It’s impossible to get all the “good stuff” in feature story form in each issue of BLADE®, so here’s a sample of some of the material we had to cut.

IN TALKING ABOUT KIT CARSON’S fancy tactical folders for the story on page 12, collector Tarek Mirshak was gushing in his praise of the versions the ever-popular Carson exhibited at the 2008 BLADE Show. “Kit is getting better and better,” Mirshak observed. “Even though he’s getting up there in age, it was one of the finest batches of knives he’s ever had at the BLADE Show. I told him, ‘You seem to get better with age old man,’ and he laughed. He’s always so nice.” Mirshak also lauded the upscale tactical folders of Allen Elishewitz (see page 12). “He innovates and makes so many different knives in evolving mechanisms, designs, blade shapes and materials,” Mirshak said of Elishewitz. “He likes to make what he likes making. He’s not tied to doing the same thing over and over again.”

IN ADDITION TO TABLE EXHIBITORS leaving the BLADE Show early on Sunday (see page 37), another complaint show patrons have is of makers who sell the best of their knives a day or so before the show begins. According to Roger Pinnock, patrons need not have that concern with ABS master smith Don Hanson (see page 12). “He won’t sell a knife until the show opens,” Pinnock said. It would be nice to see the exhibitors who don’t emulate Hanson’s lead follow it instead.

IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO SEE MAKERS who have labored in relative obscurity for years get their just due. Larry Newton is such a cutler (see page 12). “Larry is one of the quiet guys who flies under the radar,” KnifeArt.com’s Rodney Connelley noted. “He’s really a master at what he does. Anybody who can win the award for best folder at the BLADE Show is somebody to watch out for.” I was in the judging room when one of the judges heaped praise on Newton’s award-winning folder. The judge seemed blown away by the gold-inlay work and overall quality of the knife.

IN THE SEPTEMBER BLADE, it was stated in this space that we would do a story about the series of knives by 90-year-old Glenn Marshall commemorating his 80th year of knifemaking. One of the knives and the story are on page 106. However, don’t let the word commemorating fool you. While inspecting Glenn’s “Hootie” model, I put a clean half-inch gash in my thumb. That puppy is about as sharp as any knife I’ve ever handled! Now, if I could just learn to handle one …

“WE HAVE A LAW,” announced Palmer Freeman, lobbyist for the American Knife & Tool Institute this past June 25 after the South Carolina legislature overturned the veto of Gov. Mark Sanford and bill S968 cleared its final hurdle. The result: the phrase “knives with blades longer than two inches” was removed from the definition of illegal weapon under South Carolina law. In other words, it is now legal to carry a knife with a blade longer than 2 inches in the state. In addition, the word knives was inserted into the language of a South Carolina law, thereby adding knives to a list of items not considered illegal weapons “unless they are used with the intent to commit a crime or in furtherance of a crime.”

It was another feather in the cap for AKTI, its membership and concerned knife enthusiasts. According to the AKTI’s David Kowalski, the measure would not have passed without the flood of e-mails, correspondence and phone calls placed by knife enthusiasts to South Carolina legislators. Both the AKTI and all who contributed to the grassroots effort are to be saluted.
AND FINALLY, knifemaker Greg Lightfoot has a way of putting things into perspective, including his light-hearted assessment of the BLADE Show West’s old venue. The new site, an impressive facility with all the amenities, the Monarch Hotel and Convention Center (see page 22) in Portland, Oregon, would appear to be a step up from the previous one, which, admittedly, had its problems, including last year’s surrounding road construction that made getting to the show an adventure at best.

Incidentally, the old venue was located across the street from a railroad. When asked what he liked most about the new site, Greg deadpanned, “The new venue will be great. People will have shopping close by, great restaurants and, best of all, you will not get run over by a freight train trying to get into the parking lot.”