Wow, what a fun show!!!

My good friend Tom Ferry won Best Fighter/Bowie with a beautiful damascus, burl and checkered Oosic knife. He ALSO won Best Fixed Blade of Show with this knife!

Our other good friend and fellow forumite Jon Christensen won the Rope Cutting Competition with a ugly...er, uh, wicked ;) forged 5160 knife that was still scarey sharp after slicing through 6 ropes for the win!

I can't say enough for what a great bunch of guys were at this show, including our own Mr. Caffrey. There was an overwhelming amount of FANTASTIC knives in this room considering the fairly low number of tables.

Please do yourself a favor and attend this show next year!!! Even if you can't get a table, are on the waiting list like me, or just love knives and good people...This show is a kick in the ass!

Thanks everyone for making it such a good time! :)

Nick

Like Nick said the show was a blast. The only problem is that 3 days isn't nearly enough time to take it all in. Every show is like that it seems. There are so many talented people at this show that it overwhelms you.
The Bowie that Tom won with is awesome. You can see it at Bladegallery. Yes, it is one of those that's as nice as it looks. Super balance, both visual and overall feel. I'm not the best for words so I'll just say all the right stuff in all the right places. Good Work Tom, it was well deserved.
Ed did real good at the show. How many folders did you sell Ed????
Still have my head in the clouds for winning the rope cut. Not sure how long that will last (the wife said it had better be by the time she gets home tonight :-) I think I could have cut even more rope if Nick would have grabbed me by the ankles and swung me at the rope (Nick works out alot).
All in all it was a great show,
Almost forgot, even learned a great technique for curing a dog of killing skunks. It involves a dog a skunk and a 55 gal. barrel. More on that at a later date.
Jon

Well I see the two of you beat me here. I finally had to get some sleep. Any show where you are up round the clock sharing ideas and just flat out talking knives with some of the greatest makers and collectors around is a great show.
Thanks for the compliments about the bowie guys, trust me when it won best of show I was astonished to say the least and like Jon said there isn't any feeling thats better than winning an award.
Jons rope cutting is awesome (I was happy to make it through the paper). Let me say right now that as far as I am concerned Jon has shown how to master heat treatment of a steel which in my eyes says as much about a bladesmiths knives as fit & finish if not more. He used 5160 and it was up against all the edge holding super steels from 52100 to O1 tool steel and everything in between. All the other steels just flat out had more carbon and edge holding qualities and I agree that technique of a makers swing is 90% of making the rope drop but winning with 5160 is just awesome and more makers should pay attention to this and realize that its through personal trial and error and alot of experimentation that creates a high performance knife and not so much the steel they are using.
And Nick I am glad you could tag along and share in such a great experience. I am starting to hate you though. The MKA show is the best show period, sales or not.
I can't even start to say enough about Ed Caffrey. If you haven't been able to meet the guy you should go to the show next year. The knowledge in his head is unbelievable, I mean how many bladesmiths know everything from how to make a knife to breaking dogs from skunks. ( oh yea there will be more on this)
Ed thanks for pushing me into doing a forging demo after it was done it was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.
Yea Nick said it right WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep your eye on all three of the individuals who have posted previously! I predict that all of them (Nick, Jon, and Tom) will be "world class" knifemakers in the future.
I had a blast with these gentlemen at the MKA show, and look forward to many more enjoyable visits in the future. Hey Jon! How's your head? :)

Well,
I think this completes the list of the awards for the MKA show.

Best Folder --- Rick Dunkerly
Best Damascus --- Rick Dunkerly

Best Art Knife --- Shane Taylor

Best Hunter/Utility --- Wilard Patrick

If I missed anybody I apologize.

Jon

Hey Ed, thank you very much for letting me steal a little of your time at the show. You answered a lot of questions for me and YES I signed up for the ABS. My wife has been pushing me, along with several other folks to join up. I'm glad I did now. To everyone who has never met Ed, he is a great guy, very eager to explain anything you want to know about (like we didn't know that already, here on the forums) and of course, one SMOKIN Knife maker. He didn't have a great deal on the table, but what he had was killer. Again, thanks for everything, Ed. The show was a blast, as per usual and got to meet some more very fine makers that I finally had the guts to go up and meet. I'm going to practice the rope cutting for next year, and hopefully I won't hit the rope with my hand instead of the knife, next go round!! I was happy that I cut the paper, I was shaking so bad. Looking forward to seeing you again next year, or maybe sooner. Regards, Charles

Yeah you have to watch out for them Montana Mafia boys! I do have to concur, the 3 previously mentioned makers are ones to look out for!!!