Does it get better....or do you at least become numb to it?

Bühlmann

Bühlmann

North Lake Forge
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
475
Spending hours on a design, either forging or stock removal, meticulously fussing over measurements, scale, proportions, layout, profiling, heat treat, tempering, anticipating, working the grits, yadda yadda yadda....only to screw up the bevels? DAMMIT!!!!
 
We all have had it happen.

It is those kinds of trials that you need to master the craft
 
Yep! Happens everytime I forget to slow down and look at the blade every couple of passes. Or, I'm not focused. Or I grind when I'm tired. Or I get in a rush to finish. Sometimes I just have to walk away for a while, take a break or work on something else then hit it refreshed.
 
A screwed up bevel is just an opportunity to design a new knife around the "screw up". The screw ups are part of the art, sometimes something great comes from them.....usually smaller, but sometimes better. Grind it until you like it or it's dust. I've accidentally "designed " a few blades on the grinder. Keep at it, it might not be what you intended, but you'll learn a lot from it.
 
there's an awesome saying that I can't remember, I probably saw it memed somewhere, but like a person never learns from success, only from failure. I should be a goddamn genius by now, so I don't know that's an accurate statement. But I like- it especially when I f sh!t up. Finding smartness in my own stupidity aka optimism?

😶
 
Happens to all of us.
Do not throw them away, some time down the road your skills and muscle memory will improve and yesterday’s f-up will be tomorrows masterpiece. My “saved” mistakes that become good knives are my favorites, and they make me smile.
 
For years I've gotten excited about each new design, and then frustrated by small mishaps in the execution. It does get better in some ways. I can grind a bevel better than I could back then, but I keep raising my standards and still see little imperfections. You need to plan more carefully and cheat a little. Scribe things with a height gauge. Grind the clip first using a set angle on the rest. Small handle spacers? Pin them together before shaping so they match up. When the blade comes back from HT, I'm no longer in the groove for that blade and probably set up to grind something different in the meantime. I hold the blade with the grinder turned off and draw it across the platen trying to refresh my memory of what those passes felt like. If I get pretty far with the blade post HT and haven't screwed up, sometimes I'll bail and finish with stones and hand sanding. It takes longer, but then it's in the bank.
 
1st is a lesson. 2nd is an error. 3rd is stupidity. Long live lessons. Just don't get stupid. Live to learn and prosper.
And it's not a mistake if corrected in time.:)
 
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