After about 15 min in line inside, the conference room doors opened, baskets were handed out, and the hunt was on!
The next set of pictures probably happened about an hour later as we absorbed the tremendous scene all around us. The format this year was about 4 rows, with 2 rows of tables per 'row', w/ Spyderco employees manning the inner part of the rows. Along the stage area they had mainly fixed blades, and then another section along the side wall of reduced-but-new knives with the table directly in front of that full of trays of new-but-open-box knives.
(PS - can you spot the Kapara in the above pic?)
I was given a little hint by one of the crew that they had seen some Python Shamans in the second set of tables, so that was the first place I went. I started pouring through the trays...each tray holds 50 knives, and each row held anywhere from 25-35 trays, so you can imagine the 'knife overload'. I immediately starting trying to train my eyes for that snake-style micarta, but the first knives that stood out to me was a carbon fiber Centofante, an S90V Kapara, and then I found a 'stormtrooper' Smock (Rex 45/white micarta). And then, there it was - Python Shaman!!! I was so elated. And then I found another, and another! I probably ended up finding about 4-5 in that first run of the table.
By that time the room was filling up and every spot around every table had already been filled with folks searching. I lost track of my son haha, but it was okay, he had made a bee-line straight for the fixed blade tables near the stage, and had snagged a couple Jumpmaster 2s in H1 - I didn't even know they still had these! They had a LOT of cool stuff…
We looked and looked and kept finding goodies as we went, and after about an hour and a half, we decided to make our way to a sorting table to start combing through and deciding what to keep and what to put back. This had 2 effects - one is that you are surrounded by others doing the same thing, so sometimes you will see something really interesting in their discard pile, and visa-versa, and it allows you to also barter your finds, which didn't really dawn on me until I saw some guys doing it. Some were pretty intense about it, and keeping a lot of knives for trade fodder, but this also led to some really cool moments as well.
After the first sort, back to the floor we went.
Some basic observations from this year: The hot knife of the day was the 'stormtrooper Smock', as rumor had been circulating about there being loads of Smocks this year. I don't know how accurate 'loads' would be, but it was one of the first knives I did see that stood out to me, that I put in my basket. It was also the only one I ever saw in the trays being circulated. After that, I only ever saw one in other people's baskets - and they were in a lot of baskets! It seemed like everyone was looking for one, by far the most 'asked about' knife that day. The Smock seems to be an incredibly popular knife to 'knife guys', and both years we've been out to this event, had many people asking about or looking out for a Smock. It had casually been on our list, but when we found it, it was solidified and we ended up taking that one home.
A couple knives (previously mentioned in one of my other posts) that I saw heaps of were the Military 2s in 15V and the pink Yojimbos. Maybe I only saw so many because my brain knew they were on my list so I was keeping a closer watch on them, but I'll let you judge that for yourselves by the pictures. I saw so many of each, it started making me sad, like just what happened to account for so many rejects? Yes, some examples were tight and sticky, yet others seemed to be like butter, centered, and smooth. I'm not a QC inspector, so there must be more than meets the eye with this stuff.
Another knife that I was excited to see and take home (but that sadly didn't make the budget cut) was the Ayoob. I had read about this knife, and the 2022 run (Sprint?) from JD Spydo's thread, God rest his soul. It gave me a real appreciation for the knife and the history. And reading about why so many had been returned or demoted to a 'second' was really interesting. After inspecting what had to have been at least 100 of them, and holding them, I have to say I'm very impressed with both the design and execution. I see what they were talking about with the grinding of the teeth near the tip, but it didn't bother me so much. I really think this is an enthusiast's knife - something maybe only a knife afficionado would truly appreciate, but if you know, you know. I also really feel that due to its limited appeal and odd looks, this knife is being hardcore slept on and overlooked. There were loads and loads of them - in almost every tray was an Ayoob, and in some trays, several. If you go to this event next year, I encourage you to give one a look, you might be surprised.
The Military 2 in 15V was in a similar position...there were just so, so many! Some were tight and didn't drop free, and about half to two-thirds had centering issues, but there were some gorgeous examples in there, and I very sincerely hope there remained some after the doors were shut because I will absolutely be picking one up next year if they have any more. This one was on my list, but the budget ran tight and this one was dropped, sadly. I talked about this one and the pink Yojimbo - which is such a cool knife, but after Bass handed me a Canis (I'm so, so grateful!) I had less reason to pick up the Yojimbo, which didn't quite feel as good and was a little more expensive.
Whew! Okay, to be continued in Part III…
enjoy it
