Road Trip Report: First Ever QLD Knife Show

Queensland Knife Show 16th & 17th of Feb 2019.

Last weekend Jamie and I went to the first ever Queensland Knife Show.

The Australian Knife Art Association together with the Queensland Metal Artisan Collective came together to host this first QLD show.

And what a show it was!!

I think we were all blown away by how many keen people turned up at the Ipswich Civic Centre over the weekend. The guys did an amazing job organising the show and marketing it, filling the place to the brim.

Here is a quick "behind the scenes";

The road trip started 4 am from Sydney, picking up Jamie from the Central Coast at 6 am with a half packed car, ready for the big shelf he had made plus the obligatory kransky pan and burner (more on that later). When the car was tetris-full, we added Riley's camera gear and set off!

From Sydney to Ipswhich was about 10.5 hours drive according to google maps but with getting The Bearded One and a couple of pit stops we rolled into Ipswich about 4 PM on the Friday before the show opened. We got to getting our tables ready, always a fun job. "Did we bring enough?" "did we bring the right stuff?", "why did the council guy keep turning the lights on and off until Riley promised to sit on him if it happened again?".

Friday night we got to look at Paul Arestan's knives he was bringing for the show. He showed us amongst others, this beatiful knife in damascus and Juma Ivory that he had free-handed the artwork on, then scrimshawed it in. Paul is an amazing artist.  This exact knife was stolen from the show on Sunday afternoon, with less than an hour to go of the show. Sad to see all the work Paul has put into it go to waste.

Friday night we met up with other exhibitors at the brew pub across the street. 

Great food and a couple of beers were enjoyed but not too late to bed, we had a long day ahead of us on Saturday. 

Saturday was full on! Shows are always fun, we get to talk hobby knife making all day long, and help some who have never done it before through where to start, what to get. 

 The organisers had done an amazing job advertising the show, to the point where the Civic Hall was at capacity there for a while and we were swamped (in a good way)!

QLDers are handy people it seems, most we spoke to seem to already be into one craft or another and many who had never thought of making their own knife jumped in and grabbed a kit.

Sold my first ever knife!

Only making a handful of knives a year, I have never sold one before. I put two knives up at this show, AND BOTH SOLD!  Very happy someone liked my knives enough to part with money for them! Was a bit strange seeming them go, usually I put them in a drawer and that's it. But now all that work is in the hands of someone else.

Hope they will enjoy using them as much as I enjoyed making them. Here is one of them, forged carbon steel blade and moose antler handle and veg tanned leather sheath.

Photo showing how full the show was on the Saturday. This is great news for the QLD show, sounds like they will be able to make it even bigger next year. (I think this photo is by Riley who took the price photos of the best knives on show as well)

Saturday night the QMAC club hosted a BBQ at the historical musum, where they have their workshop.  Rather than stand in a crowded pub with a burger, we all sat and enjoyed the BBQ and a drink outside at the museum. Was great talking to the QMAC guys and also catching up with makers from all over the place.

QMAC:

Anyone in the Ipswich/Brisbane area wanting to make knives or try their hand at blacksmithing should get onto these guys. I believe the membership is $100/year including insurance and they have a full blacksmithing workshop, organising monthly events for the members.

Sunday we did it all again, before packing up and leaving Ipswich for this time.

Kransky all around!

Jamie is a familiar face to all exhibitors, I'd say. When there is a lull in the visitors, he fries up a massive pan full of Kransky. Then he visits every table and offers up some tasty snacks! Always a popular guest, he did it again this show.

Below we have Mert and Kev showing their love for kransky.

Sunday night:

Going all the way to Yamba before stopping was maybe not the best decision, as everything was shutting down as we arrived! Managed to get a take-away dinner and one -1- beer before they all shut the lights and went home.

On Monday morning we continued our drive home and got home Monday night after a fun if long weekend.

Can't wait to do it again, next year the show will be even bigger we are sure!

Thank you to Andrew, Riley and the others of the KAA, and Graham, Gillian at the crew at QMAC for all the work they have put into making this such an enjoyable event for all of us.

Bjorn J