Not many knives in the last year, but soon!

[SteelSlaver]

Since last August I have only made a couple knives for a few friends. Mainly because last summer I sold the house in Washington and in late August had the covered over added onto piece of crap trailer on my place in Montana ripped out and hauled to the dump. Since then I have put in my foundation, framed, roofed, sided, wired, plumbed, insulated, sheetrocked, mudded, floored and painted my new house. Did everything myself except install the furnace and built the cabinets. Had a little family help now and again. Now have most of the trim in, some cabinets set and the throne in place. Finish mounting the cabinets, kitchen and bathroom sink and move in. Just 1150 sq ft, but just me and the sweety. Then going to add on another 900sq ft to the shop. Just going to pour a floating slab and stick up 3 12' walls up against one end of the existing shop, truss it, roof it, use T111 for siding as per old shop and then wire and insulate and use OCB for the inside walls. That won't take that long. THEN, I'll be ready to start collecting my social security and MAKING KNIVES again. Got a big pile of steel, scales, and tools already. Going to be a retired gentleman knifemaker. Well, knifemaker maybe. Jim

 

[Marko3]

Thats some cool stuff right there.. Are you in a rural area. Not knowing Montana . When it's my time to retire I would like to do the same thing. But for sure I don't want to be a genteman ! Good luck !

Mark

 

[quint]

Sounds great, thats alot of work but very rewarding when its done. I am in the middle of trying to fix up my house so I can hopefully eventually sell it. Helped my dad when I was pretty young build our house from the dirt up. That is one undertaking. Only thing I remember having to get real help with was lifting the walls, a buddies crane for the 6x12 beams and a little digging out the foundation. The foundation had about a half of it that was full of rocks ranging from football size to lazy boy chair size. That was an adventure to say the least. Ofcourse it only took about 15 or so years to totally finish it.

 

[Burl Source]

Sounds to me like you need to get back to work making knives so you can get some rest.
Congratulations on doing so much of the new place yourself.
I would bet it is fun to step back and look at the place and say to yourself "that really turned out good".

 

[SteelSlaver]

Yes it has been a lot of work, plus I have gone off and worked a few jobs out of state since I started the house. Very satisfying to know I did it and got what I want. Spend around 65K including hardwood floors, lots of oak cabinets and a high efficiency furnace/ air conditioner, all new appliances and back deck. I live right outside of a casual little town of about 6000 that is over 100 miles to any place larger. The nearest trout steam is less than 1/4 mile away and it meanders through and under parts of town. I get deer, pheasants and grouse, etc in the yard all the time. They are pretty used to me and don't run off when they see me. My shop looks like a tornado hit it though. Tools in and out, stuff stored. Will need to spend a week cleaning and reorganizing before I can go to work in it.