Knifeshow Stupidity

[Greenberg Woods]

I bought all of that in hopes that some day I’ll be able to make knives nice enough to use it on.

The advice I give about this does benefit me, but i really do think its best to use the wood you like at whatever level you are at. Simply put, the cost of your time/ labor is so massive compared to the material cost for anything but the rarest of the rare woods. For most people, making stuff is a hobby. Its a fun activity where you should enjoy the things you make and the process itself.

If you are stressed that you arent good enough to use a piece of wood, I think you're doing it wrong. Its all just wood. If you ruin it, you can get another piece. If you like some material, just get it on the saw and get to work. I have seen some gem cutters speak about how they work a super rare or expensive stone. The advice they had is once you've planned your cuts and decided what to do, there's nothing to do but make the cuts. Its the same with fine wood.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Even among wood workers a lot of people struggle to distinguish different woods. Like Taz's photo there, i would believe that the far left is brown mallee, which is a eucalyptus not acacia. Identifying trees is hard without access to flowers and leaves, even them sometimes you need to resort to genetic testing

The Acacia Genus is really hard to tell apart generally. These are Acacia Confusa. Its a fast growing, nitrogen fixing species. They plant it in cleared land in Malaysia, it can hold the soil and improve soil quality, and since it grows quickly and doesnt require shade it can act to establish an area, which means other jungle growing species can grow in its shade and protection. Once those other species begin to establish, the acacia is logged and sold mostly for local consumption for making paper. I have a connection with the clearing crew who saves the figured logs for me.

This is some new acacia im sending to K&G this week

 

[WValtakis]

Since this is basically a wood p@rn thread now, I've got some special wood...New Zealand swamp kauri from a special member here

 

[ScarFoot]

The advice I give about this does benefit me, but i really do think its best to use the wood you like at whatever level you are at. Simply put, the cost of your time/ labor is so massive compared to the material cost for anything but the rarest of the rare woods. For most people, making stuff is a hobby. Its a fun activity where you should enjoy the things you make and the process itself.

If you are stressed that you arent good enough to use a piece of wood, I think you're doing it wrong. Its all just wood. If you ruin it, you can get another piece. If you like some material, just get it on the saw and get to work. I have seen some gem cutters speak about how they work a super rare or expensive stone. The advice they had is once you've planned your cuts and decided what to do, there's nothing to do but make the cuts. Its the same with fine wood.

I get what you’re saying and for the most part I agree but even though I can get another piece of “that wood” I can’t get the exact grain pattern that I picked out again. When I pick out unique material like that it’s generally because I have some vision of a finished knife that it fits. Sometimes I see a specific piece of material and I envision a knife based on it. Making the knife I envision is the part I’m working on. Even with micarta or other common materials I wait until the blade is mostly finished before I decide what colors, textures, and overall look I want the handles to have.

 

[Taz]

If I see a cool looking piece of wood, I often snag it and stash it away. Or if I order a piece for someone's order, I will add in a couple extra blocks to have on hand, sometimes in the same species, sometimes different. That way the shipping cost is split over a few pieces instead of just 1 and I have stuff on hand to show customers.