GAH... is it possible to be original????

W

Will Leavitt

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Jul 28, 2006
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So I'm doing drawings for how I envision a friend's idea for a large knife. I'm thinking combining some of the outline of a Mohican musketstock warclub with some Asian influence.... pretty original huh? :eek: Nope, found a picture of pretty much what my idea was except for a few minor details, mainly the radius of 1 yes ONE freaking curve....:barf: :mad:

I mean I realize that people have made blades for 498754353 years but sheeeeeeeesssshhh give me a break. Someone in Asia years ago came up with the same outline? :confused: I know they haven't freaking seen Last of the Mohicans. :mad: I need a crying emote. :(
 
I mean original without the benefit of errrrrr thought provoking pharmecuticals. If this keeps up I'm firing all my howler monkeys and getting cutamundi or maybe a couple of wolverines.
 
I guess you can look at it as if a knife is worth making most liking it has already been done because people had the need for it.
I do share in you frustration though. I had an idea drawn up with all the filework handle and the works, then come on here and some one has just posted a knife look very similar to what I was thinking. But heck it must be a good design if someone else liked it too.
Eric Knight
 
I don't know any Tibetans but I don't think I like them anymore.... arrrghhhh

I mean c'mon, if I said I was combining an Asian knife with Mohican warclub outline you'd never imagine someone made it right? Am I crazy... well I mean would a normal person be crazy to think that was original. :confused:

I'm going to bed, I've been up for going on 18 hours now.
 
Trying to create an original sometimes has a stifling effect.
As we look to create an original, our mind seems to discard the obvious, out of hand; because it has been done so many times before.
We are looking to create something new, not old.

There are many good reasons why certain designs have reappeared through history. Most of the time it has to do with their functionality.
They come back around because the design works, its functional.
Outside of art knives function is the driving force behind knife design.

If I sit down with the idea of creating something "new" an original, the drawings that come from my pen are sometimes just plain hilarious.

If on the other hand, I design the blade around the job it is being asked to do, the results somehow, make seance .
I know this is "old hat" form following function, but this is where knife makers will find originality.

My 2 cents worth.

Fred
 
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now i have not made the blades you guys have but i have spent alot of time drawing patterns for them and i always feel like i've seen that pattern before. is it possible for multiple people to make an origional but yet have it pretty much the same? it does seem sometimes that there really isnt much left. it doesnt matter to me i still want to make knives i just hate the thought of drawing up a pattern making it having it turn out good and then have some other maker say "hey you ripped me off".

i play bass also and sometimes its hard to write music that doesnt sound like something some one else has already done.

jake
 
Knife patterns replay themselves over and over. I made a few patterns that I thought were original and not found anywhere else. Then as pictures and work from others emerge I find that the patterns are similar to other makers to the point of calling them copy cats. Copy cats they are probably not at all, but rather every knife pattern has been discovered, and then re-discovered by someone else.
 
Will Leavitt said:
I mean c'mon, if I said I was combining an Asian knife with Mohican warclub outline you'd never imagine someone made it right?
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"Asian" is a pretty broad categorization -- with Chinese, Indian, and Japanese patterns you've pretty much covered anything that ever had an edge.
 
There's only so many ways you can shape a stick. I've seen some very original blades, but by the time they are original they're also unusable except as wall hangers.
 
Drawing something new is hard for everybody. I just draw knives with no regard to whether somebody else have made one before unless I'm trying to make a replica of some famous design. I like to stay to the classic shapes that have been accepted because they have function.

Relax Will and just draw a shape and refine it after a good nights sleep. Keep looking at it for "first impressions" every day or two and make minor changes each day. Soon it will be ready to make real. Works for me anyway.
 
This was somewhat tongue in cheek.... :p

I know Asian is a broad range of blades :D I did narrow it down to my newfound hatred of Tibetans :p

I'm going back to the shop to grind thingys with my new Gators now :)
 
Don’t stress out to much about originality. King Solomon said way back in the day “there is nothing new under the sun”. It really is true. Think; even when the first airplanes were being thought up, where did the idea come from? Birds, they have been flying much longer than men. Some guy just thought “how can I do that?”

Inside your brain is a collection of all the things you have seen. You may not realize it but these thoughts are what define any given thing you may try to think of. I am guessing you do know this as you explained the way you came up with the knife in question.
Obviously, the more you learn the broader the range of concepts you will have to draw from.

Learning is great but that is not where originality comes from. Originality is much more about owning what you create. When you create something it is a part of you. So as you work try to emphasize the ways your work represents you. As long as you are true to yourself your work will be original. From what I have seen you’re on your way. :thumbup:
 
steelshaper said:
Learning is great but that is not where originality comes from. Originality is much more about owning what you create. When you create something it is a part of you. So as you work try to emphasize the ways your work represents you. As long as you are true to yourself your work will be original. From what I have seen you’re on your way. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I hear you William. When I first started selling knives (we all made "originals" when we first started making knives didn't we ;) ) I cranked out I don't know how many drop point hunters and wharnie EDCs, I liked making them but they weren't "me". Now I make what I want to make and if someone wants them then fine, if not I'll start collecting my own blades. Luckily my concept of function and design has intersected with some people's desires in a knife.

I'm not sure about being original but I am somewhat conciously trying to develop a "face" for my work. I probably need to quit making it a concious effort and just let the pencil, paper and tools fly.

The original post was a tongue in cheek poke at trying to be original and hopefully spark some discussion about people's knife design inspirations.
 
This actually brings up something I laugh at evry time I think of it. Many people think of the bowie as an american knife, but except for the crossguard it is basically a medium-sized sax. still makes me grin:D
Del
 
delbert ealy said:
This actually brings up something I laugh at evry time I think of it. Many people think of the bowie as an american knife, but except for the crossguard it is basically a medium-sized sax. still makes me grin:D
Del
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Or a Med dirk in the case of the Bell type bowies. Those early guys built stuff based on what they knew just like we do. We can't make truly original stuff nowadays, so we will just have to be satisfied with making coil stuff.:D Perhaps the last people to do anything remotely "original" in our biz were guys like Daryl Meier and the other pioneers of complex mosaic steel. even the guys who first started using EDM were just figuring out an easier way to do it.
 
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