EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
Hi Gang!
I made it home from the Blade Show, although a day late. Our plane left Atlanta late, and because of that I missed my flight from Salt Lake to Great Falls. Thankfully Delta put me up for the night and got me home around noon on Tuesday.
OK, on to the show. Since I was manning the table alone this year, I didn't get out and around the show much. First thing was the crowds! WOW! The show was packed from beginning to end, every day. That being said, one thing that caught my attention was that there is certainly something amiss with the room being full, BEFORE the show even opened to those with VIP tickets. After talking to some folks, I think I know what's going on.... I noticed that most who were in the show early had exhibitor badges on....and can only assume that since those with tables and booths are allowed to purchase extra vendor badges, that exhibitors were doing that, then selling their extra badges..... kinda like ticket scalpers. (it's cheaper to do that then get VIP passes, and folks wotj exhibitor badges get into the room at any time.) I would hope that the Blade show staff recognizes that, and cuts it out. Most of the "good stuff" was already sold before the VIPs ever got into the show!
Anyway, with the big crowds, of course the odds are far better to sell your wares. As soon as the doors opened on Friday, I had a couple of people who jogged up to the table and grabbed knives, paid, then ran off in another direction.
There is a trend going on that I would not have thought.... the Chinese were there in force, and they were BUYING. Seems that many of the top American makers are hot in China right now. I watched as one Chinese buyer stood at a table, and pumped out 13, $1000+/- paypal payments for a knife.....then he came to my table, took some picture on his phone, and sent a text to someone. A couple of minutes later, he purchased the knife. I suspect he was texting pictures to a buyer in China, and was acting as the middle man. After the show closed on Sunday, as I was walking back to my hotel room, the hallway outside the UPS Store was literally blocked by the Chinese buyers boxing up and shipping the knives they'd purchased. No kidding....there were easily 500 knives being packaged up for shipping to China.
One of the things I did notice is that handle material blocks are getting smaller and smaller, and sellers are wanting more and more money for them. I searched the show early on Friday morning, looking for Ironwood for a couple of upcoming projects.... I could not find a single block of Desert Ironwood bigger then 1 1/2" X 1" X 5"! (which isn't big enough) About the only thing I could make out of that is a "broom handle". One vendor who had some nice ironwood had a whole table full of 1 1/4" tall blocks, and when I asked if he had anything bigger that I could actually make a knife handle out of, he got a bit miffed. These people need to realize that can't make a decent knife handle from a block of wood that's only 1 1/4" tall.
The other thing was stag. STOOPID high prices! I actually saw stag on one vendors table (tapers) that were marked $185-$200 EACH! Two words for that..... Bite me!
Fossil Ivory was plentiful, and for the most part was reasonably priced.
It seems that many of the "old guys" are retiring. I spoke with several makers who told me this would be their last Blade Show, and that they were hanging up their knifemaking hats.
I also got to visit with many of our member here on Knifedogs. Some I've known, and other my first face to face contact... enjoyed them all. One that impressed me was a nice young 13 year old, who walked up with his Dad, stuck out his hand and introduced himself. Just an overall impressive young man.
It was obvious that the show Forged in Fire had had a huge positive impact on the knife world. There was a gathering/demo in the parking lot outside the hotel for Forged in Fire, and security had to get involved when the crowd got so large it was blocking traffic.
In the end it was a very good show sales wise for me, and as far a knife shows go, Blade is still the Mecca. So many great knives, and great knifemakers in one place...nothing else like it.
I made it home from the Blade Show, although a day late. Our plane left Atlanta late, and because of that I missed my flight from Salt Lake to Great Falls. Thankfully Delta put me up for the night and got me home around noon on Tuesday.
OK, on to the show. Since I was manning the table alone this year, I didn't get out and around the show much. First thing was the crowds! WOW! The show was packed from beginning to end, every day. That being said, one thing that caught my attention was that there is certainly something amiss with the room being full, BEFORE the show even opened to those with VIP tickets. After talking to some folks, I think I know what's going on.... I noticed that most who were in the show early had exhibitor badges on....and can only assume that since those with tables and booths are allowed to purchase extra vendor badges, that exhibitors were doing that, then selling their extra badges..... kinda like ticket scalpers. (it's cheaper to do that then get VIP passes, and folks wotj exhibitor badges get into the room at any time.) I would hope that the Blade show staff recognizes that, and cuts it out. Most of the "good stuff" was already sold before the VIPs ever got into the show!
Anyway, with the big crowds, of course the odds are far better to sell your wares. As soon as the doors opened on Friday, I had a couple of people who jogged up to the table and grabbed knives, paid, then ran off in another direction.
There is a trend going on that I would not have thought.... the Chinese were there in force, and they were BUYING. Seems that many of the top American makers are hot in China right now. I watched as one Chinese buyer stood at a table, and pumped out 13, $1000+/- paypal payments for a knife.....then he came to my table, took some picture on his phone, and sent a text to someone. A couple of minutes later, he purchased the knife. I suspect he was texting pictures to a buyer in China, and was acting as the middle man. After the show closed on Sunday, as I was walking back to my hotel room, the hallway outside the UPS Store was literally blocked by the Chinese buyers boxing up and shipping the knives they'd purchased. No kidding....there were easily 500 knives being packaged up for shipping to China. One of the things I did notice is that handle material blocks are getting smaller and smaller, and sellers are wanting more and more money for them. I searched the show early on Friday morning, looking for Ironwood for a couple of upcoming projects.... I could not find a single block of Desert Ironwood bigger then 1 1/2" X 1" X 5"! (which isn't big enough) About the only thing I could make out of that is a "broom handle". One vendor who had some nice ironwood had a whole table full of 1 1/4" tall blocks, and when I asked if he had anything bigger that I could actually make a knife handle out of, he got a bit miffed. These people need to realize that can't make a decent knife handle from a block of wood that's only 1 1/4" tall.
The other thing was stag. STOOPID high prices! I actually saw stag on one vendors table (tapers) that were marked $185-$200 EACH! Two words for that..... Bite me!
Fossil Ivory was plentiful, and for the most part was reasonably priced.
It seems that many of the "old guys" are retiring. I spoke with several makers who told me this would be their last Blade Show, and that they were hanging up their knifemaking hats.
I also got to visit with many of our member here on Knifedogs. Some I've known, and other my first face to face contact... enjoyed them all. One that impressed me was a nice young 13 year old, who walked up with his Dad, stuck out his hand and introduced himself. Just an overall impressive young man.
It was obvious that the show Forged in Fire had had a huge positive impact on the knife world. There was a gathering/demo in the parking lot outside the hotel for Forged in Fire, and security had to get involved when the crowd got so large it was blocking traffic.
In the end it was a very good show sales wise for me, and as far a knife shows go, Blade is still the Mecca. So many great knives, and great knifemakers in one place...nothing else like it.
