Most and least favorite parts of knife making

was having a hard time coming up with a fav. part till i saw about making the end user happy and i really do like that. other then that its just knife making to me good an dbad parts but been doing it nearly 20 years now.
as to a part i hate hand sanding i hate hand sanding only time i do it is for hamon anymore cause if you want the boundrys to pop you got to put in the work
 
I love the heavy stock removal! The initial profile and bevel grinding parts! Full speed and 36-50 grit belt and watching the bar become a knife shaped sculpture! I turn up the music in my ear muffs and zen out! Just me and steel! :) I even love the initial shaping on the handles. Removing all the excess material to reveal what’s hidden inside :D Two things I dislike are the hand finishing steps. Actually I don’t hate the steps. More like I hate that my body suffers from it. Tendinitis is a real PITA!!!!!!
 
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Bill Siegle said:
I love the heavy stock removal! The initial profile and bevel grinding parts! Full speed and 36-50 grit belt and watching the bar become a knife shaped sculpture! I turn up the music in my ear muffs and zero be out! Just me and steel! :) I even love the initial shaping on the handles. Removing all the excess material to reveal what’s hidden inside :D Two things I dislike are the hand finishing steps. Actually I don’t hate the steps. More like I hate that my body suffers from it. Tendinitis is a real PITA!!!!!!
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Look up magnesium oil.
I make it easily. It really helps with tendinitis and sore muscles.
Some stretching helps too
 
My favorite thing so far , twice now I've had customers tell me they went to stick the pigs throat and almost cut the whole head off by accident , they never saw a knife that sharp.

Favorite thing about making knives, I like profiling and drilling holes. Don't like messing with epoxy and hand sanding
 
I love just about everything about making a knife...but by far my two favorite parts,
1. Creative design, sketching and putting an idea on paper.
2. Turning that design into a blade blank. Seeing how my minds eye can be translated into something that actually fits the hand and the job.

Least favorite:
1. Drilling and tapping small holes...nerve racking
2. waiting for heat treat. Since I send mine out for HT, the waiting really is the hardest part!
 
One of my favorite parts is making the handle, everything from rectangular block to finish.

A couple things I really don’t like are 1) going back and forth a million times from the grinder to calipers getting all the thicknesses and grind lines perfect. 2) after I put the final finish on the blade I hate how hard it is to keep it perfectly scratch free throughout the rest of the build.
Also sharpening, because the blade is done except for that last step, it’s just nerve racking because one little mess up could ruin the finish.
 
Yes, sharpening is very nerve wracking! But it's also satisfying when you silently slice the paper!
I forgot to mention that I really like experimenting with different finishes for the blade. Sometimes I have spent an entire day friggin around with the finish on a blade, only to end up right back where I started. Somehow hours went by without me noticing! Some kind of weird meditation for sure! But I do enjoy seeing the subtle changes the surface of the steel goes through!
 
Bunker Hill Blades said:
One of my favorite parts is making the handle, everything from rectangular block to finish.

A couple things I really don’t like are 1) going back and forth a million times from the grinder to calipers getting all the thicknesses and grind lines perfect. 2) after I put the final finish on the blade I hate how hard it is to keep it perfectly scratch free throughout the rest of the build.
Also sharpening, because the blade is done except for that last step, it’s just nerve racking because one little mess up could ruin the finish.
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Yeah there is nothing worse than having to remove scratches from a finished blade.
 
Most:
-Hand sanding. I'm weird, but my favorite part of the whole process is when I see that polished blade for the first time. It's also kinda zen. I'm an accountant, so tedium and attention to detail are basically my job anyway.
-The final polishing of the high parts after etching damascus. It's just so pretty!
-Embellishments. Like fluted handles, wire wrap, domed pins, tapered tangs, stone setting, soon (hopefully) engraving. The little things that separate "that's nice" from "holy $h!7 that's awesome!"
-Happy (and preferably repeat) customers.

Least:
-Making sheaths. I'm not interested. My knives surpassed my sheaths a long time ago. Exception would be fancy sheaths for daggers with a metal throat and chape. Those are a lot of fun.
-Guard fitting. As I get better at it, I don't ever like it more.
-Straightening. It's never as easy as it should be.
-Heat treating. Never does much for me, there's always anxiety involved, it takes a long time to do right, so much can go wrong. I do it anyway unless I've got sufficient quantity to justify outsourcing.
-Drilling holes larger than 3/16. For some reason they always fight me.
 
Oh don't get me wrong. I love sharpening, I just don't like having to restart a blade because of a few stray scratches.
 
Favorite:
- profiling and fine tuning the shape of the knife
- finishing a handle, I love seeing the wood grain come alive above 600 girt and feel smooth/sturdy in my hand
- first use of a good knife

Least favorite:
- heat treat, especially stainless. It's just always nerve wracking. I've spent more time than I want to troubleshooting my oven after something broke halfway through my set.
 
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