More thoughts about the 2020 SHOT Show
Dennis Clay
This column has established the annual SHOT Show is huge, with thousands of exhibitors, thousands of buyers and thousands of press members in attendance. Walking each aisle would cover a distance of 12.5 miles.
We have attended the show for 25 years or more. Our goal in the beginning was to visit as many booths as possible.
Our purpose was to visit and learn about the products in each booth, which is a worthy objective. However, it was an impossible job to accomplish. As the number of exhibitors increased, the amount of time to visit each was decreased.
An attendee trying to visit each booth would be allowed less than 90 seconds for each visit. Yes, there are this many booths and only such and such amount of time.
These days the booths we visit are determined before the show begins. There were times when we had appointments for certain booths, but this found us hurrying from one end of the show to another.
We dropped the appointment angle and now simply tell the booth representatives we will show up sometime during the show. This is much easier and keeps us free from a super structured schedule
New products and old products are part of our visiting at the show. For example: The booth containing Smith’s Consumer Products has the original Arkansas sharpening stone. While the stone is an excellent sharpening instrument and has been since the late 1800s, Smith’s offers many newer-style sharpeners. These include tapered diamond rods for sharpening serrations, crossed carbide blades for the rough edge and crossed ceramic rods for a razor-sharp finish.
On my kitchen counter top is a Smith sharpener with the rough edge sharpeners on one side and the ceramic rods on the other. It measures 3-inches wide and 2-inches tall. This makes for easy sharpening of any of my kitchen knives. Another Smith sharpener is in my hunting backpack for use when field dressing an animal.
Mr. Smith was at the booth a few years ago. Meeting the originator of a product, or the current CEO, is another aspect of enjoying the SHOT Show.
He was asked, “What is the most important aspect of sharpening a knife?”
“There are three important parts to sharpening a knife,” he said. “Consistency of angle, consistency of angle and consistency of angle.”
His words rang true after thinking about what he said. Sharpening a knife on a stone needed the same angle while going from the right to left as from going left to right on the other side of the blade.