Bringing your work home, well in the house anyways.

C

Chris Mills

Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
18
I was just wondering if I am the only guy that's ever brought a knife into the house to work on it.

I don't mean bringing your grinder inside obviously, but I've found myself ,on more than one occasion, bringing some finishing sandpaper, or a bottle of danish oil in the house and finishing off a handle, or sharpening at my computer desk, etc.

My wonderful wife has never said a word.

Anyone else guilty?
 
I etch most of my knives in the house. It's good to be near the sink. During the winter, I do a lot of sanding on blades and handles in the house- I have a baby workbench I can clamp a knifeboard to and sit on the living room couch and sand with a movie for background.

Wet forming sheaths and stitching happens in the house a lot, too.
 
My kitchen table is always covered with projects! I think if I had a sink in the shop that might change but then again it is nice to work out of the house.
 
A sink in the shop is pretty easy.
Just get the sink, mount it, and run a water hose to it from your outside faucet. Run the drain outside onto the ground. In the winter, just get a water cooler and sit it on the edge of the sink.
 
My white kitchen countertop is stained from FCL and leather die. Alcohol seems to remove most of it but not all of it. I have learned to keep the chemicals in the shop and only bring the blade in to wash it before I drop it in the etch tank.

My wife is always on me to "take your knife back to the shop" or I'll buy some tools, bolts, supplies, and have to be reminded to "get these out of my house"

I do my leather work at the kitchen table but leave all dyes and oils out in the shop
 
It's the one thing I do that really winds my wife up. I do finishing polishes 2400 grit upwards and I sharpen knives on the kitchen bench.
Dyes are another issue.
 
I'll hand sand sitting on the couch with my wife over a rubbermaid tub. I can't just sit and do nothing in front of the tv, then again my stuff is all over the house, tumblers, ultrasonic and steamer in the kitchen, the upstairs bathroom is plating and winter etching, polishing, investment and grinding in the basement, casting on the back porch, forging in the driveway, leatherwork wherever I can find open space, photography in the unused bedroom, and the jewelry studio in the other unused bedroom so I already have a foothold in the house

-Page
 
I do most of my sheath work at the table in front of the couch. Sometimes I'll do etching there too. I have a second engraving station in the front porch just off the living room so I can putter around in there instead of being in the basement when my wife's home. Since when I'm not making knives I'm working 10 hours a day an hour from home, I don't think she loves it when I head out to the shop when I am home, so I try to do what I can in the house. I'd like to find a way to hand sand in the house without making too much of a mess. I'm just sitting on a chair in the shop when I do it. I'll do that outside when it's nice out. I've thought about setting up a small bench with some duplicate tools in the basement so I don't have to heat up the shop (wood) every time I want to work on something in the winter.
 
I do all my gluing up in the house. It's usually too cold in the garage for the glue to set up properly anyway.

I occasionally do the fine detail needle file work in the house under brighter lights and magnification.

I no longer do sanding in the house... except for a very light bit of touch-up around the detail file work.
 
I forgot to mention that when I ran new electric I also plumbed in compressed air from the basement to my studio

-Page
 
I don't work on them inside, except occasoinally final sharpening - project time is a break.

Our laundry room is between the garage and the house - if it's too cold for glue to set, I put the piece in the laundry room.

+1 to shop sink. With the laundry room next door, it was fairly easy to plumb in hot and cold water and a drain. Well worth the effort! (Having cool water from the sink is nice for those random metalworking burns).

As for chips in the house: little pieces will stick to the bottom of shoes then come off in the carpet. I just take off my shoes when coming in.
 
Like Page I can't sit in front of the TV and do nothing but I only do computer (knife related) work there. Oh and I also do photography in the house but all the rest is done in the shop.
 
I used to work on stuff in the kitchen and living room, especially in the summers. After step., moved out, I took over the spare bedroom. :)
 
After seeing how many of us knifemakers can't sit in front of the TV and do nothing - Personally I hate to watch TV or movies if I don't have something in my hands to work ong - I am starting to wonder how many knifemakers have ADD.

My waife was watching Doctor OZ one day and said "Jason, I think you have ADD because you always have to be doing something and can't just sit still". I found an online test and sure enough, according to the test I guess I have it

I wonder how many of us have it, or at least the need to always be doing something with our hands. I know that when I get home from the office after working at a desk all day, I can't wait to get out to the shop and DO SOMETHING.

Q: How many people with ADD does it take to change a lightbulb?


A: Wanna go fly a kite?
 
I didn't have ADD until I started messing with the internet. ;)

Now I have ADD and OCD.
 
When my wife or kids step on swarf....

I tell them they are stepping on money
 
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