- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 81
Greetings,
We had a GREAT SHOT show. Met with a lot of great people.
Bladeforums Spark stopped by a few times. Spark is one of the good guys in the industry. We had some detailed talks of products, product mix, etc. Spark, being ex-military has invaluable information that he shared with us at Mission. We discussed everything from probing for mines to product mix, websites and advertising. Spark is a great person and we sincerely appreciate all of his feedback and help. Mike T. also stopped by and discussed many new and exciting things that are upcoming for Bladeforums. I also discussed with Mike his main business WOW. Let me just say that Mike is a business genius! I have an MBA and let me tell you, Mike is doing everything right. Im impressed with his abilities.
Mike, again, let me say that we sincerely appreciate and thank you and Spark for all of your hard work and effort that you guys have put into Bladeforums and providing such a great free service for the user community, and also for helping Mission. Thank you Mike on providing a place on the Internet where users can go for real and unbiased information and sharing of ideas.
Cutlery magazines Steve Shackleford from Blade, Steven Dick from Tactical Knives, Bud Lang and Dexter Ewing from Knives Illustrated all stopped by. Again, its a pleasure to be in this industry and deal with quality people like these. Steve S. and I discussed the new A2 steel line from Mission. Steve has a great magazine and he was genuinely interested in doing something on this new and exciting direction of Mission. It is a natural progression for Mission to augment our titanium knife line with steel products that are based on the same great designs. Steven D. seemed to be impressed by the new MPS production knives so much so that he asked that we send one to him so that he could do a few words in his magazine on this new product. The MPS was originally designed as a smaller version of the 12 MPK, but later transitioned into more of a utilitarian survival tool. The MPS is the perfect knife for a Tactical Knives review and I am sure it will get the same quality evaluation as the MPT and MPF. Bud Lang is always full of good information and feedback and he asked that Dexter do a long-term carry evaluation on the MPF-Ti and MPF-Steel Tanto models. This is a unique way of looking at a product that deserves mention here since most evaluations are done over a 2-4 week time period. Bud and Dexter are looking at evaluating the MPF product over a 6 month time period, then write about real world experiences and realistic usage feedback. Bud has also surrounded himself with a great writing staff like Dexter Ewing. This was the first time that I had met Dexter and I can tell that he is one individual that really cares about the quality of his work. Dexter also has great ideas and comments on what types of things make a good knife even better. If you ever get a chance to meet Dexter, I think you will agree that he is a quality individual. If you get a chance, take him out to lunch and get his viewpoints on knives.
All editors have always been there to support Mission and freely offer their comments and suggestions whenever we call to bounce ideas off of them. They are a credit to the industry and I would like to again give them a big thank you.
Busse As always, a pleasure to talk with. I have known Jerry since 1994 and I always look forward to seeing him again. Jerry is always full of great ideas and inventions as seen by his new INFI steel. Should be great stuff. When Jerry has some extra, I would like to build some limited production MPKs out of it. Jerry, heres to your continued success.
Benchmade Both John Moore and myself spoke with Les on a couple different occasions. Benchamade always has a great looking booth, and this year is no exception. Less booth placement was probably not ideal since he was between Busse and Cold Steel (know what I mean.
).
Sheaths We also met with Scott Evans (Edge-Works) and Tim Wegner (Blade Tech) regarding sheaths for our knives. Since Missions new direction is steel knives (we will continue to build titanium also), we need a great sheath. Both individuals and companies are top notch. We now know that the sheath can either make or break a quality knife, so we have turned to the best of the best Scott and Tim. Currently, Scott will be making the sheaths for the MPU line of knives and offer his design in multi-carry fashion. We will put these information sheets on our website that discuss and show this multi-carry usage. This will be one great sheath. Mission now has 2 blade patterns for the MPU drop point grind and blunt tip. Both patterns will be offered in A2 and titanium. Tim will be making the sheath for the MPS. The prototypes were awesome and will be offered in multi-carry also. We are currently working on the MPK steel knife sheaths, and, the great thing is that we will be offering Kydex sheaths as an accessory for all of those individuals who purchased the titanium MPK. The new Kydex sheath will be standard for the A2 MPK, and will fit all existing titanium MPKs attention dealers.
I finally was able to meet Frank Piper. Frank was at Camp Pendleton for a few years and offered much quality feedback to us, but we could never seem to meet. Thanks Frank for all of your feedback and support over the years.
Mission Wish we could have been in the main area, but they stuck us way over in the back of the other area booth 9420 out of about 10000 but, it seems that most people did find us.
Much has already been said above but, to recap, Mission has finally seen and shown Allen Elishewitzs prototype MPF4 the 7 liner lock, G10 handled, lightweight/lower cost model. This knife went over BIG!!! We hope these will be shipping by Christmas. The new MPS was another BIG hit, as was the new A2 steel models (12, 10-3/8, 9-1/2) with Kydex sheaths. The A2 MPKs should be retailing around the $199 - $210 price range. Titanium Aluminum Nitride coated versions will also be available at a slight increase in price. Steel tanto MPFs will also be out soon.
The first people that stopped by were 2 marines from Quantico, Va. One said, Mission, I know that name. He looked in our case pointing to the MPK, I just got issued that knife. He seemed to be surprised that we had one. He said one great knife. Two guys from SAS said they were issued MPKs 2 years ago as well as GSG-9. Other equally interesting people stopped by and said the same. I didnt realize just how many agencies have been issued the MPK, foreign countries also. It really is a proud feeling to build a quality product that is so well accepted by the people who really need good equipment.
Mark Lasky stopped by and wants to get the titanium MPU into the teams. Two SEALs from Group2 stopped by and said that they have been issued the knives, but they have to return them when they get out. They wanted to purchase MPKs from Mission for personal use.
Every dealer and customer we spoke to said that all of the customers that bought Mission products have been very happy and pleased with the quality and performance. Again, it makes us feel good to hear such good comments.
Many thanks to all of the other writers, editors, dealers, public that support Mission. It was a great show and a great pleasure to meet all of you.
Sincerely,
Rick and John
We had a GREAT SHOT show. Met with a lot of great people.
Bladeforums Spark stopped by a few times. Spark is one of the good guys in the industry. We had some detailed talks of products, product mix, etc. Spark, being ex-military has invaluable information that he shared with us at Mission. We discussed everything from probing for mines to product mix, websites and advertising. Spark is a great person and we sincerely appreciate all of his feedback and help. Mike T. also stopped by and discussed many new and exciting things that are upcoming for Bladeforums. I also discussed with Mike his main business WOW. Let me just say that Mike is a business genius! I have an MBA and let me tell you, Mike is doing everything right. Im impressed with his abilities.
Mike, again, let me say that we sincerely appreciate and thank you and Spark for all of your hard work and effort that you guys have put into Bladeforums and providing such a great free service for the user community, and also for helping Mission. Thank you Mike on providing a place on the Internet where users can go for real and unbiased information and sharing of ideas.
Cutlery magazines Steve Shackleford from Blade, Steven Dick from Tactical Knives, Bud Lang and Dexter Ewing from Knives Illustrated all stopped by. Again, its a pleasure to be in this industry and deal with quality people like these. Steve S. and I discussed the new A2 steel line from Mission. Steve has a great magazine and he was genuinely interested in doing something on this new and exciting direction of Mission. It is a natural progression for Mission to augment our titanium knife line with steel products that are based on the same great designs. Steven D. seemed to be impressed by the new MPS production knives so much so that he asked that we send one to him so that he could do a few words in his magazine on this new product. The MPS was originally designed as a smaller version of the 12 MPK, but later transitioned into more of a utilitarian survival tool. The MPS is the perfect knife for a Tactical Knives review and I am sure it will get the same quality evaluation as the MPT and MPF. Bud Lang is always full of good information and feedback and he asked that Dexter do a long-term carry evaluation on the MPF-Ti and MPF-Steel Tanto models. This is a unique way of looking at a product that deserves mention here since most evaluations are done over a 2-4 week time period. Bud and Dexter are looking at evaluating the MPF product over a 6 month time period, then write about real world experiences and realistic usage feedback. Bud has also surrounded himself with a great writing staff like Dexter Ewing. This was the first time that I had met Dexter and I can tell that he is one individual that really cares about the quality of his work. Dexter also has great ideas and comments on what types of things make a good knife even better. If you ever get a chance to meet Dexter, I think you will agree that he is a quality individual. If you get a chance, take him out to lunch and get his viewpoints on knives.
All editors have always been there to support Mission and freely offer their comments and suggestions whenever we call to bounce ideas off of them. They are a credit to the industry and I would like to again give them a big thank you.
Busse As always, a pleasure to talk with. I have known Jerry since 1994 and I always look forward to seeing him again. Jerry is always full of great ideas and inventions as seen by his new INFI steel. Should be great stuff. When Jerry has some extra, I would like to build some limited production MPKs out of it. Jerry, heres to your continued success.
Benchmade Both John Moore and myself spoke with Les on a couple different occasions. Benchamade always has a great looking booth, and this year is no exception. Less booth placement was probably not ideal since he was between Busse and Cold Steel (know what I mean.
).Sheaths We also met with Scott Evans (Edge-Works) and Tim Wegner (Blade Tech) regarding sheaths for our knives. Since Missions new direction is steel knives (we will continue to build titanium also), we need a great sheath. Both individuals and companies are top notch. We now know that the sheath can either make or break a quality knife, so we have turned to the best of the best Scott and Tim. Currently, Scott will be making the sheaths for the MPU line of knives and offer his design in multi-carry fashion. We will put these information sheets on our website that discuss and show this multi-carry usage. This will be one great sheath. Mission now has 2 blade patterns for the MPU drop point grind and blunt tip. Both patterns will be offered in A2 and titanium. Tim will be making the sheath for the MPS. The prototypes were awesome and will be offered in multi-carry also. We are currently working on the MPK steel knife sheaths, and, the great thing is that we will be offering Kydex sheaths as an accessory for all of those individuals who purchased the titanium MPK. The new Kydex sheath will be standard for the A2 MPK, and will fit all existing titanium MPKs attention dealers
.I finally was able to meet Frank Piper. Frank was at Camp Pendleton for a few years and offered much quality feedback to us, but we could never seem to meet. Thanks Frank for all of your feedback and support over the years.
Mission Wish we could have been in the main area, but they stuck us way over in the back of the other area booth 9420 out of about 10000 but, it seems that most people did find us.
Much has already been said above but, to recap, Mission has finally seen and shown Allen Elishewitzs prototype MPF4 the 7 liner lock, G10 handled, lightweight/lower cost model. This knife went over BIG!!! We hope these will be shipping by Christmas. The new MPS was another BIG hit, as was the new A2 steel models (12, 10-3/8, 9-1/2) with Kydex sheaths. The A2 MPKs should be retailing around the $199 - $210 price range. Titanium Aluminum Nitride coated versions will also be available at a slight increase in price. Steel tanto MPFs will also be out soon.
The first people that stopped by were 2 marines from Quantico, Va. One said, Mission, I know that name. He looked in our case pointing to the MPK, I just got issued that knife. He seemed to be surprised that we had one
. He said one great knife. Two guys from SAS said they were issued MPKs 2 years ago as well as GSG-9. Other equally interesting people stopped by and said the same. I didnt realize just how many agencies have been issued the MPK, foreign countries also. It really is a proud feeling to build a quality product that is so well accepted by the people who really need good equipment.Mark Lasky stopped by and wants to get the titanium MPU into the teams. Two SEALs from Group2 stopped by and said that they have been issued the knives, but they have to return them when they get out. They wanted to purchase MPKs from Mission for personal use.
Every dealer and customer we spoke to said that all of the customers that bought Mission products have been very happy and pleased with the quality and performance. Again, it makes us feel good to hear such good comments.
Many thanks to all of the other writers, editors, dealers, public that support Mission. It was a great show and a great pleasure to meet all of you.
Sincerely,
Rick and John