Anyone else get lonely?

[stefanj]

I have taken to holding an open house every other Tuesday night, I call it a Coffee Break.

Open invitation to anyone interested in knives so it attracts other makers, collectors, chefs, leather workers, militaria collectors and such. It really is something to look forward to.

George

That is an awsome idea!

 

[koyote]

I feel lonely sometimes, yeah. I've got a wife who is willing to do the website and likes looking at the knives *sometimes*. I'm a saty at home dad so I'm rarely actually alone. And I have a close friend who is willing to help with sheathwork and comes over often. BUt I can't really share what's GOING ON. no one except my son actually wants to watch the forge go, see me hammer, or cares about sanding direction. Forget about quenching and tempering and what my son calls "all the ites of steel".

So I'm rarely really alone, but often enough lonely.

On the other hand, when you get into the Flow, it's pretty damned amazing.

 

[L.K.Smithy]

im not far away christof! ha. but when i do get a chance to work at the forge and in my shop, i sometimes find myself lonely. like most others, i can only talk shop with my family and friends so much. more than lonely i find myself wishing i had someone good with a hammer, who understands knife making, to be a striker for me. it would take allot of the labor out of larger blades... some friends have offered to help and are interested in learning, but playing teacher all the time takes some of the fun out of it.
much of the time though, working in my smithy is a welcome escape from everything. i can be in my happy place, working with fire and steel and wood. its one of the few things in life i am really happy to do...
-Lou

 

[Dmitry.M]

... 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?

You are not alone. The same shit on a regular base. Add to this my accent and communication problems. No friends around, just few people I know more or less, and they have no interests in me or my stuff.
My kids are far from knifemaking. My wife... sometimes I have nasty thoughts... pretty often...:grumpy:
I am alone with my shop, knives and my problems.

What I do? I work. Like a crazy dog, untill I fell like a rug on the floor. Than sleep and nobody and nothing can wake me up.***k everything and everyone. One or two days like that and I am Ok again... for sometime.
Alcohol and drugs do not help, just make it worse.:barf:

 

[Joss]

I used to go study / practice with an SCA bladesmith named Mischka. He was quite good actually, made very clean damascus. Once I asked him why he had that open door shop once a week, and he told me it was because he was getting too lonely otherwise.

 

[koyote]

Okay, top 3 stupid questions I get as a knifemaker:

1: do you make the blades, too?
2: do you make swords or just little knives?
3: variations on the "do you do traditional japanese" because "only japanese smiths make really good stuff"

Sometimes I'm lonely because I don't want to deal with magic blade mythology