2023 Atlanta Blade Show

[L Haney]

Me and the wife, Teresa, went to Marietta for the Atlanta Blade Show yesterday. It was huge. Had a listed nine hundred and thirty four vendors. Knives and swords, axes, hatchets, and war hammers. Perhaps most useful for the hobbyists were the tools and supplies that were there. Hardness testers to grinding belts, annealing ovens, etching acids.

Don't know how many of you guys ever watch/ have seen the TV show 'Forged in Fire', a somewhat "reality" show about making edged weapons. My wife got me interested in it a few years back and I enjoy some aspects of the show. We were in one of the smaller rooms (relatively) of the expo and recognized Ben Abbott, one of the former competitors and current judges on the series. He was just walking around so we inflicted ourselves on him just to say we enjoy the program.

What an absolutely nice guy! We talked for a good bit and when we were saying 'bye', he said, "Hey, did you guys want a picture?". We didn't think to ask. So he asked a guy walking past to use my wife's phone and we did.

 

[cavegeo]

My wife does not understand why I like that show so much.

great photo.

 

[embatp]

My ex step father in law ( is that a thing?) is a collector….he went every year…I think there is a blade club on the north side of town…

 

[Tuhlmann]

BLADE is a goal of mine. Some year. Maybe.

 

[Tak]

I was gonna go but I heard it was $30 just to get in. Plus I ended up being busy both days this weekend. Looks neat though.

 

[Impala_Guy]

Went there with my kid Friday and did an overnight at the Sheraton. Its becoming an annual tradition for us with a fat steak dinner to go with it. I like custom slipjoints especially Lannys clips and 2 blade trappers but all the prices there were 30% higher than you can get them for on the forums and auctions. Lotta man buns, Warhammer balisong nerds and pink and blue hairs there this year. My son is a big balisong enthusiast and hes actually pretty skilled but he looks normal and clean cut. I did enjoy looking at some of the insane custom knives that were tens of thousands of dollars. Found a couple vintage german knives I can probably flip for enough profit to cover the steak dinner and half the hotel rate.

 

[L Haney]

I was gonna go but I heard it was $30 just to get in. Plus I ended up being busy both days this weekend. Looks neat though.

Yep, and the advertised $10 parking was actually $16.50, cash not an option.

 

[L Haney]

Lotta man buns, Warhammer balisong nerds and pink and blue hairs there this year.

Oh yeah. Kilt wearing pot bellied graveyard tanned types somehow navigating the carpet despite their nose being high enough to block their view. Meal Team Six was out in force with tacticool gear.

There must have been a memo I didn't get that a backback was required for admission but they let us in anyway. I didn't know leaving your car in the deck and travelling into the building qualified as an expedition.

 

[Invictus77]

My youngest boy was big in 4H and went to the state fair every year. A few years ago he got to the gate and they had a metal detector. He had a mile round trip walk to put his pocket knife back in the truck to get in. Went back in the same gate. First booth he came to inside was selling swords, battle axes, throwing stars, and all many of sharp edged hardware.