Well at the ripe old age of 63 I attended my first knife show today down in Dalton, Georgia.  I had no idea what to expect other than I would probably see several things that I wanted and I would have a chance to meet some of the IKC members and a few of the on line retailers that I have done business with.  Some observations and impressions:

1.  This will not be my last show.

2.  The number of knives as viewed by these old eyes was staggering.  I spent the first hour just aimlessly wandering around trying to get the lay of the land.  It became very apparent to me that if I was going to stick to my plan to only buy 1 or 2 knives that I had to develop some sort of strategy to focus on specifically looking for what I wanted to come home with. So much eye candy!

3.  The Case brand really dominated this show in terms of the number of exhibitors that were selling them.  Everything from new production to some excellent examples of older Cases.  I am generally not interested in Case knives but seeing some of the older ones made me realize why they are so popular.  After seeing the number of Case exhibitors I was able to focus on what I was really interested in.  GEC, Queen, Tuna Valley, Frank Power's Queen Classics and the vendors that are IKC members.

4.  I had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Ken Daniels and Courtney.  What really nice people they are.  Ken struck me as a salt of the earth kind of guy and leads me to believe that some really exciting stuff is going to be coming from the Queen factory.

5.  I spent quite a lot of time with Frank Powers.  One of my "wants" for the show was one of Frank's SFO Queen Classics in the old Winterbottom bone.  He didn't have one in a pattern that really grabbed me so I decided to wait to see what his next pattern will be.  I did put in a plug for some sort of Jack in Winterbottom with a Wharncliffe blade.  What a super nice guy Frank is.

6. Quite unexpectedly met and had a smoke with the great Tony Bose.  Talk about a down to earth guy.  I saw several examples of Tony's work and would love to own one of his creations one of these days.  See, even old guys can still have dreams.

7. I met fellow IKC member and exhibitor Ken Mundhenk from Blue Ridge Cutlery and he had my other "want" for the show, a Charlie Campagna Diamond Jack in Blood Red Jig Bone.  Glad I found this knife and it was made all the more special coming from an IKC member.

8.  The most special thing about the day was meeting some of my fellow IKC friends,  I have describe IKC as a "warm fire" because of the easy going, friendly nature that exist here.  Meeting a few members today does nothing but reaffirm that these folks are everything they seem to be in their posts and in chat.  Wonderful real people.  JJ and his daughter were there.  JJ is someone I would love to spend some time with over a bottle of good bourbon and just sit back and listen.  Terry Ray and his lovely wife Cherry are wonderful people.  I look forward to buying some knives from these guys going forward.  They have a permanent spot on my prayer list for improvement in their health and well being.  I didn't get to spend much time with Randall Vaughn but he is a super guy.  As for Donnie and Jan Carter I felt like I have known them for years.  We are blessed to have these people in our lives as they truly are outstanding ambassadors for this forum and the knife collecting community.

So quite a day for this old boy.  I belong to a couple of other forums (knife and fishing forums) but IKC is something special and something we need to support with our participation.  Good people, good reading, good conversation, great photos and a warm fire.  What else do we need.