Newbie just getting directions.

J

JimBabcock

Joined
Jul 16, 2020
Messages
4
The first knife I made was with my dad in 1968 or so.

I am not like ya'all who have done this daily forever.

I know a tiny bit.

I am old now and can no longer be Thor.

But I retain interest and have questions.

I hope to inspire my grands to get into it.

Is this a place for someone like me who loves the science, craft and skill involved in making edged weapons, or am I wasting my time here?
 
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I am new here, but old (in my 70's). The first blade I made was many decades ago. I am too old and too many medical issues to list.

The show Forged in Fire has reignited my interest into lots of stuff and too many questions. I have grandkids I am hoping to forge into workers.

With what I have seen, I wish I still had my Thor's. But, I have been away for too many decades.

I have a lot to relearn. As a simple example, most everyone I knew in the 1960's were quenching in water. We were revolutionary back then doing it in oil. But based on what I see on the show and online, the stuff used today was not even invented back then.

I just want to know if I am wasting my time here. Are there just a lot of smart ass punks and no one who is willing to help teach old farts like me or my grands.

My ideal situation would to introduce my grands to people I know and know about moving metal, and that who are not smartasses more interested in making them think they are the most important than in helping others learn about metal.

To a large extent my grands and I am in the same position. While I know some things about metal from the 60' and 70's it seems a lot has advanced. I love change. My career was not here, but high tech.

What I know that my grands are to young to learn is how to kick bullies in the balls and that is an unrelated lesson I am teaching them.

I am sorry if my language is too harsh for snowflakes. At this point I just say what I think. I keep out the politics and harsh stuff in places like this because they normally have snowflakes monitoring posts. I really try to stay focused.
 
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Welcome to Shop Talk.
Filling out your profile with location and a bit about you will help us advise you and may get an offer to visit a nearby knifemaker's shop.

There are a lot of us "old farts" here. I am 70. You don't need to be Thor to make knives. On this site we stress knowledge, planning, and modern metallurgy as the way to make a good knife. We have guys in wheelchairs and old guys who have to grind sitting on a stool.
On the whole we are friendly folks who are here to share knowledge and techniques.
Some of the guys here are straight shooters with their advice and don't suffer fools, but new makers ... young and old ... are welcome and well received.
"Smart Ass" members don't last long here, so don't worry about that.

Draw up a sketch or make some plans to build a knife and post it on Shop Talk. The folks here will help you refine it and guide you along. As I mentioned earlier, filling out your profile information will be very helpful in this.
 
If you are interested in knives as tools, I'm starting out too. The forum has been very helpful with advice and the search is good. I have 0 interest in knives as weapons, but I do use them and make them for wood and leather work, kitchen use, field food use, crafts, gardening, etc.
 
Good morning, Jim, and welcome. Stacy summed it up pretty well. Also, there's very little politics discussed here. The owners of the site had the foresight to make a special section (Whine and Cheese) for those who want to partake in that type of discussion and any talk that drifts that way is quickly stopped by not only the moderators, but the rest of us who use this forum for what it is, Shop Talk.
I'll second the suggestion to fill out your location. There are many folks who have no qualms (well, maybe some until we have a viable vaccine for the current pandemic) about having new folks over to their shops.
 
I'm fairly new here and to knife making. Most everything I've seen here is very useful and the people here are super understanding and helpful. I don't think that you'll find a better place.
 
I think you'll find this community very helpful. I've only been at this for a few years and the information on and knowledge on this forum is staggering. There is very little ego here and everyone genuinely wants to help out. It's honestly pretty rare to find such a great group of people.
 
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