I need basic knife education

C

cadjak

Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
210
My knife interest has come to a place where it's time that I get some education. I have always owned knives and they always more or less did what I needed them to do. About 6 months ago I started lurking on the forums and found out exactly how much I didn't know. After buying a half dozen or so new knives because I liked how they looked, and what other people had said about them, I'm ready to know more about what different blade patterns do, and how different edge angles cut different materials. Are there any books that explain those ideas clearly to the novice?
 
I was pretty novice until I joined the forums and still learn new things every day! Welcome to BF and have a nice stay! I learned mostly from general common sense and stayed on the forums night and day for the first few days lol. Theres a great deal more information here than in any book in my opinion so I would advise to just look around and learn as you go! Just remember to have fun.
-Barry-
 
I may be showing my age but, I find reading detailed explanations online to be hard for me. There must be a book that goes into this information, somewhere. I do glean bits and pieces from the forums here, but I'm looking for a more systematic explanation. The Spyderco pages were fine as far as they went.
 
You poor, unfortunate soul. Soon you will be checking in here every day, and in a couple of months will be a walking compendium of useful stuff on blade shapes, steels, folders, fixed blades, locking mechanisms, sheaths... Start with the FAQs here, for a start. Also, check out knife mags at your favourite newstand: Tactical Knives, Blade. Welcome to the club!
 
cadjak said:
I may be showing my age but, I find reading detailed explanations online to be hard for me. There must be a book that goes into this information, somewhere. I do glean bits and pieces from the forums here, but I'm looking for a more systematic explanation. The Spyderco pages were fine as far as they went.
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A good book to get is Levine's Guide To Knives And Their Values. You can usually find them on Amazon for around $60. and they're well worth the money. You want to find the fourth edition, ISBN #0873491890; that one was, and still is, the best, IMHO.

Another one that's good is The $50. Knife Shop, by Wayne Goddard. A lot of good info, on everything from how handles are installed to heat treatment to...you name it. Even for non-knifemakers, it's very informative.

thx - cpr
 
Here's a good list of books that you might find helpful. It's a UK list (kinda ironic, isn't it?) but most of these are available in the US.
 
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Just make sure you don't get involved in between the hardcore Reeve and Busse guys!

No matter what you take from this forum just enjoy the fact that there are a lot of other people out there that love knives and steel in general.
 
2sparky said:
I was pretty novice until I joined the forums and still learn new things every day! Theres a great deal more information here than in any book in my opinion so I would advise to just look around and learn as you go! Just remember to have fun.
-Barry-
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I was the same. I was just looking for info on knives and such. I came here and trolled for months before actually joining. I suggest just floating around here, reading old posts about whatever subject you want to know about. In time, you'll be spending afternoon's here like I did (and still do).
 
orca8589 said:
Another one that's good is The $50. Knife Shop, by Wayne Goddard. A lot of good info, on everything from how handles are installed to heat treatment to...you name it. Even for non-knifemakers, it's very informative.

thx - cpr
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+1 on that one. I have that it's excellent.
 
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