Retired or a Paradign Shift?

[Will Leavitt]

I can't decide if I'm retired from knifemaking or perhaps in the midst of a paradign shift..... I still draw blades up but using the the design perspective of no power except for my forge blower, I guess a "quasi-neo-tribal" approach not quite as wild as Tai Goo's designs but more "blade focused." The designs are centered around refined forging to shape and the use of files, a sen and papers for shaping. I may cheat and use my drill press until I can find a hand powered press at a resonable price.

What are the opinions of the educated peanut gallery?

 

[Lorien]

why do you need to decide? Sounds cheezy, but follow your heart I say!

There is no such thing as retirement, unless you're talking death

There are such things as boredom and passion, and as long as you are partaking in one, you can be sure the other is no longer part of the equation.

 

[bluejaunte]

The designs are centered around refined forging to shape and the use of files, a sen and papers for shaping. I may cheat and use my drill press until I can find a hand powered press at a resonable price.

I'm nobody, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I love the "low-tech" approach. A lot more happy accidents occur that way. :thumbup: Of course, it also takes a lot longer to get back to where you want to be when unhappy accidents occur, but IMHO that helps the learning process.

 

[DirtyBrad]

I'm on my first knife and decided to go the electric-free way myself. Seems like the best way to learn and to get a real feel for what you're doing.

I can see where it would be natural to return to that after you've got a lot of experience under your belt.

Hand drill press? I like it. I just realized the other day I'd need a hand drill for this and haven't been able to find one locally.

 

[Will Leavitt]

Brad, I started out making blades with not much in the way of tools, just accumulated a lot of stuff along the way. I recently sold off most of my tools due to some medical issues but thinking about returning to making in a "traditional" sense. I have a drill press and other tools still but I'm thinking about buying a hand cranked drill press to stay within the hand powered tooling genre.