The 31st Annual BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) is 10 days away—June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta—and one of the big drawing cards will be the annual American Bladesmith Society knife auction.
In addition to its members showcasing their latest knives, the ABS will sell six knives—one each forged by Karl B. Andersen, Jon Christensen (above), Jay Hendrickson, Dr. Dan Petersen, Red St. Cyr and BLADE® field editor Joe Szilaski—and more to the highest bidder(s) in its annual auction, with all proceeds going toward funding ABS educational events across the country. For more on the auction, call 419-832-0400 or visit www.americanbladesmith.com.
The auction will be the Saturday of the show, June 9, in Room 103. All BLADE Show ticket holders will be admitted free of charge.
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication.
S.E. Cupp (right) shows Ken Onion (left) her knife-throwing form during a recent hunt in Alaska.
Meet and hear noted conservative political commentator, author, columnist and knife user, S.E. Cupp at the Knife Rights awards breakfast during the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com). Her frequent appearances on Fox News and GBTV or her columns that are originally published in the New York Daily News are noted for insightful views about topical issues of the day.
Cupp’s talk is titled, “Leave My Knives Alone! A New York Girl’s Reflections on Life, Liberty and the Lunacy of Anti-knife Laws.”
As Cupp notes, “a knife is more than just a utility tool. In a pinch, it can also serve as a defensive weapon, clearly protected by the Second Amendment…Whether in town or on a hunt, a knife earns its place at my side as an essential tool. I am a knife user and proud to be one. Leave my knives alone! ”
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication.
Terri Lynn of Jantz Supply will be among the participants in the inaugural women’s BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition conducted by BladeSports International.
The inaugural BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition for women will be held during the 35th Annual BLADE Show June 3-5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Held in conjunction with the men’s 14th Annual BLADE Show World Championship Competition, the women’s title event, as well as the men’s, will be conducted by BladeSports International in “The Courtyard”—the parking lot of the show’s host hotel, the Renaissance Waverly. Festivities will commence at 4:15 p.m. the Saturday of the show, June 4, under a huge outdoor tent new for this year sponsored by Burr King.
The tentative list of women who will compete includes Jessica Elias, who became the first woman to vie in the men’s World Championship last year, Shanna Kemp, Jessica Hinton, Terri Lynn and Nicole Warden. The winner will receive a fully engraved championship belt buckle similar to the one awarded to the winner in the men’s World Championship.
The BLADE Show World Championships consist of a series of cutting tests performed by each contestant, including chopping 2x4s in half, cutting free-hanging rope, cutting rolling golf balls in half and other tests, including seeing how many water-filled plastic bottles standing all in a row the contestant can successfully cut. To add to the drama, exactly which cutting tests will be included in the event are usually kept unknown to the contestants until right up to when the Championships begin. Points are awarded via a system that considers the most successful cuts in the least amount of time. The contestants must use fixed blades that cannot exceed specified blade and overall lengths, pass stringent BSI safety courses and observe other requirements.
In the men’s World Championship, Dan Keffeler is expected to return to defend his title. He has won the BLADE Show World Championship three years running, a record for consecutive titles, and will be attempting to win an unprecedented fourth straight. The only other person to win three World Championships is Reggie Barker, though he did not win them consecutively. The tentative list of men expected to compete includes two-time world champ Gary Bond, three-time national champ Donavon Phillips, Daniel Coldiron, Jerry Kemp, Jo Smith, Christoper Warden, Brad Stallsmith, Luke Stallsmith, William LaRue, Dwight Schoneweis, Mark Elick, Andrew Blanchard, L.T. Wright, Dennis Mashburn, Russel Cain and Mike Eubanks.
Two weeks from tomorrow, the 31st Annual BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com), the world’s most important knife event, will go down June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
Join the over 900 exhibitors that include knifemakers, knife companies, knife accessory companies, knifemaking suppliers, purveyors, swordsmiths, sheath makers, knifemaking equipment manufacturers—in other words, everything that has to do with stuff that cuts—at the biggest knife party anywhere. Show times will be Friday, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In many ways the show starts two weeks from today, Thursday, June 7. That is the day many of the exhibitors start arriving to set up in the mammoth Cobb Galleria Centre show hall, and patrons start arriving to meet and greet their fellow knife enthusiasts for the coming three days of non-stop cutlery revelry.
Here’s hoping you’re one of them!
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication.
2014 Accessory of the Year: SOG Blade Light Sheath
Image 1 of 14
The 2014 BLADE Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards were announced the evening of June 7 at the 2014 BLADE Show in the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.
Here are the winners. Stay tuned for more details.
Publisher’s Award: Mark Zalesky
Industry Achievement Award: Aldo and Edda Lorenzi
2014 Accessory of the Year: SOG Blade Light Sheath
2014 Kitchen Knife Of The Year®: Kai USA Shun Dual Core
2014 Investor/Collector Knife Of The Year®: Pro-Tech Ultimate Godson 2014
2014 Collaboration Knife Of The Year®: Spartan Blades/Les George
2014 Best Buy Knife Of The Year®: Kershaw/Emerson CQC
2014 Manufacturing Quality Award: Lion Steel
2014 Hall of Fame Inductee: Goldie Russell
2014 Most Innovative Imported Knife Of The Year®: Klecker Knives Ti-KLAX
2014 Most Innovative American Knife Of The Year®: Spartan Blades Integral Frame Slipjoint
2014 Imported Knife Of The Year®: Spyderco Rubicon
2014 American Made Knife Of The Year®: Zero Tolerance 0562CF
2014 People’s Choice Knife Of The Year®: RAT Worx MRX
2014 Overall Knife Of The Year®: CRKT/Ken Onion Hijinx
We take a gander at some of the knives that showed up at the first BLADE Tactical at CANCON Carolina.
Sun, guns and a whole bunch of knives—BLADE Tactical was a whole new twist on BLADE Show. And a heck of a marriage between it and one of our sister events, CANCON Carolina.
Held Nov. 7-8 at South Carolina’s Clinton House Plantation range, the inaugural BLADE Tactical brought together some 25 knifemakers to show and sell their wares, all of the blades with a definite tactical bent. The knife show ran the first day, on the periphery of the shooting events. It had a different feel than any of our legacy shows, given it was outdoors and had the constant report of suppressed gunfire as background noise. But it wasn’t too far off our big three with some knife enthusiasts spending the night in the parking lot so they could be the first to the BLADE Tactical pavilion.
With that sort of enthusiasm, we’ll chalk the event down as a success.
For those who were unable to make the BLADE Tactical show or have their interest piqued, we’ve put together a recap of some of the knives that made their way to central South Carolina. Take a gander at what was up for sale and start planning now for next year’s B-Tact extravaganza. For anyone looking to pick up a hot new knife and burn some powder at the range—consider the gathering your Valhalla!
Krein Knives
Tactical doesn’t preclude good looks, which is certainly the case with this Krein Knives Alpha. The blue thumb studs add a nice flare to this top-end framelock.
Carver Knives
Carver Knives‘ Waif has it going on. Up front is a titanium handled-model, in the back a dark Ti handle. Both are thin as a minute, particularly when measured up the knucks in the middle.
Pro Tech Knives
Pro-Tech came to BLADE Tactical with an offer you couldn’t refuse, like a number of these thin and wicked Godfather autos.
The company also offered a nice bit of custom bling for the show, a CANCON blaze orange G-10 insert on several of it’s knives buttons.
Elishewitz Custom Creations
With the Ek Integral, Elishewitz Custom Creations combined class and performance in a light and functional package. A nice dagger-style blade deploys in the wink of an eye via a thumb stud.
McNees Knives
Some hefty debuts from McNees Knives at BLADE Tactical. In the rear, is the Ringed Agent and up front the Stalker. Par usual for McNees, both feel like their built to beat the world.
Somewhat from the neighborhood (Alabama), the McNees crew drove to BLADE Tactical. Needless to say, they did so in style… nice wheels.
Nicholas Nichols Knives
Certainly, the Guppy is no small fry. Nichols Knives drop point has plenty of size to get nearly any job done, but stays light in the pocket thanks to a titanium handle.
Spartan Blades
Spartan Blades was right at home at BLADE Tactical—no surprise there. But the belle of the ball was the company’s Ronin-Torii, a traditional tanto, which few would want to find themselves on the wrong end of.
Nottingham Tactical
Believe it or not, you’re looking at six-years of development. Nottingham Tactical was game for a carbon-fiber model, but it took a ton of work to get it to come together, from finding the carbon-fiber up to the abuse to getting the right adhesives to get the metal parts to stay.
Vero Engineering
It wasn’t all fixed blades and folders for the knife side of the show. After BLADE Tactical closed, the knifemakers hit the range at CANCON for some therapeutic trigger time. Here’s Joseph Vero of Vero Engineering getting on one of Maxim Defense’s shorties.
The most extensive knife collection displays anywhere helped highlight this past weekend’s 31st Annual BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. Four won awards for being the best of the lot, with Brent and Dee Schindewolf topping them all by winning Best Of Show for their special collection of Buck knives.
The winners, by award:
Best Of Show: Buck Gen Five Josh Buck Skinners, by Brent and Dee Schindewolf
Judges Award: Miniatures: Faberge of Firearms, by Tom and Gwen Guinn
Judges Award: Buck Factory Production Knives of the 1960s, by Larry Oden
Judges Award: Buck 110s, by Jim Seagle (a Buck 110 is pictured at left)
Build Your Own Knife Display Case
Every knife collection needs a secure way to display its blades. Learn how to build your own with the $5 Cutting Edge Display Case download. It contains all the instructions you need to craft a handsome knife display case.
