Who's going to be at the Guild Show next week?

J

Jason Fry

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
3,159
I'll be there, being judged for entrance as a probationary member. I'll admit, I'm nervous. Never been to a show this big. Never been to a show out of state. Never flown with knives. Only acquainted with maybe 5 guys who will be there.

Who all from this board is going, either to visit, buy, or show?

Here's the show info page, for those who are unfamiliar.
http://www.knifemakersguild.com/show.shtml
 
I will be there as well. It's one of my favorite shows, and where I got my start many years ago.
Wolfgang
 
I'll be going so I'll see you there. Good luck on the probationary judging.

Kevin
 
Jason, some people will tell you that when you fly with knives, you should get a starter pistol , put it in the suitcase and tell the airline that you are shipping a "firearm." My experience with Delta has been that you do not have to do this. What I do is ask them to treat the knives like they were firearms so they get the special walk over to the big TSA Klingon death ray machine and the special handling where they wrap the "inspected by TSA" tape around the suitcase.. When I do that in Brussels for any knives that I have coming back from the Gembloux show, a Delta security guy walks the bag down the the tarmac. ;)
 
Joe -- do you get to see the whole operation so you are sure that the TSA guys have not removed any of your knives before taping the suitcase?
 
I usually check my bags, but walk my knife case over to the TSA inspectors for inspection. They search my bag while I watch the process. Then, upon my request, they will wrap the case with "TSA" tape. An officer in Vegas said that I should just purchase TSA approved lock for about $12. That way they can search my knife case and relock it.
I have had 4 knives and 2 flashlights stolen from my bags on two separate occasions. To add insult to injury, when I opened the cases in my Hotel room, the first thing I noticed was the TSA brochure that stated they were inspected. I 'd rather have them check it and wrap the boxes with the tape.
Most agents are Professional and honest. There are a few bad apples in every profession. The thefts may have also been pulled of by other airline personnel after the bags were placed on the conveyor.

Mickey

P.S. My wife and I have a table for the Guild show next weekend.
 
I will be there as a spectator as well.
I have enjoyed the guild show every time I have gone.
 
LOL. I do this Tampa, not Miami, Murray.. But seriously, I actually WOULD be worried about such things with both the baggage handlers AND TSA if I was flying out of Miami or one of the New York City airports. Hell, they just caught baggage handlers at JFK stealing from El AL passengers, which is the WROST airline to mess with!!!! There was a TSA employee arrested a few months back in Miami for that very thing.
Murray White said:
Joe -- do you get to see the whole operation so you are sure that the TSA guys have not removed any of your knives before taping the suitcase? With that said, at Tampa the special/oversized luggage inspection station is on the unsecured side in the main ticketing area and there are a LOT of people around, so it is kind of tough to get light fingered. No system is foolproof, but I think that thieves are less likely to mess with a piece of "special" luggage and when you do it this way, it looks just like one that contains a firearm.
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Forgot to mention the TSA lock.
Mickey said:
I usually check my bags, but walk my knife case over to the TSA inspectors for inspection. They search my bag while I watch the process. Then, upon my request, they will wrap the case with "TSA" tape. An officer in Vegas said that I should just purchase TSA approved lock for about $12. That way they can search my knife case and relock it.
I have had 4 knives and 2 flashlights stolen from my bags on two separate occasions. To add insult to injury, when I opened the cases in my Hotel room, the first thing I noticed was the TSA brochure that stated they were inspected. I 'd rather have them check it and wrap the boxes with the tape.
Most agents are Professional and honest. There are a few bad apples in every profession. The thefts may have also been pulled of by other airline personnel after the bags were placed on the conveyor.

Mickey

P.S. My wife and I have a table for the Guild show next weekend.
Click to expand...
 
actually the TSA lock can be easily broken into also and like you say Joe, watch like a hawk as while there has never been anyone caught by TSA, the number of $ in stolen property is huge. I was just curious how you found the most successful method of handling the issue was and thanks for the info.
 
Murray, after thinking about it, I may not have put enough emphasis on WHERE you choose to fly out of or through. It is pretty common knowledge that NYC and Miami are VERY bad. They have been for decades. Like I said, they busted a TSA inspector ain Miami a while back for stealing. If you are going to South Florida, there are an virtually endless number of reason to fly Delta, Airtran or Southwest into Ft. Lauderdale instead of American into Miami and potential for theft is at or near the top of the list. Remember that Miami is also the place where the TSA guy shot a coworker because when they were testing the original body scan machines the victim made fun of the shooter's small wiener. Don't insult a Cuban's manhood, sir!!!:eek:
I have also heard that Denver can be bad if you are checking firearms, but that is supposedly more an issue of vandalism by PETA types who work at the airport. That may be rumor, but one that should be taken semi-seriously. I am not sure where Ken Onion got robbed on his way from Honolulu to Atlanta, but that is another airport that should be avoided obviously. I fly out of Tampa and typically, the Delta employee or skycap and I wait around to make sure everything is okay with the packing, etc. The special/oversized inspection and handling area is literally at the end of the ticket counter and while you can't go back to the machine, it is like 15 feet away and you can see the TSA people working. My preferred stop on the way to Europe is Atlanta and I also felt fine going through Cincinnati before Delta cut back 2/3 of the flights going out of there. I haven't heard of any major problems with Charlotte on US Air either. On the way back from Brussels, I have NO problems because the regular baggage guys don't have any real chance to lay hands on the bags with the knives in them.
Murray White said:
actually the TSA lock can be easily broken into also and like you say Joe, watch like a hawk as while there has never been anyone caught by TSA, the number of $ in stolen property is huge. I was just curious how you found the most successful method of handling the issue was and thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
 
Ken Onion lost his Plaza Cutlery Show knives at SFO. Not sure if any of those knives ever surfaced? I think that was 2008? I was at the show and it really put a damper on things.

- Joe
 
Joe, I know this may be stereotyping, but you have to wonder if someone at SFO would steal such evil implements of death and destruction for monetary gain or just out of spite? :rolleyes: Either way, the odds of said thief knowing the actual value of what they were stealing at the time is probably pretty slim.
canineforge said:
Ken Onion lost his Plaza Cutlery Show knives at SFO. Not sure if any of those knives ever surfaced? I think that was 2008? I was at the show and it really put a damper on things.

- Joe
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