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My first home made knife
- Thread starter DA SWAMPMONSTA
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2009
- Messages
- 1,258
:thumbup: it will be a once in a life time chance!
t1mpani
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 5,535
There was an interesting study done a few years ago involving small children (3-4 years of age) which included a test where they were put in a room with several toys, and told them that they could play with any toy except the one over in the corner, which they were not to touch, and then were left alone in the room with a camera watching them. Basically, it was a test of their ability to assess a situation and see the possible problems that could arise from it.
Now, of course, the one toy that ALL of them wanted was the one they weren't supposed to play with. The behaviors split three ways:
1.) Those who obeyed and left it alone
2.) Those who didn't obey and got "caught" when the adult came back
3.) Those who didn't obey but looked carefully at how the toy was sitting on the floor, played with it, and then made an effort to put it back where it had been so as to hide that it had ever been touched.
Almost across the board, the kids who did #3 were the smartest of the bunch--excelling (relatively) in all the other cognitive tests the study carried out. Now, the point wasn't that smart people lie, but that they excel at problem solving. "I want the toy, but I don't want to get into trouble, so I just have to..." Unfortunately, this can result in both good and bad behavior, and the true concepts of right and wrong don't tend to set in until a few years later, when it's discovered that instant gratification isn't the ONLY type of gratification, and is actually often the least gratifying.
My reason for posting all of this is to offer you, OP, a bit of understanding, if not approval. What I'll give you---I think you're probably pretty smart. You saw a quick and easy way to gain praise and impress people, and even understood their likely thought processes enough to figure out that they wouldn't believe you did the whole thing, and so came up with what seemed a "reasonable" amount of work that you might conceivably have been able to do and then claimed to have turned the harder parts over to professionals. Shows problem solving and planning...to a degree. Hell, even the positioning of the wrapping seems designed more to mask the tang than provide an actual gripping surface.
But, having printed both pictures (the "file ground" version and the one from the store website), done some measuring and used a calculator to correct for scale, I've compared the height of the primary grind to the length of the blade, the length of the handle to the length of the blade, the distance from the plunge line to the first fastener hole in the tang, the radius of that front finger groove...ummmm, no. I say there's no way in hell you replicated it that closely with a file. There are many professional knife makers who've made 100+ knives who'd have trouble achieving that level of precision.
Don't hold onto the story, it's worthless. There are two childish ways to handle this. One is to disappear and either never come back or come back with a different screen name and try the same again. The second is to attempt to stick to the story and hope you can argue your way to a draw. The bad news, neither of these routes will bring you any real satisfaction.
The good news--you're smart, and exhibit some attention to detail. If you do the adult thing, and take Mr. Sanders up on his offer to actually learn how to do some of this stuff, you'll likely pick it up quickly and in not too long be able to put things out there that you can be really proud of. I encourage you to do this--you'll be much happier on the long run.
Now, of course, the one toy that ALL of them wanted was the one they weren't supposed to play with. The behaviors split three ways:
1.) Those who obeyed and left it alone
2.) Those who didn't obey and got "caught" when the adult came back
3.) Those who didn't obey but looked carefully at how the toy was sitting on the floor, played with it, and then made an effort to put it back where it had been so as to hide that it had ever been touched.
Almost across the board, the kids who did #3 were the smartest of the bunch--excelling (relatively) in all the other cognitive tests the study carried out. Now, the point wasn't that smart people lie, but that they excel at problem solving. "I want the toy, but I don't want to get into trouble, so I just have to..." Unfortunately, this can result in both good and bad behavior, and the true concepts of right and wrong don't tend to set in until a few years later, when it's discovered that instant gratification isn't the ONLY type of gratification, and is actually often the least gratifying.
My reason for posting all of this is to offer you, OP, a bit of understanding, if not approval. What I'll give you---I think you're probably pretty smart. You saw a quick and easy way to gain praise and impress people, and even understood their likely thought processes enough to figure out that they wouldn't believe you did the whole thing, and so came up with what seemed a "reasonable" amount of work that you might conceivably have been able to do and then claimed to have turned the harder parts over to professionals. Shows problem solving and planning...to a degree. Hell, even the positioning of the wrapping seems designed more to mask the tang than provide an actual gripping surface.
But, having printed both pictures (the "file ground" version and the one from the store website), done some measuring and used a calculator to correct for scale, I've compared the height of the primary grind to the length of the blade, the length of the handle to the length of the blade, the distance from the plunge line to the first fastener hole in the tang, the radius of that front finger groove...ummmm, no. I say there's no way in hell you replicated it that closely with a file. There are many professional knife makers who've made 100+ knives who'd have trouble achieving that level of precision.
Don't hold onto the story, it's worthless. There are two childish ways to handle this. One is to disappear and either never come back or come back with a different screen name and try the same again. The second is to attempt to stick to the story and hope you can argue your way to a draw. The bad news, neither of these routes will bring you any real satisfaction.
The good news--you're smart, and exhibit some attention to detail. If you do the adult thing, and take Mr. Sanders up on his offer to actually learn how to do some of this stuff, you'll likely pick it up quickly and in not too long be able to put things out there that you can be really proud of. I encourage you to do this--you'll be much happier on the long run.
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Messages
- 1,528
Still beating the dead horse I see....
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2002
- Messages
- 3,974
Well, a dead horse isn't going to beat itself, is it? 
That's quite an offer from Darren. I was absolutely fascinated by knives growing up. When I was in kindergarten I took a plastic knife like you get from McDonalds to school to show off. I was the cat's meow. Course, now adays they'd throw me out of school, lock my parents up and demand I go to therapy
....but I digress....
What I'm trying to say is that I think it's awesome you have a fascination with knives at an early age. Now follow it up with some real work and study, and you could be something really big. However, you can't get there on good thoughts and dreams. There are makers on this very board who at the age of 18 were making knives that awed and inspired Mastersmith's who've been doing this for decades. They applied themselves and were able to do some amazing things.
I'd strongly encourage you to take up Darren's offer. That's a wonderful opportunity to learn from an experienced maker. Even if you don't take the offer, do continue to follow what you want to do. If you want to make knives, then do it for real.
I'm not sure there's much dead horse left to hit, so I'll toss down my club.
.
--nathan
That's quite an offer from Darren. I was absolutely fascinated by knives growing up. When I was in kindergarten I took a plastic knife like you get from McDonalds to school to show off. I was the cat's meow. Course, now adays they'd throw me out of school, lock my parents up and demand I go to therapy
....but I digress....What I'm trying to say is that I think it's awesome you have a fascination with knives at an early age. Now follow it up with some real work and study, and you could be something really big. However, you can't get there on good thoughts and dreams. There are makers on this very board who at the age of 18 were making knives that awed and inspired Mastersmith's who've been doing this for decades. They applied themselves and were able to do some amazing things.
I'd strongly encourage you to take up Darren's offer. That's a wonderful opportunity to learn from an experienced maker. Even if you don't take the offer, do continue to follow what you want to do. If you want to make knives, then do it for real.
I'm not sure there's much dead horse left to hit, so I'll toss down my club.
.--nathan
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Messages
- 1,528
Well, a dead horse isn't going to beat itself, is it?
That's quite an offer from Darren. I was absolutely fascinated by knives growing up. When I was in kindergarten I took a plastic knife like you get from McDonalds to school to show off. I was the cat's meow. Course, now adays they'd throw me out of school, lock my parents up and demand I go to therapy
What I'm trying to say is that I think it's awesome you have a fascination with knives at an early age. Now follow it up with some real work and study, and you could be something really big. However, you can't get there on good thoughts and dreams. There are makers on this very board who at the age of 18 were making knives that awed and inspired Mastersmith's who've been doing this for decades. They applied themselves and were able to do some amazing things.
I'd strongly encourage you to take up Darren's offer. That's a wonderful opportunity to learn from an experienced maker. Even if you don't take the offer, do continue to follow what you want to do. If you want to make knives, then do it for real.
I'm not sure there's much dead horse left to hit, so I'll toss down my club.
--nathan
lol, you're right there's not much left to hit and it's not going to beat itself hahaha.
I doubt the kid's even following the thread or the forum anymore after his "not so gracious" entrance.
