knife failures buried and the earth salted...

Tracy
you could have remarked them and said it was your brother that made them :p trying to keep up with you :D


but I think I like the reaction your getting here better :D

Terry
what was going on with that one.?? there was something about it I really liked. :)
 
I've got to tell you I am surprised a bit at what I perceive to be some people a little pissed off at the 'waste' of it. That was never my intent and had I known so many would be annoyed, well, I'm not sure I would have posted this. I'd still have done it though.

I lost count how many times I had looked at those reject knives in a drawer and wondered what to do with them. It felt pretty good to give them a decent burial and know that at least those won't come back to haunt me. I've thrown dozens of partially finished knives away, dozens. I couldn't for some reason, throw a completed knife away. I can now. It took my ego down a notch or two.

I'm not entirely sure that I am inspired to make better knives by this but I did gain some comfort and some personal insight about what I will accept from my workmanship and what I won't and that isn't all bad. I now know that if I make a crappy looking knife, I'll throw it away and I hate to waste something when I don't have to, especially my time.
 
Lol..
In a 1000 years, someone will find them, they will end up in a museum and 100's of replicas will be made of them.. ....your name will live on in history.
 
First let me say that it was not my intention to hijack Tracy's thread. It was my hope that others might have photographic evidence of interesting ways they rid themselves of knives that don't make the grade. I'd still like to see that.

Here's a rather lengthy story on the one I posted, for those who are curious about what was wrong.

###

The one I've shared with you was not a situation of a knife that had a bad flaw or did not perform well. It was a problem of time invested on a knife that just did not want to be made. This was probably three or four years ago, so the exact details are a bit sketchy in my mind. But here's basically what happened.

My hottest seller was the El Camino personal carry. A client contacted me about making an oversized version. When I was well into the project, the client contacted me and asked if there was any way he could change his order to something in Damascus. I agreed.

Anyway, after testing this blade I etched to bring out the hardening line. Problem was that I got sidetracked by a phonecall and over etched the darned thing. So I took it back to the grinder and ground it down with a 120 grit belt then rehand-rubbed it down to 600 grit and re-etched.

Since the knife was now no longer an order I decided that it would just be a prototype and opted to handle the thing in a simple piece of Black Walnut. I showed the finished knife on the forums -- just for show as a prototype, not for sale. However, I was contacted by another client who was very interested in purchasing the prototype, and I agreed.

Well, the client decided that he didn't like the guard, and wasn't really crazy about the plain black walnut. So, I had him return the knife. I went through all the motions of getting the old handle and guard off the thing. Anyone who has done this knows that it can be a real pain on a knife that was intended to stay together for a few hundred years.

When I was knocking the guard off, I managed to scuff some of the oxides from the etching. I tried just doing a brief re-etch to see if it would all blend together, but n-o-o-o. So I clamped the blade down and started rehand-rubbing. This was now the third time the thing had been hand-rubbed and etched.

I made, fitted, and attached a new guard, then rehandled the thing in presentation grade Arizona Desert Ironwood. When I was doing some final shaping of the handle and guard on the grinder I had a brief moment of mind wandering and cut a deep divot in the side of the guard.

After staring at the thing in disbelief for Lord knows how long, I bit the bullet and proceeded to bust off the new handle and knock off the new guard.

On the next go around got the third guard mounted and the client contacted me about a possible change in the handle design. I agreed to give his idea a try. This time the new handle was done in a premium piece of Australian Ring Gidgee. This is the part that escapes me. I remember that with the new handle design the balance was thrown off, but I'm sure there was something else.

Anyway, I'd had it. This knife had been hand-rubbed and etched three times, had three guards, and three handles. I'll bet you I had a hundred hours in this stinking $375 knife. I contacted the client and told him that if he would release me from this nightmare I would send him a Bowie and sheath that I was completing in it's place -- even trade. It didn't take much coaxing for him to take a $600 Bowie over a $375 personal carry.

If you look at the photo where I was burning the handle off, you'll see that it is a different design from the original. Also, if you look where the torch is (around the glowing embers of the handle), you'll see the stripes in the wood showing that this is the Ring Gidgee handle, not the original Black Walnut.

####

I keep the little forged scorpion looking thing on my workbench to this day. It is to remind me that when one is not working out, don't keep working on it. Ditch the darned thing.
 
WOW! TM, they looked usable to me, seems like a huge waste.

I would have sent you atleast postage and handling so I could give them to a few young country boys that have never had a nice knife. Doesn't take too much to get your mark off, does it?

Just a thought.
VV

Clark
 
ok i can appreciate the mental beniefits it gave you and I won't harp on the waste but please do me a favour and at least go salvage the belt clip of the one boot knife sheath.....
 
Terry, great story and pics. I'd have melted it to slag.

I'd also like to see some other ways these things go to the after life.
 
Good on ya, Trace! ...and Terry!

I feel the same way you guys do but I have never gone to the extremes you have. Maybe it's about time.

Sometimes a knife just doesn't want to get made. You can't put anything out there that is substandard WITH YOUR NAME ON IT.

Trace's approach is akin to a surgeon's...they bury their mistakes too!

Craig
 
It seems wasteful; but, it has to be done for our own good. If these were placed into circulation we would see them poping up all over ebay in no time at all. There was a huge fight on these forums 4 years ago over an alleged MadDog reject that had been taken and placed into circulation. If anyone wants to see how ugly things can get when one of these gets loose; just take a look through those threads.

n2s
 
some time a fellas got to do what he's got to do. normally I just feed mine to a 36 grit belt . kinda a dust to dust thing...


cya
jimi
 
I would use them as utility knives.

I mean comon some people would die just to have a knife like that to use around the shop.
 
Terry that is quite a story. There definitely was a dark stormcloud hanging over that knife. I understand completely why you would want to put it out of your misery.

Roger
 
I understand why you guys did that.no,honest I really do.it was your effort went into those knives,your name that was on them,and your right to do what you dam well pleased........having said that,after seeing what other people throw away,I MAY JUST SELL MY GRINDERS AND TAKE UP NEEDLEPOINT!
 
Thanks for the smile Terry! I think I know how You felt but Ive never made one of the scorpian thingys. Usually just toss it in the box under the bench.
 
i cut the offending little bugger's into chunk's and throw them all in a can , add some powder and re-pound the hell out of it !! usually is get's some wild/weird pattern going on . most of mine start's as damascus anyway , if it goes bad make the " Chop Saw " Damascus out of it you will feel much better .
yes i know i end up with a "Evil" blade beacuse it was made from all "Evil " steel.
usually it re train's the steel to co-operate better ( LOL)
 
See thats a good idea. He is still useing them. However, I belive to just throw them away is wastfull.
 
Day-ammmmm!
:eek:
:eek:
:eek:
I've got a buddy that just puts on an new 36 grit belt, turns the grinder up to 'warp factor 10', and feeds his mistakes to the machine until the floor is full of steel dust...says it puts on quite a spark show.
But this is slow torture!
 
An update 6 years later.
6 years ago I had some old knives in the bottom drawer I didn't want out there and I didn't want to look at them anymore. I went to the back yard, dug a hole and threw them in. I got curious last weekend and dug them up to have a look.
Really interesting. The Stainless steels have very little corrosion except one spot. That may have been when I threw a pound of salt in the hole when I buried them. The bowie blade is 01 and had some good rust going. The little wood working blade on the left was A2 and took some heavy hits on corrosion and rust. The carved leather sheath came out surprisingly good. The wax/oil dip sheath came out just as crummy as the day it went in.
After a quick look, I threw them back in the hole and covered them up. I'll have another look in 5 or 6 years from now.

buried-in-the-back.jpg
 
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