Anyone else get lonely?

Sam Salvati said:
... I find also that tossing on Wally Hayes or Tim Lively helps a good bit, even the old standby Conan:D...
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Which reminds me, I think I will do the same! I have been thinking of getting together with some knifemaking contemporaries and just having some fun, perhaps a weekend bloomery smelt. I sometimes have Rick Barrett up to my place to goof off in the shop and shoot the breeze. I will assume that you have one of Wally's DVD's. I'll just get Wally, since he gave me a call to let me know he now lives just across the water in Windsor. I need invite Wally up to my place to play with me and Rick in the shop. Perhaps I could let any smiths within driving distance know when we will try a smelt and we could do an informal gathering just for fun.

Rick and I tend to get into trouble if we are not supervised, after all the silly blade making nonsense is done for the day we break out the drinks and get down to the serious business of watching Venture Brothers DVD's and laughing until our guts hurt. The last time Rick visited I decided we needed mint juleps to go with our steaks, but only fresh mint will do so I dragged him out into the woods over a rugged hillside to a spring where the very best peppermint in our area grows. We came back to the grill muddy, scraped up and bitten by bugs but the brief delay was worth it since the juleps were great!:thumbup:

Here is one hint for you- be the best knifemaker you can, but don't take the whole thing too seriously or it will wear you down. ;)
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
Which reminds me, I think I will do the same! I have been thinking of getting together with some knifemaking contemporaries and just having some fun, perhaps a weekend bloomery smelt. I sometimes have Rick Barrett up to my place to goof off in the shop and shoot the breeze. I will assume that you have one of Wally's DVD's. I'll just get Wally, since he gave me a call to let me know he now lives just across the water in Windsor. I need invite Wally up to my place to play with me and Rick in the shop. Perhaps I could let any smiths within driving distance know when we will try a smelt and we could do an informal gathering just for fun.

Rick and I tend to get into trouble if we are not supervised, after all the silly blade making nonsense is done for the day we break out the drinks and get down to the serious business of watching Venture Brothers DVD's and laughing until our guts hurt. The last time Rick visited I decided we needed mint juleps to go with our steaks, but only fresh mint will do so I dragged him out into the woods over a rugged hillside to a spring where the very best peppermint in our area grows. We came back to the grill muddy, scraped up and bitten by bugs but the brief delay was worth it since the juleps were great!:thumbup:

Here is one hint for you- be the best knifemaker you can, but don't take the whole thing too seriously or it will wear you down. ;)
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Hey..yer gonna need someone with some iaido training over to play..er..help evaluate some of those blades;)
 
mete said:
You all need one of these robots ! Maybe they can be programmed to teach you how to make a katana ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=091ugdiojEM
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Ack, that may be the creepiest thing I have ever seen! I dunno what horror.com iis but Im not suprrised that the liink came from a place so called....

I half expected her wrists to start gushing blood or heer head to explode near the end lol, consider me traumatized... :D
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
Rick and I tend to get into trouble if we are not supervised,
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My concern is the heat treating practices you two utilize when not supervised!

Tracy, Erik and I all share similar fates, I suspect... our positions force us to interact with society, and not on terms of our choosing. Nonetheless, I can talk to a knifemaker for hours and socialize (right, Mr. Fitzgerald;)?), but have tremendous difficulty speaking to people close to me for 15 minutes.
 
I'm way to crabby and unsociable to deal with other people and sometimes it's a lonely life, but i guess I'm just better off being lonely and miserable rather than bring others down with my moodiness and "knife making tunnel vision" i never use to be this way it's kinda just crept up on me in the past few years, more so now than ever though. o-well my complaining is done for now, have a great day y'all
 
I don't like to be bothered or distracted when working in the shop, period. I get more than plenty of interaction with people outside the shop. Grumble grumble.
 
"Maybe we need to organize more hammer-ins. Seems there are several knife makers that are in reasonable driving distance in the South-West Mo area..."

Mark

I would be in for a hammer-in seeing as how I'm in Northwest Arkansas S.W. MO isn't that far away. I have only really done stock removal, but I have now amassed what is needed to start forging. Heck, if you ever get board enough to have someone who has no idea what he is doing over let me know.

Allen
 
indian george said:
You are just a Crabby Ole Redskin.
HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!
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Working on a government/military installation does that to a fella, Mr. Rascal. My main problem was a certain pesky new neighbor/ co-worker I have no use for. And, the $^#&*$#*$# telephone.
I was in the shop carefully ripping some really nice Osage orange on my table saw when wife HOLLERS, there is some BSer on the phone that wanted to jabber. It was the same new pesky neighbor cockroach. Anyhow, I still have all my fingers and the wood is OK. Cockroach won't be calling again.
Of course, friends always more than welcome to call and visit, just NOT that pest.
 
Wow, and I thought it was just me. I've managed to get back into the shop these last couple of days and therefore haven't had time to be online. I get back and here it all is!

Thank you Sam for bringing this up. I have found that from time to time, I end up avoiding my shop because I'm all alone out there and nobody wants to come play. My wife is bored to tears from all the knife and steel talk, and none of my friends have any real desire to hear any more either.

So I end up not making any progress of any sort for a week or two at a time sometimes, although I am almost universally happy when I can overcome the initial roadblock and convince myself to get into the shop and do something.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Anyone else get lonely? I admit it can be nice and peaceful to get in the shop and just play away all alone, but sometimes I get these nasty bouts of loneliness. Everyone in my family is sort of tired of hearing about blades, none of my regular friends have any sort of interest in blades, and I am almost to the point of being a shut in hangin' on this computer so much. What are some of your cures for the lonely bladesmith blues?
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Try lots of pot :-)

i'm jus keeeeeding.


A dog helps.

If it is anything like the states there you could go to a couple renaissance fairs or SCA events and pickup some little groupies ;-)
 
Scriven, I got a dog but he ain't much help. I am in the states, no ren faires or sca by me, not atleast within a short drive.
 
Hi Sam,

You're too young to be isolated, but for those of us who are the only bladesmiths in our geographic area, it can be lonely. Fortunately, my wife is an artist and we support each other in our obsessions. A suggestion however, you are on so many forums (fora?) I think you need to get out and get some more interpersonal time in the real world. Get yourself out there!!! Don't let your obsession with forging be the only force in your young life.

Let the force guide you, not control you.

Best wishes,

Bill:)
 
Sam,
if you have time to be lonely.. you have more time than me. i actually have the exact opposite problem. when i am in the shop (which is actually my parents garage) it is a very very very very rare thing to be able to work un-interupted. and having you younger brother trying to slip by byehing you while you are polioshing a very point and very very sharp blade can be very disconcerting.

i am blessed with a soon to be fiance who is intrested in knives (only because i am.. but hey) and has enough knowledge to ask good questions. she helped design/ inspired this knife:
DSC01645.jpg


i am just particularly blessed with the freinds and family God has given me. i just happen to be the kind of person who can work all alone and be fine. and kinda want to be alone sometimes. so i have the opposite problem, but i dont want to tell them to leave.. you know?
hope you find a solution
~Chris
 
Yep I get very lonely. I am antisocial but since I started working from home I find myself talking to anybody that will talk to me. Say I go into a gas station I will talk to the other folks getting gas or the person at the counter like they were old friends. Sometimes I am almost afraid to go home.

I do have people stop by on occasion but usually they want to ask about horses or talk to my wife.

If any of you guys ever want to make the trip up or down to my shop I have a spare bedroom and a couch. And if you get tired of working you can take a canoe trip down the Jordan River, go horse back riding, or fish for trout. :)

Here is a bigger incentive I have about 400 pounds of iron ore waiting to be smelted. Actually I was thinking of trying to round up some folks to come over to help me out with this project. Anyone want to try to make some steel? Hopefully some time this summer at least Del and I will give it a try.
 
Northern Michigan. About 90 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge. In the Jordan river vally just south of the little town of East Jordan.
 
Rats..
i am in VA.. working and going to school.. not sure if i could fit in a trip to michigan this summer..
you gonna sell some of the bloom?
thanks
~Chris
 
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