Thanks for the kind words Dan and Bruce, even the love from my buddy IG! (You know, the one with the Saturday Morning Boyz Club who then suggests I'm the one with gay tendencies!
) This thread is for all of us together, and what we have because of interactive cyberspace. Going online and seeking out knifemaking people has been a great boon in my life, and I hope it has for all of you, too. Mike Hull was the first person to answer my first ever post on a forum. We continue a friendship today as I read his Christmas card. Soon I came to this place and it has been home since.
What a collection of personalities we are! That is what makes this place great. When I started making knives, it was uncommon for me to have even an occasional source of knifemaking info, let alone the frequent fellowship of knifemakers. I had to mostly figure out my own methods beyond what Loveless and Boye and Latham taught in their books. "Sharing" was at the infrequent knifeshow, and newbies were often not told a lot.
Then came this wonderful Internet, and suddenly we are only a few keystrokes away from finding out virtually anything about knifemaking within a day. Post it, and
someone is going to have the info you need. Often enough it comes from someone who rarely if ever posts. We recognize that name next time we see it, and they are "one of us". We create a community of people empowering each other. We create relationships with people we'll perhaps never meet in person, and yet they are important to us. We laugh, and we joke, and we share with each other. We work to find a solution to a knifemaking problem. We care that a newbie gets helped with their questions. We care about whether Ray gets back on his feet after the fire, whether Bruce gets a good buck for his car, whether Bruce E is feeling better. We`want to see what MrPurple's new forge looks like and hope it does everything he intends. We even return to a thread just hoping to find out what the heck they do with lye and fish to make lutefisk!
And then there's my brother in rude-and-crude who makes me feel like I'm back in a biker bar on a Friday night! Thanks, IG!
And we grieve. Yes, Brian, it is good to dedicate our year to the memory of those who have passed. Even grief is better dealt with in a community than alone.
Time magazine was right on about what the Web has done for us. What a wonderful thing to have brought us all together in this little electronic town.
Each and every member here is important, because each one teaches us something about being both a knifemaker and a neighbor.
I really enjoy this experience, and appreciate all that you bring to our little pocket universe. Thanks, everyone! I wish you all a bright and shining 2007!
BIG GAY!!!:jerkit: Sorry I meant Big Guy!!!!
