Life lessons for the knife maker

razor-edge-knives said:
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And on another note... Time is money, so make your decisions based upon that. I.e. If you can make a grinder vs buying one already made - do some calculations. It may be cheaper to buy one already made and work some overtime instead of spending 40+ hrs building it yourself lol.
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I can attest to that. My home built grinder works remarkably well. But it took me a very long time to piece it together. I could have been up and running in a month or less, instead of months.
 
Don’t work too close to the edges or from the sides of a rotary platen. You may have to replace the rubber belt and wheels. I heard this from “a friend”. :oops:
 
Standard steel wool, the ones that have not been cleaned of oils; are one of the best fire starters you will find in the shop. Don't use your right angle grinder in a way that sprays sparks on steel wool lying around the shop. They catch fire quickly and burn with a lot of heat, spreading fire to other materials.
Work safe; the knife shop can be quite dangerous. Spend time keeping the shop clean of dangers.
Fred
 
Further to the OP; the reason 100% cotton is recommended for shipboard wear is that polyester and other synthetics will adhere to your skin in a fire. The pinholes are cosmetic, skin is not.
 
So my 22 yr old daughter was helping out in the shop a while back. She was drilling tang holes on a batch while I was doing something else. She was wearing a long sleeve t shirt with a little of a v neck, a womans long sleeve t shirt. She says a bad word that starts with an F and jumps up and runs into the house. Couple minutes later she's back out with one of mom's button up ranching shirts, buttoned all the way up to the neck. She says: "I call BS on that!" I says:"BS on what?" She says: "I see chicks all over the Gram and FB leaning over an anvil banging hot steel in a tank top with their cleavage hanging out. I'm calling BS on that cause that hurts when ya get a hot piece of steel down in there!" Life lesson. Its kinda like the old adage "Don't fry bacon naked."
 
Horsewright said:
So my 22 yr old daughter was helping out in the shop a while back. She was drilling tang holes on a batch while I was doing something else. She was wearing a long sleeve t shirt with a little of a v neck, a womans long sleeve t shirt. She says a bad word that starts with an F and jumps up and runs into the house. Couple minutes later she's back out with one of mom's button up ranching shirts, buttoned all the way up to the neck. She says: "I call BS on that!" I says:"BS on what?" She says: "I see chicks all over the Gram and FB leaning over an anvil banging hot steel in a tank top with their cleavage hanging out. I'm calling BS on that cause that hurts when ya get a hot piece of steel down in there!" Life lesson. Its kinda like the old adage "Don't fry bacon naked."
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What’s that other adage that seems so popular nowadays?
_____ sells.
Sad but true.
 
One lesson I have been learning, learning, and re-learning lately is when you don't have a lot of time - DON'T rush in the shop when you DO have time. Babies, home improvements, and long work hours have killed my 'shop time' lately but it's what I want to do more than anything, haha. So when I get in the shop I am rushing, rushing, rushing... It's quite hard not to. I don't know if it's just my personality or what... but not rushing is very hard for me.

I have made super newby mistakes on the last few knives I've made and it all boils down to I was rushing. For example, what was and could've been the best knife I've ever made... when it came time to glue up I did not notice the tang had a warp right near the butt. Everything looks good and the next time I got in the shop I start finishing the handle - there was a clear epoxy line at the butt of the tang. Maybe 3/32" thick in one spot - super bad! I know I missed that because I was RUSHING. Super disappointing - I haven't had a gap like that since very early on in my journey! New shop knife I suppose.

I also learned that I cannot start a grind and finish it later. Once I'm in the 'groove' - I need to finish grinding or I will come back and mess it up later. I just can't grind a knife over multiple sessions. I ain't that good yet.
 
I see a lot of people saying, “knife makers don’t make mistakes, just smaller knives.” I don’t agree with this anymore. I find that most of the times I try to fix that problem-knife which has been sitting in the shop for a month, I regret it. I end up spending a large amount of time trying to fix a mistake instead of practicing how to do it right in the first place. There are always exceptions, but I am trying now to recognize when a knife just doesn’t want to be born.
 
I will give an example of how the , “knife makers don’t make mistakes, just smaller knives.”, works.
I made a chefs blade that was coming along well. It had a slight warp after HT that wasn't going to grind out. I stuck it in the straightening board and the tip popped off about 3" back. Instead of chucking it, I turned it into a santoku. Came out great just like I planed it that way.
 
Tenebr0s said:
I see a lot of people saying, “knife makers don’t make mistakes, just smaller knives.” I don’t agree with this anymore. I find that most of the times I try to fix that problem-knife which has been sitting in the shop for a month, I regret it. I end up spending a large amount of time trying to fix a mistake instead of practicing how to do it right in the first place. There are always exceptions, but I am trying now to recognize when a knife just doesn’t want to be born.
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This is where a guy really starts climbing out of that upside down learning curve. Sometimes we learn what not to do and other times we learn how to fix what we did.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I will give an example of how the , “knife makers don’t make mistakes, just smaller knives.”, works.
I made a chefs blade that was coming along well. It had a slight warp after HT that wasn't going to grind out. I stuck it in the straightening board and the tip popped off about 3" back. Instead of chucking it, I turned it into a santoku. Came out great just like I planed it that way.
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I'm working on an ulu as a collaboration with a friend who does beading. My first attempt ended up with some cracking around one of the handle attachments that i didn't feel comfortable with, so I have made a new blade for the main one. The first one i'm going to recycle into a smaller sewing ulu and give to her, because some of the blade is good so why waste it :p
 
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Horsewright said:
So my 22 yr old daughter was helping out in the shop a while back. She was drilling tang holes on a batch while I was doing something else. She was wearing a long sleeve t shirt with a little of a v neck, a womans long sleeve t shirt. She says a bad word that starts with an F and jumps up and runs into the house. Couple minutes later she's back out with one of mom's button up ranching shirts, buttoned all the way up to the neck. She says: "I call BS on that!" I says:"BS on what?" She says: "I see chicks all over the Gram and FB leaning over an anvil banging hot steel in a tank top with their cleavage hanging out. I'm calling BS on that cause that hurts when ya get a hot piece of steel down in there!" Life lesson. Its kinda like the old adage "Don't fry bacon naked."
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Sounds like the kind of girl you could get along with
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I have to plead guilty of going out to the shop to "Just touch up" a spot on a blade. I don't put on the respirator because, "I will be grinding for only a few seconds." Then, an hour later after ,"Finishing up a few projects", I go inside and blow black boogers out my nose.

I have started to set the respirator hanging on the grinder so I have to pick it up to grind anything.
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Too true. I've run out in bare feet to "check" something as well.
 
Spideyjg said:
Never go in the shop in bare feet. really hard to remove a metal sliver out of your big toe. Or so I have heard :oops:
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Wear socks. Then if you pick up a sliver you can rip off the socks really fast. If you do it right the sliver comes off with the socks.
 
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