Bladeshow 2021

chrisstaniar said:
I would be a nervous wreck bringing my blades to a show that big with all the great makers around I'd feel like a schlep.
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There is no way I could get up enough inventory to go to that show. I have trouble keeping up now. I have a fillet knife, a Serbian chef's knife and a strange finger hole in the blade type knife to make in Damascus this weekend. I am not complaining by any means because I just like making knives. I like the Harley business model, "Every knife I am going to make this weekend is already sold". I have a Cowboy Outlaw to pay for...
 
chrisstaniar said:
I would be a nervous wreck bringing my blades to a show that big with all the great makers around I'd feel like a schlep.
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Not all the makers at the show are Master Smiths making high end stuff. You'll see everything from $5 Chinese junk all the way to Alekseyev Ilya's incredible detailed sword that won Best Sword. If you are confident enough in your work to sell to friends and family you really shouldn't be intimidated by other makers. It's really a great place to pick up some ideas and learn some new things. I took a class on Saturday morning on file work that answered some questions I had. Talked to a couple of makers about some different types of blade finishes and they were very helpful in explaining their process. Knife makers seem to love to talk and I didn't meet anyone who was in a bad mood. How could you be? If you get a chance to attend do it!
 
chrisstaniar said:
I would be a nervous wreck bringing my blades to a show that big with all the great makers around I'd feel like a schlep.
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As others have said already, I was both encouraged and challenged from what I seen there. There were blades that honestly, my own humble, simple, little blades were better than. Scandi grinds with 120ish grit finishes that had 1/8”, uneven, secondary bevels? Seriously? Lol

Even greater though was the spark to get better because of all the fine work I seen and was inspired by.
 
Randy Lucius said:
Not all the makers at the show are Master Smiths making high end stuff. You'll see everything from $5 Chinese junk all the way to Alekseyev Ilya's incredible detailed sword that won Best Sword. If you are confident enough in your work to sell to friends and family you really shouldn't be intimidated by other makers. It's really a great place to pick up some ideas and learn some new things. I took a class on Saturday morning on file work that answered some questions I had. Talked to a couple of makers about some different types of blade finishes and they were very helpful in explaining their process. Knife makers seem to love to talk and I didn't meet anyone who was in a bad mood. How could you be? If you get a chance to attend do it!
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I have to agree with what Randy said, like I mentioned before, there were better makers than me and some not better than me but I got a few good ideas and he is right, not one jerk in the crowd that I found. Some wanted to talk more than I was willing to stand and listen. I will be back for sure, I will just take more cash next time. It is really hard for me to buy a knife now because I make them but there was oh so much material I wanted to buy.
 
Chris Railey said:
It is really hard for me to buy a knife now because I make them but there was oh so much material I wanted to buy
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That's me - save my money for material and tools.

Looking at Randy's pictures makes me sad I wasn't there this year. Maybe next year I'll make it. The wife LOVES the trip to Blade each time we go it's her pushing for the trip as much as me. She will spend more money on materials than me sometimes.

Ken H>
 
So this year was the first year I had a table. I learned a lot about the type of customers at Blade Show. I took, some nice customs (2 damascus hunters and 2 stainless san mai hunters, and my big stainless san mai bowie), 3 kitchen knives, and 8 full tang hunters. Even though there seemed to be a lot of interest in the full tang and the kitchen knives, I didn't sell a single one. I sold all of my customs but the bowie...actually I sold one of them twice! Sold it saturday at the show and then someone bought it sunday off my website that I hadn't updated yet! Luckily the guy was understanding and I told him I would make a similar one and he could choose handle materials :)

So after seeing how the buyers were this year...no cheap knives on my table next year. I'm planning on having my 5 JS test knives and 5 nice customs and that's it!
 
JeremyBartlett said:
So this year was the first year I had a table. I learned a lot about the type of customers at Blade Show. I took, some nice customs (2 damascus hunters and 2 stainless san mai hunters, and my big stainless san mai bowie), 3 kitchen knives, and 8 full tang hunters. Even though there seemed to be a lot of interest in the full tang and the kitchen knives, I didn't sell a single one. I sold all of my customs but the bowie...actually I sold one of them twice! Sold it saturday at the show and then someone bought it sunday off my website that I hadn't updated yet! Luckily the guy was understanding and I told him I would make a similar one and he could choose handle materials :)

So after seeing how the buyers were this year...no cheap knives on my table next year. I'm planning on having my 5 JS test knives and 5 nice customs and that's it!
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Good for you Jeremy, I am glad you sold some. I would have thought it would be the opposite and the regular knives would sell and maybe a custom or two. Shows what I know.
 
Randy Lucius said:
Not all the makers at the show are Master Smiths making high end stuff. You'll see everything from $5 Chinese junk all the way to Alekseyev Ilya's incredible detailed sword that won Best Sword. If you are confident enough in your work to sell to friends and family you really shouldn't be intimidated by other makers. It's really a great place to pick up some ideas and learn some new things. I took a class on Saturday morning on file work that answered some questions I had. Talked to a couple of makers about some different types of blade finishes and they were very helpful in explaining their process. Knife makers seem to love to talk and I didn't meet anyone who was in a bad mood. How could you be? If you get a chance to attend do it!
Click to expand...
Saw a pic of that sword. AMAZING! I will never get to that level, nor do I really want to, but I can sure admire the skill that is on display there. I will stick to my primitive but really functional knives, and know my (lowly) place...feeling REALLY humble... ;)
 
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