Falling into ruts (routines)

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
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When I started making knives I was inspired by everything, and my designs were all over the map. I've noticed lately that since I started making recurve daggers, nothing else has the same draw. I still think of other designs, but when it comes to actually making something else, my attention wanders.

I suppose one advantage to falling into a routine is that it allows you to refine the techniques used, and I am surely doing that. So maybe being in a rut isn't all bad.

Do any of you feel you've found your way into a rut of doing the same thing over and over again... or is it just ADHD rearing its ugly head in my life?
 
The same thing happened to me regarding music, and so I have a bit of experience with the whole thing. I would recommend just doing whatever is fun until it isn't fun anymore or until you are required to make something else. I am not sure where you are as far as selling knives goes, but until you are taking orders and such, what you make is up to you. Make daggers until you lose motivation, and then start doing something else. If you never stop having a good time doing daggers, then why change it up?
 
I have had to constantly challenge myself. I've had to try new things like forcing myself to learn more advanced techniques like tapered tang, dovetail bolsters (still can't do both together), Kitchen knives, and now working on folding knives. I got boared doing the same thing over and over. Now I've got so much on my plate I don't know which to do next.
 
I feel your pain.

I love Bowies but do not have the drawn to them that I once had so I have not even thought about making one yet.... one day.

Currently the Japanese wrapped blades in various lengths and styles hold my attention. The looks as well as their performance in camp and around the house keeps giving me ideas on what to make next.
 
"Ruts" can be great - when it comes to grinding. If you finally find a good way for you to do it and have the recall the work gets even better. Frank
 
Nope, never.

I have fun with about every aspect of knifemaking and while it is a ton of hard work I never find it boring.

On my latest run of 15 knives I really enjoyed trying new scale material, I also tried layering some scale material for the first time which was awesome. I'm still trying out ideas I had 3 years ago and the list of fun stuff to do just keeps getting longer.

I felt like I had my belt selection down for my process but recently I have wanted try other belts, my Blaze belts were gumming up my platen. I tried the new 3m belts as well as some other grit progressions and I feel I am getting my process more dialed in.

Lately I have been in to lots of design work including a liner lock that I just assembled a moment ago. I'm so excited about the liner lock I can hardly contain myself! :D

Too much fun here, lol!
 
Don't fall into the "rut" trap. Bob Loveless did that....and look what happened to him :)

It is a good process that after getting the rush to make knives out of your system, settling down and doing one style for a good while.
You will learn to refine your techniques and abilities much better when comparing one to the next if all are similar.
 
I think another word for 'rut' might be 'specialty'! :) :thumbup:
 
If at all possible, just put it down for a while and try your hand at a non-knife, but related crafts project,… jewelry, flatware, hollowware, miscellaneous tool making etc., then come back to it. Also, keep trying new things on each knife you make, design wise or in terms of technique. As long as you keep learning new things it’s a lot more interesting and fun.
 
I'm constantly trying different things, but I go through periods of making certain styles of knives.

If nothing else, making the same style of knife for a while seems to help refine your processes.

I'd rather make the same style knife over and over "pefectly", than 1,000 different flawed knives.
 
I agree with the points about variety, but I want to add that satisfaction is a big factor for me too.

I've made pizza from scratch about twice a month for twenty years. The novelty is wearing off, but I like doing it, partially because I've learned it well enough that every step is fun to do well, and partially because pizza is never really exactly the same twice.

For me, tool and knifemaking are a hobby - I do it for fun. Some aspects are fun because they are novel, and some things are fun because they are familiar and I'm good at them.

I've made about 50 pocket tools (see http://taitstevens.com/metalfishy/ for a writeup). As the novelty wore off, I found I was learning to enjoy the steps. I never like grinding CPM154 or 440C. So I swiched to S35VN now. I learned to enjoy debarking steel - since this is a hobby for fun, I just pay Aldo to sand off the scale before he sends the steel. And, since I am leaving the heat-treat coloring, they never come out exactly the same twice. I basically enjoy the whole process right now.

So, for me, if I want to keep something going, it's about making the process good enough to be satisfying and varied enough to be fun before the novelty wears off.
 
Well, thanks guys. I do feel a bit better about it. I do enjoy the dagger work, and I do feel I'm improving, so I'll just take those as wins and continue apace.
 
I think repetition allows to you refine skills and techniques.
Just remember to approach NEW designs slowly, and not to assume that everything will proceed as expected.
Re-expand when you're ready.
You will learn a LOT from becoming relatively expert at one set of processes and then trying something quite different because you will truly understand the differences at a deeper level.


-Daizee
 
Greg, you might want to put knifemaking aside for a little while and do something completely unrelated like, I don't know, using your grinder? ;)

Kidding aside, I agree with all the suggestions given here. And maybe it will make you feel better to know that ALL knifemakers, and probably all artists, go through this. Don't give up.
 
Good advice here, when "yellow dog" hits I just do something different, maybe fish, woodwork,
the Fall is no prob cause I hunt enough to yearn for shop time. I believe theres a difference between bored
and quitting though. Until you're absolutley satisfied with an attempt at something its much easier to
"quit" than develop it enough to get "bored" and in knifemaking its usually real easy to challenge oneself.
Ken.
 
If you like it and its what you want to do, it ain't a rut its a groove. And if through your interest and practice you become very very good at what you've chosen to do, would it be bad to be known as Greg the dagger maker instead of Greg the knife maker?
 
Horsewright said:
If you like it and its what you want to do, it ain't a rut its a groove. And if through your interest and practice you become very very good at what you've chosen to do, would it be bad to be known as Greg the dagger maker instead of Greg the knife maker?
Click to expand...

I don't kid myself that I will be known as either.

At the root of all this is an acknowledgement that my attention span is not infinite. I have a history of burning out on things, and moving on to the next thing. Prior to picking up knife making I spent a few years burning hot on collecting data about obsolete currency proofs. I'm something of an expert on the subject now, but my interest in maintaining and extending that expertise is greatly diminished because I burned out on it by working that narrow interest too hard. I guess I'm worried that I see the same thing happening with dagger making.

The more I focus the attention beam narrowly, the more I am at risk of burning out. It's like sunlight through a magnifier... get the focus too tight and you start a fire.

I still like daggers (and obsolete currency proofs)... I just don't want to burn out again, because being able to complete something is important to me. The sense of closure I get from finishing a knife is not mirrored in my day job or my obsolete currency proof data collection. For me, the sense of accomplishment from trying something new and different exceeds the pleasure of doing the same thing over and over and getting a little better each time.

Sorry to delve so deeply into this, but I thought some of you might wonder where this is coming from (or going to).

- Greg
 
Hey ya, when are we going to see the next...

...pinup girl D-guard seagull wing raven totem brass knuckle recurve dagger pretzel sausage nunchaku throwing fire knife??? It probably wouldn't be worth doing unless it had at least one hidden compartment and a compass though! If that doesn't float your boat, maybe you should include an integral derringer with range finder!​
 
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