You’ve heard all about BLADE Show 2017 but you can get the inside scoop on the show’s hottest knives and knifemakers and what and who will be hot in the future as a result in BLADE®’s special 2017 BLADE Show Recap issue, on newsstands now! Or, if you prefer a digital copy, click here.
The world’s largest and most important knife event enjoyed its longest lines ever of patrons queuing up to get in, and the patrons packing aisles for much of the three-day event enjoyed the best knives and knifemakers the international cutlery industry has to offer.
Why was the show among the best if not the best ever? What were the demographics of the patrons who attended? What nationalities were represented most in
what has become a show teeming with knife enthusiasts from all corners of the globe? Did more women attend than ever before, marking a new, unprecedented wave of knife enthusiasts from the female side? How many patrons actually bought knives instead of kicked tires, and how much did they spend?
Speaking of knives, which patterns sold most? What sub-categories of exhibitors—knifemaking suppliers, acc-
essory makers and others—emerged in terms of high numbers of sales? And what does it portend for the future of the BLADE Show and the knife industry in general? These questions and others are addressed in “BLADE Show Stands Tall & Delivers” on page 12.
Of course, the BLADE Show is much more, including the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards, the BLADE Show Custom Knife Judging Competition and the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame inductions. Get all the specs and fantastic images of the knives by new Official BLADE Show photographer Chuck Ward in the respective stories “Best Blades of Both Hemispheres” and “BLADE Show Custom Kingpins,” the latter including this issue’s cover knife, the CAS/Sam Lurquin Sub-Hilt that won the Hugh Bartrug Best In Show Award.
The announcement that Benchmade CEO Les de Asis and American Bladesmith Society master smith Jim Batson had been elected to the Cutlery Hall Of Fame was made earlier in the year, but why they were elected was revealed in detail during their official inductions during the BLADE Magazine Awards reception the Saturday night of the BLADE Show. Get the lowdown on their career accomplishments, their induction speeches during the reception and more in the special story on page 42.
The BLADE Show is also the place where factory knife companies introduce their latest knives, though this year’s show may have seen more new knife debuts than ever. Check out the fantastic array of production pieces in “All Blades Pointed to Atlanta.”
There’s more this issue, including a salute to Alfred Pendray, tests of locking folders and drop-point hunters, the new Case/Daniel Winkler collaboration, a retrospective of Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Michael Walker’s landmark linerlock that changed knife history forever and much more, all in the latest issue of BLADE.
