Rose City Gun and Knife Show, Portland OR: any experiences?

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I'm thinking of stopping by for the last day of this months rose city gun and knife show, and I was wondering if anyone had an experiences going there. a few questions:

-is the 8$ parking unavoidable? is there street parking within a half mile thats free?
-what is the ratio of gun vendors to knife vendors?
-is it worth going to for a knife enthusiast *worth 16$*?
-is it worth going on sunday only, or is it best to go on either friday or saturday?
-I'm interested mostly in greco, busse family, brk&t, and really super thin skinners, will I likely be dissapointed?

i am also considering going to the japanese tea gardens afterwards...
 
Park your car anywhere along the Max yellow line and ride the train to the end of the line, at the east end of the Expo Center parking lot. Do not park in the vacant parking lot on the west side of the street west of the Expo Center -- your car will be towed away, and it'll be a whole lot more than $8 to get it back.

There are some wonderful custom knife makers that come to just about every show, as well as the usual crapshoot -- might find a decent knife amongst all the junk you have to paw through, then again, you might not. I'd go before noon, in any event, because a lot of them will start packing up by early afternoon.
 
OldCowHand said:
Park your car anywhere along the Max yellow line and ride the train to the end of the line, at the east end of the Expo Center parking lot. Do not park in the vacant parking lot on the west side of the street west of the Expo Center -- your car will be towed away, and it'll be a whole lot more than $8 to get it back.

There are some wonderful custom knife makers that come to just about every show, as well as the usual crapshoot -- might find a decent knife amongst all the junk you have to paw through, then again, you might not. I'd go before noon, in any event, because a lot of them will start packing up by early afternoon.
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wow, after about 5 minutes of looking at the max yellow line schedules, I can pretty much understand what I need to do to get from point a to point b. unlike the transit center for the pugit sound tacoma area, wich is like a phone book in Azerbaijani.

thanks!
 
Your not to far away, next year you should go to the big knife show in Eugene. Well worth the trip.
Don't bother going to any of the shows put on by Collectors West.
Usually the same people with the same junk and overpriced.
 
I enjoyed going to the Eugene show and look forward to going again next year. That reminds me to get in a membership. I'm going to have to pass on the Portland show as I will be in WY goat hunting. I hate driving in Portland anyway. I hope the big show in Tacoma does well in the new venue. I don't know how many folks will want to leave the gun show at the fiargrounds and drive over to the dome for the knife show. I will but I'm not sure how many of the true gun nuts are knife nuts like me.
 
The best day is Friday afternoon. Avoid the show just before Christmas. Half the fun is getting there and 16 bucks is almost a movie ticket. I used to live in Vancouver so maybe for me I like getting back in that area. Many times I hit pay dirt and get what I need or move something I am tired of. There are alot of nice vendors down there... and it is better than the 2007 Blade Show.
 
I go about once a year when they have the big show. It's at least a gallon of gas both ways from my house, so that's nine bucks right there, then eight to park, then like twelve more for a one-day ticket; so, it's almost thirty bucks just to get in.

The other-to-knife vendor ratio is quite high... very little knife content. There are a few local custom makers who set up at these shows, but not many and they don't bring their high-end stuff. There are a lot of Charming Chinese Cheapie knockoffs and such.

If you're into guns, on the other hand, the big Rose City shows are amazing. Keep in mind that Oregon is a Class III state. So, anything and everything will be on display and available to purchase.

The Portland police have a heavy presence at these shows, but they're not heavy-handed.

The problem with taking MAX is that just about anything you'd buy at the show is illegal to carry on MAX. And I hear that the Transit Police do patrol agressively for folks coming from these shows with contraban.

The Oregon Knife Collector's Show in Eugene is nice, but it's in decline. It's not up to its legend anymore. Very few non-local custom makers come anymore. It's rapidly turning into table after table after table of old junk... excuse me, priceless antiques.

I have high hopes for Bladeshow West in its new venue.
 
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And if you're gonna be in Portland, the Japanese Garden is beautiful, considered one of the finest Japanese-style gardens in the world. The new Chinese garden is also extraordinary and winning praises even though it's very young. And, of course, if you like roses -- and who doesn't? -- the International Rose Test Garden is a must-see.

Unfortunately, all three are quite some distance from the Expo center.
 
Gollnick said:
And if you're gonna be in Portland, the Japanese Garden is beautiful, considered one of the finest Japanese-style gardens in the world. The new Chinese garden is also extraordinary and winning praises even though it's very young. And, of course, if you like roses -- and who doesn't? -- the International Rose Test Garden is a must-see.

Unfortunately, all three are quite some distance from the Expo center.
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There's a book in the gift shop at the Chinese Garden that goes into detail on the construction of the gardens. I would recommend picking up the book first, taking it to a coffee shop, and reading it for a couple hours before returning and taking the guided tour. It's a great experience. I really enjoyed the lecture and the artwork, but much moreso knowing the background a little better.
 
You can park at Fisherman's Marine & Outdoor or GI Joes around the corner from the Expo center no problem. It's an unofficial policy of GI Joes and a stated policy of Fisherman's that they let sportsmen use their lot when nothing else is available, for example for people sharing one boat but multiple cars.

I park there every time I go to a show at the Expo center, and have never once so much as had anybody at either store hiccup in my direction for doing so. Just to be neighborly, I always go in either before or after the show and buy some tackle or gear that I would otherwise buy anyway. It's no coincidence by the way that Fisherman's usually has a good sale right around the time of a sportsman's or gun & knife show.

It's about a half mile walk from the parking lots to the expo center, but you walk by a nice little marsh and the train tracks, I always enjoy it.

If the parking lots are full (almost never) then it would be a good idea to check with the manager to see if it's ok. I would recommend parking at Fisherman's rather than the adjacent Joes slightly, just because Joes has changed ownership recently and might have a slightly more corporate way of doing things now.

http://www.fishermans-marine.com/
Both stores are on Hayden Meadows Dr.,just a touch East of the freeway, maybe a 1/4 mile. When you park in the lot, you walk out of it west, there's a Shari's Restaurant that isn't terrible for dinner (pretty good banana milkshakes) that you walk by, you walk under the freeway past the MAX tracks, and turn right. (you can only turn right or left) then you walk that path until you get to the Expo Center. Easy as pie.
 
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I ended up not getting there until about 2:00 on Sunday. The crowd was kinda thin, but most of the vendors were still there. Alan Warren was there with some gorgeous hollow- and flat-ground knives, and there was a collector couple from Milwaukie that also had some gorgeous knives by various makers. I recognized the jimping on the spine of a Graham knife and compared it to my new Ringed Razel, gazed in wonder at a CNC-carved Micarta handle, and just generally enjoyed the tour. And I saved some money by taking the advice of one of the scope dealers on how to mount a scope on a hunting revolver, so both the gun and knife contingents were well represented.

The nice thing about being there at that time of day was that everybody was ready to deal. I picked up three books for about a third off the sticker price, and ammo for less than I could buy it at any of the dealers around town. No knives this time, but the Blade Show West will be here soon :)
 
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