- Joined
- Jun 5, 2012
- Messages
- 1,071
Hello all,
I'm sure many of you have heard of the tragic event that befell the Desrosiers. This thread is not intended to be about me so I will just make a short statement and leave it at that. I haven't been around for a few months. I've been dealing with back problems for a few years, in fact they were what forced me out of my career (twice) and brought me into this community. I badly reinjured myself in March and have been struggling since. I made my first Dr. appt April 4 of 2015 and continue on that path, but I have not yet received any treatment. I have not completed or sold a knife in three months. I have become reasonably stable in my current condition though, and I am doing my best to bring the ride to a stop and achieve a new normal. I've taken my leave from the majority of social media and the internet while I tend to my health issues.
That said my first child is due in three months, a baby girl named Emelyn, and I desperately want to be a wholly positive influence in her life. I have become somewhat jaded through my health struggles and shrunken away from the community. If you wonder what I am getting out of doing this, you have your answer. I want to reconnect with the community and reverse this wasting process on my psyche, and do a good deed for a couple makers in need at the same time.
My friend Ben Tendick has taken initiative to help in this situation, and although I don't know the Desrosiers personally, I have a great amount of compassion for them especially with my struggles this last year. He offered to post this for me due to my hermititude (I guess I just made that up?), but I told him that I felt a need to do it, and he could post in my thread and we could just see where it goes.
Just to get it out of the way, I think many will agree that losing irreplaceable friends and companions is deeply tragic. The one other thing I can't get off my mind though, is the loss of the many heirloom materials and special pieces that a maker will collect over the course of their pursuits. Many will treasure these pieces so much that they often can't bring themselves to turn them into a knife. I think we all have a dozen or so blocks like this, some more, some less.
Restocking any material takes time and money, but these are the pieces that money can't buy, only time and persistence, and sometimes some aggressive begging or bartering mixed in. I know that if I were to have the same fate, the loss of that one special drawer where I lock away the heirloom pieces, the ones that keep me going with just a quick glance, would sting the worst.
So, the point. I am considering the possibility of some type of handle material collection, but I especially wanted to stress my hope that myself and others could give up one of those "special dozen" to help things sting a bit less for these two. I know the only thing that could help soothe the loss would be new special pieces to admire and dream about using some day.
I am unsure whether it is best to just leave this up to individual makers, or start an actual collection to try and encourage more to pry their tightly wrapped fingers off those heirloom blocks. Trust me I know how hard it is to part with those, even harder than getting them in the first place haha. I happen to be sitting on quite the hoard of Master grade Koa, due to an order I placed almost two years ago that just happened to finally land in my lap just before the holidays. I'd be happy to send some on my own, or to give a strong start to the pool if it is decided to go that way. I will donate what effort I'm able to help, although I think I will let Ben and others chime in first. If someone would like to take the torch from me I will gladly give it, but if anything is required of me I will not drop the ball if I can in any way help it.
EDIT: One other thing I forgot. I have some already stabilized stock I could donate, but I have some crazy good stock I just got, that is yet to be stabilized. I think if we did end up doing a collection and more than a few folks had unstabilized pieces they'd like to donate, I could talk to Shannon at K&G and see what she can do. They seem to be pretty good folks. Even if they aren't able to help in that manner, I'd be happy to float the cost of stabilizing a special batch, and I'm sure if I told them what it was for, they'd push it through pretty quick for us.
I'm sure many of you have heard of the tragic event that befell the Desrosiers. This thread is not intended to be about me so I will just make a short statement and leave it at that. I haven't been around for a few months. I've been dealing with back problems for a few years, in fact they were what forced me out of my career (twice) and brought me into this community. I badly reinjured myself in March and have been struggling since. I made my first Dr. appt April 4 of 2015 and continue on that path, but I have not yet received any treatment. I have not completed or sold a knife in three months. I have become reasonably stable in my current condition though, and I am doing my best to bring the ride to a stop and achieve a new normal. I've taken my leave from the majority of social media and the internet while I tend to my health issues.
That said my first child is due in three months, a baby girl named Emelyn, and I desperately want to be a wholly positive influence in her life. I have become somewhat jaded through my health struggles and shrunken away from the community. If you wonder what I am getting out of doing this, you have your answer. I want to reconnect with the community and reverse this wasting process on my psyche, and do a good deed for a couple makers in need at the same time.
My friend Ben Tendick has taken initiative to help in this situation, and although I don't know the Desrosiers personally, I have a great amount of compassion for them especially with my struggles this last year. He offered to post this for me due to my hermititude (I guess I just made that up?), but I told him that I felt a need to do it, and he could post in my thread and we could just see where it goes.
Just to get it out of the way, I think many will agree that losing irreplaceable friends and companions is deeply tragic. The one other thing I can't get off my mind though, is the loss of the many heirloom materials and special pieces that a maker will collect over the course of their pursuits. Many will treasure these pieces so much that they often can't bring themselves to turn them into a knife. I think we all have a dozen or so blocks like this, some more, some less.
Restocking any material takes time and money, but these are the pieces that money can't buy, only time and persistence, and sometimes some aggressive begging or bartering mixed in. I know that if I were to have the same fate, the loss of that one special drawer where I lock away the heirloom pieces, the ones that keep me going with just a quick glance, would sting the worst.
So, the point. I am considering the possibility of some type of handle material collection, but I especially wanted to stress my hope that myself and others could give up one of those "special dozen" to help things sting a bit less for these two. I know the only thing that could help soothe the loss would be new special pieces to admire and dream about using some day.
I am unsure whether it is best to just leave this up to individual makers, or start an actual collection to try and encourage more to pry their tightly wrapped fingers off those heirloom blocks. Trust me I know how hard it is to part with those, even harder than getting them in the first place haha. I happen to be sitting on quite the hoard of Master grade Koa, due to an order I placed almost two years ago that just happened to finally land in my lap just before the holidays. I'd be happy to send some on my own, or to give a strong start to the pool if it is decided to go that way. I will donate what effort I'm able to help, although I think I will let Ben and others chime in first. If someone would like to take the torch from me I will gladly give it, but if anything is required of me I will not drop the ball if I can in any way help it.
EDIT: One other thing I forgot. I have some already stabilized stock I could donate, but I have some crazy good stock I just got, that is yet to be stabilized. I think if we did end up doing a collection and more than a few folks had unstabilized pieces they'd like to donate, I could talk to Shannon at K&G and see what she can do. They seem to be pretty good folks. Even if they aren't able to help in that manner, I'd be happy to float the cost of stabilizing a special batch, and I'm sure if I told them what it was for, they'd push it through pretty quick for us.
Last edited:
