Blade Show West, the little brother to June’s long-running Blade Show, is almost here. The growing show offers first glimpses of incoming models as well as demonstrations, competitions, and more.
Compared to Blade Show proper, which has been going since 1982, Blade Show West is a mere sprat, having began in 2018. The first time around the show pulled in around 200 exhibitors, and actually took place in a more, well, Western location: Portland Oregon, often considered the knife making capital of the United States, as it is home to some heavy hitters like Benchmade, Kershaw/ZT, and Gerber – all of whom, as you would expect, attended that first year.
For 2024, Blade Show West is approaching 300 exhibitors – the latest count tallies 276. All the above mentioned champions return, as well as other familiar heavy hitters like the We Knife Co. family (We, Civivi, and Sencut), Spyderco, and CRKT. Given its bantamweight size, Blade Show West is also a great exhibition spot for smaller shops like Olamic and Tactile Knife Co., as well as custom makers: this year Bill Ruple, Jared Oeser, Eric Ochs, and Tobin Hill are attending.
Speaking of Jared Oeser, he will be one of the pros on a Saturday panel in which aspiring makers can exhibit a knife for critique from veteran custom makers. It’s a great opportunity for some high-level feedback on your work, and it doesn’t cost anything beyond the entry fee for the show itself. Blade Show West will also mark the debut of several new production models, some of which have been teased like the new Richard Rogers CRKT pieces.
Whatever other big news comes out of the show, we’ll be getting coverage up and out over the following week – so be sure to check back in here each day.
Blade Show West 2024 opens its doors in the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, UT on Friday, October 4th, at 10:30am Mountain Time. It also runs 10am-6pm on Saturday.
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