Kohai999
Second Degree Cutter
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 12,554
Everything posited here is opinion..it's opinion based upon experience...you can find value in it or dismiss it at your own level and interest.
Once upon a Time ago(1986?) in upstate NY there was a conference I attended in Ashokan, NY.
Whilst there, my real knife education began and the differences between ignorance and lack of knowledge were laid bare.
This was at a time when terms like "grain refinement/orientation", "edge packing" and "thermal cycling" were being thrown around by many bladesmiths and the collectors would just nod like bobblehead dolls. The more convincing "showmen" seemed to do quite well with sales.
Now here's the funny thing about perception. While I was absolutely perceived by the "presenting faculty" (Dan Maragni, Phil Baldwin, Gary Barnes, Wayne Valachovich, Tim Zowada....) as a "newb" lacking knowledge, I was never treated as an "ignoramous"......(Dan remembers quite well my metallic gold 1984 300ZX Turbo blasting Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"....but not much else).....I didn't know ANYTHING!!!!!
And came away from that conference with some serious knowledge, converting ignorance to something better, more useful and applicable.
Which is frankly where it happens. The conversion from ignorance to knowledge happens at the core of it, where those who have some knowledge gather to share it with like minds and those fortunate enough to be part of it absorb it through osmosis, because those fertile yet untapped minds don't know enough to discriminate between shinola and sheite.
You have to go into it knowing that you don't know anything useful, but have a willingness to learn.
Along the way, you encounter like minds, forging their own path and direction.
Joe Paranee, a fellow woods boy, who has taken it so far beyond that it defies reason...Joe is my go to for hunting, survival or knife-fighting tips and am confidant that he tells the real-deal, because amongst his references, if it's shite, it is useless, and will be publicly scorned as such.
Matt Diskin-Matt will tell me in one simple sentence if a knife is good or bad. If I need some sort of education, he will provide it....he is my brother from another Mother and guide as to what is, or is not mechanically superior.
Last, but not least, by any stretch, David Mirabile, who is a Boston raised Alaskan, and the most hardcore f'er I know to make a knife from chosen materials and create greatness.
So, I realize that most don't have the opportunity to glean from my harvest of awesome.....find your own over time, same as i did.
Separate ignorance from lack of knowledge.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
Once upon a Time ago(1986?) in upstate NY there was a conference I attended in Ashokan, NY.
Whilst there, my real knife education began and the differences between ignorance and lack of knowledge were laid bare.
This was at a time when terms like "grain refinement/orientation", "edge packing" and "thermal cycling" were being thrown around by many bladesmiths and the collectors would just nod like bobblehead dolls. The more convincing "showmen" seemed to do quite well with sales.
Now here's the funny thing about perception. While I was absolutely perceived by the "presenting faculty" (Dan Maragni, Phil Baldwin, Gary Barnes, Wayne Valachovich, Tim Zowada....) as a "newb" lacking knowledge, I was never treated as an "ignoramous"......(Dan remembers quite well my metallic gold 1984 300ZX Turbo blasting Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"....but not much else).....I didn't know ANYTHING!!!!!
And came away from that conference with some serious knowledge, converting ignorance to something better, more useful and applicable.
Which is frankly where it happens. The conversion from ignorance to knowledge happens at the core of it, where those who have some knowledge gather to share it with like minds and those fortunate enough to be part of it absorb it through osmosis, because those fertile yet untapped minds don't know enough to discriminate between shinola and sheite.
You have to go into it knowing that you don't know anything useful, but have a willingness to learn.
Along the way, you encounter like minds, forging their own path and direction.
Joe Paranee, a fellow woods boy, who has taken it so far beyond that it defies reason...Joe is my go to for hunting, survival or knife-fighting tips and am confidant that he tells the real-deal, because amongst his references, if it's shite, it is useless, and will be publicly scorned as such.
Matt Diskin-Matt will tell me in one simple sentence if a knife is good or bad. If I need some sort of education, he will provide it....he is my brother from another Mother and guide as to what is, or is not mechanically superior.
Last, but not least, by any stretch, David Mirabile, who is a Boston raised Alaskan, and the most hardcore f'er I know to make a knife from chosen materials and create greatness.
So, I realize that most don't have the opportunity to glean from my harvest of awesome.....find your own over time, same as i did.
Separate ignorance from lack of knowledge.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
And there are worse things than being ignorant. 
