Hello, I'm getting ready for my first show

[jspake]

hello!

although i have been following these boards for now for a couple of years and posting bits and pieces here and there, now seems like a great time to finally introduce myself. every few weeks i have had the thought to post an intro here, and i just put it off thinking "i'll wait until i'm done with THIS ONE, then i'll do it"... what can i say, i'm a procrastinator. i am a hobbyist/part time knife maker who more or less decided one day that i wanted to try making a knife. it was really rewarding, so i kept doing it! the first dozen or so knives i made using scandi blades that i purchased from brisa (actually my very first knife was completely hand made, but the heat treat is shaky at best), and mainly focused on construction, fit and finish. then i moved on to some stock removal blades after buying a KMG grinder, and now i am starting to branch out into forged blades as well. last year i did a class with murray carter, which was incredibly informative and inspiring. i owe him a great debt of gratitude for his guidance over the last year or so since we met.

i've spent the last few months preparing for the OKCA show in eugene, or, and i'm packing up tonight to make a go of it this weekend. i'm really looking forward to getting a public response from my work, and getting brutal critiques from pros and real collectors. i have meant to post images on the board here as i go, but i just have not made the time to do it... anyway, my table is R07, so if you are at the show please come by and say hi!

i just snapped a quick shot of the batch/es i've been working on. 10 of these will be at the show this weekend.

-jeremy

 

[Lagrange]

Looks like you have some nice knives to display.

 

[Wade Hougham]

Very nice looking knives. I hope you do well, good luck.

Wade

 

[rhinoknives]

You will learn a lot at the show by displaying your knives.
Not every "Expert" is really a expert. You will hear from many! Listen politely to what they all have to say, and take their words from there. the comments where a light goes on inside your head are the note worthy ones!

Have fun!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

 

[jspake]

hi guys! i had a great time at the OKCA show! i got lots of positive and some not-so-positive feedback (i am grateful for both) on my knives and table setup. i don't really have personal relationships with many people in the knife world, and it was just really inspiring to go to the show and meet so many friendly, gifted, generous and encouraging makers. special thanks to jose diaz of diaz tools, who was my table neighbor. he really watched after me and gave me some great pointers on presentation and managing my table, and just the basics of how the show works. but really the list goes on and on. so many people made an impact on me over the weekend. thanks to everyone. a particular highlight of sunday was when j.d. smith (M.S.) visited my table and talked with me about knife design approach and philosophy -for longer than i would have expected! he shared lots of wisdom and expertise in a very encouraging way, and that was definitely a special moment for me. his "jaguar knife" won the best of show competition, and he won about 3 in addition to that! on that note, i was really honored to be awarded the "best new maker" award for the show. i definitely had not been expecting that.
the downside of coming back from such a great weekend is that i am having arthroscopic surgery on my dominant shoulder to remove a bone spur in 2 days, so that is going to have me out of the game for a little bit... hopefully while i am mending i will have some time to get my website populated with some nice photos. stay tuned!

in the meantime, here's a pic my girlfriend took of me at my table just after i finished setting up on friday. please excuse the goofy grin, it was my first time!