Gathering and Dispersal #2

Have you read -=MY DISCLAIMER=- yet?
This is post two...the positive one.

The Gathering was amazing. I could stop right there and that would be enough. If you read my first post you know I was not impressed with Las Vegas. Everyplace felt cheap, everything was too expensive, and we don't gamble. The Gathering though...that was something to remember. I got to handle knives I can't afford, I shook hands with makers who are my heroes. This was the equivalent of most guys getting to meet a bunch of NFL players, or for women to meet Louis Vuitton in person. I'm a knife groupy...I won't even apologize for it. I was for the first time in a room filled with knives and knife crazy people like myself and didn't see a single junk knife in the whole place. That's more than I can say about the local gun 'n knife shows where I'm from.

It's amazing to me (likely because I'm of the group that considers these makers my heroes) how personable and approachable every single one of them were. Makers like John Gonzales, Jens Anso, Brad Southard (yeah so what if he's a rookie?!),  David "Stop calling me Mr. Broadwell, damnit" Broadwell, Ernie Emerson (sadly never got to meet him because I couldn't get near him), Todd 'n Tanya Begg, Mike $nody, Dan Crotts (apprenticed to Dave Mozier) the list goes on and on. And not a single one didn't have a minute to shake my hand and tell me about whatever they had on their table or whatever they had on their workbench back home, or answer a question or just shoot the shit about nothing. I got to hold in my hand knives that I had only seen in pictures on the various forums I frequent. Not just models like the ones I've seen photos of but the actual knives because they hadn't sold yet.

So while I wasn't impressed by Vegas and likely won't be returning next year (though who knows we might find a way to do a short cheap trip just for the show and nothing else) the knife show with real knives and real makers made a major impression. That being said it looks like our next stop is going to be Blade in Atlanta in the spring and I could not be happier about it. The same quality of knives, the same caliber of people, but on a larger scale at a much more affordable pricepoint. Come on Blade 2011!