If you have ever been to a third world country or any poorer economy country or province thereof you can find some incredible craftsman that do some of the most miraculous work you could ever witness. I once knew a man in Korea that could make you a pair of shoes from a picture and you would not believe the quality of these shoes. But if you saw the equipment he used to make them you would even be more amazed.
Same goes for knives. Some super craftmanship in the way of knives can be found in the Phillipines, and South Korea as well as other countries using very primitive equipment. If you have the desire you can hone your skill using anything really.
For years I made wooden knives just for fun, you know, daggers, and stuff like copies of various fixed blade shapes I either owned or had seen. I did a lot with a Craftsman drill press lathe my inlaws bought me for Christmas one year (like in the diagram below) and a simple drum sander of various sizes stuck into my variable speed drill using a quick clamp to adjust the trigger to keep it at the speed I wanted. I shaped my wood using that set up much the same way as I do now with a blade of steel when I make one by stock removal grinding it.
One day when I finally picked up a flat well used sidewalk edger blade I cut out a blank for myself with a dremmel and cut off discs (it took quite a few as I recall but it did the job) and I hollow ground it using that same variable speed drill set up and sanding drum on the old Craftsman drill lathe w/clamp in place and was quite pleased with it and moved on from there. I actually made many knives and hollow ground them using that set up for quite a while.
Here is one of the first ones I did that way. Elk Antler and sidewalk edger blade. My mom still carries this little push knife in her purse. She calls it her "bingo knife".
I don't know exactly what that means or how it improves her bingo playing luck but whatever.
This is nothing compared to some of the stuff I've seen. We are so spoiled rotten over here really when it comes to goodies to make our work easier. If you master the craft on tools like these you'd be a wiz kid on something better when the day comes that you have access to it.
I am not suggesting that you start out this primitive but it isn't necessary to jump in big when starting out.
I personally feel the best makers out there are the ones that constantly challenge themselves. Even Chris Reeve didn't start out with much more than an economy shop. Make yourself have to work to get what you want. Making life too easy for yourself early on can, in my opinion take away from your potential to develop your skill. Challenge yourself with something compromising and move on later. Every pleasure in life is paid for with a near equal amount of pain so hurt yourself and make better knives. You can quote me on that if you like. :thumbup:
STR
It's just like eating potato chips, you can't just eat one.
