With such companies as CRKT and others training most if not all of their focus on introducing new models at the BLADE Show and also BLADE Show Texas and BLADE Show West, it should surprise no one that BLADE Show ’23 enjoyed a bumper crop of knife debuts.
Knives made in the USA and China have dominated BLADE Show debuts in recent years, and this year you can add one more country to that list—Italy.* Of course, that shouldn’t shock anyone either since Italian knife companies have won a number of BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® awards in recent years, including this year with Maniago Knife Makers and Maserin (page 12).
The debuts came in a wide range of blade and handle materials. Leading the way were such CPM steels as MagnaCut, S35VN and 20CV, as well as pattern-welded damascus, not to mention one of a brass/copper damascus in the QSP Hedgehog, RPM-9 powder stainless, and the old standby, D2 tool steel. There was
