If Nostradamus was a knife maker.

i4Marc

i4Marc

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Oct 19, 2011
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There are so many intuitions we have as makers and can fairly reliably predict certain outcomes as we go through our steps in constructing knives. Not too long ago I had a feeling that I was going to have trouble drilling a hidden tang hole in a block of Micarta. No surprise when I broke the bit off in the hole. A couple of days ago I spent quite a while picking out just the right piece of koa for a handle. It was a very nice piece and the best choice for the intended blade. In chiseling out the tang hole I cracked the block. It could only have ended that way. Today I was using my HF horiz/vert bandsaw to relieve some excess material from a guard. I had a feeling that just before the completion of the cut the saw would malfunction. Wish I had money on that one, I'd be a rich man.


What kinds of predictions could Nostradamus make if he made knives?
 
It's my experience that these "revelations" are actually an indicator that you know you are doing something wrong.
 
I have found that if I try to shortcut anything and I mean anything in my knife making, Murphy's law is right there waiting for me.

In the back of my head a little voice is going "don't do it this way, you'll pay for it." I've learned to listen to that voice.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
It's my experience that these "revelations" are actually an indicator that you know you are doing something wrong.
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You're absolutely right! It's a wise man that has learned to listen to his gut feelings. Not just in knife making, but with life in general.
 
Part of daily life! Sometimes I'll be doing the simplest, most routine thing, and I get the feeling that something is just plain off.
I can either find something else to do or ruin my work and/ or get hurt. Most of the time I pay attention...
 
Funny thing i experienced myself as well. We have an inner alarm bell ringing immediatly before s...t happens. Bad experiences help trusting it :)
 
When I teach a jeweler how to set a diamond, or a bladesmith how to twist damascus, I tell them the same thing -
"Listen to that little voice."

We have an inner defense mechanism that evolution has tuned to protect us. In many cases, it is hard to override. You have to really teach yourself to pick up a spider or a snake. Some people never can. When it comes do doing things, the subconscious is a step ahead of you in predicting things. It will usually warn you if it detects the possibility of something being wrong. The way we detect this varies. In some cases, it is the raising of hair on your neck or arms. In others it is a sudden heightening of the senses ...especially sight and hearing. I sort of "hear" a voice in my head. When something says/feels, "Wait a minute", or "Don't push/pull any harder.", it is almost always a good idea to stop and re-evaluate what the situation is.

One interesting thing is that this defense mechanism is sort disabled between puberty and early adulthood. This is especially true for males. Male youths between 13 and 23 will do stupid things that a person of 25-30 would not even think about trying.
 
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