- Joined
- Oct 31, 2005
- Messages
- 436
Ok, let's have a short review of the latest Solingen knifeshow. I apologize for my pretty broken english. Remember I'm french !
It is a nice place, absolutely lost in Germany : a small typical german town near Köln. The knife show takes place in the "Deutschem Kingenmuseum" (german blade museum), which is a big traditionnal house with a garden, in which you can attend forge demonstrations. The weather was great, and the ambience was as nice as possible, with a lot of people inside and outside the Museum. I already said it, but it is the best european show in my opinion. Milan features luxury more than knives and Paris is not as "friendly" as Solingen. This is the only place you can attend such a deal : two pretty drunken collectors late at night, and a gorgeous Loerchner dagger traded for a vintage (?) Rolex watch !
Anyway anything was perfect but one little detail : the food. Whether you like german sausages or not was not the main issue. Which was the following : there wasn't anything to feed the crowd but a small BBQ ! I don't know what happened with the organization but they clearly screwed up on that point of view.
Let's talk about knives now. Nothing really new but an actually really high average level. German knifemakers may be a bit conservative, they know how to make knives, folders as well as straight knives.
The new thing was to see some "stars" you don't usually meet in this show : Dietmar Kressler had a table, he had knives to sell and he was standing behind his table ! This has to be mentionned because it's quite rare ! Wolgang Loerchner was present, and so was Owen Wood (who makes amazing folders in Michael Walker's style).
While we're talking about stars : the last floor features a special Jurgen Steinau exhibition. I'm not fond of his style, but he's a legend and you can't see so many masterpieces at one time very often, which you can see in Weyer's and Darom's books.
Some knifemakers were missing, though : Aad van Ryjswyk, who was attending but without table, Hill Knives, Ludwig Fruhmann, Michael Jankowsky (who posts here from time to time).
All the others had tables. And first of them Fritz "longlasting unbreakable" Schneider. He's 78 and still doing fine. He's the one who achieved the first stainless damascus in the 80's. I was very pleased to notice that the latest DMG (german knifemaker's guild) book features my Schneider damascus fighter. I had to buy that book, then !
Some sellers were missing as well, such as Manfred Melzer from Ars Cultri (www.arscultri.com). Some others had their usual table, such as Holger Matheisen (www.messer-matheisen.de). He had got an integral damascus hunter made by Markus Balbach, who is a famous german bladesmith. I hesitated...
When you went upstairs, there was an actual italian area : collectors such as Maurizio Bergomi and PierLuigi Peroni, makers such as Emmanuel Esposito and Fabrizio Silvestrelli, and Francesco Pachi, who had to give up knifemaking because of health reason.
Emmanuel is quite a young maker, and I've heard he's the next big thing in knifemaking. Well, to be honest, I don't get it. Anyway the guy is really nice, his work is clean, his fit and finish absolutely perfect. I did'nt shoot anything but you can have a look on his website : http://www.emmanuelmaker.it.
Fabrizio Silvestrelli is a maker I would bet on. Many loveless designs for straight knives and a flawless execution for both folders and straight knives. The only thing is that he speaks only italian... but his lovely wife translates when necessary. he had a gorgeous integral sub-hilt fighter whose only default was the green canva micarta handles... Have a look on his website : http://www.silvesterknives.it.
I met Maurizio Bergomi there. I didn't know him and I received a list as well as all members of the CKCA did a few days ago. You could see on his table most of the knives featured in his e-mail. Very nice guy and what a collection he has ! I spent time on the Kressler/Johnson collaboration. Out of my price range but really a masterpiece (notice the asymetrical grinding : chute on one face, boot fighter on the other one).
Francesco Pachi was standing behind a table with some candys : Reinhart Tschager, Emmanuel, Kious, Johnson, Kressler, Bennica, Loveless... I'm not sure there's actual customers for that kind of knives at this show. But that was impressive !
It is a nice place, absolutely lost in Germany : a small typical german town near Köln. The knife show takes place in the "Deutschem Kingenmuseum" (german blade museum), which is a big traditionnal house with a garden, in which you can attend forge demonstrations. The weather was great, and the ambience was as nice as possible, with a lot of people inside and outside the Museum. I already said it, but it is the best european show in my opinion. Milan features luxury more than knives and Paris is not as "friendly" as Solingen. This is the only place you can attend such a deal : two pretty drunken collectors late at night, and a gorgeous Loerchner dagger traded for a vintage (?) Rolex watch !
Anyway anything was perfect but one little detail : the food. Whether you like german sausages or not was not the main issue. Which was the following : there wasn't anything to feed the crowd but a small BBQ ! I don't know what happened with the organization but they clearly screwed up on that point of view.
Let's talk about knives now. Nothing really new but an actually really high average level. German knifemakers may be a bit conservative, they know how to make knives, folders as well as straight knives.
The new thing was to see some "stars" you don't usually meet in this show : Dietmar Kressler had a table, he had knives to sell and he was standing behind his table ! This has to be mentionned because it's quite rare ! Wolgang Loerchner was present, and so was Owen Wood (who makes amazing folders in Michael Walker's style).
While we're talking about stars : the last floor features a special Jurgen Steinau exhibition. I'm not fond of his style, but he's a legend and you can't see so many masterpieces at one time very often, which you can see in Weyer's and Darom's books.
Some knifemakers were missing, though : Aad van Ryjswyk, who was attending but without table, Hill Knives, Ludwig Fruhmann, Michael Jankowsky (who posts here from time to time).
All the others had tables. And first of them Fritz "longlasting unbreakable" Schneider. He's 78 and still doing fine. He's the one who achieved the first stainless damascus in the 80's. I was very pleased to notice that the latest DMG (german knifemaker's guild) book features my Schneider damascus fighter. I had to buy that book, then !
Some sellers were missing as well, such as Manfred Melzer from Ars Cultri (www.arscultri.com). Some others had their usual table, such as Holger Matheisen (www.messer-matheisen.de). He had got an integral damascus hunter made by Markus Balbach, who is a famous german bladesmith. I hesitated...
When you went upstairs, there was an actual italian area : collectors such as Maurizio Bergomi and PierLuigi Peroni, makers such as Emmanuel Esposito and Fabrizio Silvestrelli, and Francesco Pachi, who had to give up knifemaking because of health reason.
Emmanuel is quite a young maker, and I've heard he's the next big thing in knifemaking. Well, to be honest, I don't get it. Anyway the guy is really nice, his work is clean, his fit and finish absolutely perfect. I did'nt shoot anything but you can have a look on his website : http://www.emmanuelmaker.it.
Fabrizio Silvestrelli is a maker I would bet on. Many loveless designs for straight knives and a flawless execution for both folders and straight knives. The only thing is that he speaks only italian... but his lovely wife translates when necessary. he had a gorgeous integral sub-hilt fighter whose only default was the green canva micarta handles... Have a look on his website : http://www.silvesterknives.it.
I met Maurizio Bergomi there. I didn't know him and I received a list as well as all members of the CKCA did a few days ago. You could see on his table most of the knives featured in his e-mail. Very nice guy and what a collection he has ! I spent time on the Kressler/Johnson collaboration. Out of my price range but really a masterpiece (notice the asymetrical grinding : chute on one face, boot fighter on the other one).
Francesco Pachi was standing behind a table with some candys : Reinhart Tschager, Emmanuel, Kious, Johnson, Kressler, Bennica, Loveless... I'm not sure there's actual customers for that kind of knives at this show. But that was impressive !
Last edited:
:thumbup: If you could PM or e-mail me some pricing info, I'd be grateful.
