- Joined
- Sep 30, 2009
- Messages
- 130
Last Saturday (04/14), I made my way to the Oregon Knife Collector's Association knife show in Eugene, Oregon for the second time. I was even more impressed than I was last year. There were even more custom knife makers this year, a higher number of which are putting out very nice looking knives. As before, there are a lot of cool guys to talk to, and a lot of older knife makers who have been around for a long time who you could spend hours chatting with. What's even better is my girlfriend really enjoys the show as well. I can't ask for much more. Last year we started at one end of the building and made our way down the isles of awesomeness, to stumble upon renowned knife maker Kiku Matsuda's table. I about crapped my pants and burst a blood vessel. I am a very huge fan of Kiku's knives. So I bought one.
This year, we started at the other end of the building, so Kiku's table was very early in the day for us. So I bought another one. I did check out the rest of the building first, but I had to go back to get one. I just couldn't help myself. There were so many other knives I wanted, but none as bad as the knives that Kiku makes. My girlfriend bought a knife from Jemmy Iwahara, who was there with Kiku. The knife she bought is made by Takeshi Saji. Very awesome knife as well, for an incredible price of $60! Normally a $200 knife. It's unfortunate, due to the cause of the low prices being current knife law issues in Seki (so says Carter Murray, custom knife maker). Some other highlights of the show would be the Spyderco table where Eric Glesser had a table full of prototype and sprint run knives. Also, talking to some of the knife makers is really cool as well. Carter Murray is a really cool guy who makes incredible knives. He noticed my interest and took the time to show me sharpening techniques and talk about steel with me. I'm sure I will own one of his knives some day. Ed Schempp, Wayne Goddard, and Bruce Bump were all fun guys to talk to. They were all very willing to divulge information about anything to do with knives. Really a bunch of great guys. Anyways, on to the good stuff. The pictures!:victorious:
Takeshi Saji "Keiryuto" (The girlfriends knife)
This bad boy is a 7" blade made of Hitachi Shirogami (White steel) layered damascus. It has a cherry tree skin wrapped handle and sheath. Very nicely made, good feeling knife. The sheath is excellent.
Kiku Matsuda "Karambit Desperade" (This year's purchase)
4.5" D2 hollow/convex ground blade. Canvas micarta scales and kydex sheath
Kiku Matsuda "Yasha Fighter" (Last year's knife)
8" OU-31 blade. Canvas micarta scales and kydex sheath.
I am definitely going back next year and I'm sure I will buy another Kiku knife provided he is there. I go crazy for these things. Thanks for reading.
Jason
This year, we started at the other end of the building, so Kiku's table was very early in the day for us. So I bought another one. I did check out the rest of the building first, but I had to go back to get one. I just couldn't help myself. There were so many other knives I wanted, but none as bad as the knives that Kiku makes. My girlfriend bought a knife from Jemmy Iwahara, who was there with Kiku. The knife she bought is made by Takeshi Saji. Very awesome knife as well, for an incredible price of $60! Normally a $200 knife. It's unfortunate, due to the cause of the low prices being current knife law issues in Seki (so says Carter Murray, custom knife maker). Some other highlights of the show would be the Spyderco table where Eric Glesser had a table full of prototype and sprint run knives. Also, talking to some of the knife makers is really cool as well. Carter Murray is a really cool guy who makes incredible knives. He noticed my interest and took the time to show me sharpening techniques and talk about steel with me. I'm sure I will own one of his knives some day. Ed Schempp, Wayne Goddard, and Bruce Bump were all fun guys to talk to. They were all very willing to divulge information about anything to do with knives. Really a bunch of great guys. Anyways, on to the good stuff. The pictures!:victorious:
Takeshi Saji "Keiryuto" (The girlfriends knife)
This bad boy is a 7" blade made of Hitachi Shirogami (White steel) layered damascus. It has a cherry tree skin wrapped handle and sheath. Very nicely made, good feeling knife. The sheath is excellent.
Kiku Matsuda "Karambit Desperade" (This year's purchase)
4.5" D2 hollow/convex ground blade. Canvas micarta scales and kydex sheath
Kiku Matsuda "Yasha Fighter" (Last year's knife)
8" OU-31 blade. Canvas micarta scales and kydex sheath.
I am definitely going back next year and I'm sure I will buy another Kiku knife provided he is there. I go crazy for these things. Thanks for reading.
Jason