Inside a Knife Makers Guild Meeting!

[Happy Camper]

I was invited by a few of the members of the North Carolina Knifemakers Guild to join one of their 4 annual meetings yesterday. My wife, who loves knives but not as rabidly as I do, decided to come with me for the all day venture.

It was a real treat! There were about 30 or so people there with ages ranging from teenage on up. The meeting consisted of demonstrations and discussions. What impressed me most was how much this group, who are essentially competitors, were wanting to share their tips valuable learning skills with one another. I don't think I've met a more altruistic group than that of the knifemakers!

We arrived a bit late, so we missed the introductions and most of the sheathmaking demo, but we still had over 7 hours left to absorb before we had to depart on our two and a half hour drive home.

I'll cover the demos first.

Wayne Short did a demonstration of drawing the spine of a knife back with a torch to give a hardened knife a more springy spine:

 

[Happy Camper]

The next demonstration was the process of forging a hunter blade from a piece of one inch bar stock by Wayne Whitley. I've never seen the forging process in person, so it was really an eye opener just how much work it is!

 

[Happy Camper]

Here is the forged blade, still covered with carbon scale. There are many steps left before this is a completed knife, and this in-the-raw knife was given away in a raffle which Wayne participated in. (No, he didn't win!)

You can't see it very well in this picture, but the primary bevel is already laid out, and the blade has a distal taper to it, as does the tang.

 

[Happy Camper]

The last demonstration was by Alan Folts, who demostrated his special brand of filework. My wife was most intrigued by this demo, and expressed much interest in trying some of the techniques herself on some test pieces of metal around the work shop.

Here's an example of some filework by Alan:

 

[Happy Camper]

And one more pic:

 

[Happy Camper]

As for the discussions, they varied greatly as well. One discussion focused on the costs knifemakers have to face (very little of which is actually in the materials of the knife itself), and ways to examine how to stay afloat financially.

Another discussion dealt with not breaking the bank to buy lots of expensive machinery and tools before finding out just what is really neccessary.

It was a friendly crowd, with many knifemakers offering the use of their own shops for entry level people to get their feet wet.

Of course, besides the meeting itself, there was the pleasure of meeting in person some of the characters I've become aquainted with. I spotted Barry Jones and his brother Philip right away, as a pair of identical twins stand out in a crowd. Nice, laid back folks who look a lot younger than I expected after seeing their craft beforehand.

Alan Folts I didn't even know was there at the meeting until they announced he'd be giving a demo at the end of the day. Again, younger than I had expected after seeing his work. Nice to put a face to the name.

Of course, there were many great people there that I did not previously know from earlier contacts who I look forward to seeing again in April.
Obviously, I can't wrap up an entire 8 hour day in this post, so I'll end it here. Suffice it to say - What a way to spend a Saturday! My wife and I plan to return for the next one in April.

===== edited for name misspellings- DOH! =========

 

[Gus Kalanzis]

Thanks HC.
Looks like it was a great get together, but it would be hard to expect anything else. N.C. is full of a lot of good folks and a bunch of them are knife-makers.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

What an excellent thread. Thanks very much. Some of the things discussed sound like they would make for great threads of there own. I would be very interested in more info on the cost of doing business discussion.

 

[BARRY JONES]

Greg,
I think I remember telling you that you would have a good time at one of our meetings. Was I right or what?

It was great to finally meet you and your wife. Meeting people over the net is nice but it just doesn't stand up to a good old fashioned face to face meeting.

The post is a good one with great pics and info. Thanks for doing it.

BTW, After witnessing the forging process for the first time I'll bet that you will have a deeper respect for all the skill, knowledge, & effort that is going into that Primos bowie you are anxiously awaiting. I know that I certainly do.

KWM,
The business discussion that was held was very educational and sometimes was a little hard to understand (even for a guy who has been making knives for 16 years). The business side of knifemaking is definitely the toughest part of knifemaking to grasp. I think it would benefit every maker and collector here to have that topic covered. All we need to do is get the ball rolling.

Gus,
You hit the nail on the head.

 

[MAURICE]

forging aint easy

 

[Possum]

Howdy There Happy Camper...!
Sorry that I didn't get to know who you were at the meeting, remmember seeing and speaking to at the meeting thought. I am Thomas Clegg (Possum) glad that you had a good time and hope to see ya at the next meeting. The two days meeting are great and you get to see alott more knives also. See ya there...!

"Possum"

 

[Happy Camper]

Hey, Possum, is the next meeting going to be a two dayer? And I KNOW you all hid the barbeque from me this time, and were chowing down while my wife and I were at Bojangles. Shame!

Barry, it was great meeting you and your brother in person. You're right, I'm even more exited about that Primos knife now after seeing live steel on the anvil.

I hope I was able to bring some of the experience of the meeting to the forum. You can read and hear about knifemaking, but there's nothing like actually seeing it in action. And there's nothing like being in a room full of knife nuts!