Las Vegas Classic Knife Show / SHOT Show

February 1-2, 2002

Disclaimer: The following review and photos are property of Mitch Lum and may not be reproduced without expressed written concent! :) That means if I see my pics on someone's website, especially a dealer's site I'll be pissed! ~Mitch February 6, 2002

Fracas In Vegas

My trip to Vegas began with a dream, or rather nightmare, two days prior to leaving. I was terribly afraid that having a 6:50am flight out, I would oversleep and miss the flight – essentially that’s what the nightmare was about. I awoke in a cold sweat relieved that I still had two days left until “the big day.”

On Thursday evening when I returned from classes I promptly set my alarm and called for a taxi for the next morning – there was no way I was going to miss the flight! Throughout the night I was so anxious for the next morning I awoke about every hour on the hour. 4am rolled around before I knew it and I got out of bed without the help of the alarm. I checked to see why I hadn’t gone off – I set it for the time the cab was supposed to pick me up, not the time I was supposed to get up! Yikes! Oh well, I was up, ready and the cab was on its way.

My first taste of what was to come was at the gate at Sea-Tac airport. A stout man with a beard was wearing a shirt with Bladetech embroidered onto it. I introduced myself to the gentleman, and asked if he was the Tim Wegner of Bladetech – indeed he was! I was meeting cool people without having left!

When I got in I called my buddy Mr. Mayo and got Vince and Larry from Bladeart’s phone numbers. I hooked up with them for a little brunch (thanks again Larry!) then dropped my stuff at the room. Tom, Larry, Vince and I headed to the Riv (apparently you don’t just say “the Riviera,” you say “the Riv”). We got there at 1pm, three hours prior to the show officially opening. Ken Onion was already at his table, talking story with a bunch of guys, some familiar, some new to me. During set-up I walked around, saying hi to those I knew and introducing myself to those who I only knew through the faceless-internet.

I guess the show really started for me with the Ken Onion frenzy. People were basically hovering around his table from about 1pm when I arrived. But the line started in earnest around 2 or 3 pm. I planted myself in front of the table at about 3pm and waited there until the show started. To deviate slightly onto a little rant, there were guys who would stand there in line for a little while, then get bored and leave – when they came back they would insist that they were still in line – IMHO their place in line was at the back…but I digress. So while the line was forming Ken got to walk around…who could blame him, after-all it would be weird to sit for an hour at his table with a mob of people and just be waiting for the show to open.

So 4pm rolled around and he moseyed over toward the table. Unlike at BAKCA, Ken made sure to ask if there was indeed a line, and where it started. This was not to be an unruly mob quite like BAKCA – there was going to be some order. So he pulls out one knife at a time, building our anticipation. People start leaning on each other, trying to get a better look at what’s going on and what knives are coming out. Ken announces a one-knife limit. I’m bummed, ‘cause I was trying to get something for myself, and something for a friend (sorry Jeff). I guess Ken was just trying to make sure twice as many people would go away happy than if he had a 2 knife limit.

Before I got into the Onion Frenzy, one of the first tables I went to was Jeff Harkins’ table to check out the Tritons, his D/A OTF dagger. While much more expensive than something like a Microtech UT6, I thought they were more worthwhile to own, as they are much nicer. He and his wife were very gracious even though I told him up front that I probably wasn’t going to be able to buy one of his works of art.

Another great guy I met was Tom Anderson. I’ve emailed with him quite a bit and when I first introduced myself, it seemed as though he had no recollection of our extensive email conversations. However, between the time I left his table and when I came back later, something must have clicked, because he was very cordial and friendly. We talked somewhat about the forums and his knifemaking. He has a production collaboration coming out soon that should be far nicer than his Master Cutlery disappointment (sorry to be brutal, but that's what it was).

I walked by Michael and Junko Fong’s table, and low and behold there was a nice lefty folder by Michael that really caught my eye. This is the third show I’ve been to, and at each one either Michael or Junko or both of them have at least a couple lefty knives on the table. To be frankly honest, I have recently come to realize the dilemma in this. If for example a maker has 20 knives on his/her table and 17 of the 20 are right handed, just based on odds, the knife that I’m really stoked about is unlikely to be one of the three left handed ones. Back to the story…I kept going back and looking at the two he had, this time Michael had hit just the right everything – it was the knife for me. So now I’m the owner of an M.Fong gents folder with Gold-lip MOP, Damascus bolsters, and an ATS-34 satin finished blade.

The Tom and Jerry show was in effect. Tom displaying his TNTs on a car floor-mat as usual! Jerry with some very large wicked weapons made of some kind of new designer steel. Rob Simonich shared some real estate on the www.bladeart.com table. A cool new thing from Rob was a shoulder harness system he was wearing – I think I’m going to have to try and get one (and I guess a knife with it too!). He was wearing a watch that Mayo gave him, but I think it was more because he didn’t want to hurt Tom’s feelings than it was to tell time. I don’t think he’s used to looking at them little hands running around in circles; he lives on Indian Time, which as I understand it, is a more laid back version of Hawaiian Time.

Representing the Hawaii contingent along with Ken and Tom, were Stan Fujisaka and George Gibo. As of early Sunday morning, George had sold out all but 3 knives – not too bad a show. Carl Zakabi, who I’ve not seen since I met him at the gun show in Honolulu had to cancel – I guess his sister’s wedding was more important than knives ;)

Aside from Tim Wegner, who was over at SHOT, Roger Dole was the only guy I recognized who was representing Washington State. Hopefully next year Tom Ferry, Nick Wheeler and others will be able to attend.

When the show closed Laci Szabo drove us back to the hotel. For such a bad-assed martial artist/knife designer, I found Laci to be one of the most well-mannered folks I’ve every met! Dinner with the Mayo’s, the Brahms’, Vince, Laci and Liong (Ancient Sul on the forums) was great.

Now on with the pics! Enjoy!!!

Vegas Classic!

SHOT Show!

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