And are they ever sweet! The new, official BLADE Show 2014 knives, limited editions of each with the show logo etched on the blades, are sweet! Designed by Ken Onion, the CRKT Swindle possesses functional, curved construction that flows “from tip to tail.” Designed by Glenn Klecker, the CRKT Nirk Tighe 2 touts a mesmerizing skeletonized handle and a functional design.
Retailing for $79.99, the BLADE Show offers this limited edition Swindle for only $50! It also showcases a smooth IKBS (Ikorma Korth Bearing System) pivot, allowing the hollow-ground, modified wharncliffe blade to move with ease, while the frame lock mechanics and flipper-style opener are neatly tucked into the grooved and groovy handle. Click here for much more on this spectacular knife!
Retailing for $130, the limited edition Nirk Tighe 2 is an integral lockback folder with strong blade lock-up that only gets stronger as you grip the handle tighter. A drop-point blade with recurved edge offers a nice touch as it flows from the handle shape. Learn much more about the Nirk Tighe 2 here!
The federal ivory ban, the 12th Annual BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition, how to make a cut ‘n shoot and much more will highlight the free seminars of the 33rd Annual BLADE Show June 6-8 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Dan Keffeler shows his championship form in the BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition, one of several free BLADE Show seminars. (PointSeven photo)
The seminars are free to all BLADE Show ticket holders only.
Knifemaker Jim Hammond has made knives with assorted ivory handle materials for decades, and Sandra Brady has scrimmed ivory handles for many years as well. She also has been on the front lines of the debate over the federal ivory ban. Both will discuss the ban, its effect on knives, how to identify the many different ivories and much more in their free seminar, “Ivory: Past, Present and Future.”
Knifemaker Dan Keffeler will return to defend his title in the 12th Annual BLADE Show World Championship Cutting Competition, conducted by BladeSports International (BSI). Others who will participate in the competition that pits big cutters in such regimens as the 2-inch free-hanging rope cut, 2×4 chop and more will include past champion Ted Ott, BSI Executive Director Donavon Phillips, Jim Cottingham and others.
An article posted Tuesday, April 1, 2014, on www.thepilot.com, an online news site serving Moore County, North Carolina, detailed Spartan Blades’ knife manufacturing facility move to a historic restaurant, now closed of course—the LobSteer on U.S. 1 in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
The sign outside the former LobSteer restaurant on U.S. 1 in Southern Pines proclaims that Spartan Blades is coming soon.
“We’ve had people coming in and asking about being short-order cooks and waitresses,” Spartan Blades co-owner Curtis Iovito said with a laugh last week, “so we’re telling people it’s going to be a Greek-Japanese fusion restaurant.”
The confusion is understandable, given that the LobSteer operated on the site for 44 years until closing last year.
But Spartan Blades manufactures finely crafted tactical and field knives for the military, law enforcement, outdoor enthusiasts and collectors. The knives are sold in gun shops, cutlery shops and specialty stores in 30 states and 20 countries through a network of 120 authorized dealers.
“We’ve gained quite a bit of notoriety in the past few years,” Iovito said. “We had over $1 million in sales for the first time last year.”
Iovito and business partner Mark Carey, who met while serving in the U.S. Army Special Forces, currently produce 2,500 knives a year in less than 1,000 square feet of space in what used to be the mule barn at Malcolm Blue Farm in Aberdeen.
The 2014 BLADE Show will have a new Knife Of The Year Award: the People’s Choice Award. Last year’s Collaboration Of The Year was between Microtech and Mick Strider for the Microtech D.O.C. (PointSeven photo)
The BLADE Show is proud to announce a BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® award new for 2014: the People’s Choice Award.
It, along with the other Knife-Of-The-Year Awards—all sponsored by New Graham Knives—will be chosen during the 33rd Annual BLADE Show June 6-8 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Designed as a way to get the rank-and-file of knife enthusiasts everywhere involved in the selection of one of the industry’s most coveted factory knife honors, the People’s Choice Award will be determined by a vote of knife enthusiasts via the BLADE website, www.blademag.com. Stay tuned to the site for more details on how you can participate.
Only factory knife and factory knife accessory companies with booths at the BLADE Show are eligible to enter the competition for the BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year Awards.
The 13 other awards are voted on by BLADE Show booth exhibitors, with the exception of the Publisher’s Award and the Industry Achievement Award, which are named by the staff of BLADE® Magazine.
KNIFE-OF-YEAR DISPLAY DEADLINE MOVED UP!
Entries for the Knife-Of-The-Year Awards are exhibited in the Knife-Of-The-Year Display area in the show hall of the Cobb Galleria Centre for all show patrons to see. The deadline for factory booth exhibitors to have their Knife-Of-The-Year entries on display in the area has been moved up to show Friday at noon this year from the 4 p.m. Friday of previous years. The change is due to the People’s Choice Award, which will require the BLADE Show staff to photograph ALL of the entries and post those images on blademag.com for knife enthusiasts to study before placing their vote for the award.
For the latest knives, knife news, trends and more, stay tuned to www.blademag.com.
Three headlines in a recent “Knife Rights” organization email newsletter bode well for Americans’ own knife rights. The three headlines read:
“Tennessee Switchblade Ban and Length Limit Repeal Bill Signed into Law by Gov. Haslam”
“Kansas Legislature Passes Knife Law Preemption Fix. Call or Email Gov. Brownback Now!”
And: “South Carolina Preemption Bill Introduced in House Companion to Senate Bill”
For the full text that accompanied the headlines, including links to contact your state representatives if you live in Kansas or South Carolina, click here.
The battle to stop federal measures that punish law-abiding citizens and do little to address the issue of elephant ivory poaching has entered a new phase.
The ivory battle has entered a new phase, and the deadline for your ivory letter to Fish & Wildlife is April 14. One among many of the problems with the proposed federal regulations is that legal fossil ivory like antique narwhal, such as on Cliff Parker’s folder, may be mistaken by federal officials for elephant ivory and confiscated. (PointSeven photo)
If you are a duly authorized representative of a company with “significant commercial operations and employees,” now is the time to present U.S. Fish & Wildlife with a letter to oppose the pending federal measures, the first round of which reportedly is due to be released sometime this month. However, if you act no later than April 14 and send the letter to FWS, you will be in time to have your voice heard by those who can amend or even stop those measures before they happen.
Simply email the following letter to Doug Ritter of Knife Rights at [email protected], and he will forward it with others to FWS officials expressing concern over the harm the new federal measure would cause, not only to worldwide elephant populations but also to law-abiding citizens who own ivory knives and other ivory products and have owned the very same ones for years, if not decades.
The letter is as follows:
Subject: Ivory Ban Knife Community Letter
My name is (insert your full name) and I am (insert your executive position in the organization or company) of (insert name of your organization or company). As its duly authorized representative, I request that you add our name to the Knife Community letter opposing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed ban on commercial trade in elephant ivory.
(Insert Official Address of your Organization or Company)
(Insert Organization of Company Website)
(Insert your phone number in case of questions)
Regards,
(Insert Your Name)
(Insert Your Title)
(Insert Your Company’s Name)
(Insert Your Mailing Address)
(Insert Your Website Address)
(Insert Your Email Address)
(Insert Your Phone Number)
For the latest knives, knife news, trends and more, stay tuned to blademag.com.
Timely articles on knives and the knife industry are what keep most enthusiasts interested, especially if issues covered in magazines and online are hot topics. Such is the case with the feature “Lotteries: Good or Bad for the Knife Industry?” by Mike Haskew that ran in the June 2014 issue ofBLADE®. The gist of the article is that lotteries held at knife shows have their up and down sides, but for now they appear here to stay.
(At left is a special Ernest Emerson G3 Model with the USN logo for the USN Gathering.)
The feature starts: Since demand routinely exceeds supply, many custom knifemakers and knife show promoters use the lottery system in an attempt to make the opportunity to buy certain custom knives available to more people.
While there are variations on the theme, the basic premise of the lottery is that those interested in buying a knife from a certain maker place their names in a “hat” and hope they are lucky enough to have their names drawn for the first right to buy. It’s that simple.
Amid the ongoing discussion of the merits of the lottery, there are both advocates and skeptics.
“I’m a big proponent as long as a lottery makes sense,” related Larry Brahms of BladeArt and the USN Gathering knife shows. “You’ve got a maker doing a show and he has a five-to-seven-year backlog of orders. He wants to see customers and have something there. He may have six or seven pieces and 200 people that want to buy them. There has to be a fair way to sell the knives, and the lottery is a fair way if it’s organized and cohesive.”
To read the rest of the story, see the June 2014 issue of BLADE. So what do you think? Do you like knife lotteries?
And are they ever sweet! The new, official BLADE Show 2014 knives, limited editions of each with the show logo etched on the blades, are sweet! Designed by Ken Onion, the CRKT Swindle possesses functional, curved construction that flows “from tip to tail.” Designed by Glenn Klecker, the CRKT Nirk Tighe 2 touts a mesmerizing skeletonized handle and a functional design.
Retailing for $130, the limited edition Nirk Tighe 2 is an integral lockback folder with strong blade lock-up that only gets stronger as you grip the handle tighter. A drop-point blade with recurved edge offers a nice touch as it flows from the handle shape. Learn much more about the Nirk Tighe 2 here!
