Allow the BLADE Show West staff to help you decide why you should attend the 2nd Annual BLADE Show West, Nov. 1-3 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
In fact, staff members have been studying ways to inject some Vitamin C—as in C for Cut—into proceedings, and I think they have hit on new attractions that will make your decision whether to attend easy.
1) A New Cutting Competition
First is the chef’s knife cutting competition. Instead of holding it during show hours, we’re going to do it after show hours on Saturday (see details at bladeshowwest.com).
Ethan Becker, who knows chef’s knives quite well from his four decades of writing and editing the world-famous cookbook, Joy of Cooking, and knives in general through Becker Knife & Tool, will oversee the event.
Since critiquing a knife properly takes time, this will be a limited seating event. Attendees may bring one knife only and attendee sign-ups will be held onsite.
If I were a hobbyist knifemaker of even a long-time one, I would love to have one of the makers on our panel point out what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong.
3) See the Real Bowie Knife?
Third of the new attractions will be the seminar, “Bowie’s Bowie: The Best Candidate,” as well as an exhibit of the candidate in question.
Dale M. Larson, author of the book The Knife Behind the Curtain: The True Story of Actor Edwin Forrest, James Bowie, and the Blade that Binds Them, will both exhibit the Edwin Forrest Bowie during the show and also deliver a seminar all about the knife.
Add this to the list of ways Portland, Oregon, is a unique American metropolitan: the city is ground zero for the custom and factory knife industry. BLADE Show West, coming Nov. 1-3 to the Oregon Convention Center, showcases why.
Portland’s Best Knifemakers & Knife Companies Will Be There
This knife show isn’t just an extension of the world’s largest annual knife show in Atlanta; it’s an opportunity for the Portland area to support local businesses specializing in centuries-old craftsmanship. Of more than 215 total exhibitors, dozens of Portland’s knifemakers and knife designers will be displaying their creations, from hand-crafted chef’s knives to innovative pocketknives designed to make everyday tasks easier.
BLADE Show West attendees get to connect with those knifemakers, see unique knife collections not available online and pick out their new favorite knife.
“When people ask me why they should attend a knife show for the first time, I like to tell them two things,” said Steve Shackleford, editor of BLADE magazine, the world’s foremost knife publication since 1973. “First, you’re going to be surprised by the creativity and the craftsmanship. It’s like you’ve never seen real knives before.
“Second, these knifemakers are independent businesses. When you buy a knife from someone who spent days or weeks making it by hand, you’re putting a roof over their head and food on their table.”
That rugged spirit and sense of community are what bring people to events like BLADE Show West. It’s also why knifemakers are so eager to share their appreciation for blades. BLADE Show West will host demonstrations, competitions, awards, and even an after party complete with food trucks and beer.
“That it could all happen in Portland, home to so many knifemakers and knife companies, is a terrific thing for the area and the West Coast in general. The entire knife community will be there,” Shackleford said.
More than 215 total exhibitors will be at BLADE Show West. Here’s a lineup of Oregon favorites:
A+M Knives
Benchmade Knife Co.
Big Brown Bear
Carter Cutlery
Cascadia Cutlery LLC
Chuck Cook Knives
CRKT
David Kurt Handmade Knives
Dragonfly Forge
Ferrum Technology
Freeman Outdoor Gear
Gerber Gear
integrity implements
Joe Edson
Kershaw Knives/ Zero Tolerance Knives
Leatherman Tool Group
LinchPin LLC
Matt Cook/PinoyKnife
Navarrete Knives
Nitzan Lilie
Northwest Knives & Collectibles
OOAK Forge
Rogers Kustoms
Spake Handmade Knives
TF Blades LLC
Tuch Knives
Buy Tickets Online & Save Up to $10
To attend, buy tickets online before the event to save up to $10 at bladeshowwest.com.
At an inch-long closed, the spectacular 40-blade miniature knife by Japan’s Isao Ohbuchi won the Yvon Vachon Best Miniature Knife Award in the custom knife judging competition of BLADE Show 2019.
Along with all the other knives in the competition except Gabe Mabry’s winner of the Best Kitchen Knife Award judged by Ethan Becker, a select panel of three custom knife authorities judged Ohbuchi’s award winner. Including Becker, all three judges were chosen by the BLADE® staff. Ohbuchi calls his tiny folder a “sportsman’s knife” and stated it is inspired by the legendary Joseph Rodgers & Sons of Sheffield, England, which made fantastic folders and fixed blades in the 19th century. The maker also listed the multi-blade mini as a “horseman’s knife.”
Blade lengths: all in the .8-inch range.
Blade steel: 440C stainless
Blade grinds: flat
Handle material: mother-of-pearl Weight: 1.4 ounces.
The maker’s list price for a similar knife: $15,000.
The image of the cover knife is by SharpByCoop. The inset image of the BLADE Show is by Justin King.
Atlanta, Georgia (June 8, 2019) – Awards recognizing the highest achievement in the production and custom knife industries were bestowed the evening of Saturday, June 8, 2019, at the BLADE Show in the Cobb Galleria.
2019 BLADE Show Knife of the Year® Award Winners
Representatives from BLADE (www.blademag.com) distributed BLADE Magazine Knife of the Year® awards in 11 categories, plus awards for individuals’ career achievements. All entrants in the Knife of the Year® competition were evaluated by a super panel of undisclosed judges on a number of factors, including utility, design, creativity, materials, aesthetics, feel and other traits. This was different from years past, when booth holders at the show voted by ballot.
Overall Knife of the Year®: FOX Knives Radius
Judges commented on the innovative opening mechanism and quality workmanship. The patent-pending mechanism requires the user to slightly depress and move the button along the U-shaped track for opening and closing.
The Radius also brings home the Imported Knife of the Year® award.
American-Made Knife of the Year®: Microtech Socom Elite
This exemplary automatic is a hallmark of the American knife industry.
Most Innovative American Design: Spyderco Para 3 Lightweight
Spyderco knocked out about a third of the weight (and the price point) of the standard Para 3 for this lightweight version.
Most Innovative Imported Design: WE Knife .037
WE’s takedown design makes simplicity look easy. The company describes the .037 as sporting “self-locating interlocking tab frame construction.”
Best Buy of the Year: CRKT CEO
The CEO brings gents’ knives to the masses with its $49.99 price point.
Investor/Collector Knife of the Year®: ProTech Warenski/Brend Masterpiece Custom
ProTech continues to dominate this category with another attractive entry for investors. This one must be seen to be believed, but you’ll need to shell out $12,000.
Manufacturing Quality Award: Chris Reeve Knives
It’s not enough to perform at a high level once or twice. Chris Reeve Knives’s consistency in craftsmanship is key to this win.
Accessory of the Year: Outdoor Edge Para Spark
This survival bracelet is handy and just plain cool. Using the latch as a sheath is a nice touch.
Collaboration of the Year: Casstrom/Lars Falt/CAS Iberia Lars Falt Lockback
Simplicity equals versatility, as this lockback demonstrates, and yet the distinct touches of the collaboration still shine through.
Kitchen Knife of the Year®: Apogee Dragon Storm (set of 4)
This set demonstrates the intersection of art and utility at a high level for a production kitchen knives.
Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® Inductee (by proclamation): BLADE Editor Steve Shackleford – This came as a surprise to Shackleford, who was emceeing the ceremony. Inductees typically know they will be honored before the event. However, with the blessing of the others in the Hall of Fame, Shackleford was inducted by Bruce Voyles, former publisher of BLADE.
Adam Drescher (middle) during a break between scenes of the upcoming movie, The Mule. At right is Clint Eastwood and at left is character actor Richard Herd. Adam owns Adam Unlimited, which specializes in exotic skins for the knife and motorcycle industries, especially rayskin. (Photos by Images courtesy of Adam Drescher)
Industry Achievement Award: Lucas Burnley, for his charitable work with Toys for Tots
Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award: Bill Ruple (this award comes with a $1,000 cash prize from the Lorenzi family to support the custom knife industry)
2019 BLADE Show Custom Knife Winners
The 2019 BLADE Show Custom Knife Award Winners were also announced on Saturday, June 8, 2019, at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.
Best in Show: Harvey Dean
Best Art Knife: Veronique Laurent
Best Folder: Javier Vogt
Best Bowie: Jerry Fisk
Best Kitchen Knife: Doberman Forge
Best Fixed Blade: Harvey Dean
Best Damascus: Franco Custom Knives
Best New Maker: Esnyx Knives
Best Collaboration: David Lisch & Andrew Meers
Best Handle Design: Ben Breda
Best Fighter: Brian Sellers
Best of the Rest: Ron Newton
Most Innovative Design: RJ Martin
Best Utility Hunter: Ben Breda
Best Sword: Vince Evans
Best Mini: Ohbuchi Isao
About BLADE Show
The BLADE Show is the world’s largest, most important knife show, and has taken place every year since 1982 and in Atlanta since 1992. Upwards of 1,000 exhibitors from more than 20 countries display their knives and knife-related items over a three-day cutlery celebration that also features BLADE University knife seminars, knife auctions, custom knife awards, celebrity appearances and much more.
About BLADE
BLADE® Magazine (www.blademag.com) is the world’s No.1 knife publication. It is also the world’s oldest knife magazine, publishing its first issue in 1973. In conjunction with the BLADE Show, it has sponsored the Knife of the Year® Awards annually since 1982. The awards are the most coveted honors in the factory knife industry and are voted on by the booth exhibitors at the BLADE Show, who this year number more than 200. Only BLADE Show booth exhibitors are eligible to enter.
The BLADE Show and BLADE Magazine are the properties of Caribou Media LLC.
The factory cutlery industry’s most coveted honors, the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards will be announced during the BLADE Magazine Awards Reception the Saturday night of the show in a new venue for this year: the Garden Court Area of the Renaissance Waverly Hotel (tickets required).
Also new for this year, the public will be able to view the proceedings for free from outside a roped off area.
The Garden Court Area is the large room at the top of the escalators on the second floor of the Renaissance Waverly Hotel. When you get to the top of the escalators walk straight ahead and you can’t miss it.
The categories are Overall; American-Made; Imported; Most Innovative American Design; Most Innovative Imported Design; Best Buy Of The Year; Investor/Collector; Collaboration; Manufacturing Quality; Accessory; Kitchen; Publisher’s; and Industry Achievement.
The factory entries are limited to applicable BLADE Show booth exhibitors, and will be exhibited show Friday and Saturday in a special display in the show lobby.
The BLADE Show is the Gigantopithecus of knife events. How did it get there? In chronological order, let’s review.
1) No Top 10 list can start without the start, and the BLADE Show started when BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® members Jim Parker and Bruce Voyles organized the first one at the Drawbridge Motor Inn across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Erlanger, Kentucky, in 1981.
2) Jim and Bruce’s creation, in 1983, of the BLADE Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards and the BLADE Magazine Hall Of Fame® set in motion two cutlery industry achievements that today are among the most coveted knife recognitions. Announcing them all at the BLADE Show gave—and to give—both the honors themselves and the show more cachet.
3) Moving the BLADE Show to the sprawling Holiday Convention Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1984, to the site of the 1982 World’s Fair announced to the community that Parker and Voyles were determined to host a serious knife show contender.
4) The decision by the American Bladesmith Society to hold its annual meeting in conjunction with the BLADE Show—which the ABS has done every year since—established bona fides with many in the custom knife industry.
5) The decision in 1992 by Bruce Voyles, who by that time owned both BLADE® Magazine and the BLADE Show, to move the BLADE Show to the Renaissance Waverly in Atlanta thrusted the event onto the international cutlery stage. The show has never looked back.
6) The phenomenon that remains The Pit—the sunken lounge in the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel—became a magnet not only for revelers after the BLADE Show’s daily closings, but also a place where industry movers and shakers brainstorm new knives and knife innovations that shape the cutlery industry.
7) Then-BLADE publisher David Kowalski’s decision in 1997 to move the BLADE Show from the Renaissance to the adjacent Cobb Galleria Centre exhibition halls expanded the show’s look and size dramatically, and completed its ascension to the status of the world’s largest knife show.
9) The wholesale embracing of the BLADE Show over the past five to 10 years by the international cutlery community as the ultimate knife event has elevated the show to unheard of heights. A wealth of exhibitors—including herds of Knife-Of-The-Year and custom knife judging competition winning makers—dealers, buyers/collectors and industry professionals from every continent but Antarctica have taken the BLADE Show from being not only the world’s largest knife event, but also the most transformative global knife forum of all time.
10) Last, but most important of all, are the many thousands of patrons over the years who have made the pilgrimage to the BLADE Show to enjoy knives, knifemakers and each other in all their splendor. In the final analysis, it is the supporters of any endeavor that make the endeavor go. And nowhere does the preceding statement apply more aptly than in the case of the patrons of the BLADE Show.
When Tony Bose first started building knives, he asked a maker to share a knife pattern with him. When the maker refused, Tony decided that whenever anyone asked him for a pattern he would give it to him, and he always has, sending patterns all over the world.
Few have done more in mentoring and teaching their fellow makers through instruction and by example than Tony, who is perhaps the world’s best-known contemporary custom maker of traditional slip joints. It’s never been his mission to simply make knives. Instead, he aspires to “bring knives back from the dead.”
His love of knifemaking began in 1972, when he made his first custom fixed blade from an industrial hack-saw blade. As he put it, “I’ve been trying to make a knife that I’m completely happy with ever since. It hasn’t happened yet.”
He worked for years perfecting his skills before pursuing a full-time custom knifemaking career in 1990. His impact was quickly felt when he won Best Folder at the 1994 East Coast Custom Knife Show and also at the 1995 BLADE Show.
In 1998, Tony began working as a custom collaborator with Case. Since 1999, among the knives he has designed for Case are collaborations of vintage patterns made in limited quantities on an annual basis. One such offering was the Arkansas Hunter, winner of the BLADE Magazine 2008 Collaboration of the Year.
Tony’s a crowd favorite at Case consumer events, knife shows and swap meets across the country, and he willingly shares his techniques with other makers to keep the art of making traditional knives alive for future generations. He’s also taught classes on knives and knifemaking at BLADE University during the BLADE Show, and for many years made and donated knives for silent auctions at BLADE Shows to raise money for the old National Knife Collectors Association.
This past year, Tony was awarded the fourth annual Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award at the BLADE Show for his many contributions as a mentor to knifemakers worldwide.
MEL PARDUE
Mel Pardue
Mel Pardue made his first knife in 1952 and has fashioned them on a regular basis since 1956. A voting member of the Knifemakers’ Guild for almost four decades, he served on the Guild’s board of directors in various capacities for 14 of those years, the final 10 as vice president. He received the Ron Little Award in 1992 and is a past winner of the Guild’s Red Watson Friendship Award.
He is the first person without membership in the American Bladesmith Society to teach at the William F. Moran School of Bladesmithing, where he conducted classes on how to make folders. He has taught the same subject at the Batson Bladesmithing Symposium, and has held seminars and classes in the Pardue shop for over 40 years. His numerous designs for Benchmade Knives have been among the company’s most popular and best-selling models for many years.
In 2016, Mel was presented with the BLADE Show’s Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award for his outstanding work in teaching and mentoring his fellow makers in the art of building knives.
As one nominator noted, “Mel exemplifies the pure definition of a custom knifemaker. He is a craftsman of the highest caliber who hand makes his world-renowned knives, one by one, without the use of modern technology. He embodies the highest level of personal and professional ethics.
In the nearly four decades I have known Mel, he has demonstrated a true respect for both fellow custom makers and unselfish dedication and love for his craft, sharing hard-gained knowledge and skills. He has helped dozens of up-and-coming knifemakers of all ages.”
