Does anybody else do this ?

Joined
Sep 26, 1999
Messages
4,486
Am I the only crazy one or do you guys talk to your knives as you are making them?I talk to mine like they are a beautifle woman from the first hammer blow to the final sharpening of the edge.
I don't tell them that they are supposed to protect the customer "only" anymore as I have one knife out that I swear listened to me.I fogred it on a full moon and told her that she was to protect and serve this man well and not let any one else mess with her but him.And I swear she listened,I can't remember how many times I cut myself on her,and to this day anyone that picks her up gets cut,except the man I made her for,who by the way has never been cut by her.I don't even like him to bring her to the shop to get cleaned up and sharpened anymore,as she will still bite me.
I still talk to them but watch what I say now just like I would a woman as they will bite you if you say the wrong thing.I also end up drawing first blood with just about every knife I make,just like a woman,she will take your blood with her when she leaves.
I swear the spirit in the steel is a woman and she lives.
Bruce
 
Haven't tried talkin to the blades yet, but sure do talk to myself alot. Mostly scoldin myself when I notice that I'm doin somethin stupid and dangerous. Gonna try that blade talk...come outta there scratch!
 
I haven't talked to any of mine yet.

They have on occasion shown me just how sharp they are, which has provoked some words from me!
 
Bruce go in the house, get your truck keys and drive quickly to the state mental institution and commit yourself (grin).
 
Hey,Maybe that s it.I talk to nice to them and so they want to stay,maybe if I cussed them they would want to leave fast instead of staying sround getting pampered:D
They won't let me play with knives at the institute I bet.I think most makers should be there just for starting to make knives:p
Bruce
 
Bruce, talking to your knives is ok. It is when you start listening to them that you're over the hill.
 
I cuss the knives & myaelf.
We are all nuts trying to
make money at this:p :D
But it`s the only way to
go broke & have fun doin
it
 
I've been known to call them something intemperate from time to time, generally when I find a scratch, or a gap. Other than that, no.

Also to me, knives are "it". Ships are "she". Airplanes and cars may be "she", but knives are "it". Go figure.
 
Hey, Bruce,

I'm right there with you. Specifics vary, but I am very firmly in the positive on beliefs that knives (and a great many other things) are alive, aware, and have a spirit or soul.

While I've damaged myself no end during the process of making various knives, I enter into an agreement with each one as soon as I can feel it wake up..."I'll finish you, I'll put a little bit of me into you, and in return, you never hurt me...deal?" Seems to work for me. Never had one bite me, after it was finished, at least.

So, what IS it with us? Are knifemakers just a generally superstitious lot (no, really, my Grandpa's hammer really IS weighted better...)? Are we more open-minded about the possibilities (hey, no one knows why some crack during Heat Treat...maybe they COULD be alive...)? Or are we just hopeless romantics (read too many Viking sagas...)? Who knows? Maybe it's just the way that a mind rationalizes the willful creation of an object that can very easily kill--we give the knife a "Life," a will of its own, so that we distance ourselves and remove the burden of guilt from ourselves, if it should ever be used to do harm.

I know of one user who was confronted by a reporter about this. He said that he put "TWBD" on the tang of his knives--"Thy Will Be Done." Once they left his shop, he felt that it was out of his hands.

Makes ya think, though, don't it?
 
Great thread Bruce!

Sometimes when I am working I sound an awful lot like Andrew Dice Clay when talking to the steel!!

:mad: :eek: :D
 
Bruce,
Now calm down boy! It'll be aw'ight...
Things like this don't usually happen to the fine folks over in Missisip! I have a few questions for you...maybe they'll git you to think about it some.

Have you seen any UFOs lately?

Did you just start taking city water and you're not drinking from the well any more?

You didn't git any ticks on you when you deer hunted this past season, did you?

Is momma and the kids kinda taking a wide berth around you as you walk by?

Did Santy Claus bring you what you wanted this year?

Have you been spending too many late nights on this here internet?

Just what is it???

I ain't bein' nosey, just tryin' to figure out what's ailin' you!
It just ain't normal! Now everybody, even folks up around Ft. Worth, use a little colorful language when they mess up on a blade but this is unheard of, even as far north as Oklahoma! Oh, you ain't originally from Lousiana, are you? I grew up there and some of the folks over there...oh, nevermind, that has to do with chicken blood and stuff.

If we can he'p you in any way, let us know. :)

C Wilkins
 
Sometimes I have a few words with them Bruce. Usually some not so nice words when I screw up a grind. Come on baby come on, ohh you son of a **##@@. Well Thats how I do it. :D
Cory
 
Gee Thanks CL..
No I am not any crazyier than any other knife maker Think ..Uh Am I Maybe so oh well...
No seriously,I do believe that my knives are like beautiful woman and they certainly can bite you if you miss treat them.I also feel this way about a few cars i have owned so I know it's not me it's the steel Thats what it is The steel...
He-He-He:D
If I talk ugly to the steel I end up with a ugly knife,if I talk sweet to it I end up with a sweet looking blade and it seems to show in how the knife looks when it is done.
Bruce The Crazy:p
 
Hey Bruce!
Ozark (The Wonder Dawg) told me, to tell you, that it is OK :)
Oh he also said that it is January and time to change the tinfoil in our hats!
:p
;)
:D
 
Thanks for reminding me there ebbtide..
CL,I guess it could be these late nights in the shop and thinking of the beautiful woman I should be snuggled up with instead of working on a knife and then I see her reflection in the shinny blade from one of the many pictures around the shop of her.Maybe thats it..Who Knows,I am just a crazy knifemaker That has spent to many hours in the shop by himself,Yea thats it.
Now my grinders and power hammer are all guys and the forge is a my pet dragon..And when I leave the shop at night I tell all the guys to have a good night and when I go back out I say good morning...Told you I have spent to much time out there by myself...
I know I am crazy but what can I say I make knives for a living..
Besides I always thought that the really great artists from the old days were a little crazy themselves.
And as I am just trying to get good I guess I am safe to be crazy a little.:p
At least I havent started talking to this here computer yet.now that would be crazy,It can't hear:D ;) :D
Bruce
 
Your not Crazy Sylvester.Your computer might here you;)
Mine is just plastic and wires and stuff like that which has no soul like a knife does...HE-HE-HE :p :D :p
 
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