2007 Canadian Knifemakers Guild Show Review…by Rob Laufer
Introduction and the Pre-Pre-Show
It has been a long time since I have been this excited for a Canadian Knifemaker Guild show. Following the CKG’s press release with news that special guest Neil Ostroff of True North Knives would be featuring Strider and Chris Reeve knives, the forums were abuzz with excitement! As a knife enthusiast with a particular interest in tactical knives, I knew this would attract many new collectors into the fold. Needless to say, I was not disappointed!
I was also pleased to be accompanied by a special guest, fellow knife collector krausb who flew in all the way from Calgary for the show. After all, knife shows are about more than just knives, they are about building relationships with knifemakers and other collectors. This review covers the show from our perspective and we hope you enjoy our “show experience” as much as we did.
To start things off on the right foot, and make sure that we were traveling in style, we rented a Hummer for the weekend. It turned out to be a good decision given the surprise snowstorm. Nothing was going to get in our way from making it to the show!
Being hard-core collectors, we hit the hotel a few hours before the official pre-show. As luck would have it, we ran into my good friends Greg Lightfoot and Kirby Lambert! Krausb was particularly anxious to meet these two makers and discuss his recent Lightfoot acquisitions. Greg was more than happy to provide background info on his Delta and 458 Magnum.
In fact, he even demonstrated some creative uses of the knives to us and to Eric Elson who joined us as well 
Of course, you can’t have a party without Brian Lyttle!
But seriously, we were really interested to learn about Greg and Kirby’s recent trip to Alaska where they forged some steel for two incredible knives that will be featured in an upcoming issue of Blade. Imagine our surprise to learn that these knives would be unveiled in the official pre-show!
The Official Pre-Show
krausb and I immediately pounced on Greg to see the two “Alaska” knives…they were incredible!
The first was a Hog Hunter with mammoth scales and his new Sub Sonic blade grind. I am holding the knife in this picture.
And here is a close-up of the grind
The second was a new folder design with walrus scales
You can see both knives along with a sample of Greg’s newest fixed blade design, the Harpoon, in this pic.
Some of the other highlights of the pre-show include Brian Lyttle’s impromptu demonstration of the sharpness of his knives, shown in the video below (click on the link to see vid)
http://www.fototime.com/2961DBA3B23A52D/conv.wmv
These beautiful button lock folders from Brian Tighe
and this folder from Steve Linklater
It was also good to catch up with fellow collectors Murray White and his wife Phyllis who had a stunning display of knives by Canadian makers from their expansive collection.
and to see my good friend Neil Ostroff and meet his son, Alex.
After the pre-show, we went to pick up the knives that krausb had ordered from Greg, a stunning Sidearm and specially ground Catch Dog. Here’s krausb accepting his new Sidearm along with Greg demonstrating the merits of the special grind.
All knifed out, Lightfoot wanted a milkshake so we hopped in the Hummer and headed for the nearest dessert place. This is what the “knife show experience” is all about.
On to the show!
We knew Kirby would sell out quickly so we wanted to see him first before the knives were gone! Kirby brought a nice selection of folders, including one with a Damascus blade and bolsters with mammoth scales. He also had three examples of his latest design, the Pin, shown for the first time with black lip pearl menukis.
And here’s the man himself!
Sitting next to Kirby was (surprise, surprise) Greg Lightfoot! In addition to the knives from last night, Greg was displaying many of his current designs including: the Woodsman, HXT, Catch Dog, Suppressor, and a version of his new Harpoon sporting wood scales.
Also on his table were the new production versions of his Night Strike 6 and his tactical pen. The tactical pen was particularly cool with its fluted aluminum body (with magna-porting :)) and space pen technology. I’ll have a more detailed review of this pen in a later thread.
Next up was the True North Knives Strider / Chris Reeve display, which spanned an astounding five tables!
Strider PT’s, including a rare Cool Blast variant.
Other folders in the Strider range, including a rare SnG CC, TNK exclusive RCC GGTs and an AR with Strider’s newest blade finish, Ghost Digi-camo.
Strider fixed blades, including the new EB-LT with 1/3 hollow grind.
And some incredible MSC and DDC customs.
Now on to the Chris Reeves…
Right around the corner from the TNK display was renowned Canadian knifemaker Brian Tighe. Brian’s table featured one of my favourite knives of the show, a stunning gold anodized Tighe Stick complete with a beautiful wood display box.
Next stop, James McGowan to pick up my ultra-cool Moonglo G10 / Ti Strider Spanner and heat coloured Ti icepick.
Now for a change of pace, how about some beautifully crafted art knives from Alberta knifemaker, Brian Lyttle.
A close-up of the “Edge” knife that was featured in the movie of the same name.
Earlier you saw a video of Brian demonstrating the sharpness of his new sword. Here is a pic of him wearing the carry rig that he designed especially for that sword.
It was a neat looking rig, so Murray White decided to try it on for size.
Speaking of Murray, part two of his three day series featured forged knives.
Fancy forged knives are nice enough, but if your tastes run more towards the unconventional (like mine:)) you should check out William Nease. I was very impressed with William at his first show a couple of years ago. So impressed, in fact, that I bought two of his knives. I think his approach is very unique and I’m always anxious to see what he is bringing to the show. My favorite piece this year was little utility blade with a cast aluminum handle.
Being drawn to the unique, I couldn’t help but notice, the massive (and beautiful) spear sitting on Steve Linklater’s table. Being a fan of karambits, I was also very “pleased” to see some trainers on his tables.
Across from Steve’s table was George Roberts of Bandit Knives, in all the way from the Yukon! Thanks George for traveling so far to show us your knives.
Another knifemaker traveling a long distance was Bud Weston. Bud had a lot of new tactical framelocks with flippers as well as some fancy folders.
While walking around the show, we ran into many fellow forumites, including my friend Tig who just got back from working on the set of the movie “300”.
A few of us decided to head upstairs to the hotel restaurant and grab some lunch.
We got back just in time for the True North Knives / Chris Reeve raffle. CR was generous enough to donate a specially marked version of one of their newest knives, the Inyoni, to be raffled off to a lucky show-goer. Neil used the Vegas card system to select Ken Higgin to be the lucky winner. Neil’s son Alex did the honors of selecting the card. Cards were also drawn for Chris Reeve t-shirts.
Tomorrow’s draw will be for a specially marked Strider WP, donated by SKI.
In addition to the TNK raffles, there were lots of opportunities for show goers to win something. This year’s Guild knife, also to be raffled off, was very impressive.
The prize knife for Friends of the Guild is an incredible fixed blade from world-famous art knife maker Wolgang “Wolfe” Loerchner (who recently won yet another Cronk Award).
For those of you unfamiliar with Wolfe’s work, here are some examples.
Apparently, the talent runs in the family, as you can see in Barb Loerchner’s knife.
Speaking of art knife makers, we were pleasantly surprised to see Christoph Derringer, who was not on the original exhibitor list. Christoph traveled in from Quebec to share some of his impressive hand-forged blades.
Some of the other makers from Quebec attending this year’s show were:
Antoine Marcal. I was very impressed with the balance and feel of his Japanese style tanto.
Sylvain Dion
Patrick Beaudry
Paul-Aime Fortier
And of course, lets not forget all those other great Canadian knifemakers who make the show what it is.
Eric Elson
Jeff Diotte
Paul Johnson
Paul Savage
Murray st. Amour
Randy Doucette
Rick Frigault
And last but certainly not least, a BIG thanks to CKG President Peter Wile.
By the way, here’s what krausb and I took home.
RL
