Knifemaking quotes

Here is one you all have heard...or said. "You can take it off but you can't put it back" (stock reduction method). And one that my father used to say about every job: "If it was easy then anyone could do it and it would have little value."
 
"Few things are more frustrating that an good idea you mistakenly believe you have the skill to execute." - Anonymous

"I was looking for a job when I found this one" - Keith Thomason

"What, me worry?" - Alfred E. Newman

"Time heals all wounds... if we have the wisdom to stop opening them." - Anonymous
 
Not really knife related but one of my favorite quotes.

"There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures - right next to the mashed potatoes."
 
Here's a favorite - "How do you make knives? Grind everything off a piece of steel that doesn't look like a knife."


I kind of came up with something the other day after alot of thought about styles, and developing a style of your own. Something like this:

"A knifemaker's style has just as much to do with what he or she doesn't want or like to do."

Not sure how I can make that more concise. Basically, I don't like to fool around with guards, corby bolts, mirror finishes etc. etc, so a unique style ultimately develops through some sort of limitation, avoidance, omission and substitution.
 
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Surely this was said and I missed it... "If it isn't sharp, it's just a piece of steel."
"Want to learn to throw knives? Just turn on that buffer...."

New favorite to whomever said, "a falling knife has no handle"
 
Josh Mason said:
. Something like this:

"A knifemaker's style has just as much to do with what he or she doesn't want or like to do."
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I developed a style based on the fact that I could only fit a 8 inch blade in my HT oven for the first 3 or 4 years. Totally know what you mean.
 
I'll just touch this up quickly before the customer shows up. What could go wrong? :foot:
 
I had a friend over yesterday. He spent 2h shaping the handle with a 60grit belt, and finally asked me to touch it up and show him how to contour the handle like my knives. After about 3 minutes, he looked at me and said: "You're supposed to make love to your wife, not your equipment! You did in three minutes what I spent two hours failing to do!" It took him the next three hours to sharpen the knife, and he was at 0.010 when he started. It was a painful day for me. I reminded him I'm not good at this yet, but I'm getting better.
 
Regarding the importance of alloy selection and HT : "You can make a soup can lid cut... once." - Jerry Fisk.
 
But, James.....I saw on YouTube where a guy made a soup can knife, and he said it was great steel?


I guess the quote would be, "If it is on YouTube it is good advice."
 
From my retired knife making friend Leon Hall. “When you are peening pins always stop three hits before the handle material splits.”
 
bladsmth said:
But, James.....I saw on YouTube where a guy made a soup can knife, and he said it was great steel?


I guess the quote would be, "If it is on YouTube it is good advice."
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:D I think I'll stick with Jerry on that one ;)

curtis K said:
From my retired knife making friend Leon Hall. “When you are peening pins always stop three hits before the handle material splits.”
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Nice :thumbup:
 
Here's one from Mr. Money Mustache, an esteemed financial blogger. I think of him as a snarky Gen-X Dave Ramsey on steroids.

"Similarly, one good resharpenable knife will replace a lifetime procession of cheap ones, a reasonable bike will replace a lifetime of car upgrades (and purchases of ever-larger pants and belts), and a set of core tools and skills will eliminate a lifetime of having to find others to maintain the stuff you do choose to keep around. Sometimes more is less, in a good way."
 
"Knife making is a life time of buying tools - then you die." Jerry Rados

"When you're sanding out scratches - you're not sanding scratches.
You're sanding everything that's NOT a scratch." Me.




Karl B. Andersen said:
"Geometry cuts.
Heat treatment determines how long." Roman Landes


"Jesus Christ, Himself, could send a bar of steel down from Heaven.
It will only be as good as the heat treatment it gets on Earth." Jerry Rados


"An empty table sells a lot of knives." Jerry Rados
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bladsmth said:
But, James.....I saw on YouTube where a guy made a soup can knife, and he said it was great steel?



I guess the quote would be, "If it is on YouTube it is good advice."
Click to expand...
Oh my gosh, that explains so much. I read a Kindle self published book a little while back where the author has two of the characters each fashion some type of ninja-star Karambit monstrosity out of a soup can lid and then proceed to knife fight a properly armed and trained character with it and win.

The whole time I was basically saying, "No. No. No. No. No." in my head while reading.


I've got one, it has a somewhat deeper meaning than face value if you think about it, not super deep, but enough to make it interesting I guess.

"Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop." Lewis Carroll
 
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