Patrick Kelly, Chad Arnow, and myself went to the Atlanta Blade Show 2005 this year to represent myArmoury.com and have a good time. While we were there, we saw a ton of cool things, met great people, and managed to basically stay out of trouble.

I'm making this topic to announce our Event Report Article, point you to our Photo Album, and create a place for us all to discuss the show.

First and foremost, here is our official report of the show by Patrick Kelly:

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The Atlanta Blade Show 2005
A report by Patrick Kelly

We've created a special Blade Show 2005 Photo Album to house additional photos of the show. Over the next several days, I'll be adding many more photos from Patrick, Chad, and myself. We encourage anyone who attended the show and took photos to upload their own to the albums for us all to see.

Please feel free to chat and ask questions about the show right here in this topic. I'll be sharing my own thoughts right here later this week.

Cheers!

Nice report, Patrick! It was a fun time, but I'm still tired. I guess I'm not used to being up that late drinking three nights in a row.

:)

It was really quite a blast getting the chance to meet the folks I did. Though a few of you I met only briefly, it's certainly nice to be able to connect with the actual person, and not just some string of posts. Some of the rest of you (Nathan, Patrick, Chad, Mike, Harlan) I feel like I have known a long time. I look very much forward to getting back together soon.

Getting to meet some of the prominent makers was sweet, too. Vince and Grace, Kevin, Rick, and Michael all spent a lot of time passionately talking about their work. Outstanding work by truly wonderful people.

The fact we actually drank Jocks & Jills clean out of Captain Morgan was bonus! We hurt them pretty badly on the Bass, too... almost kicked that whole keg!

Oh, and the show had some interesting things as well.

Great summary, Patrick! I enjoyed reading through, remembering discussions and places...

What should we call this one?

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"The morning after", or perhaps "One too many Captains".

Or maybe captions: " I can't remember a thing, who are those guys " Swords ??? I think they call those long sharp things swords ? What's my name again ? Why is that guy at the end smoking EEEEEEK ........ NOOOOOOOO ! If I can find my room I want to lie down after I throw up !

Just bitter and envious that I couldn't go :p :p :p :lol:

Patrick, thanks for the great report. I was especially pleased to hear your impressions of Cold Steel's Japanese swords. That Chisa Katana has been calling to me for a while now (yes, I suffer from an incurable fascination with long-hilted, short-bladed weapons :lol: ). Good to hear that Windlass had some nice stuff too. IMHO, they have done a lot in recent years to up the ante in the low priced sword market: reasonably functional swords priced similarly too some of the "nicer" wallhangers. :wtf: :lol: I was slightly disappointed to hear about the Atrim katana, but given that this is a relatively new venture for Gus, and Gus's reputation as a sword maker, I'm sure they'll improve in no time (and your criticizms were cosmetic in nature). Now, if Cold Steel and CAS/Hanwei can manage to bring their Euro swords up to the quality level of their Japanese offerings, we could have two more serious contenders in the mid-priced market. :)

Wonderful report Patrick. Glad everyone greatly enjoyed themselves and as you said the fellowship and meeting of people is a huge assest to this hobby.

Bill

Looks like a bunch of friggin' tourists to me! lol
Was great meeting all you guys, some for the 2nd or third time. As if once wasn't enough.

As to the caption for that picture, how about, Kelly's Heroes ? :eek: :lol:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065938/ :)

Thank you Patrick for the kind words, it was a pleasure to FINALLY get to meet you!
Great write up! You really encompassed the whole show right there!
I hope to see you at next years show!

Thanks for the great report Patrick, and thanks to anyone who let the rest of us know how it was.

I was really planning on going this year, take an early vacation, visit a few other cities in the US, Grand Canyon, that sort of thing. Sadly, other issues, mostly the money needed for the trip needed elsewere, made it impossible.

*sigh* Maybe next year.