got to see TNT Begg(Todd N Tanya) www.beggknives.com who had the Claw knife for show, quite nicely balanced, really does make one want to swing about causing havoc, and a group of very nice neck knives, including a bombin' clip point, CPM154CM, with 2 3/4" blade, 6 1/4" OAL, that I HAD to have, sweet deal at 2 bills/ish....one of the leather fellas will be making me a pocket sheath for this beauty. Good seeing themses againses!
The "theme" for this show(which I don't recall, ever being done before) was the Japanese blade....My Sempai, Robin Ramirez was in town to do a demonstration, along with another fine, fine iai practioner, Scott Irey....Fred Lohman http://www.japanese-swords.com was there with some great stuff for sale, Barry Ross and his wife from CAS Iberia www.casiberia.com and Steve Strauch...just to name a few....there was some really great stuff and great people who support the JSA community, and the response was very flat, to be polite...to not be polite, it was sort of a waste of time, imo.....Barry Ross(the CEO of CAS Iberia) travelled all the way from the east coast and the two times that I stopped by his table, there was no one there...it is a damned shame!
While out in the parking lot with Matt, Chuck Gollnick did a drive-by, and handed me a KnifeRights button www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 which is cool, didn’t have one and sent in my $$ back in the day to be a Charter cornerstone mucky-muck….I hope these guys get it together!
Back in the show room, saw Terry Davis and Bill Ruple www.rupleknives.com, who share, besides being slipjoint makers, the unique distinction of having nothing but printed materials on the table….Terry, I can understand, but Bill? Bill does every show in the country, shows up with a few knives, and gets cleaned out in 2 minutes, if a dealer doesn’t get to him first. If ever a mandatory minimum and lottery system was in order, it would be for the good Bill Ruple.(This is not sour grapes, I already have a superlative wharncliffe trapper from him…I got lucky a few years ago)
Crap, now I KNOW I am losing my damned mind.....I was at Raymond Richard's www.hawknknives.com table for over 10 minutes. He makes some really, really compelling stuff, had a pile of nixe fixed blade knives on the table and some of the nicest hardening lines that I saw in the show....he also makes the handles sized for very large hands, which is a problem for me, as I wear a small glove.
Around this time, my crew started getting restless, we showed up to the show at 2:00 pm, and left about 6:00 pm, got straight at the Valley River Inn www.valleyriverinn.com for $300/night for a 700 sf suite, and got our drink on. We ate at Sweetwater’s in the hotel, very good food(prime rib for me, elk medallions for the boys, I think Matt had a salad, lol)…..I cannot in any way knock the restaurant, or the food, but I have eaten there about 20 times, and one craves new adventures occasionally, and there is not much to be had in Eugene, OR.
Martin Schempp, Eric Glesser and my Sempai, Robin all came up to the room, and we had a nice party going until 1:30 am or so, and then, lights out!!
Saturday, up and drinking McCarthy’s magic elixir at 7:30 am…we checked out, loaded up and headed to the show, on the floor by 11:00 am. Got to visit a bit with my good friend J.P. Holmes who laid this killer set of custom made titanium chopsticks on me www.jphknives.com/000_0356.JPG ….I gotcha back, J.P…..
After walking aimlessly for 5 minutes, I ran into Chuck Richards www.woodchuckforge.com at his table, and got to chat for a real brief minute….guy doesn’t look a day over 45, it always blows my mind…simply doesn’t age….anyway, he had some KILLER Damascus on the table, and there was a blade in a radial pattern that I really liked a lot….grinds are very clean, weld patterns are bold and the blade shapes are very pleasing to the eye….I like what I saw, but did not have the time to engage in more detailed discussion.
Got to chat with Scott Ickes for a quick minute as well. Was really impressed with his table layout...did not know that it was his first show. While the mustard patina knives did not do much for me(don't care for the look) the shapes, execution and value were quite good, and I really thought think that he may be onto something....my advice was pretty simple, when doing a show like this, bring your "A" game, or stay home....he listened, a lot of others don't, or don't care...and that is pretty sad.
I picked up a "s" model Cyclops from Spencer Reiter in the morning, and promptly screwed it up, by grinding while intoxicated..just wanted to pointy up the tip a schosh.....just too stupid to learn, the last time I did that, I picked up a new facial scar, and luckily escaped losing an eye.
Got to see Ed Schempp for a short bit, I always look forward to seeing him, he is an excellent person.....he had maybe two/three custom knives on the table, and some Spyderco's, looked more like a display than a sales table, Ed.
Ed is a semi-retired wheat farmer from Ephrata, WA who knows as much about steel as many metallurgists, and he always talks like he is high on acid, but his mind is sharper than any knife in that room, ask Sal Glesser some time.I went to watch the enbu that Robin and Scott put on, but was pretty disappointed, because they did not cut...they are both very accomplished cutters, but the plan is to do it next year, and make it much more dynamic and crowd pleasing.
So with that, we said our goodbyes, and hit the road.....back to Portland, at the Embassy Suites, dinner at Portland Steak and Chop house, www.portlandchophouse.com, and some subsequent "adult" entertainment http://marysclub.com , http://portland.citysearch.com/profile/8489096/portland_or/cabaret_ii.html , http://magicgarden.ypguides.net .
And that was that.
A lot of the people that attend this show are my friends...I enjoy seeing them...but not enough to get a table anymore(had one for 12 years, did not go to the show for two, and went as an attendee this year), and not enough to stay for the whole thing...Eugene is a depressing, depressed liberal college city, and the locals who attend are not big custom buyers.
I think that Dennis Ellingson does the club and show a total disservice, not because he is a bad or mean person, but because he is a stubborn person who does not listen well, but that is between more important people than I, and I have been vocal with my issues. Eugene is flat-out a bad place to have a custom knife show, and the emphasis should be on $$, not how many people do or don't come through the door. In 1996, the waiting list to get a table for legit custom makers and manufacturers was over 50...and the enthusiasm is still there, but the business management, and willingness to ignore it in the interest of a fun time is not....this is a business for a lot of us, and we have been told for years that it would be better if we treated it like a hobby.
Thanks for the well wishes....I have not "left", read all the time, just not posting, and will not until after Blade. I am wrestling with ways to be more effective, and not get caught up in the petty squabbles...which is difficult, because I like to fight.
All this stuff is MY opinion...if it works for you, keep it, if not, throw it back.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Why is it that the two shows here in the North West (OKCA and Blade West) are struggling so badly? I would love to see BOTH of these shows come back to their former glory....especially since its so close to home for us.