On Friday 12:00 BLADE 2008 I was the first pure bred dog to the Scrapyard table. Well okay I’ll admit I have a little Rat and a little Hog in my bloodlines but I am 95% DOG. I was very excited to see the new Mud Puppy and I hoped there would be some black CGYKs there as well. For those who haven’t seen pictures the booth this year was enormous!! It was like 32 feet long and 15 feet tall or more in the center.

I arrive at the table with a smile because I am on a mission. I very much wanted my JYD #41 on my Mud Puppy and POP had made such a glowing post on wanting this knife that I thought it would be cool to try to get his too and surprise him. I looked at the new Mud Puppys (incidently I think their handles are more gray than tan) and without handling them said “I would like #41 please.” To my dismay I quickly learned that we were not allowed to request certain numbers. Thinking quickly because I knew that some Dogs or even Hogs and Rats could wander down the table at any second I said ‘I’ll take XX of them then.” The beautiful ladies behind the counter stared at me, looked at each other, and said “Are you serious” and I said “yes, why did I buy all of them?” They stated no not even close and then looked at Dan for help. Now Dan was talking with somebody away from the table at the time and I have a feeling that was an incredible stroke of luck. It seems they were briefed on not allowing people to request certain numbers but apparently this possibility had not come up in the pre-Blade briefing. Had I found a loophole? Well Dan appeared to be telling a very long story (possibly involving Jerry’s shenanigans?) to a short salty looking fellow who bears a direct resemblance to that model whose face is all over Busse Combat stuff, you know, the guy in camo holding a monocular (I swear it is the same guy.) I got the impression the lovely ScrapYard ladies did not want to interrupt them so…..They started pulling out knives from under the counter. While I didn’t buy nearly every one between #1 and #41 but I did get my number and POP’s (#44 I think) so I was ecstatic. A plan quickly formed to try to do some trading during the show to help Dogs that were there get their JYD number if possible.

Shortly thereafter the JYDs start showing up and I was reunited with Klink, Gravelface, and Rainwalker to name those that I remember from last year. I got to meat ColdOne and found out we have more than a bit in common. Rainwalker said that he was Proxying Mud Puppys and I asked him which dogs. When he said POP I informed him that I had POP’s number so we traded. He said he would kinda like his number too (#35) and I looked and said that I didn’t have that one. As luck would have it, VoxHog came to me wanting a low number on Sat and laid the couple he had on the table to see if I wanted to trade. Low and behold there was Rainwalker’s #35 so a trade was struck.

Well Dan eventually found out about what I had done and scolded me for being a Hog instead of a Dog. It seems he thought my inducted Hog name Messerschwein (German for Knife Hog) fit me just a little bit too well. With my tail between my legs I told him of my desire to get my number and POP’s and maybe to help some other JYD’s along the way and said “after all I did buy them” in a sulking sort of way. Dan looked at me, laughed, and decided that maybe I wasn’t such a bad puppy after all. He made me promise to tell the story of how I acquired them to the yard.

I bought a couple of tan CGYK and a single Bird Dog which I will use for my steak knife from now on. I thought I could trade a tan CGYK for a black one at some point. Yes I bought a LOT of other stuff too. There were too many colors released at different times and “buy three and get this price” over at the Busse table for me to resist.

Saturday night the other dogs, rats, and hogs and I had the grand pleasure of attending the first ever ScrapYard Knife induction. Jerry Busse (and Dan?) rented out the Jack and Jill restaurant at the Waverly Hotel just for the Busse family. Everyone was well fed and tired from a long day but I was proud to be dubbed MesserHund, which (No Dan it does not mean Bratwurst) translates to Knife Dog.

Sunday was spent helping tear down the enormous Busse booth and then a long drive home. To anyone who is contemplating going to BLADE, make sure you go. It is like a knife show, Fraternity Party, and family reunion all in one.

Some of you will receive emails from me about your JYD # Mud Puppys at the price I paid. Please, “Don’t call me I’ll call you.” I am off to cut something with my new blades. Sorry for the long post, hope I’ll see you there next year.