Knifemaking fact and fiction....

Kevin, if you really want to go the scientific, anal retentive, control freak route,… why not just forget forging and start doing stock reduction on air hardening steels? I think you’d be less tormented and much happier. :)
 
Tai Goo said:
Kevin, if you really want to go the scientific, anal retentive, control freak route,… why not just forget forging and start doing stock reduction on air hardening steels? I think you’d be less tormented and much happier. :)
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Air hardening? What are you talking about! Just heating the stuff would make it hard! I'm thinking of ways to get blades that won't break in simple steels and you tell me to use that stuff! Stock reduction sounds fine but you can't shrink crystals with a grinder. Ground steel is no denser than the parent bar. Hammering that parent bar into a much smaller knife shape will give me the density that I need to make a blade that will never break.

Tell me how the din of a grinder will allow you get in touch with your internal energies to improve the steel and infuse your spiritual vibrations into the work? The only vibrations one gets from a grinder is the chatter of a butt splice!

I had a friend telling me just the other day about how well his knife skinned several deer... the dolt! I asked him if he could pry concrete blocks out of his basement wall with it and rest assured it would not chip crack or break. Not only did he say "no", he gave me some lame excuse about ruining his basement wall for no reason!:rolleyes: some people just don't get it. On a related note I managed to slice up several pieces of rope with the cold worked edge of my crowbar today! I think I may have found a new source of excellent knife material, and they are only around $4 at Harbor Freight. Let Aldo Bruno or Admiral beat that price!
 
Dangerous kitchen weapons ? I do have 'safety shears', commercial poultry shears with a ball at the end. Sure safety, you're wife can't stab you with them !! What gets their attention , as it did Sam, is my big rolling pin that I use for pasta.It was my grandmother's and is 2" dia, 30" long.It hangs prominently in the kitchen and they don't argue when they see that.
 
Hey Kevin did you fall down and bump your head?;)


Oh can I place an order for one of your crowbar knives. Will you guarantee I will be able to demolish my entire basement with it? This sounds exactly like the kind of knife I have been looking for.










Oh ya Fiction:)
 
M*A*S*H said:
Fact: Even if the knife maker can't throw knives, their buffing wheel/grinder probably can throw knives quite well. :D
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Fact: Your first instinct will be to grab the flying blade.
Fact: You'll have to explain at least 5 times to the ER staff what you were doing and how you ended up there. :o
Fact: Final buffing produces gas in sleeping Greyhounds, forcing evacuation of the shop prior to finishing.
Fiction: Buffers are safe.
 
Forgive me in advance, but knives are made for skinning deer, & crowbars for prying concrete blocks in basements.
 
fact, you learn to catch nothing in the shop, ever. even if it means another 5-20 hours of work... just as long as you dont spend the time in the er
-matt
 
Kevin R. Cashen said:
Air hardening? What are you talking about! Just heating the stuff would make it hard! I'm thinking of ways to get blades that won't break in simple steels and you tell me to use that stuff! Stock reduction sounds fine but you can't shrink crystals with a grinder. Ground steel is no denser than the parent bar. Hammering that parent bar into a much smaller knife shape will give me the density that I need to make a blade that will never break.

Tell me how the din of a grinder will allow you get in touch with your internal energies to improve the steel and infuse your spiritual vibrations into the work? The only vibrations one gets from a grinder is the chatter of a butt splice!

I had a friend telling me just the other day about how well his knife skinned several deer... the dolt! I asked him if he could pry concrete blocks out of his basement wall with it and rest assured it would not chip crack or break. Not only did he say "no", he gave me some lame excuse about ruining his basement wall for no reason!:rolleyes: some people just don't get it. On a related note I managed to slice up several pieces of rope with the cold worked edge of my crowbar today! I think I may have found a new source of excellent knife material, and they are only around $4 at Harbor Freight. Let Aldo Bruno or Admiral beat that price!
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I think it sounds like Kevin might be guilty sacrificing performance for metallurgy.
 
Congratulations Mr. Cashen! Your new approach to communication and education once again shows your flexibility and an unflagging(?) commitment to making sense out of steel. I can only compare it to performance art.

My experience in forging is limited to one knife, although I admit to hammering it while hot and "heat treating" it with oil, a toaster oven and a brick. So while I find your usual posts more challenging to understand (let alone implement the concepts), the most recent ones are at least encouraging for me. They say some people can only understand things presented backwards.

Thanks,
Dave
 
CROWBARS FOR SALE, CROWBARS FOR SALE GET YOUR RED HOT CROWBARS. ONLY $3.99 EACH!!!

There you go Kevin. I even beat Harbor Freight.:D

Aldo

PS- Any of you guys E-mail for one I'm not answering!
 
The weapons part of the thread reminded me of when I was getting my new Federal ID, called a TWIC card. Mariners and those who work in ports must now have them. While doing the paper work the lady and I were talking and I mentioned making knives. She was interested and I showed her a small (5 1/2" open length) damascus folder I carry. Another lady said you have a weapon in here. I said its not a weapon, its a tool. "Just what is a weapon?" I asked. She said, "Something you could kill with". I said "I can kill people with a sharp #2 pencil", and she actually moved the pencil holder away from me. LOL This was after I had been oked by the Feds for the security card that's just like the people who check you at the airports and load planes. What a bunch of paranoids.
 
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I was reading this thread, after a while I saw my arms, now here is a fact:
Every knife maker has at least one bald spot on his/her arms; spots' size and number increase directly related to the knife quantity he/she makes at that time....
emre
 
Fact: Tell someone that you make knives, and there is a high probability that they will return with a whitetail antler and ask you to make them a knife with it.
 
NStricker said:
Fact: Tell someone that you make knives, and there is a high probability that they will return with a whitetail antler and ask you to make them a knife with it.
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You forgot to mention that they want to trade the antler for a knife made from the antler, instead of paying you a fair wage for your expertise. Most of the time the antler is too large or too small or shaped in such a way to make the knife handles you get out of it not nearly as nice as the quality stag that you would normally purchase. You carefully select their handle piece from the antler, and whats left ends up sitting around your shop forever. I've found that most trades for a knife just add to the junk laying around.
 
Fact- when somebody finds out you are new to knifemaking they will ask you to make them a katana or throwing stars for $100! Or they will wait until you have 5+ hours of tweaking their design before disappearing off the face of the earth.
 
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