Kailash Blades at Sydney Knife Show!

Kailash Blades · Aug 14, 2019

Things have been going well for us recently so we thought it was time to boss up and head to our first knife show. We didn't have a huge amount of time to get our knives made so the guys worked overtime to get everything done. We ended up with 19 blades on the table, from 5" all the way up to 21" blades. There was a lot of traditional blades on the table as well as a bunch of more modern ones but unfortunately DHL wouldn't ship any of our bowies and field/camp knives as they were concerned they wouldn't make it into the country.

Got up to Sydney a few days beforehand to suss out the city and to get ourselves organised for the show. The night beforehand was a pretty hectic one of calculating prices, making pricetags and cleaning up any blemishes on the blades, sheaths and handles.

Got nowhere near enough sleep and with a belly full of toast headed out to the western suburbs.

Kailash Blades · Aug 14, 2019

DAY 1:
We rocked up about 2 hours late of course and were unpacking and setting up our stall while customers were clamouring to see what we had in our boxes. If anything it helped us to create a bit of initial interest that ended up with a solid crowd that lasted all day. There wasn't a single point where one of us wasn't talking to someone else all the way until close and good god was it tiring. All the business cards we'd got made on beautiful Lokta paper were gone in the first 3 hours. Madness.

One of the big highlights of day 1 was getting to meet Daniel Murray Lake, a superfan and fellow khukuri maker. He forged some himself but has also recently started working with a team in Nepal getting some made. If you haven't already, check out his work.

It was also great to meet a bunch of fans in real life, talk to some people who knew khukuris very well but also talk to a bunch of people who had never had of them and give them a great foundational experience.

By the end of the day we'd sorted out some wood for display, had sold over half our blades and were absolutely ready for a beer.

Kailash Blades · Aug 14, 2019

DAY 2:
Today we had our shit sorted out. We'd printed off a bunch of new cards the night before, had our displays all sorted and with half as many knives we had a way easier job focusing peoples attention to a few knives and giving them all the info they needed quickly.

The day was definitely a lot slower, but we still sold all but 5 of the knives we'd brought and the pace was a lot less insane. Met a whole bunch of new faces and even a fan which had been following my knife work since 2013.

One big upside to having a more chilled out day was that there was time to go and check out some of the other stalls! Got to see some amazing blades by Michael Cthulu, some beautifully ground razors from Boxer Custom Razors as well as some amazing knives and handle materials from Cutthroat Knives Australia and Workerman.

All in all a massive weekend and a huge success. Got to meet a bunch of amazing people, see some killer knives and make some connections. It's a shame that the rest of the team couldn't make it, but maybe that's something to look forward to in future. A massive thanks to Alex Walker (pictured) a friend of mine from back in high school that not only put me up and drove me around but did an amazing job manning the stall. He went into it with very little knowledge on khukuris and by the end of the show had people wrapped around his finger like you wouldn't believe. What a hero.

Bonus pic: I had some time after the show to explore the city on my bike and I assure you that it's just as beautiful a city as you've been told. The nature is incredible, the historical buildings are great and the art on the streets is next level. Check it out if you can sometime.