Atlanta Blade Show

[mongo1958]

The Atlanta Blade show was wonderful. I met Eric at the Spyderco booth. I also met Michael Janich the inventor of the Yojimbo. Michael Janich showed me a Microjimbo that I liked. Eric and Michael were very pleasant folks to talk to.
There were no photos allowed of the concept knives but I found a great knife, The Bodacious. Wow, what a knife. I can only hope the Bodacious makes it into production, it is freak'n awesome. It is similar to the Shaman but different. The handle is thiner than the Shaman and is not contoured, and the nub (leading edge of the finger choil, not sure of the technical name) is greatly reduced.
I found the other major knife manufactures in the show as well.
Later on, I started paroozing the independent knife makers. Oh what a joy, lots of beautiful knives and swords.
Anyway, I am tired, I'll post some pics later.
have a blessed day.

[Mushroom]

Thanks for sharing! Love hearing about the “Bodacious.” Looking forward to whatever pics you can share from the show.

[Doc Dan]

Looking forward to more.

[mongo1958]

Not a knife but I can appreciate the craftsmanship.

[mongo1958]

Another leather helmet.

[mongo1958]

This is a beautiful knife made by an Irishman who told me that this knife will be going to a museum in Ireland.
The current value is $40K. The knife has gold and diamonds embedded into the handle. The photo does not do it justice.

[mongo1958]

Another one with gold artwork in the handle.

[mongo1958]

I'm not sure why, but I like this flat grind knife.

[mongo1958]

This is my favorite knife of the show. It is a button lock. The button is made of Jade.

[mongo1958]

Spyderco had some Native Chief LW seconds that I looked at and ended up passing on the deal.
I may end up getting the Native Chief LW, in the future, it is a good knife.
I really liked that Bodacious and hope Sal gets it into production.

[JSumm]

Spyderco had some Native Chief LW seconds that I looked at and ended up passing on the deal.
I may end up getting the Native Chief LW, in the future, it is a good knife.
I really liked that Bodacious and hope Sal gets it into production.

The Bodacious is what I was most excited to see. It is the choiless Shaman. We thought it was going to come with the same blade thickness, but they ended up thinning the stock quite a bit while maintaining the thicker tip. It is Awesome! Smooth G10 scales, but they are not contoured as heavily as the current Shaman. What that means is you have a great flat spot to pinch to close the compression lock. No more complaints about slipping. Even with the smooth scales. I think the contouring is the greatest contributor to the slipping complaint you hear about.

[riclaw]

I didn't handle the Bodacious, but the small Kapara was great. It looked like they had two; one in G10 and the other in full carbon fiber.

The red/black G10 PM2 with engraved spyder logo was hot. Hope they bring that one to market. Reverse S and Bowie PM2's were also there.

The Cliff Jumper blade was a nice length. It had jimping on the choil but none on the thumb ramp. The handle felt too long for my hands, though.

Special shout out to Chappy and Kobe. Chappy's enthusiasm really shines through, and Kobe was very patient pulling things out for me to handle and looking up prices.

[TkoK83Spy]

Spyderco had some Native Chief LW seconds that I looked at and ended up passing on the deal.
I may end up getting the Native Chief LW, in the future, it is a good knife.
I really liked that Bodacious and hope Sal gets it into production.

The Bodacious is what I was most excited to see. It is the choiless Shaman. We thought it was going to come with the same blade thickness, but they ended up thinning the stock quite a bit while maintaining the thicker tip. It is Awesome! Smooth G10 scales, but they are not contoured as heavily as the current Shaman. What that means is you have a great flat spot to pinch to close the compression lock. No more complaints about slipping. Even with the smooth scales. I think the contouring is the greatest contributor to the slipping complaint you hear about.

Sounds like a great knife. Makes me wish I was still using as heavily as I once was, sounds like a dream for the warehouse environment. Thought I was done buying knives, but this may tempt me in the future!

[mongo1958]

Spyderco had some Native Chief LW seconds that I looked at and ended up passing on the deal.
I may end up getting the Native Chief LW, in the future, it is a good knife.
I really liked that Bodacious and hope Sal gets it into production.

The Bodacious is what I was most excited to see. It is the choiless Shaman. We thought it was going to come with the same blade thickness, but they ended up thinning the stock quite a bit while maintaining the thicker tip. It is Awesome! Smooth G10 scales, but they are not contoured as heavily as the current Shaman. What that means is you have a great flat spot to pinch to close the compression lock. No more complaints about slipping. Even with the smooth scales. I think the contouring is the greatest contributor to the slipping complaint you hear about.

When I showed up at the Spyderco Booth, the prototype section of the booth was a high occupancy zone in a tiny space. LOL
I was just thinking, if Spyderco adds a button release to the Bodacious, that would be freak'n awesome . Boom
Spyderco could not make enough of them.

[Wartstein]

...

The Bodacious is what I was most excited to see. It is the choiless Shaman. We thought it was going to come with the same blade thickness, but they ended up thinning the stock quite a bit while maintaining the thicker tip. It is Awesome! Smooth G10 scales, but they are not contoured as heavily as the current Shaman. What that means is you have a great flat spot to pinch to close the compression lock. No more complaints about slipping. Even with the smooth scales. I think the contouring is the greatest contributor to the slipping complaint you hear about.

Sounds honestly great, but also (just from the description) pretty similar to a Caribbean - is that so?

[JSumm]

I personally do not have a Caribbean to compare. Though the blade shapes are similar, it maintains the Shaman shape. Made in Golden. Potential for some different steels. But in features, they may not be too far off from each other.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

I wasn’t able to get there until Sunday mid-day so I only had a couple hours…we went straight to the prototype section in the corner and the Manix 2 lw salt was the first knife I held and it was SWEET, then the Para 3 lw salt caught my eye as well as the mini Kapara and Chad Kelly Piute…the Bodacious was off the charts good too…wasn’t allowed to take photos but still an Awesome time

[mongo1958]

...

The Bodacious is what I was most excited to see. It is the choiless Shaman. We thought it was going to come with the same blade thickness, but they ended up thinning the stock quite a bit while maintaining the thicker tip. It is Awesome! Smooth G10 scales, but they are not contoured as heavily as the current Shaman. What that means is you have a great flat spot to pinch to close the compression lock. No more complaints about slipping. Even with the smooth scales. I think the contouring is the greatest contributor to the slipping complaint you hear about.

Sounds honestly great, but also (just from the description) pretty similar to a Caribbean - is that so?

I did not think so. I don't remember it being choiless but the giant nub is greatly reduced in size. Because I couldn't take a photo I'm going by memory so... But, Michael gave it to me to play with for a few minutes.
It looks like a Shaman but thinner and lighter. The Blade shape and handle shape screams Shaman.

[aicolainen]

I struggle to picture the Bodacious clearly in my head, but with the pieces I'm able to put together I like what I see.
The OG Shaman was always a bit overbuilt for my use. And while still tempted by the design, the relative short edge to overall size ratio was the (so far) final nail in the coffin for someone with my modest hand size.
I guess what I'm hoping for, is that the Bodacious will look more like a TRM Shadow. Something slicier, with better cutting edge to overall size ratio, but still a tall blade and a grip that gives some clearance from the cutting surface. I've been tempted by the Shadow, but the thumb stud and crossbar lock has held me back thus far.

So, while maybe more closely resembling a Caribbean, it should be somewhat shorter (good for me) and still provide more clearance between the handle and cutting surface (also good - sometimes). And, maybe pushing my luck somewhat; if I remember correctly, Eric hinted to all Golden models getting the Salt treatment (MC Bodacious can't be a bad thing).

I've not held/tried neither a Shaman or a Caribbean, so I may be endorsing the idea of a Bodacious on a misjudged impression of them.

[JSumm]

As far as the Bodacious (Choiless Shaman), if you can picture the Shaman without a finger choil, you are halfway there. The bladestock is thinner than the Shaman, but it is not competing with the Watu. Think Manix bladestock.