JerryO13
03-12-2001, 05:34 PM
I posted this already at the TKCL so if your a member there this is a repeat!
Well, it's the Monday after and I still have a smile on my face from the 2001 ECCKS. Met a lot of old friends, made a few new ones and put a few more faces onto what use to just be names scribbled in the ether and still missed talking to some list members :( next time people I will try to catch up to you ;) I spent all three days at the show so if this is a bit long and haphazard you know why. To much drink and not enough sleep :)
        Thanks once again to Johnny Stout who let all of us hang at his table and for my spiffy new bowie. It's a design that Johnny and I fiddled with for quite a while and I think he did an amazing job on it. Blade length is 8" + 1" choil, rounded so you can loop a finger over the guard and choke up on the knife, of distal tapered 0-1 steel with a 4 1/2" swedge. It's a hidden tang knife with a most incredible piece of stag as the handle with a nickel silver guard and butt cap. The balance of the blade is right at the front of the guard and that makes this blade very, very fast for such a large knife. I took it around to show off and first I got amazed comments from most knifemakers that I somehow managed to convince Johnny to make a fixed blade. He does make them, but his folders are so fantastic, and he's so well known for them, that his fixed blades are a much rarer beast. Then of course after they held it, it was "well no surprise his fixed blades are as perfect as his folders". Thanks Johnny.
        Ah, where to go from here ... I took a walk around the show and it took longer than usual, as I had to stop and talk with so many people. Allen and Valerie Elishewitz had the table behind and one over from Johnny Stout's and had a large assortment of knives to look through, the new style he's doing with the tongue and groove handles (half g-10 and half titanium w/ inlays) are a feast for the eyes. Their table was filled with people non-stop through out the show.        
Had to stop by and talk to Joe Szilaski, Des Horn, RJ Martin, Barry Gallagher and Peter Klotzli.
        Spoke to Gary Levine and he pantomimed back at me, hope your voice is back ;) . Got to check out the GL model at Gary's table that David Broadwell makes, an awesome design and knife.
        Dave Hodge's table was packed through out the show as well as Les Robertson's, both had lots of good stuff. Larry Connelly and Jay and Karen Sadow were walking the show and picking up stuff that will soon be up at their respective sites I'm sure.
        When I think fantasy art knife John Lewis Jensen is one name that always comes to mind. His knives are utterly outrageous. I had never seen a knife with piercing's before, but I have now!
        George Dailey, as noted before, won the best miniature in show for his 3/4" dagger with 42 or was it 43 jewels. George told me he's going to be making his own Damascus soon. No Pressure George!
        Jot Singh Khalsa is another art knife maker from the nearby area. Seems that Jot, George and John L. are all from the same region in New England. Lot of art knife guys in that neck of the woods.
        Mardi Meshejian had a narrow bladed saber that was just "gotta have it" except it had already sold. His Damascus Conan the barbarian style sword was another show favorite.
        Another Damascus sword at the show was made by Roger Bergh. A very traditional Celtic leaf shaped blade with man shaped hilt/handle/pommel that was a exact replica of a recent archeological find, except that the original was bronze and his was all Damascus and steel.
        Howard Clark had a Damascus straight razor w/ mastodon bone handles that I would have definitely purchased had it not already sold. He also had a potato peeler made from Damascus and mokume gane, nobody could imagine buying it, but everyone got a smile on their faces when they saw it.        
Bob Lum had a large array of tactical's and art tacticals at his table. He had this mini version of his Chinese folder that I would have loved to own if I had managed to get there in time, duh! I got to finally handle the Spyderco version of the Chinese folder and it's a really good factory knife.
        Wade Cotler had a dueling pistol/bowie, a functional black powder dueling pistol with a bowie built into the pistol or is that the other way around all made from Damascus. As Wade told me it's not the pistol you'd have a duel with but what you should be carrying if you where attending a duel. I also got to spend some time talking about drag racing with Wade, seems Wade used to field a pro-comp car at one point. What is it about knifemakers, knives, guns, watches, scotches, cars, cigars and guitars these seem to be the passions of all involved.
        Speaking of scotch I had the breakfast of champions with Joe Kious Saturday morning. New York style cheesecake and single malt whiskey. Had a few shots with Roger Bergh and Conny Persson, as well as Maraetta a lovely lady who was displaying Jonny Walker Nilsson's knives (he was just on the cover of the recent Blade).
        Got to meet Steve Johnson and check out his perfect fit and finish. Steve's a true gentleman and you just can't find anything, I mean anything wrong with his knives.
        Richardo Velarde had some amazing integrals and a couple of collaboration knives he did with Steve Johnson. Two in particular that stick in my head are the dagger which on one face was done with pearl and grooves in Velarde's style and the other face done with stag in Johnson's style. The hunter on one side with the fighter grind on the other was the other memorable piece.
        I saw Tim Herman's new "wall street" tacticals. Which is a sideways direction for Tim. He's always made art knives and this is an art knife with some tactical beef.
        Daniel Stephan had some of his radical knives that have tons of carving on them. He's threatened to teach Bob Doggett how to do it ;)
        Besides the bowie I got from Johnny Stout I also picked up a folder from Steve Fecas. 3 1/2" semi skinner blade of ats34, 416 ss bolsters, oosic handles over titanium liners w/ 14k gold plated thumber and screws. A very clean folder and as a side benefit for me it has already made it into a knife magazine. I had purchased the knife and was sitting at the table with Johnny, Herb and Rich (thanks for putting up with us Johnny) Herb was looking through a French knife magazine called "la Passion de Couteaux" (it was Valerie's copy, Allen had a couple of knives on the same page) and he goes to me "hey Jerry isn't this your knife?" It sure looked like it in the picture. Sunday, Steve Fecas confirmed that it was my knife and he got me a copy of the issue that it was in. Thanks Herb and Steve!
        On to dinner: I'm glad everyone had a good time, I did. Even our waitress seemed really interested in knives or was it Roger Bergh she was interested in? Besides Roger, Johnny Stout, Herb & Lianne, Rich Ball, Larry Connelly, Howard Viele, Allen & Valerie Elishewitz, John Lewis Jensen, Conny Persson and George Dailey rounded out the dinner crew. We had two award winners at out table, besides George winning best miniature, Conny won for best collaboration. We all joked and talked the knife talk until it seemed that we were all ready to pass out.
        I talked to a lot of people over the last three days so if I left you out don't feel bad, it wasn't intentional, if you met me you know I'm kind of dain bramaged anyway.
        So that's my 4 cents. (it is New York, you know)
Well, it's the Monday after and I still have a smile on my face from the 2001 ECCKS. Met a lot of old friends, made a few new ones and put a few more faces onto what use to just be names scribbled in the ether and still missed talking to some list members :( next time people I will try to catch up to you ;) I spent all three days at the show so if this is a bit long and haphazard you know why. To much drink and not enough sleep :)
        Thanks once again to Johnny Stout who let all of us hang at his table and for my spiffy new bowie. It's a design that Johnny and I fiddled with for quite a while and I think he did an amazing job on it. Blade length is 8" + 1" choil, rounded so you can loop a finger over the guard and choke up on the knife, of distal tapered 0-1 steel with a 4 1/2" swedge. It's a hidden tang knife with a most incredible piece of stag as the handle with a nickel silver guard and butt cap. The balance of the blade is right at the front of the guard and that makes this blade very, very fast for such a large knife. I took it around to show off and first I got amazed comments from most knifemakers that I somehow managed to convince Johnny to make a fixed blade. He does make them, but his folders are so fantastic, and he's so well known for them, that his fixed blades are a much rarer beast. Then of course after they held it, it was "well no surprise his fixed blades are as perfect as his folders". Thanks Johnny.
        Ah, where to go from here ... I took a walk around the show and it took longer than usual, as I had to stop and talk with so many people. Allen and Valerie Elishewitz had the table behind and one over from Johnny Stout's and had a large assortment of knives to look through, the new style he's doing with the tongue and groove handles (half g-10 and half titanium w/ inlays) are a feast for the eyes. Their table was filled with people non-stop through out the show.        
Had to stop by and talk to Joe Szilaski, Des Horn, RJ Martin, Barry Gallagher and Peter Klotzli.
        Spoke to Gary Levine and he pantomimed back at me, hope your voice is back ;) . Got to check out the GL model at Gary's table that David Broadwell makes, an awesome design and knife.
        Dave Hodge's table was packed through out the show as well as Les Robertson's, both had lots of good stuff. Larry Connelly and Jay and Karen Sadow were walking the show and picking up stuff that will soon be up at their respective sites I'm sure.
        When I think fantasy art knife John Lewis Jensen is one name that always comes to mind. His knives are utterly outrageous. I had never seen a knife with piercing's before, but I have now!
        George Dailey, as noted before, won the best miniature in show for his 3/4" dagger with 42 or was it 43 jewels. George told me he's going to be making his own Damascus soon. No Pressure George!
        Jot Singh Khalsa is another art knife maker from the nearby area. Seems that Jot, George and John L. are all from the same region in New England. Lot of art knife guys in that neck of the woods.
        Mardi Meshejian had a narrow bladed saber that was just "gotta have it" except it had already sold. His Damascus Conan the barbarian style sword was another show favorite.
        Another Damascus sword at the show was made by Roger Bergh. A very traditional Celtic leaf shaped blade with man shaped hilt/handle/pommel that was a exact replica of a recent archeological find, except that the original was bronze and his was all Damascus and steel.
        Howard Clark had a Damascus straight razor w/ mastodon bone handles that I would have definitely purchased had it not already sold. He also had a potato peeler made from Damascus and mokume gane, nobody could imagine buying it, but everyone got a smile on their faces when they saw it.        
Bob Lum had a large array of tactical's and art tacticals at his table. He had this mini version of his Chinese folder that I would have loved to own if I had managed to get there in time, duh! I got to finally handle the Spyderco version of the Chinese folder and it's a really good factory knife.
        Wade Cotler had a dueling pistol/bowie, a functional black powder dueling pistol with a bowie built into the pistol or is that the other way around all made from Damascus. As Wade told me it's not the pistol you'd have a duel with but what you should be carrying if you where attending a duel. I also got to spend some time talking about drag racing with Wade, seems Wade used to field a pro-comp car at one point. What is it about knifemakers, knives, guns, watches, scotches, cars, cigars and guitars these seem to be the passions of all involved.
        Speaking of scotch I had the breakfast of champions with Joe Kious Saturday morning. New York style cheesecake and single malt whiskey. Had a few shots with Roger Bergh and Conny Persson, as well as Maraetta a lovely lady who was displaying Jonny Walker Nilsson's knives (he was just on the cover of the recent Blade).
        Got to meet Steve Johnson and check out his perfect fit and finish. Steve's a true gentleman and you just can't find anything, I mean anything wrong with his knives.
        Richardo Velarde had some amazing integrals and a couple of collaboration knives he did with Steve Johnson. Two in particular that stick in my head are the dagger which on one face was done with pearl and grooves in Velarde's style and the other face done with stag in Johnson's style. The hunter on one side with the fighter grind on the other was the other memorable piece.
        I saw Tim Herman's new "wall street" tacticals. Which is a sideways direction for Tim. He's always made art knives and this is an art knife with some tactical beef.
        Daniel Stephan had some of his radical knives that have tons of carving on them. He's threatened to teach Bob Doggett how to do it ;)
        Besides the bowie I got from Johnny Stout I also picked up a folder from Steve Fecas. 3 1/2" semi skinner blade of ats34, 416 ss bolsters, oosic handles over titanium liners w/ 14k gold plated thumber and screws. A very clean folder and as a side benefit for me it has already made it into a knife magazine. I had purchased the knife and was sitting at the table with Johnny, Herb and Rich (thanks for putting up with us Johnny) Herb was looking through a French knife magazine called "la Passion de Couteaux" (it was Valerie's copy, Allen had a couple of knives on the same page) and he goes to me "hey Jerry isn't this your knife?" It sure looked like it in the picture. Sunday, Steve Fecas confirmed that it was my knife and he got me a copy of the issue that it was in. Thanks Herb and Steve!
        On to dinner: I'm glad everyone had a good time, I did. Even our waitress seemed really interested in knives or was it Roger Bergh she was interested in? Besides Roger, Johnny Stout, Herb & Lianne, Rich Ball, Larry Connelly, Howard Viele, Allen & Valerie Elishewitz, John Lewis Jensen, Conny Persson and George Dailey rounded out the dinner crew. We had two award winners at out table, besides George winning best miniature, Conny won for best collaboration. We all joked and talked the knife talk until it seemed that we were all ready to pass out.
        I talked to a lot of people over the last three days so if I left you out don't feel bad, it wasn't intentional, if you met me you know I'm kind of dain bramaged anyway.
        So that's my 4 cents. (it is New York, you know)