Category: Blade Show (page 2 of 2)

Day 1 has come to a close at the Blade Show and we’ve checked out a lot of badass knives and met a bunch of awesome people.  Here are a couple of the highlights:

Creek Stewart, Survival Knife Expert

I started out the day chatting with Creek Stewart, survival instructor and author, about what he looks for in a survival blade.  Creek’s survival knife of choice is the Blackbird SK5 from Ontario Knives, which he was sporting in a sheath from Paul Schaffer of Hedgehog Leatherworks.  In addition, he was carrying a Spyderco folder and a pretty burly leatherman.

Creek had tons of good tips on picking out a good survival knife for every day carry.  A couple of his fundamentals were making sure your knife is a fixed blade, has a full tang and a heavy duty pommel.

We’re going to post a full-length interview with Creek later this week, but you’d be well advised to scope out his survival school in Indiana if you’re looking for an awesome spot to brush up on your survival skills.

Corrie Schoeman, South African Custom Knifemaker

For over 30 years, Corrie’s been making awesome knives and he showed us some pretty fantastic Damascus steel blades.  Corrie uses a lot of really exotic handle materials. Just from his knives on display, he had handles made of mammoth tooth, cape buffalo and (pictured below) kudu antlers. For those who aren’t in the know, the kudu is an African antelope that, according to Corrie, can jump six feet in the air.

Red Blade Knives

I was just kind of stumbling about lost in the frenzy of sheer knife power, when the Red Blade Knives booth caught my eye.  These are some of the burliest folding knives I’ve ever seen.  The pig ( pictured above) is 1/4″inch and made of CPM S30 steel, with titanium liners.

Red Blade Knives is run by Dan Rotbaltt, Robi Mukherjee and Sean “Griz” Coulter.  Rob, a veteran, said that one of the motivations for developing these knives was to create the sort of knife a solider would need, tough enough to take just about any sort of abuse. From a cursory glance, I’d say these blades are at that level.

That’s my quick and dirty rundown from today’s Blade Show.  Tomorrow, we’ll be checking out a bunch of awesome seminars and covering the World Cutting Contest, so stop by for more updates.

The 2012 BLADE Show down in Atlanta came and went, but not without showing off some awesome knives. One of my favorite events is the Knife of the Year awards, where the top knives are honored by Blade Magazine. For the second straight year, Kershaw’s Zero Tolerance took home top honors for Overall Knife of the Year after the Zero Tolerance 0777 model did so last year.

Here is a shortened list of the winners with photographs from this year’s BLADE Show. For a complete list of winners, check out this post from Blade Magazine.

Overall Knife of the Year: ZT 0888 by Zero Tolerance/KAI USA

American-Made Knife of the Year: Socom Delta by Microtech

Imported Knife Of The Year: Onion Foresight by CRKT

Most Innovative American Design: Autonomy by Spyderco

Most Innovative Imported Design: DPx HEST T3

The 2012 BLADE Show, dubbed the world’s largest knife show, is returning to Atlanta next month from June 8 to June 10.

The 31st annual event features BLADE Magazine’s Knife of the Year Awards, inductions into the Cutlery Hall of Fame, demos, workshops and the 10th BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition. Along with these events, there are booths and tables from hundreds of well-known companies and custom knife makers. All of this action is packed into three days.

If you’ve never been to a BLADE Show, you’re missing out. Take a look at some of the highlights from the first day of last year’s BLADE Show to get an idea of some of the things you can see.

You get to rub elbows with some of the world’s premier knife makers and see prototypes of new knives and designs. One of the things I’m looking forward to the most is the announcement of the Knife of the Year Awards because it gives respect to the finest knives. If you need proof, just look back at the 2011 Overall Knife of the Year Award recipient. The Zero Tolerance 0777 is definitely something to marvel at.

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Back in June, BLADE Magazine held their 30th annual BLADE Show in Atlanta and there was a lot of action to report.

One of the traditions of the show is to give out awards to the best knives, knifemakers and more. While a lot of focus was on the “Overall Knife of the Year,” which was a very beautiful Zero Tolerance 0777, another notable award is the “American-Made Knife of the Year.”

This year, none other than the Spyderco Native 5 (Fluted Titanium) won the honors. As you can see from the prototype above, the Spyderco Native features an amazing design on its fluted titanium handle. Although I’ve never held this knife, someone from the Spyderco Collector noted that the pattern didn’t seem too sharp and had a great grip.

The weight of this knife compared to the previous models of the Native is similar, but the blade is made from CPM-S35VN steel. It also has a lockback locking system, a thumb hole in the blade and a 4 position clip.

It’s hard to find much fault with this knife and probably one of the best aspects is that it’s made in the U.S.A.

Here are some more pictures from the Spyderco Collector.

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On day three of the Blade Show, I decided to spend most of my time strolling through the aisles checking out cool knives.  There were approximately 900 booths at the show this year, making it virtually impossible to see everything, but here are a few of my highlights.

The Sabersmith

Picture this:  You’re standing in line at the grocery, waiting for an elderly woman to tediously count out the dozen or so coupons she brought to save $3 on oatmeal cookies and eggs.  It’s agonizing, and when things couldn’t get any worse, she remembers that she has additional coupons in her car and heads out to the parking lot, walking at a snail’s pace, to retrieve them.

How could you expedite this process?  Well, demanding that the clerk check you out first by waving around a 5-foot medieval mace would be a good start.

The Sabersmith (real name Tim Lawler) crafts a number of “beyond battle-ready weapons,” such as axes, swords, hammers and daggers.  His booth is quite an eye-catcher, as it resembles a a medieval torture arsenal.

Neck Knives

The neck knife works just like it sounds.  A great tactical and outdoor knife, this uniquely-shaped blade can be easily hung on a sheath around the neck for quick access. Neck knives are often issued to the military, because they are excellent tactical weapons in dangerous situations.  Neck knives are also popular with policeman, who use them frequently during rescues.  These neck knives are made by Spartan and retail in the ballpark of $200.

A dao suited for a monk

The CAS Hanwei booth had some pretty sweet knives, but I was particularly interested in this Jie Dao, which is used by Shaolin monks.  The dao doesn’t have a sharp point, as monks are forbidden from carrying weapons, and it is used primarily for domestic purposes, such as gathering firewood, clearing a path in the forest and even shaving.

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Day two at the Blade Show culminated with the World Cutting Championship, in which knife-wielding competitors dashed through an obstacle course while slicing targets to pieces.

It was obscenely hot in the courtyard of the Cobb Galleria at 4 p.m., yet despite the scorching weather, close to a hundred spectators had gathered to watch 13 knifemen chop though wood, water bottles, golf balls and rope in the hopes of being crowned the 2011 champion.

The course took competitors approximately 45 seconds to compete.  Time was a component of scoring, but more important was whether or not participants cut through the various obstacles completely.

The favorite was Donavon Phillips, who was coming off a recent victory at the U.S. National Championships in Mountain View, Arkansas. Phillips, who appeared to be at least 6 foot 3 and in the neighborhood of 300 pounds, cut an intimidating figure in the courtyard.

Sporting a black cowboy hat, dark sunglasses and a long goatee, he paced with nervous energy before unsheathing his knife—named Delta’s Edge—and bombing through the course and to the top of the leader board.

However, Philips reign was only short-lived, as Gary Bond would later nudge past him and take the crown.

If you ever have the time, The Blade World Cutting Competition is definitely worth checking out.  Scope out the video below and let me know what you think.

The annual Blade Show is the Super Bowl of the knife world, and I’ll be covering it from Atlanta all weekend.  This year, the show features over 900 exhibitors, in addition to a full schedule of speakers, demonstrations, contests and other events.  The exhibition hall opened at 2 p.m. today, and I spent the afternoon wandering through a sea of sharp objects.  Here were some of the highlights.

Interview with New Hampshire State Representative Jenn Coffey

A rising star in the world of knife advocacy and libertarian politics, Rep. Coffey was the driving force behind the recent passage of New Hampshire’s pre-exemption knife bill, which legalized knife possession across the state.  A former EMT, Coffey talked about her work in the New Hampshire Legislature and how she was driven to activism and politics by the influence of her husband.

Coffey said that on the job she used rescue knives, such as SOG’s and Benchmade knives. She added that “knives that can open quickly, like gravity knives, are extremely important. ”

Coffey was signing copies of her recently released book, Knife, Liberty and Lipstick, which is a call to arms for a return to liberty.  A portion of the proceeds for the book are going to Camp Constitution, a summer camp that teaches kids about “our American heritage of courage and ingenuity the genius of the United States Constitution.”

As for her knife advocacy, Coffey encouraged legislators and citizens to move past the glamorization of knives as dangerous weapons.

“I have dangerous knives in my kitchen,” she said, adding that anything, even an umbrella could be used as a deadly weapon.  “The emphasis should not be on tools, but on actual criminal acts.”

Getting Medieval with Albion Swords

It’s difficult to cruise by the Albion table without stopping.  These guys, based out of New Glarus, Wisconsin, carry a pretty big selection of medieval swords.  They’re pricey, most of them all over 1k, but you can play with them for free.  The swords range from French to Irish to Italian, most of the designs were carried by knights during their time.

Albion swords have been featured in a few different movies and their full stock of movie swords can be viewed here. Scope out the Conan the Bararian sword, it’s a must see.  Here are a few other burly-looking swords in their selection.

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