Best Piece of Advice You've Received From A Knife Maker

It's a simple one day plan! :D

Eat, Promote your work, Answer emails
Grind until hungry
Repeat x2
Work on Design
Answer some more Emails
Sleep
repeat next day


I'm kidding but I think the real secret to success is to keep at it. :)
 
You can watch all the videos and read all the books and that is fine...once. Then go grind some steel and grind some more. The more you do it the better you should get...like a lot of things. Larry
 
ugh. This... So i recently moved and my neighbor told me of a guy that makes knives down the road. I mean not even a mile away. I have been messing around making knives for a while now and figured this guy might be willing to give me a few pointers. So I go and introduce myself and talk with him. Hes an old man, probably pushing 65. He makes custom damascus and hunting knives. So i asked him if he would be willing to show me some things. He told me flat out, "No. No one showed me, I learned all this myself. Good luck." and that was kind of it. So i guess its not the most useful but probably the least useful.
 
viral said:
He told me flat out, "No. No one showed me, I learned all this myself. Good luck." and that was kind of it.
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Let it die with you, then... you old salty bastid! I'm not saying it's wrong to have "proprietary" methods but that is a bitter, bitter man. Better off not to let him infect your character.

Wally Hayes once gave me a great piece of advice on how to avoid under pricing my knives. "If a customer gave you an order for (10) more just like it, would you do it for the same price?"
 
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viral said:
"No. No one showed me, I learned all this myself. Good luck."
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I bet his wife wears the pants in the family and keeps his nugets in her purse, and he was just taking that 50 years of belittlement out on you LOL
 
Rick Marchand said:
Let it die with you, then... you old salty bastid! I'm not saying it's wrong to have "proprietary" methods but that is a bitter, bitter man. Better off not to let him infect your character.

Wally Hayes once gave me a great piece of advice on how to avoid under pricing my knives. "If a customer gave you an order for (10) more just like it, would you do it for the same price?"
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Man, he wasn't doing anything too great. I mean his Damascus was killer but his handles were bad. I could see epoxy pockets where the material wasn't flat. But whatever. He was a salty salty fella. But you know what? I sure haven't been back.
 
John Katt said:
I bet his wife wears the pants in the family and keeps his nugets in her purse, and he was just taking that 50 years of belittlement out on you LOL
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Hah! it must be something. Bitter old man. He picked up a piece of walnut and tossed it at me and asked if I knew what it was, well of course I did... Then he asked if I knew how much it was. I said probably about $50. It was a nice big piece for a Bowie knife. And he just said yep and scoffed. Man must have been having a bad day or something.
 
I'll just be grateful if I'm still around to even make knives at 65... and at that point I'll damn sure be looking to my legacy. I enjoy teaching even now, and I look forward to more of it in the future.

Ken Onion told me to get a bunch of my work out there, and to enjoy trying to make a wide range of stuff. That's among the things he said that I've really pushed myself to do, since. Ken's versatile and prolific, and having observed how much he still enjoys what he does, I thought it a good example to follow.
 
I was told. "Stop buying tools! Make a knife with what you have and when you have extra money BUY SOME TIME!!!"

Tools don't make the maker. You gotta Do Work!

I was working 60-70 hours a week to survive a couple years ago and when I has extra $$$ because I was exhausted I would buy tools and built a nice shop before I finished a second knife...

So buy a drill press. A belt grinder a portabandsaw and a vise and make knives. Master that and then buy new tools to learn how to use.
 
Not learned from any knife maker, but other avenues in my life: "Listen more than you speak. Every person can teach you something, even the guy at the knife show whose knives do not meet your standard."
 
viral said:
ugh. This... So i recently moved and my neighbor told me of a guy that makes knives down the road. I mean not even a mile away. I have been messing around making knives for a while now and figured this guy might be willing to give me a few pointers. So I go and introduce myself and talk with him. Hes an old man, probably pushing 65. He makes custom damascus and hunting knives. So i asked him if he would be willing to show me some things. He told me flat out, "No. No one showed me, I learned all this myself. Good luck." and that was kind of it. So i guess its not the most useful but probably the least useful.
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Jeeez, man! You think 65 is old? You must have meant to type 85, right?:D
 
I'm going to be 65 in April. Will I still be able to make knives? Guess I'll sell the equipment and buy a scooter chair.
 
Jesse Latham said:
Not learned from any knife maker, but other avenues in my life: "Listen more than you speak. Every person can teach you something, even the guy at the knife show whose knives do not meet your standard."
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That is very true!
I hate it when people can't listen
 
You sharpen the knife only when everything is finished, including the sheat.


Pablo
 
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