Blade Show Texas 2026 Recap: Community and the Things That Stick With You
Posted by LeNeigh Saldana on Mar 22nd 2026
Blade Show Texas 2026 Recap: Community, Chaos, and the Things That Stick With You
This past Thursday, we landed in Fort Worth, and in true Blade Show fashion, the American Edge team did what any reasonable group does after traveling, we hit the ground running.
Above: American Edge Team and Friends Heading to Blade Show Texas 2026
While the definition of timing is somewhat debatable, it’s also a reality that we as a society have chosen to adhere to, so our first stop was our pre-show Heretic room slot.
There’s something about those early, off-the-floor moments that always feel a little surreal. Before the doors open, before the crowds hit, before the noise takes over, it feels much more personal. This community means the world to us, and it’s through these more personalized moments like room sales, where we deepen our dealer-manufacturer relationships.
Before the show even started, we were able to pick up some customs from Heretic, including the newest model, the Koschei. The Koschei was first revealed at Shot Show back in January alongside the all new button-lock Jinn, which we also were able to secure as part of our inventory.
Top: Heretic Knives Koschei Custom in Carbon Fiber
Bottom: Jordan checking out all of the customs from Heretic Knives
After our time with the Heretic team, we proceeded on with our day enjoying the Texas sunshine with some of our closest friends on the dealer side of the knife world, NC Blade.
Dealer relationships are often hard to understand. Sure, we are competition, but we are also friends. The dealer community is very tight-knit, and there is mutual respect across the board for most of us. Dealers are an integral part of the knife world! Dealers help unify the supply chain and continue to bring success to the industry. The relationships that have formed between many of the dealers is something that sets our community apart entirely. It’s not often that ‘competition’ in a community finds themselves calling one another friend, but we are lucky enough to be part of a community in which the competition is there, but in a way in which we are almost cheering each other on.
Left: LeNeigh and Tara of NC Blade enjoying the sun
Right: Obligatory knife pic featuring CKF and Microtech
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After a tan ( and a sunburn for some), Thursday evening was a night that grew into a memory worthy of bottling.
A small tapas spot in Fort Worth began as a small get together, and slowly became packed wall-to-wall. American Edge, PVK, NCC Knives, the Hawk crew, John Gray, Chuck Gedraitis, John Nomikos, and many others all filtered in through the night. Thursday continued to morph into the kind of night where conversations overlapped, laughter cut through the room, and we bounced from table to table, mingling intentionally with a community of friends. The pre-show dinner is almost as important as the show itself.
Above: Part of the knife community at Atico Tapas
Time is spent catching up on life in between knife shows.
It’s spent connecting with new members of the industry.
It’s spent talking about everything from new models to time travel and everything in between.
You can’t manufacture that kind of connection.
You can’t plan to fall in love with it.
But somehow, it is inevitable.
That’s the part people don’t see when they think about knife shows.
It’s not just tables and transactions.
It’s not just the knives themselves.
It never is. It never will be.
Knife shows, at their core, are about connection.
Now, we usually end the night with an affogato, or at least I do, butbeign as though Friday was the Spring equinox, I chose to end the night with a crescent moon and daffodils (IYKYK).
Left: Business Card for Pink Cobra Tattoo
Right: LeNeigh getting a tattoo
An affogato will always beat a trash cup of coffee, but there was something particularly appealing about ending the night differently this trip.
There was something about growth. Something about timing. Something about planting seeds we don’t fully understand yet.
Which, honestly, that feels like the most accurate metaphor for this entire industry.
Friday: Show Day One
Friday started early.
We kicked things off at our favorite place to call home base, Blackside Customs.
Above: Jordan and LeNeigh checking in with Hank Greenberg of Blackside Customs
From there, time flew, for lack of a better term.
Blade Show doesn’t necessarily ease you in. It’s more of a throw you into the middle and expect you to keep up type of situation.
And somehow, regardless of how tired you are, you take each moment that you are given, and you spend it wisely and ever so intentionally, while remembering, your something is better than your nothing. Each stop is calculated. Every transaction is well accounted.
Friday was one of those strong first days where we constantly moved, but still learned so much. From beginning to dive deeper into niches like finer metals and essentially knives that are works of art, to meeting makers we’ve only ever interacted with through a screen, it all started to click. Our connections deepened. Our minds were broadened. The best conversations of the show were had.
The first day of our Blade Show Texas 2026 trip wrapped up on the showroom floor with inventory from:
Left: Prince Customs Protean Frame Lock Hexaskelly Blue Titanium Handle 20CV Drop Point Blade
Right: Krein Knives Custom Alpha Frame Lock Battle Blackened Checkered Titanium Handle Baker Forge DarkMai Damascus Compound Ground Blade
Between the inventory purchasing and the amazing conversations, we entered lottos, passed out stickers, shook hands, made deals, and tried to be in 25 different places at once per usual.
And in the middle of all that chaos…
we secured a table for next year’s show!
2026 has been a year of change; a year of opportunity.
Securing a table for Blade Show 2027 feels like a quiet milestones that doesn’t scream for attention, but means everything when I stop and think about it.
Because it’s real, tangible growth.
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After the show, we headed to the Arcane Blade Hang. It was a fun community event, hosted by Israel of Arcane Design and The Ancient City Continental. There were raffles every 30 minutes, an AMAZING food truck, drinks, and a room full of people who love this industry.
Above: John Gray and LeNeigh goofing off at the Arcane Hang Out
Saturday: Divide, Conquer, Repeat
Day Two started the same way as any day two does: coffee first, survival second.
This was the day we really dug in. The weekend was already so memorable, but not only was Saturday the last day of the show, it was slo the last night in Texas, period.
The American Edge team once again split up to divide and conquer. Some of us focused on buying, some on listing, others chasing lottos again, and all of us trying (and failing) to connect with everyone we wanted to see.
Because here’s the reality of any knife show:
Everywhere you turn, there’s someone you know, or someone you’ve talked to online for years, but are meeting for the first time.
You try to move with intention.
You try to stay on schedule-
and then you get stopped mid-step.
Suddenly, the schedule doesn’t matter as much.
Time is irrelevant.
That connection I was talking about?
It becomes much clearer; more defined.
Instead of being caught up in the timing, the longer the show goes on, you have this notion that no matter time has paused you in your tracks, where you are is exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Top left: Hank Greenberg, Rikki Hernandez, and LeNeigh on Blade Show Texas 2026 Day 2
Top Right:Ethan ad Jordan talking to Chuck Gedraitis
Bottom Left: Tara of NC Blade and Leneigh with Sean Marfione of Marfione Customs
Bottom Right: Jeremiah Burbank of PVK and Jordan talking to Nick Chuprin of NCC Knives and Matt Diskin
The End of a Show (The Part No One Talks About Enough)
The end always hits the same way; a little heavy; very bittersweet.
As fast as it all comes together… it’s over.
You realize you won’t see a lot of these people again for a while.
Not until Blade Show Atlanta.
Not until the next event.
Not until life lines up in a way that allows it.
It’s strange how a few days can feel like something bigger.
As though something shifted.
As though something was planted.
Maybe it’s a new relationship.
Maybe it’s a future collaboration.
Maybe it’s just a conversation that stuck with you longer than you expected.
But it all is crucial.
It’s all significant.
Every sticker passed out. Every T-shirt traded. Every knife purchased. Every conversation had-
It all adds up.
It all becomes a memory.
It all becomes part of the entanglement of the love story that is a Knife Show.
Left: Gavin Hawk and Team
Right: LeNeigh and Jen from Pro-Tech Knives
Closing It Out
Though the years, throughout the season, there’s a point where the knife community becomes your knife family.
Traditions begin.
Memories play on repeat.
These shows never seem to have a big finale. No dramatic endings.
Just a quiet understanding that this matters; that the people matter.
Somewhere between the late night daffodils, the affogatos, the conversations about building something bigger than yourself, and a weekend that somehow felt both too long and not long enough…
You realize that you are creating something.
And for a moment, it all begins to make sense,
even when doesn’t to anyone else.
Blade Show Texas 2026 was one for the books. 3 Shows of the 2026 show season are officially now under belt, leading into the fourth show of the year this upcoming weekend in Janesville, Wisconsin- The Badger Knife Show. We’ll see you there.
With love and maybe some post-show melancholy, it’s never good-bye, only a see you soon.
74 days until Blade Show Atlanta, but who’s counting?
LeNeigh
Above: The Last Night with friends Dowtown Fort Worth