Blade – September 2019

20 BLADE SEPTEMBER 2019

SHOW RECAP^ |^

would be $500-$1,000 knives down to the

$300-$500 range as they bring materials

[U.S. makers] charge more for.

“I think the Chinese are no longer

primarily interested in competing with

the $50-to-$100 range and are leaving

that market to us, or they’re forming

their own discount lines like We Knife

has done with its Civvi line. I think we’ll

see the return of cheap Chinese knives as

the new major Chinese companies focus

on the $50-to-$100 market with their

value lines much like [Spyderco CEO

and BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-

Fame® member] Sal Glesser has done

with Byrd.  He foresaw the need to sell

toa market that couldn’taffordto pay

for a framelock Military model and the

Chinese have, too.”

NEXT UP

Records fell and the knives they were

a-changin’. Meanwhile, next up is BLADE

Show West Nov. 1-3 at the Oregon

Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

Plan now to attend. For more information

visit bladeshowwest.com. As for BLADE

Show 2020, it will return June 5-7 at the

Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. For

more on it, stay tuned to bladeshow.com.

For the contact information for the knives

in the story see “Where To Get ’Em” on

page 71.

For more on the BLADE Show see the

stories on the BLADE Magazine Knife-

Of-Th e-Year® Awards, the BLADE Show

custom knife winners, the BLADE Show

factory debut knives and the BLADE

Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame® elsewhere

this issue.

For the latest knives, knife news, trends

and more visitblademag.com, BLADE®’s

popular Instagram page at @blade_

magazine, and on Facebook and Tw i t t e r.

RUPLE RULES On show Friday, Bill Ruple’s Pupils, aka “The South Texas Knife Cartel,”
presented Ruple with single-blade tribute trappers made by each of them in recognition of
his mentorship to them over the years. The makers are: Tanner Couch; Bubba Crouch; Burt
Flanagan; Trae Gaenzel; Tobin Hill; Enrique Pena; Tom Ploppert; Rusty Preston; Kendal
Schorsch; Luke Swenson; Tyler Turner; Roan West; and Bobby House. The knives store in a
beautiful glass and walnut presentation case. (See page 6.) (SharpByCoop image)

LET ME SEE ... A customer scans knives

by R.J. Martin (orange shirt) after having his

name drawn in R.J.’s lottery.

WHAT’LL YA’ HAVE? Hell-Bent Holsters was

covered up show Saturday.

MR. FOLDING KNIFE Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame®
member Ron Lake drives home his point
during his BLADE U. class, “How To Make
Folders With Manual Equipment.”

HOW MUCH? Knife enthusiasts descend on

the KnifePurveyor.com table.