Blade 2024 Day 1

 It’s Friday and it’s opening day for the Blade Show and as usual, the administrative side is a complete cock-up  There are no officials outside the building where the attendees are stationed organizing them.  You have the early birds, who should be inside at 10 am but seemed to be wandering around unable to find an entrance.  There are the peasants, like myself, some of which picked up their passes and should be in a line to get in.  Then there are the poor souls who need to get to the will call desk or the purchase desk to get passes.  Lacking direction there is no organization and many lines form simply because someone stopped to check their ticket.

We picked up our wrist bands the night before and with Karen’s new knee we were not about to stand in the hot Georgia morning sun while the officials played a game of switch.  That’s one thumb in your ass the other in your mouth.  You switch thumbs on command until you get a funny taste.  Some had been playing that game for a while. 

Inside, Blade Magazine eliminated any free space where there used to be chairs to sit and packed in additional booths.  It’s all about mo’ money, buddy.  A friend of ours confided their large booth cost $6K and an additional $100 for Wi-Fi.

Anyway, the knife show is amazing.

Benchmade is here, but they don’t bring catalogs or knives to sell.  “We’re on the internet,” they tell you.  “We’re not interested in that filthy green stuff called cash.”

It used to be you could find deals on new knives and some of the collectibles.  You can, but nothing is cheap.  It’s too late for you to attend this year.  Unless you know someone you can stay with, the hotels are sold out!  But next year, leave half the clothes at home, bring twice the money.  Maybe three times….

I'm too important to be bothered by the likes of you, but I want you to know that I'm important.

There are plenty of people and you’ll see all kinds. I ran in to three guys, I think, covered head to foot in either black or white fabric, wearing masks and hats.  I assume they are famous, or something, and don’t want to be bothered by fans.  But they don’t want to give up the attention either.

I like the red and blue patchy coloration on these Case knives.

You’ll find every and any kind of knife here.  I’m not a big fan of Case, but I really like some of the new handles.

I stopped at Pro Tech and bought one of the special one-of-a-kind knives. I couldn’t resist.  

ProTech SBR Micarta 

Karen found a Vosteed she couldn’t resist.

 

Vosteed Thunderbird   I like the green and black handle and so does Karen.

Here’s a few photos and comments.

The opening day crowd is light, compared to Saturday.  One vendor told me she thinks of Saturday as the buying day.

The feathers in the clear resin are striking!

Knives, knives, knives, gotta get me a whole bunch!

Keep an eye on CRKT.  They have two new autos and a line of limited production, like this Pursue.  The image can't convey how icey this knife is!

A Blade show special from Hawk Knife.  It's a clever razor blade holder.
I asked, "How much?"
Them, "475."
Me, "Just to be clear, that's four hundred and seventy-five dollars."
Them, "Yup!"

So high end, there's no price.  If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Soon to be released TOPS Knives,  They still need a little tweaking.

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But frankly, there is so much to see.  You’ll find people posting for the next six months.  If you’re not into knives, well, people-watching at Blade is a specialty. 

I can’t wait for tomorrow!

 

Bury the Hatchet

Have you seen the announcement?  I saw it on Facebook first and haven’t seen it anywhere else.  But I’ve seen its effect.

TOPS Cockpit Commander

It appears TOPS and Fred Perrin have had a disagreement.  A disagreement that has lasted 20 years.  Not being a deep insider, I can only wonder.  I’ll let you make up your own mind. 

TOPS has announced that this disagreement has lasted 20 years and they have decided to put an end to it.  TOPS Cockpit Commander is retired, effective immediately.

As of my typing, you can still find it on Amazon, but the major retailers, Smoky Mountain, Blade HQ, Knife Center and others, no longer have the Cockpit Commander for sale.  I found two sold on ebay as recently as July 15, prior to the announcement.  Many internet commandos have declared it an instant collectible.  It is a rhetorical question, but can any mass-produced factory knife be an instant collectible?

Fred Perrin is an interesting fellow.  Fred has been a world-vetted Tae Kwon Do and stick-fighting champion, a French Army Commando, professional writer, martial arts instructor and one of France’s most recognized professional knifemakers.  I have two of his knives, a LaGriffe neck knife from Emerson and a Fred Perrin PPT from Spyderco.  Both are excellent knives.

Fred posted on Facebook, and I take that as a small window into the ‘misunderstanding.’

“I want to say how much I appreciated this move, it is very rare that a brand recognizes its mistake…   I will gladly design something for TOPS that is really my idea and not an "interpretation" of my work, as it’s often put to work around this design.” 

I carefully edited Fred’s statement with replacement of what I assume were accidental capitalizations and missing punctuation.

I like TOPS Knives and I hope this problem is truly resolved. 

Speaking of TOP knives, I saw signs at the Blade Show asking people to essentially ask about their custom shop.  The story I got was Leo Espinoza, TOPS’ President/Owner, while a great businessman, is more interested in the creative process of making knives than running a business.  After several years of talk and consideration, he walked in one morning and decided to pull the trigger.  A nearby structure, a pole barn, was bought, a floor poured, electrical and HVAC run, and equipment moved in.  Different steels were ordered, as were other materials and Leo started making unique, yes, let’s say it, custom TOPS Knives.  Eventually, maybe if things work right, a customer could order special steel or handle material, specify the finish or perhaps the sheath.  

Experience tells me it isn’t going to be cheap.

Right now, I was told, a limited number of unique steels, or handle material or grind lines might become available.  TOPS website has a tab marked Specials (https://www.topsknives.com/), but I don’t see anything like custom knives.

Instead, go to https://www.topscustomshop.com/shop.  I found four knives, all sold.

Keep your eye on the custom website and your credit card fully charged; you might be able to get a true collectible, a one-of-a-kind knife if you’re sharp.

 

TOPS - 3 Bros First Look

Have you noticed how things come in threes?  Three leaf clovers are common.  Winning card hands can be three of a kind, or perhaps menus give you three choices from three different selections each containing three different dishes.  Maybe you have three bourbons on the shelf?

Why not knives?  TOPS thought.

Don't forget TOPS trademark whistle!

Face it; most of our cutting chores are small.  We need a small utility knife, but considering the world we live in, we want max performance.  Why not put three different blade configurations, Hunter's Point (spear point), Tanto and Sheep's Foot blade in a small belt carry package.  Well, that’s what TOPS Knives has done.  They call it 3 Bros.

So who is TOPS?

In 1998, TOPS Knives was founded to create the highest-quality knives using the extensive knowledge and real life experiences of Military Operatives, Law Enforcement Officers, and outdoor professionals.  Perhaps the best part, all TOPS knives are manufactured and hand-finished at their facility in the Rocky Mountains, USA.

TOPS Knives have been requested and deployed in "Hot Spots" all over the world. Numerous individuals who are or were Field Operators have used these knives and report top performance and reliability when their lives depended on the tools they had with them.  That’s a pretty hard claim to top.

The 3 Bros are also very easy to carry everyday. Even in the sheath, one of these knives only weighs 2.8 ounces.

Specs:

Overall Length     4.27 inches

Blade Length       2.00 inches

Cutting Edge        2.00 inches

Blade Thickness  0.120 inches

Blade Steel          1095 steel hardened to RC 56-58

Handle Material    Black Canvas Micarta

Knife Weight        1.9oz

You can purchase one, two or all three.  For a little extra you can go with serrations and/or camo finish.  I’d hate to break up a family, so I got all three.

The small size was not found to be a limitation with daily chores.

Each knife has three deep depressions on the spine.  It’s a little aggressive for naked skin but fine for the glove hand.  Each knife has a deep bolster which acts as a finger guard to prevent hand injuries from sliding onto the blade.  The edge goes just about all the way to the bolster and there is no ricasso. 

The blades are a flat-sided saber grind ending at a shoulder about one third of the way on the blade.  This provides sufficient room to grip the blade by thumb and forefinger while the ring and social finger grip the Micarta disk on each side of the knife.  The disk provides a nice anchor point even if you are wearing gloves.

The small sized was not a factor wearing gloves.  The micarta disk provided sufficient grip as did the massive jimping.

TOPS blades are made of 1095 steel and they recommend an 18-20 degree sharpening edge.  These knives can be sharpened with ordinary stones but can also be sent to TOPS for a new factory edge.  The warranty card spells it out for you.

I’ve never owned a TOPS knife that didn’t perform.  The 1095 steel will hold an edge, but will need resharpening with use.  The steel needs to be taken care of with a protective coating of oil or corrosion inhibitor.  If you anticipate needing it for food preparation or consumption, make sure you use food safe oil.  Nobody likes the trots!

You can get yours at:  https://www.topsknives.com/3-bros

A single knife is $70, but they’ll deal you all three for $160.00.