Nobody supports my hobby...

G

GarageBoy

Joined
May 23, 2003
Messages
5,952
Well, I was practicing on a cheap kitchen knife and my dad is like, what are doing with that? I told him I'm practicing my sharpening skills. Then I cleaned the stone and placed it back into it's oil bath. The next morning he askes me WHY I was practicing sharpening and that I have been doing it often lately. I just gave up and walked away.:( (so happy I wasn't shapening my LST)
 
Your dad probably thinks you are a psycho. You don't listen to death metal and wear a black trench coat do you?
 
Originally posted by GarageBoy
The next morning he askes me WHY I was practicing sharpening...
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Just do a pseudo-Kung Fu flippy move with the knife, slip it through your belt, and say you're just staying prepared. :cool:

:D :D





....Actually no, don't do that. ;)
 
My advice - cool it. If my 16 year old city kid showed a particular enthusiasm with knife sharpening, I'd be a suspicious too.

It's better than practicing your joint-rolling skills, but you need to be sensitive to parents many concerns.
 
I started with knives when I was 5. I didn't really get into it though until Aug 99 though, when I bought my first spydie(age 15), before I had just been carrying a 1.5-2" slip and a 2nd knife if I was doing camping or bushwork(scouts canada, 89-97). Sharpening freehand since the first one. I now drop 150cdn+ per knife.

now, I get a lot of practice when my folks pass around a box and a sheet, and get knives from folks at work to sharpen(just writing down what they are putting in the box). I charge what I feel is right, dependant upon the work for each knife. Great way to have folks take a good view of the hobby.

The folks have seen me sharpening my sword and think nothing of it.
 
Originally posted by RH
My advice - cool it. If my 16 year old city kid showed a particular enthusiasm with knife sharpening, I'd be a suspicious too.

It's better than practicing your joint-rolling skills, but you need to be sensitive to parents many concerns.
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Are you serious? You're here on bladeforums, so I'm assuming your interested in knives, and you're saying you would be worried if your 16 year old expressed the same interest? The next generation of knife knuts is screwed if even knife knut parents are suspicious about their kids interest in knives.

And it definitely sucks that nobody supports this great hobby.
 
What's worse is when me or my dad needed to cut something and my LST was at hand, I would be afraid to pull it out.
 
why not tell him you heard an old story about a dull knife is more of a danger to yourself than a shap one, give him a apple and a dull knife and at the same time show him how it should be done with a sharp knife.:D
asure him your not out to hurt anyone but you feel a knife is like a tool and should be kept in top working condition:)
 
Originally posted by RH
My advice - cool it. If my 16 year old city kid showed a particular enthusiasm with knife sharpening, I'd be a suspicious too.
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When I was younger than that I was the one keeping my mom's kitchen knives sharp. This is beyond PC.:confused:
 
Well, why don't you just take the kitchen knife back into your room? Sometimes out of site out of mind works with people like that.

You are in NY right? See, this wouldn't happen with parents down here in GA. Here, by 15 you better believe your kids know how to clean all your guns, and you can sleep when the thump in the night happens, because your kid will handle it. :D

But in all seriousness, just explain it to your father. Explain the hobby part of it, don't bring in self defense. Just say "tool" and tell him you enjoy reading up on the chemistry behind knife steels, and heat treaments, those types of things...

And btw, I am a father, and I fully expect my child to know the difference between a V-Grind and chisel grind by the time he is 5.

I am asked this topic quite frequently by parents, since i'm a cop, and my position is that you have to let your kids be exposed to these types of things, otherwise the curiosity will harm them.
 
Take the time to talk to him and explain why this interests you and what all you've learned about it. If you seem openly excited and not secretive, he'll worry less.

Started with my first pocketknife when I was five. I don't remember the exchange between my mother and father, but they've related it to me:

Mom: "But he'll cut himself!"
Dad: "I know. And if we wait until he's twenty, he'll cut himself then, too."

Sure enough, five minutes later, my thumb was bleeding--AND I understood very clearly that it wasn't a toy. Guns came later. I think I was ten or eleven.

Still alive, kickin', all fingers and toes, never attacked anybody or joined a gang, and damned glad my parents weren't PC! :D


As far as "I'd be suspicious if MY son..." goes--if my Dad ever thought I was doing something I shouldn't, he wouldn't have been suspicious, he would have found out if there was anything actually wrong, and stopped it if there was. I always laugh when people say they can't control their teenagers. I did martial arts and lifted weights all the time. I was strong and fast and tough--and I never doubted for two seconds that my parents were in charge, or my Dad's ability to clean my clock on his worst day. Come to think of it, I'm still not sure the second one has changed!
 
Originally posted by ReconTech
But in all seriousness, just explain it to your father. Explain the hobby part of it... Just say "tool" and tell him you enjoy reading up on the chemistry behind knife steels, and heat treaments, those types of things...
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Agree. And you can also show your dad about this forum, we are all nice people here, right?:) like ReconTech said, explain your hobby.


Originally posted by ReconTech

...don't bring in self defense.
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I have a sense that maybe you are still at a very young age, I guess we would all agree that deep in our hearts, when we were teenagers, we all thought that it's kind of cool to get yourself "armed" in some sort. (well I know as guys we still feel the same too.:)) but then again, what I wanna say is that sometimes it does take maturity for people to "qualify" for the ownership and handling of arms and weapons. Not to mention that sometimes, owning and carrying one of these things would cause yourself/others some serious injury - not because the owner is incapable of handling it, but because of the other people,(for example, your peer, if they are not mature enough) who know that u have something "cool" with you. The bottomline is, every right comes with responsibility. So think about that too.

Just my $0.02. And keep in mind that the knowledge of things about knives, or I should say most kinds of new hobbies/knowledges are something good for us to pursue, if we can handle it. So like others have said, the best thing to do, is to show and proof to others (like your parents) that u can pursue your hobby safely and responsibly (which is something that we are doing everyday for almost everything in life, to prove to others that we are capable and they can count on us for certain things - talking about creditbility and reputation). So, welcome to the club, and be safe. :)
 
Dad's generally think their kids are wierd anyway. It's their job. Hell, when I was your age I wore desert boots, buckskin shirts, peacoats and bell bottoms. Sometimes all at once. Plus plus parted my hair in the middle. No wonder my dad thought I was wierd. My kid came home one day with an appendage stuck through his eyebrow, on purpose! Swore up and down he wasn't on drugs. I wonder. It's my job.
 
Thanks! Another thing is he brought me into this hobby, showing me a knife made from a steel mill saw blade and giving me a Japanese Knife magazine.
 
Start sharpening the kitchen knives, if your Mom or Dad cooks a lot. Show them the value of a good sharp blade. I got into this hobby when I was about 8 or 9 too, and asked for a Tri Hone sharpener for Christmas when I was 10. I got pretty good after a year or so, and then everybody and their brother wanted me to sharpen their kitchen and hunting knives. My mother, my aunt, friends of my parents, my grandfather, my uncle, my Dad's coworkers, all of them learned to appreciate that sharpening is a very valuable skill, not a precursor to a killing spree. Movies and popular literature go a long way towards demonizing knife knuts, so we need to go out of our way not to make references to them as weapons. I don't even make jokes about how one of my khukuris could behead someone, it leaves the wrong impression, and in reality that's the very last use I would ever put it towards. Instead I use it to keep the brambles down on our ATV trail. It goes a long way towards making people more accepting of our hobby.
 
Do as Roadrunner suggests. Sharpen your family kitchen knives. Do this on regular basis. And if someone would ask again -- just tell him/her that GOOD handsharpening takes practice.
 
Tell your Dad that some people are making a lot of money making knives for a living and that you think maybe you would like to try it, maybe not as a profession but at least as a hobby. Tell him that you need to understand knife design, sharpening techniques, etc. By the way, be glad that your Dad actually cares about what goes on in your life. A lot of Dads could care less about their sons. And if your Popz believes you... make sure that you approach knife handling as a responsible adult.
 
Don't feel weird. It's a tool, keep all knives sharp, they'll eventually pick up on the fact a sharp knife is safer. If your dad needs something to cut, as long as it's legal (the knife) open it and give it to him. Don't hide the fact you carry a knife as a tool, otherwise whats the point of carrying it?
 
Take up carving/whittling, when he asks next time you'll have a reason to sharpening your "tools",

Won't seem so unusal than, you'll have a hobby to support your knife sharpening practice, and he won't assume your just crazy.
 
I Am, 17 I Make Knives for myself Family and Friends When I told my dad about Me needing more equipment He Helped me build A Venturi Forge (It Still Doesnt Work Right Lol I know What needs to be fixed But He built it and is a Ticketed Gas fitter)

But My Dad isnt the Weapon's type He owns no guns and I dont think he ever has He doesnt own Any good knives and he doesnt Want any ,Yet He says nothing ill of my hobbies he and I Different people and he understands that But in many other ways we are simular He isnt Anything close to the perfect father and I aint exactly the Perfect son but it works

Bryce
 
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