Makers Dilemma

sharpeknives

sharpeknives

Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
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For years I have made knives using stock removal and ATS-34. I like this process because I am comfortable with it.
Buttttt.......
For about the last year and a half I have really gotten into forging my blades. I really love this process. I feel closer to my work, like there's more of me in it. Also I like the results much better.
Anyway , my question is (to you and myself). Do I stay with what I know or do I go with what I enjoy. Do I continue to do both or do I try and master one discipline. I think I may have an emotional attachment to my forge. I also love stag handled forged knives. Maybe that's the answer specialize in stag handled forged knives. Just do what I love and enjoy.(Do one thing ,do it well.):confused:
 
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Here is 2-cents worth from an old worn out man......... When you stop trying to learn and do new things, its time to go on down to your local funeral home.

I am 61 years young, and if a day goes by that I can't learn something new, or try something different, then it has been a wasted day.

Life is too short son. Like an old beer commercial once said....... "Go for the Gusto".

Robert
 
I started out wanting to forge but it was several years before we got internet so it was the blind leading the blind for several years. The first time I forged a blade I told myself no way I could ever turn a piece of steel into a blade with just a hammer. I found grinding much quicker to learn but never totally forgot about wanting to hand forge. I ended up doing both for several years until I finally felt like I was in control of the hammer. The way I look at it both knowing how to grind and how to use a hammer go hand and hand.
 
I have always felt that most of the better forged knives are made by a maker with good stock removal skills. Just my opinion, but if you can look at a knife, and tell it was forged, it wasn't done as good as it could be, unless it is a design that could only be done in a practical manner by forgeing.
 
Perhaps enjoying the best of both worlds is the answer. It has been so hot here that fireing the forge is not fun. My shop has AC so grinding is nice. Maybe as winter comes and the forge is fired I'll get my fix. right now I just miss it so. I think I'm haveing a moment. Thanks for tollerating an old mans thoughts.
 
I do both and would'nt quit either one. Grinding can make repeatable patterns quite easy. But when the urge calls, there's NO replacement for a day 'playing in the fire'!!!:D
 
Yeah, great thread. Just like he always does, Ray touched the point I'm missing. I also like the idea that stock removal experience can guide one's forging. I'd never thought about it like that. Who knows, maybe one day I'll take that hammer up and make something worth cutting with...

The biggest thing for me is that in stock removal I do not get a good distal taper. Yet I think that's a large part of what makes a truly balanced knife, both in the hand and to the eye. It's something lacking in most of my own work, that I've always thought I should learn to alleviate with the hammer.

Thanks for the excellent post!
 
If I'm looking for good entertainment and I'm feeling up to it there's nothing like forging a blade. Anymore I tend to do it in stages instead of all at once like I use to. Only glitch I had today while I was out forging was running out of propane and having to get some more. Hard to believe we had 100 degree temps maybe 3 days ago and I don't think it got up to 70 in the shop today. Ideal forging weather for whats supposed to be the middle of the summer. You'd guess it was October just by looking out side. Here's a picture of the kid and what he was just working on.

IMG_0648.JPG
 
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Chuck Gedraitis Knives said:
Just like in martial arts don't limit yourself to one style. Some blade shapes and steels you can't forge.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth.

No sense in limiting yourself Andy, there are times when you want to do a forged knife and nothing else will do (one of the main reasons I keep thinking of taking it up). There is a totally different sense of satisfaction, I'm sure. Sometimes a customer may exclusively collect forged knives.

On the other hand, sometimes you're going to want a stainless steel knife or you'll want to stock remove a piece of steel that is just too small to bother working in the forge. Someday health may even limit what you can do with a hammer.

Do them both and have fun. Keep making knives of all persuasions, no point in making yourself a one-trick pony.
 
Raymond

First let me compliment you on the ugly anvil shown in your photo (holding the water bottle) looks just like the one I use.
As far as stock removal or forged, here is my spin. When the temperatures are in the upper 90s or above, stock remove. When the customer wants stainless, stock remove. When you really want to express yourself, forge! They are not too separate processes, but different sides of the same coin.

Jim Arbuckle

PS if you get feeling too cocky, try forging D2, not impossible, but humbling!
 
Ray, is that your drinking water or your anvil-mop water?? :confused:

Don't be drinkin' the wrong stuff again!!! :barf::barf::p
 
Hi! First let me say that all answers are valid. When I was making knives, a fellow knifemaker (Hugh Bartrug) gave me this advice: Make what you like and enjoy it, otherwise it becomes like a 9-5 job. He was right! However I was not depending on knifemaking to make a living and therefore I didn't have to take jobs that I didn't like.
Kind regards

Shike
 
Andy,

You can apply most of what you learned in stock removal to forged blades. You are putting out some darn nice looking stuff, like Shike said make what you like, If that includes forging then go for it. The biggest reason I forge is because that is the only way to make damascus. Yeah you can buy it but I like to stack it and try to make the patterns I expect. Getting there but is still a learning experience.
 
Think I'm suffering burn out. Just finishing 2 large orders. 11 of one style 6 of another.Grinding the same blade over and over is like a 9-5er. The next ones are giveing me alot more freedom to do what I want. Then 10days at the beach.
 
ddavelarsen said:
Yeah, great thread. Just like he always does, Ray touched the point I'm missing. I also like the idea that stock removal experience can guide one's forging. I'd never thought about it like that. Who knows, maybe one day I'll take that hammer up and make something worth cutting with...

The biggest thing for me is that in stock removal I do not get a good distal taper. Yet I think that's a large part of what makes a truly balanced knife, both in the hand and to the eye. It's something lacking in most of my own work, that I've always thought I should learn to alleviate with the hammer.

Thanks for the excellent post!
Click to expand...
A distal taper is not that difficult to grind. It just takes a bit longer. When you mark your edge lines, mark topside also. You don't grind to them on topside, but the lines give you a reference to work the taper evenly.
 
Raymond Richard said:
If I'm looking for good entertainment and I'm feeling up to it there's nothing like forging a blade. Anymore I tend to do it in stages instead of all at once like I use to. Only glitch I had today while I was out forging was running out of propane and having to get some more. Hard to believe we had 100 degree temps maybe 3 days ago and I don't think it got up to 70 in the shop today. Ideal forging weather for whats supposed to be the middle of the summer. You'd guess it was October just by looking out side. Here's a picture of the kid and what he was just working on.

IMG_0648.JPG
Click to expand...

Ray where can I buy a forging hat like that? :D
 
Ray,... What happened to the Frank Zappa look?
sc0015145d.jpg


... look more like Van Morrison with a beard now. :D

That's what forging will do to you!
 
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