OKCA Show this weekend! 4/11-4/12

[Candyman]

The OKCA Show (Oregon Knife Collectors Association) is happening this weekend in Eugene, Oregon. If you’re able to make it, definitely stop by and hang out for a bit! It’s hands down one of the best shows of the year. You’ll see some of the top knife makers from all over the country all in one place.

I fly in from Chicago every year just for this show, so trust me, it’s worth it.

Ed Schempp and I will have our table set up as usual. I’ll be randomly giving away knives to kids throughout the weekend, and I’ll also have plenty of candy from the factory to hand out to everyone.

Come by and say hi!

Rich

[WilliamMunny]

The OKCA Show (Oregon Knife Collectors Association) is happening this weekend in Eugene, Oregon. If you’re able to make it, definitely stop by and hang out for a bit! It’s hands down one of the best shows of the year. You’ll see some of the top knife makers from all over the country all in one place.

I fly in from Chicago every year just for this show, so trust me, it’s worth it.

Ed Schempp and I will have our table set up as usual. I’ll be randomly giving away knives to kids throughout the weekend, and I’ll also have plenty of candy from the factory to hand out to everyone.

Come by and say hi!

Rich

Good luck, have fun and post some pictures.

[Red Leader]

I can’t get away, but I will keep this on the radar as it is something that my son and I would love to attend. Thanks and you guys have a great time! Say hi to Ed for me, met him at the SFO a couple months back and we had fun talking about the history of PM knife steels.

[VandymanG]

The OKCA Show (Oregon Knife Collectors Association) is happening this weekend in Eugene, Oregon. If you’re able to make it, definitely stop by and hang out for a bit! It’s hands down one of the best shows of the year. You’ll see some of the top knife makers from all over the country all in one place.

I fly in from Chicago every year just for this show, so trust me, it’s worth it.

Ed Schempp and I will have our table set up as usual. I’ll be randomly giving away knives to kids throughout the weekend, and I’ll also have plenty of candy from the factory to hand out to everyone.

Come by and say hi!

Rich

What is the name of your knife company? Or are you working the Spyderco booth? Just curious in case I can get my wife to agree to stopping by on our way back home.

[VandymanG]

Just curious who else is going to be at the OKCA show? If you’re going to be working a booth at the show it would be nice to know which one. Talked to my wife and she seems ok-ish with the idea so I might be going. The show starts the day we’ll be leaving Oregon to go back to Washington.

Well it looks like we are going to the show on Saturday. It only adds an hour to our drive home.

[Mushroom]

Hope it's a great show, Rich! Have a good time!

Just curious who else is going to be at the OKCA show? If you’re going to be working a booth at the show it would be nice to know which one. Talked to my wife and she seems ok-ish with the idea so I might be going. The show starts the day we’ll be leaving Oregon to go back to Washington.

Well it looks like we are going to the show on Saturday. It only adds an hour to our drive home.

I think it's Ed Schempp's personal booth that you'll be able to find them at. Hope you get to attend, I've heard a lot of good things about this show from Rich. @Candyman can definitely tell you more.

[RadioactiveSpyder]

I really want to go but don’t think it’s in the cards with the high gas prices. Hopefully Spyderco is planning a stronger presence there this year compared to last year (when I arrived Saturday Eric had already left and there were no prototypes or anything close to what their booth looked like previous years, just a few trays of seconds). I inquired whether LynchNW (Casey Lynch’s company) would be there as well and they will not. That said, OKCA is a really fantastic show with lots to check out, and I’m sad to not be able to say hi to Rich and Ed!

On a related note, another knife show that’s really taken off here in the PNW is the PNW Custom Invitational held in Seaside Oregon in late July/early August. I do intend to make it over to that show, and maybe Spyderco could consider hosting a booth there as well, there’s plenty of room available in the Seaside Convention Center.

Have fun at OKCA folks! I see from Rich’s IG that he’s already in Oregon. Cheers, Radioactive

[Jimandchris2]

@Candyman Have a safe and great time. Can't go,but like the stories.

[Candyman]

Just curious who else is going to be at the OKCA show? If you’re going to be working a booth at the show it would be nice to know which one. Talked to my wife and she seems ok-ish with the idea so I might be going. The show starts the day we’ll be leaving Oregon to go back to Washington.

Well it looks like we are going to the show on Saturday. It only adds an hour to our drive home.

Hey @VandymanG ,
I don’t make knives. I actually help manage a large confectionery company in NW Indiana called Albanese Confectionery.
I’ve become friends with Ed over the years so I come to hang out with him and help out at his tables.
The knives that I give away are Spyderco’s from my collection. I go to the seconds sale every year and buy a fair amount for giveaways at the different shows and on social media.

The tables are T10 and T11. If you see a ginger with a backwards cubs hat on you’ll know it’s me.

[TkoK83Spy]

Just curious who else is going to be at the OKCA show? If you’re going to be working a booth at the show it would be nice to know which one. Talked to my wife and she seems ok-ish with the idea so I might be going. The show starts the day we’ll be leaving Oregon to go back to Washington.

Well it looks like we are going to the show on Saturday. It only adds an hour to our drive home.

Hey @VandymanG ,
I don’t make knives. I actually help manage a large confectionery company in NW Indiana called Albanese Confectionery.
I’ve become friends with Ed over the years so I come to hang out with him and help out at his tables.
The knives that I give away are Spyderco’s from my collection. I go to the seconds sale every year and buy a fair amount for giveaways at the different shows and on social media.

The tables are T10 and T11. If you see a ginger with a backwards cubs hat on you’ll know it’s me.

Must be backwards if wearing a Cubs hat! With love, from a Brewers fan!

Hope all who attend have a good time this weekend!

[VandymanG]

Well my wife said we can end our vacation by going to the knife show. So we will be there. This will be my first knife show ever. Both excited and nervous since I don’t do well with crowds but excited about the knives. I’ll be the one with the service dog, she is a Parti(multi colored) Poodle.

[VandymanG]

Looks like I’ll be rolling in around 1:00PM. Think I’ll head to the Spyderco booth first in hopes of saying hi to Eric. If he’s gone already that’s cool. Then I’ll head to Ed’s booth.

[Red Leader]

How's it going?? Any pictures to share once the 1st day is wrapped up?

[VandymanG]

How's it going?? Any pictures to share once the 1st day is wrapped up?

For my first knife show ever it was overwhelming and exciting all rolled into one. I really don’t handle being around a lot of people very well but I was having so much fun talking to @Ed Schempp , @Candyman , @Eric Glesser , and Kobe that I actually at times felt comfortable. For me that is rare and I’m grateful for the experience. This said I totally forgot to take pictures. Candyman did take a group selfie of me, my dog Sweet Pea, my wife @hvandyke34 , and himself. He said he’d post it later. We watched Ed run a rope cutting contest that Candyman participated in.

I picked up a Shaman SPY27 that was a 2nds knife due to the color being off on the knife scales. At Ed’s table I bought a Calypso Jr. Super Blue. Great deals and fun.

[Mushroom]

Sounds like it was a good time!

[Red Leader]

How's it going?? Any pictures to share once the 1st day is wrapped up?

For my first knife show ever it was overwhelming and exciting all rolled into one. I really don’t handle being around a lot of people very well but I was having so much fun talking to @Ed Schempp , @Candyman , @Eric Glesser , and Kobe that I actually at times felt comfortable. For me that is rare and I’m grateful for the experience. This said I totally forgot to take pictures. Candyman did take a group selfie of me, my dog Sweet Pea, my wife @hvandyke34 , and himself. He said he’d post it later. We watched Ed run a rope cutting contest that Candyman participated in.

I picked up a Shaman SPY27 that was a 2nds knife due to the color being off on the knife scales. At Ed’s table I bought a Calypso Jr. Super Blue. Great deals and fun.

Great report - thanks for filling us in!

[Candyman]

Day One- Wednesday I flew into PDX and decided to go Northwest to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock and bum around some shops. It is truly an amazing area.

Day two- Thursday was spent getting up early and heading north about 45 minutes to do some sight seeing on filming locations from the Goonies movie. I went to the Goonies house and then went over to the Jail where the Fratelli’s break out in the movie. They’ve now turned it into the Oregon Film Museum which has a lot of interactive areas within the building.
I then drove down to Fort Steven’s to check out the Wreck of the Peter Iredale. They wrecked in 1906 on the way to the Columbia River and the steel ship is still on the beach and you can walk up to it at low tide. The plan was to drive down the coast and eat as much seafood as possible on the way to the Newport strip before cutting across. I was probably too successful at this part of the trip. I made quick stops at roughly 5 different iconic spots on the way including the top spots Bell Buoy of Seaside, Jandi Oyster Farm and Ocean Bleu @ Gino's. Tons of Oysters, steamer clams and crab. From there I cut across east to Eugene to stay at the Valley River Inn. I met Ed at the bar late evening and we hung out for a bit before calling it a night.
I’ll post about the show days this evening.

[VandymanG]

I saw the Damascus Metal used for the 50th anniversary knife at Ed’s table. It would be awesome if they considered also making a challenge coin from it. Just a thought.

Edit - @sal is a challenge coin made from Ed’s Damascus Spyderco 50th bolster steel a possibility?

[Candyman]

Day 3—Friday, we got up bright and early to head over to the show for setup. I managed to snag a new Retract from Ed, and wow, that knife is amazing! Friday is a setup day for everyone, but club members are also welcome to hang out. Most of the day is spent slowly setting up because it’s been a year since we’ve seen most of these folks, so there’s a lot of catching up to do.

My friend David Jung (Spyderwa) was the table next to us this time, so it was a blast hanging out with him and his wife.

That day, I also scored a new Rubicon. A friend of mine, Craig Morgan, stopped by the table. He was the club president for about 15 years, if I remember correctly, and he was also Bob Lum’s apprentice. He pulled out an old titanium Salsa and told us it was Bob’s. He said Bob had regrind it years ago. He asked me to keep it for my collection. It was such an overwhelming situation, and I was beyond grateful to have a friend do that for me out of the kindness of his heart. That night, Ed and his wife invited a bunch of people out for dinner. David and Sharon Jung, Eric Glesser, Jeff Loffer and his son Hayden from Cutlery Shoppe, John Jarrett, Dan Edwards, and Tom Moore were there. We went to Sushi Station and chatted over drinks and good food.

Day 4—Saturday was quite busy. I gave away about 200 bags of candy to people and managed to give away 4 knives. I bought these scratch-off “golden tickets,” and if you scratched and got a W, you were a winner. Each one was a winner! A lot of extremely happy kids got their first Spyderco’s, ranging from Roadies, Crickets, and Bugs. I also entered the rope-cutting competition again this year. I definitely got my butt kicked this time around. I cut at a slightly too much of a sideways angle. Lessons learned for next time. It’s still so much fun to get up there in front of everyone. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

Day 5—Sunday was a quick one for me! I started with breakfast at Elmer’s and then headed over to the show. Lunch was at the Fisherman’s Market with Jeff Loffer, and then it was a long, winding trip to say my goodbyes to everyone. I gave away roughly 5 more Spyderco’s before I left.

So many memories from the trip!
The highlight was definitely the Turkish twist Damascus folder that Ed made. It’s just so special to own something amazing that one of your friends creates. Ed is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met and I’m truly proud to call him a friend. He often times tells people about my generosity but the truth of the matter is he is the one that sets the precedence for us all . I just try to follow in his footsteps.

I also got a Native blue abalone shell inlay that belonged to Olive, Sal’s retired assistant. A good friend wanted to make sure it ended up in my collection.

It’s hard to describe how special this show is. It’s a family show, a place to make friends and build relationships in the community.
I’m so grateful to be a small part of what the OKCA stands for.