Steve Shackleford's Blog

TSA Delays New Small Pocket Knife Policy

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April 23, 2013

TSA Delays New Small Pocket Knife Policy

A policy change by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allowing passengers to carry a small pocket knife or multi-tool on commercial airliners beginning April 25 has been delayed, federal officials reported.

The TSA indicated the delay is so it can consider a report on the subject from an advisory committee comprised of aviation, consumer and law enforcement officials. The TSA gave no time frame for how long the delay will last.

The delay has no effect on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s policy, which already allows certain small pocket knives and multi-tools on flights in a number of other countries.

The new TSA policy has been attacked from many corners. Some family members of people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks said they were outraged by it. At least one major airline official objected to the change, and the 90,000-member Flight Attendants Union Coalition has lambasted the policy.

Meanwhile, anti-knife politicians such as Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) say all knives should be banned from flights.

The new policy would allow certain small pocket knives and multi-tools with blades 2.36 inches long or less and a half inch wide or less. No knives with locking blades or fixed blades would be allowed, among others.

For more on the TSA ruling, see the July issue of BLADE®, on most newsstands today. For subscription info click on

www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us?icid=SHBLNCF2BL1SU-030613?lid=ssfbbl042313

Blade Magazine 2012 Imported Knife Of The Year®

Steve Shackleford

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September 20, 2012

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Designed by Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ken Onion for Columbia River Knife & Tool, the Foresight is the Blade Magazine 2012 Imported Knife Of The Year®. A recurve edge, a magnificently contoured handle for enhanced purchase and the Ikoma Korth Bearing System for ultra-smooth action help make this puppy a pocket keeper. It is also one of the 2012 Knives Of The Year that ShopBlade offered in an exclusive limited edition of 100 with Onion’s signature on the blade. Those exclusives sold out in a hurry.

•Knife: Foresight

Company: Columbia River Knife & Tool

•Designer: Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ken Onion

•Pattern: Tactical folder

•Blade steel: AUS 8 stainless

•Heat treat: 58-59 HRC

•Blade length: 3.5”

•Blade pattern: Drop point

•Blade grind: High hollow

•Blade finish: Black titanium nitride

•Handle material: Cold-forged aluminum

•Closed length: 5.17”

•Operating/locking mechanism: Flipper with locking liner

•What to look for: IKBS ball-bearing pivot system provides a smooth, fast opening

•Weight: 6.3 ozs.

•MSRP: $140

•Available: Now

The Blade Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards are voted on each year at the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com) by the show’s exhibiting booth holders, plus a panel of five special judges, the latter whose votes count double. The 2013 BLADE Show will be held May 31-June 2, once again at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.

For the latest knives, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, and much more, subscribe to BLADE® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. Click on http://www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us/?lid=blss092012

BLADE Show Will Determine Top Custom Knives

Steve Shackleford

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May 23, 2013

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BLADE Show Will Determine Top Custom Knives

The world’s top custom knives will vie for elite honors during the BLADE Show & Living Ready Expo’s (www.bladeshow.com) judging competition next week in Atlanta.

Slated for May 31-June 2 at the Cobb Galleria Centre, the show assembles an international potpourri of knives, including custom and factory. Of the almost 1,000 exhibitors, most are custom makers, and many will enter their knives in the judging competition on show Friday, May 31.

More knives are entered in the BLADE Show judging competition than any other like competition in the world. Makers from over 20 countries work feverishly to prepare their best knives, with the winners taking home trophies and the publicity the awards generate in BLADE® (www.blademag.com) Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication, and elsewhere.

The categories are: Hugh Bartrug Best of Show, Best Sword, Best Tactical Folder, Most Innovative Design, Best Handle Design, Best Folder, Yvon Vachon Best Miniature, Best Art Knife, Best Fixed Blade, Best Bowie, Best New Maker, Best Fighter, Best Knife Collaboration, Best Utility Hunter, Best Damascus and Best of the Rest.

Michael Ruth Jr. won both Best of Show and Best Sword last year for his “Maritime Law” model, based on a naval boarding cutlass. The 21-inch, flat-ground blade is a ladder-pattern damascus. The D-guard is Turkish twist damascus. The handle is pre-ban ivory. Overall length: 26 inches. Ruth’s list price to make a similar piece: $5,500.

The judging is open only to BLADE Show table holders and custom knives. Entrants are to bring their knives to Room 104 of the Cobb Galleria at 3:30 p.m. the Friday of the show. No knives will be accepted after 4 p.m. The names of the winners will be posted outside the BLADE Show office the following morning.

For the complete story on the winners, see the November BLADE, on newsstands Aug. 13, or stay tuned to www.blademag.com for further details.

BLADE Show Wants YOU!

Steve Shackleford

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May 4, 2015

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BLADE Show June 5-7! — The BLADE Show wants you for the 34th annual rendition of the world’s largest and most important event June 5-7 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

The 2015 BLADE Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta June 5-7 will have the hottest knives and makers in the largest, most important knife event ever.

Over 600 tables and more than 300 booths will display the world’s latest knives, knife accessories, knife collections, knifemaking equipment and materials and much more June 5-7 at the 34th annual BLADE Show in the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

The BLADE Show is the world’s largest and most important knife event and draws knife enthusiasts from every continent and most every knifemaker and knife company you’ve ever heard of—and many you don’t know of who will be the knife legends of tomorrow.

The show will name the world’s most prestigious factory knife honors—the BLADE Magazine 2015 Knife-Of-The-Year® Awards sponsored by New Graham Knives, including the People’s Choice Award voted on by visitors to blademag.com—and will hold the most extensive series of knife instructionals of any knife show in the 2nd Annual BLADE University sponsored by Premium Knife Supply. The show also will recognize the latest inductee into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame© and the new Aldo and Edda Lorenzi Award—a $1,000 cash prize to a knifemaker who exemplifies the best in terms of teaching others how to make knives. If he qualifies, Dan Keffeler will attempt to win an unprecedented third straight BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition conducted by BladeSports International.

Knifemakers from the Knifemakers’ Guild, the American Bladesmith Society—including some of the world’s finest handforged knives up for bid in the ABS Auction and testing for ABS master and journeyman smith status—and the world’s best unaffiliated makers will all be on hand to exhibit their latest custom knives, with some entering the show’s custom knife judging competition. Assorted demos on how to throw knives, the use of Japanese swords, how and what to buy and collect and many others, knife giveaways, lotteries, knife club meetings, after show hours revelry in the world-famous Pit, the sunken lounge of the show’s host hotel, the Renaissance-Waverly—these and much more all await you June 5-7 in Hot ‘lanta. Don’t miss it!

Click here to learn more about BLADE Show and get your tickets!

Knife Bill Would Affect BLADE Show

Steve Shackleford

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March 1, 2017

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A Georgia knife bill that would reform law and impact the 2017 BLADE Show needs your help by Friday, March 3, or it will die.

According to Knife Rights, SB 49 would increase the legal carry length of a knife blade in the state from 5.5 to 12 inches, but before that can happen the Georgia state Rules Committee must release the bill for a vote.

A recent applicable Knife Rights email stated that “efforts to completely eliminate the carry length limit have been stymied due to the manner in which a knife is defined in Georgia law. [If enacted, SB 49 would] make life much better for knife owners in Georgia without hampering future efforts to completely eliminate the carry length limit at some future opportunity.”

That’s where you come in.

If you plan to attend the BLADE Show June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta or live, travel or work in Georgia, please call or e-mail the Rules Committee members now. Whether you call or email—if emailing, enter on the subject line “Please Move SB 49″—tell them you respectfully request that they please pass SB 49 out of the Rules Committee so that it may be voted on by the full Senate. Also, be sure to thank them after you make your request. As noted in a recent Knife Rights email on the subject, “Please be polite and respectful and remain on point.” Hey, as with any request, sugar always works better than sulphur, right?

Below is a list of Georgia legislators to contact concerning the matter:

Sen. Jeff Mullis (Chairman) – (404) 656-0057 – [email protected]

Sen. Jack Hill (Vice Chairman) – (404) 656-5038 – [email protected]

Sen. Fran Millar – (404) 463-2260 – [email protected]

Sen. Bill Cowsert – (404) 463-1366 – [email protected]

Sen. Steve Gooch – (404) 656-9221 – [email protected]

Sen. Hunter Hill – (404) 463-2518 – [email protected]

Sen. John Kennedy – (404) 656-0045 – [email protected]

Sen. David Shafer – (404) 656-0048 – [email protected]

Sen. John Wilkinson – (404) 463-5257 – [email protected]

Sen. Gloria S. Butler – (404) 656-0075 – [email protected]

Sen. Steve Henson – (404) 656-0085 – [email protected]

Sen. Butch Miller – (404) 656-7454 – [email protected]

Sen. Horacena Tate – (404) 463-8053 – [email protected]

Sen. Curt Thompson – (404) 463-1318 – [email protected]

Sen. Renee Unterman – (404) 463-1368 – [email protected]

OR paste the following into your email “TO” field:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

For more information visit kniferights.org.

A.G. Russell Knife Event 2013 July 26-28

Steve Shackleford

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July 23, 2013

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A.G. Russell Knife Event 2013 July 26-28

Knifemakers, knife manufacturers and dealers, knifemaking suppliers and knife lovers in general will descend on A.G. Russell’s Knife Event 2013 Friday through Sunday, July 26-28, in Rogers, Arkansas.

Held at the luxurious John Q. Hammons Convention Center Embassy Suites, the show brings exhibitors from around the world to the Northwest corner of Arkansas for three days of knife exhibits, sales and special events. Many of the exhibitors are there simply to pay homage to Russell, a founding member of the Knifemakers’ Guild, member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame© and, along with Mrs. Goldie Russell, operator of the sprawling A.G. Russell Knives retail knife store a short drive from the John Q. Hammons Convention Center.

According to www.knifeevent.com, custom knifemakers who plan to exhibit at the show include, in alphabetical order, such well-known names as Canada’s Gaetan Beauchamp, Arno Bernard, Tim Britton, ABS master smith Jim Crowell, W.C. Davis, Bob Dozier Knives, Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer D’ Holder, Larry “The Hammer” Harley of National Geographic TV’s Lords of War, Bill Mace Imel, Germany’s Dietmar Kressler, W.D. Pease, Johnny Stout, ABS master smith Brion Tomberlin and many more. Committed factory knife companies include, again in alphabetical order, Al Mar Knives, Benchmade, Boker USA, Buck, CRKT, KA-BAR, Kershaw, Leatherman, Ontario, Queen, SOG Specialty Knives & Tools, Spyderco and others.

Show hours include early VIP admission Friday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., with general admission from 2-6 p.m. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Buy a three-day VIP pass for a chance to win a free one-night stay during the show (July 27 or 28) at the Embassy Suites, and a Saturday lunch with A.G. and Goldie Russell.

For more information visit www.knifeevent.com or call 800-255-9034.

For the latest knife news, stay tuned to www.blademag.com (www.blademag.com

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New BLADE: Makers To Watch in 2015!

Steve Shackleford

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December 30, 2014

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Kirby Lambert resumes his perennial presence on the to-watch list of Neil Ostroff of True North Knives with such models as the Prototype Crossroads flipper in CTS XHP stainless steel, a Mokuti handle with zirconium bolsters and an IKBS bearing system. (TNK image)

Dave Stark of Steel Addiction Custom Knives said two of knifemaker Lee Williams’ protégés are gaining attention quickly: Daniel Galloway and Pat Hammond. A collaboration with Williams, Galloway’s Mongoose is the cover knife of the March 2015 issue of BLADE®. Galloway’s price: $1,600. (Kris Kandler image)

Who will be the knifemakers to watch in 2015? How sharp is one of the hottest new knife steels in the industry? What were the most important knife stories of 2014? Learn the answers to these questions and much more in the new BLADE®, on newsstands today!

Some of the USA’s top custom knife purveyors were polled for the knifemakers to watch in the new year, with one of those makers, Daniel Galloway, having his “Mongoose” collaboration knife with Lee Williams serving as this issue’s cover piece. See who the other makers are, along with some of their top work, in the new BLADE on page 12.

The high-carbon steel known as 80CrV2 is among the newer and hotter blade materials among custom knifemakers especially.

Follow ABS master smith and BLADE field editor Joe Szilaski as he makes a knife of the steel and tries it out in his knifemaking and knife-using instructional, “How Sharp Is 80CrV2?”

The year past has seen many highlights and lowlights, from the landmark announcement by the Knifemakers’ Guild and the American Bladesmith Society that, after almost 40 years of jousting, they will finally hold their first annual combined knife show in 2015, trends—or were they just fads?—in the industry, to the back-and-forth between the federal government and legal ivory owners over changes in ivory regulations. Get the scoop on these happenings and more in “’14’s Blades of Grey.”

While on the subject of ivory, award-winning knifemaker Jim Hammond has made knives for decades, a number with ivory and ancient ivory handles.

Not only did he conduct an in-depth seminar on ivory at the 2014 BLADE Show, he also volunteered to write a three-part story on the past, present and future of the misunderstood substance. Check out part one in the new BLADE on page 78.

KnifeArt’s Larry Connelley said Duane Dwyer’s reputation for knife innovation helps place him among the makers to watch in the coming year. Dwyer’s SnG with a titanium frame carries a KnifeArt price of $1,200. (KnifeArt image)

There’s much more in this issue, including the latest in big flipper folders, profiles of Masecraft Supply and Pohl Force Knives, a test of two compact custom axes, four hot factory slip joints, HEPK master smith and BLADE field editor Ed Fowler’s essay on how knifemakers must follow their inner muse in “It Takes Courage To Be Yourself,” and much more, all in the March BLADE.

Check out the custom knifemakers to watch in 2015 in the new BLADE®, on newsstands now!

Knives of Summer: ECS Whitewater Knife

New Jersey Tries to Ban Fossil Ivory, Too

Hunter’s Edge: 3 Sharp Folding Hunters

New BLADE® Salutes Military On 9/11

Salute America’s Family of Veterans

TSA Delays New Small Pocket Knife Policy

Blade Magazine 2012 Imported Knife Of The Year®

BLADE Show Will Determine Top Custom Knives

BLADE Show Wants YOU!

The 2015 BLADE Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta June 5-7 will have the hottest knives and makers in the largest, most important knife event ever.

Knife Bill Would Affect BLADE Show

A.G. Russell Knife Event 2013 July 26-28

New BLADE: Makers To Watch in 2015!

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The 2015 BLADE Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta June 5-7 will have the hottest knives and makers in the largest, most important knife event ever.

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