Live, from Sea-latte, it's Studio 4!

[Lorien]

Sorry, this isn't actually live, just goin for a catchy title there.

I received a major honour in being invited to observe Jason Knight's course at Dave Lisch's Studio 4 knife making school in Seattle. I just got back and I'm still a little out of it, but I really wanted to share the fun with you all. I took a lot of pictures, and I will post some of them up for you to enjoy later this evening.

Additionally, I wanted to take the earliest possible opportunity to publicly thank Dave and Andrea Lisch for their incredibly warm hospitality. I feel fortunate and blessed to have had a chance to get to know these fine people, and I very much value the friendship that Dave and I are developing. Dave is a hell of a guy, a unique and rare individual and we're all so lucky to have him joining the custom knife community:thumbup:.

More to come...

 

[JParanee]

Glad you went

Dave is a very nice guy

Jason is like when Rush is in town if there with in 100 miles ya go ya don't know why but ya do

 

[D lisch]

Lorien it was good to meet you in real life and I am looking forward to the pics I just got back from taking Jason around the city to see some sights we went to the pike place market for some shopping then to the Ballard locks to see the big fish through glass. Now Jason wants to bring his family next time to show them the city.

 

[SBranson]

I was there and it will be impossible for me to convey how great a weekend this really was. I'll certainly write more as I'm a bit pooped myself but man what a fantastic weekend. Dave and Andrea were amazing hosts, inviting Lorien and myself into their home and as much fun as the class was I think I laughed more this weekend during the drives to and from the shop and around the table in the evenings than I have in the last two years combined. Jason is a helluva nice guy and natural teacher. Dave.. man you're just crazy. Heck, I found myself telling stories to my wife in "Jason-ese".
Can't thank you guys enough. I learned so much and like I said, had a really really great time.

Looking forward to the pic.

Thanks too to Michael Rader. A great help and really interesting to get another view of process from another accomplished maker.

 

[D lisch]

Stuart I enjoyed having you stay with us and it was great to have you in the class. You have some good skills and it showed in the knife you made Nice job . Thank for taking the class see you next year.

 

[Lorien]

Dave, I just gave those pendants to me ladies, and they told me to thank you for them. Thank you very much! That's for me, too.

I just wanted to point out something that I find rather amusing about the weekend. Not a single student burnt or cut himself. Not a one, it was a very toight ship. However...

Once the hardening process had finished, Stu still had a little jog in his blade. I'm not sure where I was when this was going on, but when I left I had heard him tell Jason about the tendency for his unit to kind of veer to the right. Ok, that came out wrong. But you get the picture. I guess when I was gone they heated that sucker back up in order to get it straight. Upon reentering the room and unbeknownst to me that a forge had been refired, I saw Stu's cooling blade sitting on an anvil, (although still probably 500-600 degrees) and proceeded to pick it up. This coon's fingers done got burnt! Just as I picked it up Stu yelled at me, and my reaction time can be extremely fast when it needs to be, so I averted a pretty serious injury.

Interesting that even though I wasn't actually taking the course, I learnt one of the most important lessons to learn in a smithy.

I like to think it went perfectly straight because I dropped it onto the ground. I'm sure it has nothing to do with Master Good Sir Knight's jedi bladesmithing skills!


I just now tried to take a picture of the carnage but it's healing up pretty fast. These are not a gentleman's hands...yukyuk!

That's Quinn in the background trying to figure out why dad's taking a picture of his hand. She looks so concerned, she's so cute!

So I'm gonna pretty much hit the bed at this point because I am bagged out. But I will leave you with a few images here that I took over the course of the weekend, and maybe tomorrow I'll add more captions. There will definitely be more pictures. I took tons!

Peace.

Jason Knight is a very hard man to photograph in the smithy. He is like the energizer bunny and he neva stops movin! This is him and Stu. Believe it or not, Stu is smiling- just kiddin the smiles didn't stop all weekend! I think I caught Stu pondering Spinoza's philosophical meanderings, and how they pertain to Jason's unique approach to dialogue the the exchange of ideas.

This is Dave.

And this is Michael Rader. I never before spoke to the man or communicated in any way, but I immediately liked him. He is cool. He got his molten salt bath thingy going so the boys could have the ultimate control over the tempering of their blades. The knives they made are serious, the real deal and I'll bet that they perform, even though they were made from scratch in only three days...

 

[mike deibert]

Lorien,
That sure looks like it was a fun time. I see all the necessary tool were present: forge, anvil, vise....Barbecue Grill! Can't wait to see some more pictures but I'd really love to hear some quotes by Jason.
Mike

 

[Lorien]

Mike, I sure wish I had a tape recorder because the reality is I'm simply not a fast enough writer to keep up with Jason. I have one great quote, but I'm saving it for the Blade article, should it get printed.

One theme that I found to pop up over the weekend during all our great conversations, was that of the importance of sharing and leaving a legacy that remains a benefit to others long past one's time on this earth has passed.

It's one thing to do amazing things, but if one keeps it all to one's self and doesn't share newfound knowledge and processes with others, those amazing things might begin, and end, with the one who's developed them. I don't presume to speak for Jason, however I think he would agree that he is motivated to help grow the custom knife scene, and that the way to do that is to be completely open when it comes to sharing information.

Jason has a great outlook, and he is a real pleasure to be around. I'm sorry I don't have more of his words to share, but these pictures should give an idea of where he's at somewhat. He brought this killer khukuri which I absolutely fell in love with;

I also fell in love with that bbq'd bratwurst. It was SO good!

Dave Lisch knows how to do it right. He ran a great course and everyone was super stoked with the outcome.

 

[JParanee]

The last pic of Jason eating of a Khukuri while rideing a tri cycle really somes up the man

IMHO one of the finest and of his age possible the finest hardcore battle/hard use bladesmith out there

He can do pretty but he lives to make stuff that would of been on a battlefield in days of old.

Thats the stuff I dig

 

[Kevin Jones]

Looks like a great time.
Jason is a very good teacher. He adds just
enough humor to his message to keep it entertaining.

Way to go Michael in wearing the CKCA cap. :thumbup:

 

[John Frankl]

Great photos--keep em coming, please.

I got an email from Jason a week or so ago. Something about "I have some really cool ideas and sketches for your knife, but I have to go to Seattle. Etc." I had no idea, and now I'm more excited than ever about my future knife.

 

[petah]

nice lookin knife!

 

[Lorien]

Here's Jason having a little fun designing a Dave Lisch styled knife. Notice how there are no straight lines? You don't see Jason doing too many figural pieces, so the Dave shaped knife he's designed here on the chalkboard will be pretty rare. Expect to pay a lot for what is going to be an exceptional knife(maker).

I enjoyed looking at the back of Dave's shirt. Consequently there are many pictures of it. I'll only post this one, but keep your eye out. Ya neva know where she might show up again.

Here's Stu listening to the inside of his head instead of the clanking hammers. I think I was the only one in the room without hearing protection, and I'll tell you that 5 or 6 hammers pounding orange hot steel against anvils for 5 hours can give a guy a headache.

Jason made a great analogy to cow pies regarding the hammerin of hot steel. I'll try to remember to tell it to you later.

Here's Mike, a collector and first time, (I think) knife forger. He brought some sweet custom knives which he showed to all of us. One was a wicked Rader camp knife, and another was one of those Winkler breaching tools. The man has good taste in knives, and his turned out pretty damn good for a first time. Dave and Jason didn't let anyone go home with a knife they weren't proud of. Every last guy said he'd never get rid of it and that his knife would remain in his possession forever as a souvenir and token of a potentially life changing knife making course. No shit.

Not too many more pictures to go, here. This thread will likely conclude some time tomorrow when it comes to the pictures. But if any of you have ANY questions at all about the course, I will do my best to either answer them for you, or find the right answer from someone who knows what they're talking about, depending on my mood.

 

[NickWheeler]

Thanks for the pics Lorien!!!

I'm pretty sick I couldn't at least make it up to say hello to everybody, but just couldn't afford it this week-end.

I know there's no way people weren't laughing their asses off with Jason and Dave in the same room!!!

Can't wait to see some blades from this class... Hopefully we'll at least see Stuart's... I know it will be a good one!!!

 

[SBranson]

Well we certainly missed you Nick. Dave and Jason were wondering where you were.

You're certainly right that the laughs were many. Man those two just fed off each other. I was in tears sometimes.

Hope you don't mind this pic Lorien. I took it this afternoon of my knife from the class. Being a 3 day class with lots of demonstration from Jason there wasn't time to really hand finish these but Jason really showed us how to get a good looking "user" finish on these. I never thought a 220grit belt finish could look so good.

Thanks for documenting all this Lorien. There wouldn't have been time for us to do it and I'm so glad to have pictures of the weekend.

 

[NickWheeler]

Damn that's a beauty Stuart!!! Jason's influence is surely present.... looks like it's going 100 miles an hour just sitting there. :thumbup:

Man I wish I could have signed up for the class!!! :grumpy:

Thanks for sharing Stuart!!!

 

[peterinct]

Looks like a great time was had by ALL...and a couple of awesome blades to boot!

Knowing Dave, it couldn't be anything less!

Peter

 

[RogerP]

Great pics Lorien. Man, what a terrific set of instructors you guys had - that must have been just an exceptional opportunity to learn and laugh your a$$es off at the same time.

Stu - lookin' good!

Roger

 

[Allen Newberry]

That had to be fun! And the trike certainly looks interesting.

 

[Lorien]

Thanks gents, I appreciate your kind comments.
And thank you Stu for posting a pic of your knife. I gotta say one of the best things I brought away from the weekend was friendship with you buddy:thumbup:. Looking forward to swinging by your place and swinging a hammer for a bit.

Jason's going over handle shaping here, with Dave observing.

Yet more smiling!

Dave and Ken here are good friends and go way back. Ken's story is really interesting. He's been a blacksmith for like 25 years if I remember correctly, and has never really had much interest in making knives. The reason he attended the course was to bring information back to a kid he's mentoring who IS into making knives. Very cool. Lots of humanity going on here:thumbup:

This is Rick Lucas, who is retired and now making knives. Keep an eye out for him at the Eugene show if you're there, and make sure to stop by and say hello. He's a really really nice guy. He took Mike Vagnino's folder class through Dave's Studio 4 knifemaking school and brought some sweet little barlow style slipjoints with ivory handles to the course.

Here' a group shot of all the guys with their finished knives;