OT:Did I ever tell you about the time...

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shane justice

Joined
May 12, 2003
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Mr. Moderator, I can't post in Around the Grinder...so I post here...becuase these guys...they have been my peers...in a way it is the Best Kind of Shop Talk...I won't make a habit of posting this kind of stuff...if you would indulge me this once...I'd appreciate it.

Well fellas,
I went out to the shop today to kind of look things over. I need to make this knife for Spectre...things have been sitting for awhile...

The decision to stop making knives wasn't an easy one. When I told Wendy she was pretty upset. She asked me not to sell anything for a year in case I changed my mind...so I promised her...because she deserves it and she was there through a better part of my knife making.

As I watched my little daughter draw on my anvil with sidewalk chalk...I was caught...remembering...like we all do some times...

I was remebering my first knife...

We lived in an old brick house, on what had been a dairy farm, on Beaver Creek, in Wyoming. It was as drafty a building as God ever helped to build
The land lord was good enough to put in what for those days was a modern heating system, a stoker coal furnace. For those who have never seen one, it has a hopper, with an auger in the bottom that automatically feeds the hearth with oiled pea coal...one of my jobs was to keep it full of coal and empty of ashes...and with a stout steel bar...fish out any clinkers...

I used to leave that bar in the fire...just to watch it get hot...I guess that is where I started to love the color of heated steel...One day I got a wild hair and pilfered my step dad's 40 once framing hammer and a chunk of railroad track, and snuck them into the basement...I spent my time pinging on the steel...chasing the track around the basement floor...Mom was not impressed...I tried to show her how the steel was sort of flat...and it had these cool cross hatchings from the hammer face! I think what bothered her the most is that I would jack up the thermostat to get the steel really hot!

That Spring I was exiled from the basement to the sidewalk. My step-dad helped me figure out a simple forge. (A wheel well and a ladies hairdryer motor) So I had my first forge. I pounded a lot of metal...who knows if it was steel or not..I didn't care. It just seemd like the right thing to do...like it was what I was supposed to do. After a lot of failed attempts including my first try at HT (Placing a red hot piece of spring steel into some ice A LA Conan the Barbarian) I did pound out a knife and a tomahawk...although I had to have somebody weld the eye on the hawk for me.

That was 25 years ago...

I know nobody wants to hear this stupid story...but it was a story that wanted to be told...becuase there are a lot of guys out there without much more than I started with trying there guts out to make knives. They deserve some respect...and some acclaim...Even though nobody will ever write a magazine article about them or talk them up in the right circles...they do it because they love it. Not because they will ever be famous...or because they will ever make a dollar...but becuase it just feels like what they are supposed to do...

I hope they always love it the way I did...and I hope they make it farther...

My little daughter has drawn all over my power hammer...I spose some Dad's would have shooed her away...not me...she is welcome in the shop..to look at Dad's tool on the wall...maybe when she's old enough she'll want to watch the steel get hot like I did...

Shane

P.S. Today my wife and I mark our 7th Wedding Anniversary...we have been together for 11 years now...She has been with me through it all. For all the late nights and times when I spent our money on grinding belts, Wendy deserves all my love and respect. She is the reason I had this time in the sun to play...and chase my dream. But she deserves her own story...in a better forum than this one...where all the wives and girlfriends, of this scruffy bunch get to post.

I love you Wendy. I know you will read this post...I added this part after you went to bed...now all the guys know too. Thanks for 7 beautiful years...one gorgeous daughter...and another baby on the way. Thanks for letting me be a kid for so long.
 
Shane,

That's one GREAT story!
Sounds like God has truly blessed you with a wonderful, loving wife and family.
Truly one of God's greatest gifts to a man.

Congratulations on your aniversary. May God grant you many more loving years together!

Mike
 
Nice story. Looks like you are one of us lucky ones who found a woman that loves us dearly. One wise beyond her years. Giving and unselfish. Treat her well. She sounds like she will keep you young for the rest of your life no matter how old you get. I got one like her too and she keeps me going. Share with family and friends. Money is nice but they keep you alive. Happiness happens while you share life with them, no matter how hectic or hard it gets. Keep that inner child alive. It sounds like it keeps her alive too. Best of luck to you and yours.

Larry

P.S. Keep pounding that steel whether you sell them or not. It's in your blood.
 
shane justice said:
...or because they will ever make a dollar...
Click to expand...

I once made 2 dollars, but I'm pretty sure it was a fluke... :rolleyes:

I think the story is a great one, thanks for sharing

Tony
 
Great story Shane. You talked about knives, so I don't think it's off topic :)

If I was a scoundrel, I'd say, "Hey, since you're not using that power hammer..." Well, I guess I just did say it ;) ;)

Just teasin Shane.

I really did enjoy your story :D
-Nick-
 
Great story Shane and congratulations on your 11 years together.

My wife and I have been together for 30 years and she's been my biggest encouragement and supporter in this knifemaking dream of mine, when things hadn't always gone the ways I had hoped and I was willing to give in and give up, she backed, persuaded and insisted that I keep going, she knew and knows this is a deep hearted dream come true for me. I think most times she knows me better then I do. We are some mighty lucky people to have life long companions that care so much. I didn't mean to hijack your story, it just hits close to home with this old metal pounder.

"I know nobody wants to hear this stupid story...but it was a story that wanted to be told...becuase there are a lot of guys out there without much more than I started with trying there guts out to make knives. They deserve some respect...and some acclaim...Even though nobody will ever write a magazine article about them or talk them up in the right circles...they do it because they love it. Not because they will ever be famous...or because they will ever make a dollar...but becuase it just feels like what they are supposed to do..."

Very well said.

Thanks for sharing.

Bill
 
Yep, late at night when your wife is trying to keep dinner warm and you still in the shop cuz you ruined a blade on the grinder (not that I ever did that) and your wife says that it has character and she likes it so put a handle on it...you know things could be a lot worse.
 
Shane
you and your story belong right here...

my wife and I have been together for 28 years and we had a rough time
a few years ago now,,
spanning about 2 years, that was the time of life change for her I believe it was :( but I hung in there and glad I did,, I lost two years because I was so distraught but tried to keep it to myself. I knew she wasn't her self

you have to go through it to know just what I mean but we're back on track now,,with some bad memories but I'll get over it some day I hope..

sorry to for the hi-jack but remember why you're with her in the first place
if/ when this happens .. I know now why a lot of years of marriages go down the tubes, when the change of life hits our loves and coupled with the empty nest syndrome,, it's not fun..and they truly do not know what they do in those times, and at the very least they don't know why,, while it's happening....I think I'll stop now..it's not much about knives other than with out that push from them, it can be a hard time anway..
 
Guys,
I don't consider your words and ideas hijacking. Your lives are important..and what all of us face each day is just as important as what kind of tools we are using..or what our next project is...it is all part of a relevant topic...life.

All of us know what our ladies go through...they rarely get honored for their dedication to us...or their contribution to our well being...but they stick...and for that we are blessed. Not that we deserve it or anything.

You guys are all class acts...

Shane
 
Shane, that was very touching, and well received. You folks certainly have the makings for the long run, for sure. I think you will be wise to take a break from making. A few months from now you will want to be back in there pounding and making sparks fly, trust me. Every maker here has had the ins and outs of knife making and still strive to put a good knife in someone else's hands.
 
Great story -- thanks for sharing those very heart-felt words with us,
 
Shane, as I wipe a tear from my scruffy cheek and let the lump in my throat settle back down, I have to give you kudos for a story that reminds me of how happy I am, and how when you have the support of a family that allows you to chase your dreams you have it all.

My old man used to say. "Time is the space between bein' born and dyin', life is what happens in that gap, what we make of that is our own choice and if we choose wisely then it's all good"

You've chosen wisely as seen by your love of your life and family, never give up on your dreams and enjoy the time you have with your family, because as we've witnessed too many times on BFC all those things are fleeting and can be taken away all to easily leaving holes in our lives that may be impossible to fill.

Kiss your daughter and wife tell 'em how much you love 'em and spend an afternoon together just bein' a family 'cause brother you got it all.
 
Guys,

Wendy read this post yesterday when I was in the shop...welding a billet to a handle in prep for forging. She was teary eyed as much from what you guys wrote as what I did.

Any of us who are lucky enough to have a woman stand beside us...should just cowboy up and get on with it.

Whatever job finds me next...I will try to keep my head down and take care of my gals...

Did I ever tell you? When we told Emi about Mommy having a baby in her tummy...she got real serious...she looked at Wendy's tummy and her face got kind of a pinched look...we told her she was going to have either a sister or a brother...she kind of smiled...so iasked her..."Emi...what should we call the baby?" and she perks up and says.."Brother/Sister!"

So we call the baby Brother/Sister and Emi get's to talk to Brother/Sister every day...

My job is to take care of Wendy, and Little Emi, and Brother/Sister...

Everything else...making knives...talking with you guys...mowing the lawn...smoking a big cigar...is just gravy!

Thanks again for everybody's good wishes..and for tolerating my rants..and my bullsh*t...and my sentimental crap.

Shane
 
Hi Wendy :D I know your looking now ;)

keep that mans nose to the grind stone,,and the hair burnt from his arms.. :D
it will keep him out of trouble..and out of your hair.. :D

if or when you two ever drift a little and wonder,, remember what it was all about...

I only say this because it's a fact of later life for many..



it takes two to make it, but only one to brake it..trust in love, it may be the only thing you'll have at times.. :)
 
Thanks Shane, for sharing that. You are right. WE have wonderful families that let us indulge in a fantasy. I am new to knifemaking, and sometimes my wife doesn't understand why I want to be in the shop as hot as it is in the South. She does understand the passion and doesn't give me too much grief, unless I forget to take out the trash... :o
 
Guys,

Just for the h*ll of it..I threw in some pics...

Wendy and me...after a long day...our first sword...started as an 18 inch JD load shaft...this was years ago...

ANd the second one is Wendy's Big Fish...I taught her how to fish when we first got together...and now she consistently outfishes me! Honestly, I get more of a kick watching her catch 'em than when I do...Northern Pike, in the Missouri River...Pierre SD...

Shane
 
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