As Chris has said above I also made it there, got there nice and early too so only had to queue for 10 minutes to get in!
Chris, Sorry
The venue is a rather nice hotel in Gloustershire (10 minutes away for Chris, 2 hours for me!)
The room wasn't overly large but it was just about big enough.
Plenty of makers there and lots to choose from. Some I just couldn't get decent (or any) photo's of. For instance, English Handmade Knives, Chris is a complete gentleman and was quite happy talking even though I'd stopped spending money by this point. Lee from LB Custom Knives also worth a mention (soon Lee I promise!).
Pieter Annandale was there with his spectacular blades, I really can't do these justice with the photo's I was able to take.
Pieter
His knives
Another maker I'll be looking at in the near future is ilknives. Now he has a very nice UK legal friction folder/slip joint design. His stabilised scales end up looking amazing.
A random maker just visiting the show was Scott from Wessex Blades
Now he brought his Kurang with him, he's not going to produce this knife, he just made it for 'smurf's and giggles', his words. He will be making something similar available in the future. The sheath as well is a work of art!
Now there were plenty of new knives there from well known brands that I really wasn't that bothered with and to be honest some of the prices were ridiculous. £75 for a SwissChamp anybody? Didn't think so!
Quite a good selection of second hand stuff there as well that was way more sensibly priced.
Before I forget Alan Wood was there as well (yes that Alan Wood that made the original Ray Mears Woodlore knife). Again a lovely chap but his knives are so expensive I think they scared a few people away from talking to him. He is quite photo shy as well.
But what did you buy Mark I hear at least one person ask. Well I ended up buying two knives, one of which I have been after for 3 years and another that 'just made sense' when I got it in my hand.
OK, knife the first, known to Bushcrafters and UK YouTube knife watchers was the onetime Woodlore Clone(ish) knife, the Jacklore Classic. This knife has developed it's own cult following and rightly so. In fact these are probably as hard to get hold of new as the original Woodlore. I called it clone(ish) but that really doesn't give the credit where it's due to Sandy who has made the design his own.
Sandy
And my knife, O1 4mm tool steel, stabilised Birds eye Maple, 59 HRC.
The red stitching on the sheath matches the red liners on the scales.
The leatherwork is also amazing, also made by Sandy.
Now the knife that just got me was from Ben and Lois Orford, two incredibly talented people. The knife is designed and made by Ben and and the sheath by Lois.
So here it is, the pocket parang. 3.5mm O1 Tool steel, 6" blade with a Scandi grind near the finger guard that transitions into a convex grind for the majority of the blade. This allows for controlled cuts for fine work but still being able chop through some pretty thick material.
Nice textured Miacarta scales as well.
In the last photo you may be able to see a flattened section of spine for striking ferro rods.
Oh and the man himself with some happy idiot that just spent too much!
Overall a good show, I'll go back next year but next year I'll book a room in the hotel, it is rather nice.
Here's another photo of the outside spoilt by two idiots
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