BLADE Staff

June 8, 2010, OREGON CITY, Ore. – Benchmade Knife Company is proud to announce a partnership with custom knife maker Charles Marlowe. Mr. Marlowe has a great passion for knives and began designing his own models eighteen years ago.

“I’ve really enjoyed developing a relationship with Benchmade,” says Mr. Marlowe. “Their attention to detail and respect for the integrity of the original custom design are what excited me about working with the company.”

The first Marlowe-Benchmade design is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with such a talented knife designer,” says Rob Morrison, Benchmade’s Director of Marketing and Strategic Planning.

“Through our association with world’s best custom knife makers, we continue to bring innovative and functional designs to market. This partnership with Charles will help Benchmade continue in our mission of manufacturing superior edged tools.”

June 5, 2010, Atlanta, GA: Knife Rights chairman Doug Ritter today announced the appointment of Todd Rathner as Director of Legislative Affairs at Knife Rights’ Sharper Future™ Awards Breakfast
at the BLADE Show in Atlanta.

Ritter said, “It is indicative of our priorities to protect and expand knife owners’ rights that our first paid position is one to coordinate our aggressive legislative agenda. Todd proved his effectiveness this year in the successful passage of the Arizona Knife Preemption Law in Arizona, which launched our National Knife Law Preemption Campaign.”

Rathner has been a Second Amendment activist and lobbyist for over 15 years and has led the effort to pass numerous pro-Second Amendment bills in Arizona which is now recognized as the most Second Amendment friendly state in the country. Rathner has been a member of the NRA’s national board of directors for 11 years and serves on the NRA’s Executive Committee, Legislative Policy Committee and the NRA’s International Policy Committee.

Rathner will coordinate Knife Rights‘ national strategy to take Arizona’s model Knife Preemption Law to the rest of the U.S., as well as efforts to liberalize knife laws as was accomplished this year in New Hampshire with the legalization of switchblades and other banned knives.

Ritter noted, “Todd has proven adept over the past decade and a half at building broad coalitions to pass good legislation or to kill bad legislation. His ability to engage both sides of the aisle will be a key asset for Knife Rights in our legislative effort. We feel lucky to have been able to enlist Todd to lead the fight on the ‘second front’ in the battle to defend our Second Amendment rights.”

Knife Rights is America’s Grassroots Knife Owners Organization™, working towards a Sharper Future™ for all knife owners. Knife Rights is dedicated to providing knife owners an effective voice in public policy.

June 10, 2010, OREGON CITY, Ore. – Benchmade
Knife Company is proud to announce Eli Gonzalez as the new Program Manager of Special Operations Forces (SOF) on their Federal Government team.

Mr. Gonzalez
brings twenty years of U.S. Army Special Operations experience to Benchmade. For the past five years, he served as Business Development Manager for ATK Tactical Systems/Eagle Industries Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Gonzalez worked with SAAB Technologies, as the Program Manager for Special Operations in charge of Special Operations Signature Management initiatives.

“I
am honored to be part of the Benchmade team. I look forward to strategically expanding Benchmade’s brand within the federal government markets,” says Mr. Gonzalez.

“Eli comes to Benchmade with many
proven successes and a solid reputation in the industry,” says Mike Nack, Fed/Gov Sales Manager. “His knowledge and expertise will be strategic to Benchmade’s growth and development among our Federal Government team.”

Eli will reside in Fayettecille, NC
outside of Fort Bragg, home of the 18th Airborne Corps and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

See us on CarterCutlery.com!

We are just back from the world’s premier cutlery event — the BLADE Show in Atlanta, Georgia. What a show!

This year marks a new chapter in the history of Carter Cutlery as we moved from a cramped 6-foot show table to a large booth with five tables and room to spare. Our new company logo banner TanSouNin hung proudly on the wall behind to announce our location, and this year all the our staff were wearing new logo T-shirts making us readily identifiable.

Of course, the hanging neck knives were quite distinctive, too.

This year we debuted several new products which were very well received by our customers. They included a new line-up of custom-made exotic hardwood kitchen knife blocks, custom-made maple and ebony laminate cutting boards, our Japanese Shozaburo scissors, premier Japanese axes and logo T-shirts.

Murray was once again a guest demonstrator/lecturer at the show and successfully shaved volunteer Troy von Kutzleben’s head with a koshinata in front of a crowd to raise awareness for a special disease called Alopecia Areata. We’ll be posting a YouTube video on that soon. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you’ll know when that clip has been uploaded.

Immediately following that demo, Murray rushed to another room where they were waiting for him so that they could get an informal kitchen knife cutting competition underway. Murray, equipped with a 9-sun SFGZ Funayuki, diced and sliced his way to a decisive victory over competitors from Buck Knives, Boker and Benchmade knives.

While the knife was easily up to the task, Murray, who almost never cooks, is not resting easy on this victory and has resolved to spend some time with a kitchen knife in his hand to practice up for next years official version of this competition.

We were honored to have a special visit from Tim McCalla and his dad. Many of you might remember that Tim worked in our office and sales department before Wes, our current assistant, came on board. Tim is a dear friend and we were happy to visit with him.

See you at CarterCutlery.com!

American Commitment working, expansion planned for 2010

POST FALLS, IDAHO When Buck Knives announced their American Commitment a year ago, they
knew exactly what they wanted to do: greatly increase the percentage of knives made in their Post
Falls, Idaho plant.

“We had absolute faith in this major step; that’s why we made the commitment,” said CJ Buck,
president and CEO. “We fully anticipated a positive reaction and a successful year, but these were
forecasts and projections.”

Now the results are in for 2009, and this step forward has proved to be successful on all
counts. Dealers and consumers all reacted positively. Retail sales for Buck in a tough year for
American business were steady, headed by strength in the hunting segment of the market.
“Dealers welcomed the change,” Buck said. “They and their customers verified our belief that,
given a choice, most people prefer products Made in America.”

Based on this encouraging progress and a continued commitment to American-made product,
combined with the very positive response the new products received at the SHOT Show, Buck’s
plan for 2010 is an upsurge in domestic production. To achieve that growth they anticipate a 10%
increase in their Idaho work force.