IWA 2010

[Woz]

From Friday to Monday there will be the IWA 2010 in Nuremberg, Europes largest gun and knife show. http://iwa.info/en/

I´ll be there 3 days, maybe some of you guys too? I´d love to have a chat with some of you guys in real life!

1134 Exhibitors! including Leatherman, SOG, Gerber, Victorinox, Wenger. All larger knife makers, flashlight brands and tactical gear. So, in short, the European version of the SHOT.

So mates, I will visit all stands and take photos where allowed, I hope to get a chance to play with the new Micro Toolclip and Leathermans.

[zepla]

No chance for me of getting there (work and stuff  ) but looking forward to your impressions and of course the many pictures of shiny things and the booth babes 

[J-sews]

Sweet!! We are looking forward to your report Woz Hopefully they will allow you to take photos

[Multitaskertools]

hopefully next year, havent been to IWA in 7yrs

[Nikos]

I'm so jealous of you Woz. Attending IWA and visiting Nuernberg at the same time!

[Woz]

Back from Nuremberg, here are some impressions.

I really liked the Leatherman booth. They had all new tools and allowed me to do some comparison shots of Micra - Squirt PS4 - Style - Style CS. I like the Style CS best, I´ll have to get one. The Style is nice too, but I will always prefer a Classic over it, for it is too small to feel good in my hand. Still, one for the collection is a must.
The MUT is nice, but for I do not have a gun it is quite useless to me. Nice, cool, but useless.
I will post some pics here later, some more on my blog. Maybe tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Gerber had a quite nice booth too, guess I´ll have to get an Octane. Nice tool for light EDC carry. I was not too impressed by the Grappler, but I guess it is a decent tool. Just not my style.
Short funny episode: I talked to the Gerber guy and he showed me an Artifact. I told him "Nice piece, I have one and love it". So he said: "There will be a new version, called the Shard. We don´t have one here, but it should be on the market soon". I replied: Nice, so if you don´t have one here, wanna see mine? - And showed him my MTO Shard. Earned a few laughs there - Thanks guys 

Victorinox had a large booth, very nice! But nothing special there. The complete SAK and tool range, some luggage and the perfume. Not even the "build your own SAK" machine. So nothing special there.

Wenger had a smaller booth, showing some SAK and watches. Same as Vic, nothing new, nothing special.

SOG was VERY disappointing. Tiny booth, just some of the new knives, no Micro Toolclip. They had a combined SOG-ToolLogic booth but very few models. I still like SOG knives (and have to say the SOGZilla is really well made and I´ll have to get a Fielder), but they seem not to like the European market. SOG is a dwarf here, not really popular not even on German knife forums. Not becuase of the quality, but because there seems to be an image problem, the company is not well known here. I guess a little more marketing and SOG would soon be a bigger player here, but if they do not even want to get a decent booth on the largest show...

Spyderco: GREAT! Nice booth, Sal and Eric Glesser and Mike Janich live in person...
Some great new models, even nicer concepts and protos. I will not show any pictures here for I´m not authorized to show protos and respect that, but believe me guys...AMAZING!

Benchmade: They had a nice booth showing the Benchmade, Harley Davidson and H&K knives. I LOVE the new Shane Sibert 755. Great knife!
The 741 Onslaught is great too, it´s kind of an even larger Dejavoo with Axis Lock. Guess I´ll get this one instead of the Dejavoo. The new hooks look very nice and handy too.

Cold Steel: The Pendleton Light Hunter is a really huge bang for the buck! It feels good in my hand and the steel should be good enough for an outdoor picnic knife or light duty EDC fixed blade. It is not great, but for under 25$ MSRP it is more than just OK.
The new plain edge Vaqueros disappointed me. Fit and Finish were really bad on the medium sized model they showed there. Maybe this is an exception but I would not show a bad model on a trade show. I guess they just had bad luck bringing that one, for the Voyagers and the large Vaquero looked just fine. BTW: Lynn Thompson may be a little crazy, but a nice guy to talk to.

Surefire: WOW! I really love the E1B and E2D models. It´s crazy, I love Surefire for years, but every time I think of getting one I ask myself: Why paying 3 times as much for Surefire if a Fenix or Nitecore is great too? Guess I´ll have to start a thread on that. Need a nwe light  Oh, they showed an AA light, so Surefire expands to the AA market.

Fenix: Nothing new here, but nice lights. I love the 2 AAA penlight, great for shirtpocket EDC.

CRKT: Nice. Nothing spectacular, but nice. I really like the Spork and Prybar things, the Shrimp and the "traditional" models. But I somehow got away from my wish to get a Flux. It´s just too bulky when used with the double rail.

There was a booth for Swiss+Tech. Nice little tools they have!

Something new? Sure!
There was a tool company from Thailand, offering hammer-based tools (hammer, axe, pliers, screwdrivers...), cheap SAK knockoffs and some keyring tools. Some more traditional MT too. I took some pics of that booth too, it seems to be crap, but you never know.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Great write up mate, thanks

[J-sews]

Yes, great report Woz! It sounds as if many of the companies we talk about had a good presence there. Like you say though, too bad about the SOG booth. It seems like with all the new products they are bringing out this year it would have been an ideal time to step up their European efforts. Haha, and funny story about the Shard! Those Gerber guys must have wondered how on earth you already had one! (good thinking by the way for bringing it with you!)

[Woz]

Oh, I got it on Thursday, and put it on my keychain immediately (one of them, got 4), so I did not intend to bring it to show off (I would not have guessed Gerber did not have them there), but I love to have that little bugger on my keychain. Speaking of keychains, I forgot to mention that Spyderco is expanding the SlipIt line, and there are two new very cheap models that should come out 2010. The Grasshopper is a larger Bug/Honeybee, and will be the same design. So a little, all stainless steel knife. It is very hard to open it one handed, and they made opening action a little less smooth than normal, so it is very hard to flick it open. Sal said that is to make it legal almost everywhere, most people will not be able to open it one handed, so maybe it will be legal even in countries like Denmark.
The second, and even better, new SlipIt is a brand new Kiwi. Some of you might be familiar with the old, back-locking Kiwis. Nice knives, great ergonomics and perfect suit or gentlemen knives. The all new Kiwi is a slipjoint, stainless steel handle and made in China like the Bug/Honeybee/Grasshopper. Eric mentioned that it will be very inexpensive, blade steel is not great, but decent. It is very hard to OHO and to Flik it open too, so another EDC for Germany and Great Britain, maybe even for Denmark.

[zepla]

Excellent imperssion of the show!  Now, how about those pictures   

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

I only read these threads for the booth babe photos

[Woz]

No booth babes, but pics.

My show favorite: New Benchmade Sibert Folder


Vic: Nice booth!


Leathermans:




CRKT:


Thailand Tools. The company is called Premium 360 - some quite unique looking tools, some clones. Link: www.premium360.com




Did I mention the SOG booth was tiny?


I liked those Gerbers

[AHB]

Great pics and write up, Woz... 

[J-sews]

That mini tack hammer looks like an interesting trinket Woz


How about Wenger or Buck, did you see them there?

[Multitaskertools]

any gun p0rn of note?

[zepla]

Nice pictures! Thanks for the effort 



Are you sure that you don't keep those boothbabes pics just to your self 

[Woz]

Not too many gun pics, I´m not a gun guy. Just a Glock 19, and I´m fine  

Wenger had a booth, but I did not take pictures there. Nothing new or special. Size was about the same as the Victorinox booth.
Buck did not have a booth of their own, but were represented by their importer Herbertz. Herbertz has a huge line of knives, from quite good quality to "OMG, what crap!", they do not produce anything anymore. Herbertz branded knives are Imports by various makers. They also represent brands like Buck, Mcusta, EKA, and many others as the official German importer/distributor.
So I have seen and handled quite some Buck knives there, but still was not happy to see a brand like Buck without a booth of their own.

Some brands like Benchmade, Spyderco, CRKT, Maxpedition or Fenix had more than just one appearance on the IWA, for they had their own booths, and were represented by their importers. So it was hard NOT to see the new products of these brands!

[Woz]

BTW, boothbabes: There was an Airsoft booth with 2 about 25yo, curly, blond, female TWINS in black catsuits. If only I would have found that booth some hours earlier, I might not have seen a single knife 

[J-sews]

BTW, boothbabes: There was an Airsoft booth with 2 about 25yo, curly, blond, female TWINS in black catsuits. If only I would have found that booth some hours earlier, I might not have seen a single knife 

Yeah? Well at least I showed pictures of my booth babes!

[Woz]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass! 

[J-sews]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass! 

(sigh) I suppose we can forgive you this year Woz...

...but next year...

[Freudian Frog]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass! 

(sigh) I suppose we can forgive you this year Woz...

...but next year...

I AM DISAPPOINT.

[J-sews]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass!  

(sigh) I suppose we can forgive you this year Woz...

...but next year...

I AM DISAPPOINT.

(Don't mind him Woz. He's just upset because he's got Glaff in his teefh)

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass!  

(sigh) I suppose we can forgive you this year Woz...

...but next year...

I AM DISAPPOINT.

(Don't mind him Woz. He's just upset because he's got Glaff in his teefh)

I think his keyboard just ran out of letters...

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass! 

Someone stopped drooling long enough to take a pic for their forum friends

[Freudian Frog]

Me-ow!

I HAPPY.

[Woz]

Ahh! Thanks! Gosh, I love sharp things

[Zed]

PS4 and the mut and that little tack hammer       looks like a great show .

paul

[AHB]

YEAH, BUT I DID NOT HAVE MY CAM IN THAT MOMENT!



keep reminding me on the mistake of the year smartass! 

Someone stopped drooling long enough to take a pic for their forum friends

You need to stay focused in the important things, Woz..    

[Neil]

Booth babes or not I appreciate the write-up

Shame you didn't get to play with Vics SAK building jig though, I wonder why they didn't bring it?