So-called knife experts...

Kohai999

Kohai999

Second Degree Cutter
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
12,554
What qualities must one possess to be considered a knife expert?

IMO:

1. Knowledge-of a maker, a technique, a style...or all of the above. Knowledge gleaned from the hands-on AND the book larning.

2. Exposure-to makers, other collectors, and the many thoughts and ideas that go along with this exposure....a developed opinion, for lack of a better word.

From Coop:

3. Understanding- of the processes and techniques which make the construction possible. Without this knowlege the knives all appear to have been created equal.

Add some more, let's have some dialogue!

Caveat-I certainly don't consider myself to be "an expert", just a collector with a well rounded base of knowledge.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
An understanding of the processes and techniques which make the construction possible. Without this knowlege the knives all appear to have been created equal. They become simple commodities.

The in-progress threads have been MOST educating in this regard.

Having handled thousands of knives closely, I can surely advise on fit and finish, and design sense.

I do NOT have opportunity to use different knives all that often. That expertise on usage and proper design would be a category I am unqualified to be an 'expert' on. I'm limited in my scope.

Good thread, STeven.

Coop
 
STeven all I know is that I am not one. I think you could also add to your list one that has used a lot of different knives ,steels etc. In different applications and has a good working knowledge of what makes different blades perform better or worse. I think that if you put all these things you mentioned and this together that would be a true expert.
 
STeven you wake up feeling Jonesy?:p
To me an expert is one with encyclopedic knowledge of history techniques materials composition and usage..able to lecture discourse argue debate and educate.
Interesting you brought up hands on I read here sometime ago where it was suggested that collectors should all at one point make a knife from scratch..the practical knowledge gleaned from that exercise cannot be replicated..that always struck me as an intelligent project

I am in no way shape or form close to that..in fact I am of the dreaded buy what you like school..
much more affected by the emotion a piece stirs in me than anything else...
 
RAN said:
STeven you wake up feeling Jonesy?:p

Interesting you brought up hands on I read here sometime ago where it was suggested that collectors should all at one point make a knife from scratch..the practical knowledge gleaned from that exercise cannot be replicated..that always struck me as an intelligent project

I am in no way shape or form close to that..in fact I am of the dreaded buy what you like school..
much more affected by the emotion a piece stirs in me than anything else...
Click to expand...

1. No...I had a lingering burr chapping my ass from a few months ago...thought it would be cool if we could develop consensus as to exactly what an expert might be...obviously this is geared towards a collector definition.

2. The terror that I experienced the first time I stepped up to a grinder was soon replaced with a passion for grinding....you are right about that "intelligent project"!

3. You might not be a knife expert...but are you a yo-yo expert?:p
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_222/theyoyooncedown.html

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Steven,

You may not consider yourself an expert, but let's be honest....you are....The "Simon Crowell" of the knife industry:p
 
Ok More serious now. I don't know if there could be a clear definition of a knife expert. Maybe you can say an expert in one area, like on Loveless knives or Forged blades ect.

You being a martial artist would make it difficult to ever deem yourself an expert. You know what I mean by that.

I can't say I know anyone who is a knife expert across the board.
 
Don,

You got it partly right. Expert Ex a hasbin, Spurt A drip under pressure :D:D. I feel that any "expert" in the knife should continue to learn and seek new knowledge about the craft. I learn something new each day I make knives. This is why I love the craft.
 
A C Richards said:
Don,

You got it partly right. Expert Ex a hasbin, Spurt A drip under pressure :D:D. I feel that any "expert" in the knife should continue to learn and seek new knowledge about the craft. I learn something new each day I make knives. This is why I love the craft.
Click to expand...

Yea, Chuck, I forgot the has-been part. I guess a 'has-been drip under pressure' is just a drip :)
 
The real experts are the passionate students.
It takes an expert to realize that you can't know it all, there is always more to learn.
 
Kohai999 said:
1. No...I had a lingering burr chapping my ass from a few months ago...thought it would be cool if we could develop consensus as to exactly what an expert might be...obviously this is geared towards a collector definition.

2. The terror that I experienced the first time I stepped up to a grinder was soon replaced with a passion for grinding....you are right about that "intelligent project"!

3. You might not be a knife expert...but are you a yo-yo expert?:p
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_222/theyoyooncedown.html

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...

Don't know enough to have much to contribute here about experts, but thanks for the link STeven. You are the man Riad.

Like to be an expert some day or maybe an expert in training. :D :)
 
Bailey Bradshaw said:
Ok More serious now. I don't know if there could be a clear definition of a knife expert. Maybe you can say an expert in one area, like on Loveless knives or Forged blades ect.

You being a martial artist would make it difficult to ever deem yourself an expert. You know what I mean by that.

I can't say I know anyone who is a knife expert across the board.
Click to expand...

Good points, across the board, Bailey.

My thought process in this thread is maybe more clearly, some traits that would allow one to offer QUALIFIED ADVICE to a "less experienced" collector...am not seeking to offer the be-all/end-all.

My sempai just got rokudan.....he is still a grasshopper compared to Sensei...we all know this.....but there may be, what, 5-10 other rokudan in JSA on the entire left coast?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Ebbtide said:
The real experts are the passionate students.
It takes an expert to realize that you can't know it all, there is always more to learn.
Click to expand...

This is a great quote. I didn't feel like I was very knife-knowledgeable until I worked for a knife factory, wrote 50 or so articles, consulted for a few companies, read a few hundred books and spent my first 100K on knives.

And I aint no expert.

The knife industry is too broad to hold too many "knife" experts. In the broadest sense, Ken Warner is an expert, AG Russell is an expert and Bernard Levine is an expert.

They never stop learning.

Narrowing the field down to just handmade knives? Hmmm, I will think about that.
 
I think anyone that can be both student and teacher can become quite knowledgeable in anything they are interested in and if they have passion for it that makes it that much easier to dive in.

But as for what makes an expert and expert? I don't know, maybe all it takes is a big ego for some. For others time, while for others third party perspective or combinations of the others too.

As someone wise once said, know what you know, know what you don't know and more importantly know the differerence. If you have to make up BS and pretend to know something you are nothing more than an expert in BS and not much of one then if its obvious to everyone.

I think even if what you know is based on practical experience it can still be very limited. I mean you may be right but its still limited to just your experiences and your take not taking into account what others know or see, or have experienced so from the perspective of scope it would be someone broad based in scope, with more than a little time in whatever field of study it may be and someone able to see many examples for comparison and contrast and also meet and talk with others that also know much the same.

I think of the dental field as an example since I was familar with it when I worked there for 22 years. Many dentists graduate dental school thinking they now qualify as the expert and perhaps to the lay person and patient they indeed are but to their professors in school and other senior dentists that are their peers and competitors they are still in the early learning stages of development. Different levels of expertise in other words.

I guess its all a matter of how you see it and knowing that in the bigger picture regardless of your expert standing we are all just small insignificant specs in the grand scheme of things. :D

Good topic Steven. :thumbup:

STR
 
Fascinating challenge!
I know a lot about SME and I happen to be one in several domains but NOT Knives, unless.... you define an expert as one that really has an intimate knowledge of knives from the experience of using them successfully for years!
How interesting that your challenge was left so vague. There are expert makers and expert users and they are not necessarily the same persons! So now, do you mean expert designers, makers, users or all of these?
In the kitchen, I expertly use my knives and have done so for 30 years. I'm pretty practiced in the backwoods as well but not an expert there by any means. Thanks to some NATIVE talent in a couple of other domains, I can design them in my sleep as it were. I've never made a single knife so a maker I'm not.
Sadly, but respectfully, I lament that a vast majority of the knives I've seen in person and on forums etc, have a very poor usability quotient. That means they look wonderful an of course, many are art, but many of those that purport to be 'useful' are not.
This is like opening a 'can of worms' for many of you and I apologize if I've offended anyone. Now to muddy the waters a bit more- a connoisseur and aficionado are types of experts also, but they are classes apart from the makers and users too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top