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Blog: Blade Show 2008
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August 26, 4:00 pm
Although BLADE Show West honors the best in handmade knives every year, it has never presented a factory knife award.
That will change in 2008.
The People's Choice Award is a new honor designed to recognize the best example of the newest factory knives at the show. As the name suggests, only show attendees will be allowed to vote.
"This year we will be asking our show attendees to vote for what they believe to be the best of the newest factory knives at the show," said Mary Lutz, show coordinator. "A display case will be provided in the show lobby for any exhibiting factory knife company to submit its choice of what it thinks is the best single knife among its latest knives. The winner will be announced on our website, as well as in our follow-up issue."
August 20, 9:00 am
As Columbia River Knife & Tool continued to grow, they realized they were bursting at the seams at their old warehouse in Tualatin, OR. A move was necessary and they migrated to a beautiful new building earlier this summer.
"The new digs are about twice the size of our old facility," said Doug Flagg.
"The office people were stacked like cordwood and to move one pallet we had to move six others just to get the forklift close."
Being stacked like cordwood is a dicey situation since office folk are sometimes an ornery bunch.
In no way am I speaking from experience.
CRKT's new facility is still located in Tualatin, OR at 18348 SW 126th Place.
August 19, 10:15 am
Although I was not in Arkansas over the weekend for A.G.'s big bash, BLADE's editor-in-chief Steve Shackleford was in attendance. He noted the following: both the show hall at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center and the hotel rooms at the accompying Embassy Suites were each clean and new; the hotel rooms were suites with flat screen televisions and doors seperating the living room and bedroom; the show was well-advertised in the area with highway billboards and local television commercials; the banquet on Saturday night featured a lengthy slideshow on A.G.'s life; the show floor was set up with custom makers in the middle and factories on the outside; also, the convention featured a PA system that actually worked...something The BLADE Show is still working on.
(Editors Note: You can find a ton of pictures from the event over on the A.G. Russell website.)
August 14, 4:00 pm
I finally had a chance to read through the new Jimmy Lile book - James B. Lile: The Arkansas Knifesmith - Knifemaker To The World - compiled by Jack Lucarelli and John H. Hill. And when I say "read through" I of course mean "randomly skim" because, at 536 pages, this thing is a beast.
That said, it is packed with amazing photos (Lile with past U.S. Presidents), reprinted letters (correspondence between Lile and Sly Stallone, among others) and a complete history of Lile's background and career.
Back in the early days, he was always showing me some knife that he had made from a file or some reclaimed piece of discarded steel," says Marilyn Lile Miller, in the book's forward.
"Before I knew it, he had recruited me to do some initial grinding for him, and I began to understand his attraction to something handmade. Many years later Jimmy would admit to a reporter, 'We made some of the roughest knives on the market back then. But every one was a little better than the one before it.'
To Jimmy, improvement was progress, and we were happy.
At $129.95 the book is not cheap. However, if you are a Lile devotee or a fan of custom knives in general, this history of an industry "godfather" is a worthwhile purchase.
August 11, 3:30 pm
Just a reminder; your chance to get into BLADE is only a few keystrokes away.
Visit our forums and tell BLADE editor Steve Shackleford why you collect knives and your story (or at least a few bits and pieces of it) might get chosen for publication in an upcoming issue.
Do you have a habit of carrying a fixed blade in your teeth because you were raised by pirates?
We want to know.
Visit the forums and share; you can find the specific link in the August 4 post below.
August 8, 11:20 am
Sorry for the lack of updates this week, but the staff has been diligently working to finalize the November issue. Yes, diligence is the proper word to describe our work ethic; ask our boss.
However, it's Friday and you know what that means around the BLADE Magazine offices...to the way back machine we go!
Turns out a country boy CAN survive. Literally. Not only did country legend Hank Williams, Jr. record a hit song by that name (A Country Boy Can Survive), but he actually did survive a pair of serious falls while hunting. The country singer was featured on the cover of the December 1984 BLADE and the story inside discussed his second close call, a fall in early 1984 in the Alaskan Range near Mt. McKinley National Park, in detail. Below is an excerpt from that story.
By Hank Williams, Jr. as told to Tommy Lee:
Hank spotted some sheep and began his stalk, moving slowly over the precipitous rocks and the loose shale underneath. At last close in range and raising his 7 MM Watherby Magnum, he ropped a running sheep with a 300 yard shot. That's a long shot in anybody's book, but Hank is an avid reloader and shooter, and his habit of regularly shooting up to 200 rounds a day of high powered rifle ammunition paid off this time.
He started toward the sheep when suddenly the loose shale underneath him gave way and started him sliding toward a long shale chute slicing down the side of the mountain. It appeared as if there were no bottom to the chute. It went down for thousands of feet.
Despite his struggling, the shale slid Hank into the chute, and instantly he was sliding pell-mell down the chute to his destruction, desperately trying to slow his descent by dragging the fiberglass stock of his Weatherby against the slate like a brake.
"I thought it was 1973 all over again," he said. "I knew I was a goner this time."
Well, Williams emerged from the life and death situation thanks to that Weatherby rifle and the Tommy Lee lockback folder hanging from his belt.
Then, as if by miracle, he managed to stop his descent with the rifle stock with the tiniest of holes on the loose shale. One wrong move and he would be right back sliding down the chute to his doom. He had burned dark spots on the stock from the friction of the rock...
...He assessed the situation. He was bruised all over, but nothing appeared to be broken. He couldn't go back up, he certainly couldn't go down, and he couldn't hang where he was with his fingerhold. The closest route to safety was to the side of the chute where firmer ground awaited...
...Slinging the rifle, he pulled the knife from its belt sheath and testingly tried chipping out a foothold in the shale rock. He hit, and some shale gave way! Patiently, carefully he began. One wrong move, one misstep, one quick shaft in balance would mean the end of Hank and certain death on the rocks below.
One foothold done, he tested it with his weight carefully. It held! Over an hour and 24 chipped out footholds later, Hank nursed his bruised and battered body out of the chute.
Quite the ordeal. Luckily, Hank made it out pretty much in one piece. Thank goodness because he is awesome. Growing up, I still remember singing along with him during his Monday Night Football intro.
Plus, check out that jacket.
August 4, 11:00 am
Saw The Dark Knight last weekend and, as publicized by critics and evidenced by record crowd turnouts, the movie did not disappoint. The latest addition to the 'batman cinematic family' is a must see for fans of the storied comic book icon, or the late Heath Ledger (who gives an awesome performance) or for those that simply enjoy watching several millions of dollars being spent on exploding movie props.
As it turns out, it's also a good one to see if you're a knife fan.
Ledger appears to brandish a number of knives in the film as the Joker is somewhat of an 'enthusiast.' In the film he states that he prefers knives because guns "are too quick."
Obviously, the Joker is the naughty kind of enthusiast.
August 3, 9:30 am
Calling all wordsmiths...BLADE editor Steve Shackleford is working on a story on why people collect knives. If chosen, your submission will be considered for publication in the story in a future issue of BLADE.
Check out the specifics
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