Complete, utter, bitter failure

Grasshopper,

Sometimes, when we feel that our learning curve is truly short,
reality comes along and smacks us up side the head.:( Don't
ask how I know!:cool:

The advice of making haste slowly is good. When you try a new grind,
try it on a piece of wood first. Helps to figure out angles, pressures, body
movements, speed. Besides, it's cheaper than steel.:D

And lastly, most of us have a drawer or box or bucket of blades which
are just waiting to be made into smaller blades. Don't despair, we learn
by making and understanding our mizsteaks.:thumbup:

My first performance JS test knife, my very first blade, turned out perfectly.
The next two dozen or so general blades are residing in the "shorter knife drawer".

Oh, well.

Bill
 
Warren
are you trying to tell everyone here your going to let that blade whip you ??
hell i thought you were more stubborn than that !!
try a higher grit belt if your trying ti "Fix" something , you may like your result's .

Erin
well i guess i failed to show you how to hollow grind when you were over, im so ashamed ..
 
Okay, okay...whiny-ness duly shelved, and though it's going to look decidedly different than what I'd planned, I'm beginning to think it might be salvageable.

Moving forward with more care and less pride.
 
Hey why dont you plan on driving down to Jasper one weekend, We can make your Cleaver (that is long overdue). Can help you with anything you want to work on etc...
 
Mike Quesenberry said:
I almost threw this blade away because of a flaw in the steel right above the ricasso. As I ground the flaw away a raised clip hunter appeared right in front of my face. Amazing! I have thrown a bunch of blades away but never quit. Listen to the group, HANG IN THERE, and keep at it.



4884947011_2e3b28ca7f_b.jpg
[/url] DSC_0049 by Mike Quesenberry, on Flickr[/IMG]
Click to expand...

Dude, you are a world class artist. Amazing.
 
Success is based on previous failiers. If my knifeshop were to be an airport, It would be a smooth operation today. But in the beginning then the first couple of years could be described as runways on fire, with bits of flaming fuselage all over the place, and half the city nearby on fire with bits of crunched airplanes everywhere.

Don't give up, practice makes better, and better makes perfect.

Now keep the steel on the wheel.
 
Are you guys saying I'm not the only one who's made 1/8" thick x 1" wide blades out of 1/4" x 2" stock? ;)
 
Failure itself can be seen as a victory.

Why are extreme sports so addicting and great to participate in or watch ?
Because the crash/wipeout/ failure is an expected part of it.

MMA is a thrill because someone clearly loses at the end.
Surfers, even the world class ones, WIPEOUT ALL THE TIME !


This whole knifemaking think is somewhat "extreme". When someone asks what your hobbies are and you say "I make knives"., it usually is a different reaction than if you had answered "golfing".

Keep doing it.
 
Alot of times the smaller knives that come from my original ideas are way cooler/more handy.

Like Mr. Quesenberry, new designs that i probably never would have considered appear right before my eyes. I usually end up just as happy or happier with it.

never give up. ;)
 
RMLamey said:
Hey why dont you plan on driving down to Jasper one weekend, We can make your Cleaver (that is long overdue). Can help you with anything you want to work on etc...
Click to expand...

If I can ever get a weekend free, Matt, it's damned tempting. :)
 
Okay, new question for the gurus here: Is this one dead? I'm not asking for a critique of the grinding---only one side has been worked on to date anyway. As I swapped to higher-grit belts, I started noticing that a very visible line was forming in the blade, and the higher I polished, the more it became apparent. Of course, ironically, with the blade shiny, it's harder to take pictures of. It's like part of the damascus is de-laminating or something--here it is in a couple of not very good pictures. It's a continuous, wavy line that I'd guess is some kind of extended inclusion in the steel. My question---is this nothing to worry about, or the sign that there's no point continuing? I'd hate to get it all ground down and then have it explode during HT.





And, just for interest's sake, here is what I've been able to salvage from this side. I still miss my beautiful (to me) 2/3 height grind. Still, if I can only match this with the other side---assuming the knife is worth continuing with---then a 9/10 grind is sort of a saber, I suppose. Not the CNC precision look I'd dreamed of, but considering how it looked a few days ago, I'll take it.
Oh and no--I didn't do the teeth. I wish to GOD the intended recipient would let me remove the teeth entirely, but he wants 'em. They're a tad uneven in their depth, too...





 
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Is the line also in the teeth and elsewhere on the blade, or is this the only spot?

You know, now that I have a lathe I was thinking of a Rambo knife. You know, the one with matches, compass , and parachute in the handle. But now that I have been reminded how ugly teeth are on a nice blade, I have reconsidered.
 
It's not continuous, but there are a couple spots all along the length of it. Maybe the reason this one was sold as a blank and not a finished knife, eh?

Actually, look at the last picture and make sure you zoom it in to full size on photo bucket--you can see all of it pretty well.

And yes, I'd LOVE to do away with the teeth--or try and make a matching finger joint brass backstrap for it. :)
 
It happens. Don't get discouraged by how good some of the 'first knives' you see here are. My first 100 knives sucked badly. If you get through those you get better at fixing those things.

Do try to fix it though. Even if you end up with a mini knife. You learn a lot fixing the damn mistakes.
 
it kind of look's like a small inclusion from what i can see in the picture ..try a higher grit sanding /smooth out the lines in the blade a little they still look a little on the corse side then look at it again . can you feel it with a fingernail ?? you could try a light rubbing with vinegar .if it becomes more pronounced be worried ,remember it may just be a surface that is not going to be there when hand finished and etched ..if it is a inclusion &a bad inclusion you would see it in more than 1 place like on the edge ,elsewhere in the blade that may join where you see it . if the steel is not damascus i would not be overly concerned , i would point it out to the "Customer" and let them say yea or nay . sometimes metal just act's weird nothing you can do about it !!
 
I'll try smoothing down more and see what shows up--I hadn't really intended this to be a true polish, I was just smoothing out trying to figure what this weird squiggle was.
Thanks Matt! :)
 
Give yourself the freedom to make mistakes, you can't learn from them if you are not free to make them. Many of us have the tendency to be our own worst critiques, but to move forward there are two things that everyone must do; 1. ask questions, the only dumb question is the one never asked. and 2. Allow yourself a measure of grace and let yourself make mistakes, they are not always a bad thing, you can learn from them, and sometimes they can turn into something more beautiful than you had intended in the first place.
 
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