In my haste to get the winners of the 2011 BLADE Show custom knife competition on our Web site, I entered the wrong name for the winner of Best Bowie. The correct winner is ABS master smith John White, not John Martin. I inadvertently put John Martin instead of John White. The fact that RJ Martin won Best Fighter and was listed right after John White on the list in the story must’ve bumfuzzled me.
My apologies to John White, who has won many custom awards at the BLADE Show over the years and is one of the leading bladesmiths in our industry today. Sorry about that, John!
Oh–and the original story listing the winners has been amended to include John White.
Do you have the grit, guts and gall to show their best impersonation of the one and only Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey, a.k.a. The Gunny, to the world?
SOG Specialty Knives and Tools has kicked off the “Are You The Gunny?” contest. Participants will be asked to videotape and upload their best Gunny impression to SOG’s Facebook page. The best impression will be selected with a winner and guest flown to Las Vegas for the 2011 Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show and Conference. Besides gaining access to the show as a guest of SOG, the winner will be invited to a special cocktail party on the first night to meet The Gunny himself.
Full entry information and contest rules are posted on the SOG Facebook page under “Contest,” along with a special video message from The Gunny. The contest ends on December 21st. I have also included information below on some of the brand-new products SOG will be introducing at the 2011 SHOT Show.
After years as a drill instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps, R. Lee Ermey became widely known for his Academy Award-nominated performance in Full Metal Jacket, as well as roles in Apocalypse Now, the Toy Story trilogy and the History Channel series Lock N’ Load With R. Lee Ermey. Ermey is a spokesperson for SOG, a brand for specialty knives and tools by the military, law enforcement, industrial tradesmen and outdoorsmen worldwide.
The SHOT Show is the world’s largest and most comprehensive trade show for professionals involved with the shooting sports and hunting industries, and is the premier showcase of combined firearms, ammunition, outdoor apparel, optics and more. It will be held at the Sands Expo & Convention Center from January 18-21. Full information can be found at www.shotshow.org.
Beware BLADE Show hotel scammers who may contact you concerning hotel reservations for the world’s biggest knife show June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. (PointSeven image)
It’s that time of year again, time when Internet, telephone and other scammers misrepresent themselves as so-called “official” agents of the BLADE Show in booking hotel rooms for the world’s biggest and most important knife event. Beware BLADE Show hotel scammers! To find out how to both identify such unauthorized charlatans and protect yourself from them, read on.
Slated for June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, the 2017 BLADE Show will attract knife enthusiasts from all over the world, knife enthusiasts unscrupulous scammers will try to exploit. However, if you follow a few easy guidelines, you can foil the scammers and get the best lodging for the show your hard-earned dollars can buy.
The BLADE Show has designated EventSphere as the ONLY housing provider for the 2017 BLADE Show. If it’s anyone but EventSphere, delete. There are fraudulent companies and organizations that will try and present themselves as official partners of the BLADE Show and offer you a potential room that might not be guaranteed or available. When booking with Eventsphere use the online reservation link or call 855-547-8429 and expect to receive an immediate confirmation e-mail.
PLEASE NOTE: EventSphere will NEVER call you directly to book a reservation!!!!!!!
The only reasons EventSphere would call you are:
•You phoned and left a message requesting a returned call;
•There is a problem with an existing reservation;
•Someone from BLADE Show management told EventSphere to contact you.
Should you be contacted by someone other than EventSphere or have any question concerning what you may suspect is a fraudulent booking attempt, please let us know by emailing [email protected].
For more information on the 2017 BLADE Show, the 4th Annual BLADE University and more, stay tuned to this space or visit BLADE Show.
Some of the world’s finest custom knives and the people who make, sell, supply the materials for and buy/collect them will be the focus of the granddaddy of all custom knife shows, the 42nd Annual Knifemakers’ Guild Show, Sept. 16-18 in the ballroom (see picture) of the historic Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.
The festivities will begin with the President’s Gala for honorary Guild members Thursday night, Sept. 15, at 7:30. The show will kick into high gear Friday from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday hours will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday hours will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Over 100 tables of custom knives, prize drawings, awards and more will be among the highlights.
Located at 500 Fourth St. in the heart of downtown Louisville, the regal Seelbach Hilton features all the amenities and is within easy walking distance of a number of downtown eateries, watering holes, shops, and much more. The Seelbach can be reached at 502-585-3200.
Alan Snow (right) holds the Stealth III made by Kevin Hoffman (left) at a past Guild Show.
The Knifemakers’ Guild Show will hold its 44th annual rendition—the granddaddy of all custom knife shows—this weekend at the Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Knifemakers, knifemaking suppliers, purveyors and more from all over the world will convene in Derby Town, where some of the best custom knives will be shown and sold.
3) Encourage ethical and professional business conduct;
4) Sponsor an annual business meeting and knife show.
The show has been held in assorted venues over the years, including Kansas City, Dallas, Orlando, New Orleans, Las Vegas and now Louisville. Some of the earliest Kansas City shows were held at the old Muehlebach Hotel, where, in addition to Loveless and Dennehy, such Guild legends as Cutlery Hall-Of-Famers Buster Warenski, Bill Moran, Ron Lake, George Herron, D’ Holder, Frank Centofante, Gil Hibben and many others displayed their knives and kick-started an organization that continues to be recognized worldwide today. Hibben, in fact, remains active in the Guild today, and is in his seventh and final year as Guild president. He will step down this year.
Make plans now to attend the show this weekend. There will be a special President’s Gala Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Seelbach, and should be a great place to see Gil and Linda Hibben in their final show as the Guild’s first family, as well as all the other makers and their great knives show Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
For the latest in knives and knife news, keep it here at www.blademag.com.
Survival instructor, author and TV star Creek Stewart cross-carries a Whiskey Knives Corvid.
When Matthew Stewart was 5, his grandfather gave him a nickname that would chart the course of his life. “I was always playing in the creek,” said Creek Stewart, survival instructor, author and star of The Weather Channel’s now-cancelled “Fat Guys In The Woods.” No matter the time or weather, the boy was at the creek—happy. Not much has changed, except the budding outdoorsman of yore has now built an empire on his comfortable, family-friendly style of survival instruction. All things Creek also includes the soundly crafted, old-timey line of Whiskey Knives, which in addition to being ideally designed for bushcraft and easy on the wallet, also offers some scaled-down versions of classic styles that hands of all sizes can control. You can read all about Whiskey Knives and how they are made in an upcoming issue of BLADE magazine. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up so you don’t miss it.
Creek is “everywhere” and there are good reasons for that, not least being that he is genuinely warm and friendly. “I like working with people,” he said. Creek was a Boy Scout and an Eagle Scout. The first E in the CRE///K logo is representative of a scratch from an eagle’s talons. He continues to be a devotee of the Boy Scouts of America and a counselor for the Wilderness Survival merit badge. He lives the Be Prepared Boy Scout motto, and opted for Not If But When as his own tagline. Yes, scouts are being taught all kinds of skills, explained Creek, “but they’re also building character and learning life lessons.” He listed perseverance, teamwork, manners, camaraderie—all things the Boy Scouts instilled in him.
At Butler University in Indianapolis, Creek first perused a pharmacy major, but the misdirection, the urban setting and a campus crow that thought it was an alarm clock brought him to an awakening. You can read about his adventures trying to snare the bird on his website at The Crow, but in summary, the crow reawakened Creek’s inner woodsman. He decided he wanted to teach wilderness survival skills and set about making it happen.
He settled on a business major, a plan that would serve him well. During his sophomore year, he wrote and illustrated a wilderness survival field manual that collected his knowledge at the time. He had the book printed and spiral-bound, and offered free classes at Boy Scout troops to peddle it. He sold books, but he longed for a way to bring his customers to him rather than traveling to them. He asked his parents if he could teach a class in the woods on the family farm. Although still unnerved by his switch in major, they agreed. He sent out press releases and 15 people showed up. He’s been teaching ever since, part-time for many years but never quitting on his dream.
Creek’s business schooling helped him hone his marketing strategy. His many brands include, in addition to Whiskey Knives, Willow Haven Outdoor Survival School where he teaches one-day and weekend getaway survival courses on his 20-acre property, complete with lodge, in Anderson, Indiana. He also is lead instructor for the Escape The Woods challenge, which takes place at various locales around the country. The Not If But When Survival Store, which his parents now run, offers a collection of widely available survival items. And, Apocabox is a bimonthly subscription; six times a year members receive a box of survival tools and gear, hand-picked by Creek. It also includes a challenge that you can practice in the calm and comfort of a non-crisis. For instance, the December box included instructions on making snowshoes from your Christmas tree.
Creek’s overview of Whiskey Knives includes a revelation: his first knife.
Creek also saw that writing was going to be essential to reaching the right people—namely men and women of all ages and abilities. (While other survival instructors might emphasize immersing you in a survival scenario while you’re still learning, Creek feels that people absorb more and retain it longer, if they’re warm, dry and fed.)
His best-selling book is “Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag,” but he offers one on putting together a bug-out vehicle, two on survival skills and an intriguing one on the survival skills used in “The Hunger Games.” But Creek has also written two fiction books. “Stuck” is a short story about a Boy Scout dropout who through a series of bad decisions finds himself in a crisis situation—quicksand!—that he can only survive by using what he learned in scouting. “Rugosa” is a young-adult romance, due out this month. The novel has been in the works for six years. “I’m really sticking my neck out on this one.” Creek is anxious to see if his fans “get” it. “I’m a survivalist, but I’m also a person,” Creek said. (Check back for an upcoming review.)
Some people learn about Creek via completely different avenues. They may read some of his guest posts on The Art of Manliness blog and other websites. “I’ve known Brett (McKay, founder of AoM) a long time. I’m so proud to be a part of that,” Creek said. The Art of Manliness celebrates men stepping boldly into their roles as men, husbands and fathers, and includes articles on everything from health and style to relationships and how to survive in the wild. Creek has also been a guest on television shows such as TODAY, Inside Edition and Fox & Friends. He’s been featured in magazines like Men’s Fitness, Backpacker and Outdoor Life. And he was the star of The Weather Channel’s hit show, “Fat Guys in the Woods.”
When IBM purchased the digital portion of The Weather Channel in 2015, many programs were slashed, and “Fat Guys in the Woods” was just one of them. The show provided Creek with the ideal outlet for his wildlife survival instructing and was an inspiration to viewers who wanted to spend more time in the outdoors or jumpstart a healthier lifestyle. Three sedentary buddies would spend a week with Creek, learning survival basics. The last 24 hours would be spent alone, each man building his own shelter and fire. Creek would award one of them with a knife-sheath set. One would stand out as needing encouragement, or being there for the right reasons or excelling in a certain skill. “He gave it everything he got—a job well done,” as Creek put it.
That kit was an Ontario Knife Company’s Black Bird SK-5 wilderness survival knife with a sheath designed by Paul Scheiter of Hedgehog Leatherworks. It was the sheath that had Creek thinking about how to fine-tune the products he offered going forward. “I love my parents, and every day I get to spend with them (at Not If But When) is a blessing,” Creek said. He’s also happy to provide a place where people can find all the products he recommends in one place. But what he really likes is working with small American businesses that reflect simple, well-made, traditional craftsmanship. “I like things that have a story.”
That quest for mom-and-pop entrepreneurship and throwback workmanship with a story behind it, is what led to one of Creeks proudest collaborations: Whiskey Knives made by Reptile Toolworks in Kentucky. To read more about this partnership and exactly how Whiskey Knives are constructed, be sure to subscribe to subscribe to BLADE magazine.
BLADE Magazine is all about the blade: what it’s made out of, how its made, to what specifications and even who makes it. Be sure to keep your issues coming as the months tick down to BLADE Show, June 2-4 in Atlanta, Georgia. At $21.98 you’ll save 70 percent off the newsstand rate. Other options include digital, Canadian print and International print subscriptions.
Knife Showcase will be getting a redesign in the coming weeks. Not to worry, I told the workers to make sure they cover their shoes before walking on your carpet.
