Sevierville looking/shopping

[Omega]

I went along with the wife to Sevierville because she wanted to go to a craft store out there.  Figured I could stop at Buds and the knife shop there to see what they had.  I got to say I was a bit disappointed; the knife shop had tons of Chinese stuff along the aisles and a few counters of the commercially available knives. The only tn made stuff I seen was some pieces of Damascus steel which were next to useless unless you bought the large expensive pieces.  I had wanted to see if they had Lodge cast metal stuff, they are listed as their outlet, but they only had a standard display, and a bunch of Old Mountain stuff, Chinese of course, and those prices were not all that.  Then I went looking at the Lodge Store to see if they had any deals, nope just about the same.  So then I went to Bud's, big place but nothing really special so I had to get something to not leave empty handed.

 

 

Doesn't shoot straight, but gets my BBQ started just fine 

Edited September 12, 2016 by Omega

[gjohnsoniv]

If you get a chance stop by the Emery's 5 and 10 on The Island in Pigeon Forge.  You would probably enjoy it.

[TNWNGR]

Well that particular cutlery store mostly sells China stuff so I'm not surprised to read about what you encountered. As for Lodge products, the last time I was in Rural King and TSC they had pretty good selections o choose from, otherwise go with Amazon or order directly from Lodge. Nice rifle you brought home there.

[Patton]

The Lodge factory is in South Pittsburg just outside of Chattanooga. They do have an outlet at the factory, but I don't know how the prices and selections are.

[tercel89]

Every so often , the Lodge Store has good sells on their "seconds" that have blemishes and scratches. My wife and me got a Lodge cast iron pan 15 inches wide and 3 inches deep for $12 . It's awesome. We have used it enough to where it's seasoned extremely well .

 

 

[Omega]

Yea, mostly I was looking for smaller items which I could use to pour my melted lead, zinc, or brass into for ingots.  Nothing needed, I have a few, but always looking for a bargain, so I figured a Lodge "Outlet" or a whole Lodge Store may have something on sale.  I am thinking of going back out there in October (wife is going to another craft thing), but this time I'll take one of the knife classes offered by Mountain Metal Craft Shop.  Hopefully they allow me to shape it the way I want, or at least attempt to . 

 

Not much of a knife guy per se, but I want a hand made skinning knife like these, I have both and really like them, but I found the first one (made in Taiwan) and the second is a replacement for another I broke which may now be Chinese made ??  I looked around but most "hand made" knives were from dubious sources and/or too expensive and some of the knife guys I asked didn't make or uninterested in small ones like this.  Now that I sort of caught the knife making bug I figured why not.  I also bought a Work Sharp sharpener (really good edges) so not in as much of a hurry to replace these as the sharpener has them razor sharp.

[TNWNGR]

When you get the change go by either the Co-Op on WRB or Hardware City on RSD they're Case dealers and have some other items as well. You have to look pretty hard at Buck and others because a lot of Chinese stuff is in their product line, same for Gerber, most of the Case line I've seen lately is still Made in USA. It's bad enough I mostly look at European Cutlery now.

If you want cast iron products for pouring ingots go to one of the Goodwill stores or some yard sales, it doesn't matter who made it if that's what your using it for.

Edited September 13, 2016 by TNWNGR

[peejman]

1 hour ago, tercel89 said:

Every so often , the Lodge Store has good sells on their "seconds" that have blemishes and scratches. My wife and me got a Lodge cast iron pan 15 inches wide and 3 inches deep for $12 . It's awesome. We have used it enough to where it's seasoned extremely well .

 

 

We've bought a few things at the Lodge store and all of it has been cosmetic seconds.  We use it all the time. 

 

The knife works is a great place to get hands on stuff that you won't find many other places. I've found better deals on ammo there than knives. 

Sevierville/Pigeon Forge in general isn't a place to find deals on stuff anymore.  There's lots of stuff, but the prices are typically mediocre at best.  It's beginning to follow the Turkey Creek business model, which is "mark everything up 20% for the privilege of shopping here."  

[Omega]

5 minutes ago, TNWNGR said:

When you get the change go by either the Co-Op on WRB or Hardware City on RSD they're Case dealers and have some other items as well. You have to look pretty hard at Buck and others because a lot of Chinese stuff is in their product line, same for Gerber, most of the Case line I've seen lately is still Made in USA. It's bad enough I mostly look at European Cutlery now.

If you want cast iron products for pouring ingots go to one of the Goodwill stores or some yard sales, it doesn't matter who made it if that's what your using it for.

That's where I got what I have, and Harbor Freight for one of the dutch ovens.  I found a corn muffing pan at a flea market for $10, but I will probably make corn muffins in that one, its the kind that looks like a pan with pie wedges in it,

[tercel89]

Not to get off subject and I apologize , but we use cast iron quite a bit now and it's great. But we have got to where we only buy new for this reason : I have read and even thought of this myself of casting bullets and melting lead in cast iron pans . I started reloading a few years ago and that's about when my wife and me started cooking strictly from good ole fashioned cast iron . After that thought , we have decided to buy only new cast iron. I don't want to risk the chance of getting a pan to cook with that was used to melt lead. But if we ever find an old one that we knew was used for food , we would definitely buy it to cook with .

[TrickyNicky]

I love SMKW, but not sure I've ever bought more than a cheap assisted opening knife my mom wanted for her glove box there. For the amount she uses it, it's perfect, could have spent more on a kershaw and had a better knife, but it wouldn't have a blue dragon on the handle and that seemed more important to her. 

I like to go and look, the knife museum is great and the 'country bear jamboree' type deal they have reminds me of being a kid and being fascinated by animatronic singing animals. 

I like the vibe and the feel of the place with the waterfall, mounted animas and all. places like this just don't get built anymore so I try to enjoy them before they all go out of business and get replaced by walmarts.

[E4 No More]

I got a Protech Sprint 2905 there just last month for $140.

[A.J. Holst]

I'm like TrickyNicky, just like looking around.

Never bought a knife, but did score my CZ vz.52 there.

9mm plinking ammo is market competitive  (12ish per 50) and they always seem to have it.

.30cal carbine and .303 Brit can be found waaaay cheaper.

Nice display and selection of Sig Arms.

It looks like they're getting out of the milsup biz.

 

 

[et45]

You want a deal on a lodge skillet? Go to a thrift store

[E4 No More]

Lodge has a store off the strip at 2704 Teaster Lane in Pigeon Forge.