My youngest apprentice

Mark Knapp

Mark Knapp

Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Messages
4,421
Warner my youngest apprentice, 15 yrs old, started on the canister damascus for his third knife today. He wanted to do gears. The outline of the gears are nickle, and he is using three colors of powder metal. Here's some pictures.

20181013_120155-XL.jpg

20181013_120144-XL.jpg

20181013_120532-XL.jpg

20181013_121444-XL.jpg

20181013_121450-XL.jpg

Next week, we forge weld the billet.
 
Last edited:
I'm looking forward to seeing this pattern too. Mark - are you going to give him the keys to the truck? If he messes up, can you ground him? Can you take away his cell phone? Are four letter words acceptable - words like darn, dang, ouch, yuck, should never be used in a knife maker's shop. :D Just looking for pointers.
 
Last edited:
TK Steingass said:
I'm looking forward to seeing this pattern too. Mark - are you going to give him the keys to the truck? If he messes up, can you ground him? Can you take away his cell phone? Are four letter words acceptable - words like darn, dang, ouch, yuck, should never be used in a knife maker's shop. :D Just looking for pointers.
Click to expand...

No, I can't do any of those things to him. It's his to screw up. If we mess it up, we'll just make another one, and hopefully learn from it.
 
Nice! what a lucky kid he is at his age to be honing his skills on such noble craft. I'm an electrician and have had 3 apprentices over the years and I have to say that I take great pride in seeing what has become of them as I'm sure you do. BTW if he doesn't work out I would actually pay you to learn how to forge a slab of damascus, No lie.
 
Night Rider said:
Nice! what a lucky kid he is at his age to be honing his skills on such noble craft. I'm an electrician and have had 3 apprentices over the years and I have to say that I take great pride in seeing what has become of them as I'm sure you do. BTW if he doesn't work out I would actually pay you to learn how to forge a slab of damascus, No lie.
Click to expand...

I actually teach at three different levels, I have apprentices that work around the shop and I teach them in trade for helping me. Warner comes in every Saturday, he cleans machines and sweeps the floor, cuts material for damascus etc. I teach classes on week ends. They are two day classes, total of eight hours for 6 to eight student at a time. I also teach one on one instruction for more serious knife makers. Of course, you need to be in Fairbanks to take advantage of any of these opportunities.

I'm not the only one you can learn these things from, I suggest checking around closer to your home to see if there was someone closer to you.
 
Warner came in on Saturday, we welded a handle to his canister and started the forge to pre-heat it. It was just about up to forge welding temperature so we put the box in.

DSCF2565-XL.jpg

and guess what happened, we ran out of propane. Shoot, all the bottles in the shop were empty. Nothing else to do but fill the bottles and try again next week end.
 
Looking forward to seeing what he creates. Thanks for starting this thread.
 
Well Mark that gives me another reason to move to Alaska lol. That's awesome teaching the younguns such a trade and passing down the knowledge and giving them a passion to pursue. I have been teaching my son and a group of his friends about small motors and basic electrical and now my workshop is taken up by 3 mini bikes and 2 ATV go karts. Some of his friends come from tough home lives and it gives them a healthy outlet plus I feel they are learning some useful skills for later in life. I also enjoy taking them out on my bass boat and watching them catch "Their biggest bass ever!" Priceless. I honestly feel like I might have been a blacksmith in another life not that I believe in that stuff but welding, metal, and parts fabrication have always been easy for me so it's been on my bucket list to make at least some knives to pass on to my boys. Too bad about the propain, kinda the same thing happened to me this weekend. I was trying to cook up some fresh rainbow trout the kids caught and I ran out of gas also LOL, 3 tanks all empty:mad: so we cut up some wood and finished them on the firepit. I got to teach them fishing,wood chopping,fire building, and cooking skills all in one day:thumbsup:. That took me 6 months to achieve in Boy scouts. well I wish Warner some good luck and Mark keep doing what ya do.
 
Night Rider said:
Well Mark that gives me another reason to move to Alaska lol. That's awesome teaching the younguns such a trade and passing down the knowledge and giving them a passion to pursue. I have been teaching my son and a group of his friends about small motors and basic electrical and now my workshop is taken up by 3 mini bikes and 2 ATV go karts. Some of his friends come from tough home lives and it gives them a healthy outlet plus I feel they are learning some useful skills for later in life. I also enjoy taking them out on my bass boat and watching them catch "Their biggest bass ever!" Priceless. I honestly feel like I might have been a blacksmith in another life not that I believe in that stuff but welding, metal, and parts fabrication have always been easy for me so it's been on my bucket list to make at least some knives to pass on to my boys. Too bad about the propain, kinda the same thing happened to me this weekend. I was trying to cook up some fresh rainbow trout the kids caught and I ran out of gas also LOL, 3 tanks all empty:mad: so we cut up some wood and finished them on the firepit. I got to teach them fishing,wood chopping,fire building, and cooking skills all in one day:thumbsup:. That took me 6 months to achieve in Boy scouts. well I wish Warner some good luck and Mark keep doing what ya do.
Click to expand...

Good on ya, the rewards exceed the trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top