Market research: a beginning knifemaking book?

J

Jason Fry

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
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Wayne Goddard's classic "$50 Knife Shop" came out more than 20 years ago. I've been toying with the idea of a new beginner/intro level book.

Here's the angle for this forum:
What do you wish was in a book like this, that you haven't seen in a book elsewhere?
What content is over-published and would be good to avoid?
 
Honestly as someone who’s only been doing it for 3-4 years, I feel like there needs to be better resources for how to fix common mistakes. The 2” belt groove, uneven plunge lines, uneven bevels, warps, finishing the front of the handle and fit and finish in general. Also emphasis on cutting geometry and design would be good.

I actually toyed with the idea of doing a YouTube series of myself working through those things for new knifemakers but I’m just way too busy right now. I thought a newish knifemaker working through problems and learning as they went might have some instructional value for someone just getting started.

I think there’s plenty of good “how to get started” material out there but not as much “how to fix this blank I screwed up” stuff.

Also some of the “beginner” stuff I’ve read really assumed/required skills that most beginners aren’t going to have yet. If you write a book for beginners, assume they’ve never worked with tools before and go from there.
 
“If you write a book for beginners, assume they’ve never worked with tools before and go from there.”

Great point. I tend to assume that people know more than they sometimes do.
 
OK, Jason ... You are making me get back to finishing my books. I have 90% of it done and was just looking for a good time to get it all organized. The main thing I wanted to add was photos. I'll have to get those done before final assembly. I might do the smaller book on a specific knife style first.
 
How to forge a round tuit from square bar...

You're right, Stacy. Writing is the "easy" part. Pictures are much harder.
 
Jason Fry said:
“If you write a book for beginners, assume they’ve never worked with tools before and go from there.”

Great point. I tend to assume that people know more than they sometimes do.
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Yes I think that’s one of the main shortfalls of a lot of “intro” material. I don’t know how many times myself or someone has recommended a beginner invest in a carbide faced file guide or something even simpler only to be asked “okay, what do I do with it?”. I’m finding more and more people especially the younger generations have very little hands on experience with any kind of tools or equipment for the most part. I think a modern intro book needs to start with the equipment and how to use it properly then move on to basic knife making and then to refining techniques, fit/finish etc… and then how to correct common mistakes.

I just got a knife design book by a well known maker and it included basic full scale templates you could cut out and paste to card stock. I think that would be a nice touch for an intro book. Just a few basic profiles. It certainly would have been nice when I was first starting.

You’ll need lots of pictures too.
 
“How to make a switch blade damascus folding sword with gold inlay as your first knife “

Because this is what they’re thinking.

I am surprised that most new makers want to jump to the difficult stuff without learning the basics.

Good design is probably the hardest part of knife making, followed by grinding, then finishing.

Violin, piano, trumpet, etc. all have method books to learn music. They start simple and then go to the hard stuff.

Practice is way more valuable than information.

Just my thoughts.

*the first line in the book should read: it’s not a good idea to heat treat in a forge and quench in canola oil

Hoss
 
DevinT said:
“How to make a switch blade damascus folding sword with gold inlay as your first knife “

Because this is what they’re thinking.

I am surprised that most new makers want to jump to the difficult stuff without learning the basics.

Good design is probably the hardest part of knife making, followed by grinding, then finishing.

Violin, piano, trumpet, etc. all have method books to learn music. They start simple and then go to the hard stuff.

Practice is way more valuable than information.

Just my thoughts.

*the first line in the book should read: it’s not a good idea to heat treat in a forge and quench in canola oil

Hoss
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Another very important thing is to tell them their Success or Failure is Very Dependant on their EFFORT.... try little succeed little....
do not expect to win a marathon while you are still crawling to learn to walk...(let alone RUN)
 
I wrote an article for my website a few years back geared towards beginner makers. I love this topic!


D DevinT has it right, one of the most difficult parts of making is good design. Many guys design a shiv and call it good.

The second tip in my article is "spend a lot of time looking at knives". Many beginner knife designs look like the maker has no idea what a knife is or what it is used for. Once you look at a couple thousand photos of knives you start to notice common design features and start to understand what a proper knife should be. I think knife design is underemphasized today.

Pinoy Knife Pinoy Knife brings up a good point as well. Success is very dependent on effort level.

Three of my article tips are "take your time, don't get frustrated, don't expect perfection". I, like many, often think I posess more skills than I actually do. This leads to frustration and disappointment. Mindset is everything when it comes to knife making. It is very important to manage expectations.

I think it is a good idea to start very simple and leave most of the technical details at the door.
 
Cypress Creek Knives said:
Pinoy Knife Pinoy Knife brings up a good point as well. Success is very dependent on effort level.
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I don't know if I'd agree with this...

If you mean you have to practice something to get better at it, yes... Sort of.

I'm a firearms instructor on a professional level, and I've studied a lot about adult learning. It turns out that what really makes a difference is not effort, it's purposeful practice.

It's not "I'm practicing making knives" that gets results, it's "I'm practicing making consistently even plunge lines" or "practicing making bolsters match" or any other individual task in knife making. Breaking a task into the smallest reasonable parts, and perfecting those small tasks.

Sure effort is necessary, but if you're not being focused in your practice, you're just wasting your effort.
 
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A.McPherson said:
I don't know if I'd agree with this...

If you mean you have to practice something to get better at it, yes... Sort of.

I'm a firearms instructor on a professional level, and I've studied a lot about adult learning. It turns out that what really makes a difference is not effort, it's purposeful practice.

It's not "I'm practicing making knives" that gets results, it's "I'm practicing making consistently even plunge lines" or "practicing making bolsters match" or any other individual task in knife making. Breaking a task into the smallest reasonable parts, and perfecting those small tasks.

Sure effort is necessary, but if you're not being focused in your practice, you're just wasting your effort.
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I would say we are talking about the same thing! I think of it like a grading scale. An F grade means bare minimum effort.. as in one didn't even try to do things correctly. An A grade means great effort was employed. One took the time to carefully learn and practice in order to achieve the most desirable result.

I guess what I'm sayin is effort implies purposeful and targeted practice.
 
Jason Fry said:
Wayne Goddard's classic "$50 Knife Shop" came out more than 20 years ago. I've been toying with the idea of a new beginner/intro level book.
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If I were taking this project on, I would look at Wayne's book and see what info is out of date and needs updating and go from there.
On many forums, when folks ask for a good book to get into knifemaking, his book is mentioned.
 
weo said:
If I were taking this project on, I would look at Wayne's book and see what info is out of date and needs updating and go from there.
On many forums, when folks ask for a good book to get into knifemaking, his book is mentioned.
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That’s pretty much exactly what The Publisher has asked for.
 
An updated mashup of the $50 knifeshop plus Wayne Goddards "Making an everyday working knife" in Blades Guide to Making Knives first edition plus Tim McCreight's Custom Knifemaking. These helped me the most. Most starting out knifemakers are going to be doing an awful lot of hand filing, using angle grinders and hard wheel grinders.
 
I've only been making for a little over a year and I would disagree about the files, possibly an angle grinder occasionally. Once I decided I wanted to make knives my first purchase was a belt grinder. I got files after a few knives because they are actually handy for certain things. If my option was mostly file or not making knives. I wouldn't make any knives. Ain't nobody for time for that.

You can get a garbage 1*30 for less than a set of files. It's still faster. I started with a 2*48 multitool lanisher for my grinder for like 250$. I would say if you're making a beginner book start with teaching/methods to grind on a shit sub $400 grinder and work up from there. I think a cheap grinder and gas forge heat treat *are* the entry level. No way I'm sending my uneven plunge, lop sided grind 1084 blade off for heat treat nor am I dropping 2k on an oven so I can find out 7 blades in that this tedious craps not for me.

I have 50$ shop and I like the info, but back then the entry level was much, much lower. We have really cheap Chinese tools to buy that actually work almost as good as the decent stuff back then.
 
DevinT said:
“How to make a switch blade damascus folding sword with gold inlay as your first knife “

Because this is what they’re thinking.

I am surprised that most new makers want to jump to the difficult stuff without learning the basics.

Good design is probably the hardest part of knife making, followed by grinding, then finishing.

Violin, piano, trumpet, etc. all have method books to learn music. They start simple and then go to the hard stuff.

Practice is way more valuable than information.

Just my thoughts.

*the first line in the book should read: it’s not a good idea to heat treat in a forge and quench in canola oil

Hoss
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I appreciate you Hoss. Thank you for keeping active on this forum.
 
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