How hard is it really?

To my knowledge my grandad never tried to make a flawless knife, but he sure knew how to make a knife flawless: First, buy one at Sears or the hardware or feed store that has bone handles and two or three carbon blades. Next carry it faithfully for 20 or 30 years, using it hard at work, on the boat and in the woods. Keep a razor edge on it with a coarse stone and every once in awhile drop a little 3-in-1 Oil on the joints. Occasionally let your grandson hold it and maybe whittle on a stick if Mom or Grandma aren't watching. Before you know it - voila! - a flawless knife. :-)
 
mnblade said:
To my knowledge my grandad never tried to make a flawless knife, but he sure knew how to make a knife flawless: First, buy one at Sears or the hardware or feed store that has bone handles and two or three carbon blades. Next carry it faithfully for 20 or 30 years, using it hard at work, on the boat and in the woods. Keep a razor edge on it with a coarse stone and every once in awhile drop a little 3-in-1 Oil on the joints. Occasionally let your grandson hold it and maybe whittle on a stick if Mom or Grandma aren't watching. Before you know it - voila! - a flawless knife. :-)
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Perfect!!!!:thumbup: Nobody (commercial builder or custom builder) can make a knife as good as much less better than that.:)
 
Ask yourself this -- How hard is it to put a flawless edge on a blade? I'm talking about beautiful, even bevels with a consistent angle and finish, and without the slightest burr? It's infinitely harder to craft a flawless slipjoint.

- Christian
 
knifeswapper said:
Forget the tooling and cutting the components; just buy you a $10 junker and take it apart and put it back together... That should get you one step closer to understanding just how much time a person "can" put into the process.
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Right:thumbup:

It must be astonishingly complex just making&fitting an average traditional knife, let alone when it's made to order. I have a suspicion that there must be quite a few errors and duds on the way before any custom-knife gets to its owner:D

Flawless is subjective of course and for me it's a knife that pleases me to look at and use and has none of the 'issues' I can't stand.
 
As someone who is trying to make slip joints, I can assure you that simply getting a functional mechanism is difficult in itself. Flawless, whatever the definition, is an order of magnitude beyond that.
 
willgoy said:
Right:thumbup:

It must be astonishingly complex just making&fitting an average traditional knife, let alone when it's made to order. I have a suspicion that there must be quite a few errors and duds on the way before any custom-knife gets to its owner:D

Flawless is subjective of course and for me it's a knife that pleases me to look at and use and has none of the 'issues' I can't stand.
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IIRC, it was Ken Erickson that posted up a picture some time back, of all the parts that didn't quite turn out right. There were quite a few :D

I can only imagine what the pile would look like if I was making them :eek:
 
Well, that answers my question. Thanks. It seems it really is a whole lot harder than I'd ever imagined.
 
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