Dear beginner, please turn back. Save yourself. You don't know what this pursuit can do to you! Go build a cedar-strip canoe, instead. It CAN ACTUALLY BE DONE, it will be a beautiful heirloom, and you will actually be able to use it. Hell, you might even be able to sell it!
You see, kindred spirit, I was once like you: bright, eager and optimistic and proud. Yet, I willfully violated the immutable laws of knife-making and look what has happened to me: I haven't cut my hair in months. My once proud posture is gone, and I walk with my head down, and shoulders stooped. I've cut, ground, smashed and burned every one of my fingers, and consider it a minor miracle that I still have the ten I started with. I have no interest in talking to anyone about anything other than metallurgy and machine tools. My eyes are squinty and bloodshot, and I am constantly covered with grime. I curse constantly, and mutter to myself continually. I have the temperment of an injured rattlesnake and this morning, I nearly killed a man who said to me, "Yeah, it's a good knife, but I won't buy anything that isn't stainless."
If you are foolish enough to disregard my warning, then take a solemn vow to learn these hard-won lessons from me. I will look forward to your comments. I can get on the internet once a day when they let me out of my little rubber room after I've had my meds, and stop screaming obscenities.
Here is what I have learned, and may God save you:
1. Buy absolutely nothing before a high quality drill press. You cannot drill a square (straight) hole without one no matter how intelligent and capable you think you are. Trust me.
2. Buying a cheap belt grinder is a fool's gambit. When calculating the cost of your first grinder use this equation: The cost of a new high-quality belt grinder < the cost of a cheap piece of sh*t + the cost of the new high-quality you will eventually have to buy to replace that piece of sh*t which is utterly useless for grinding steel. In other words, IF IT SAYS CRAFTSMAN ON IT, AND IT PLUGS INTO THE WALL, DON'T BUY IT!
3. Tactical folders, (i.e. those with locking-liners and the like) are far more difficult to make than they first appear to be.
4. Playing hooky from your real job "Just this once!" to finish a knife is very unwise.
5. ALWAYS wear eye-protection and the best mask/breathing apparatus available.
6. Breathing the dust created from EVEN HAND-SANDING G-10 can hurt you badly.
7. This Kydex crap was invented in Satan's very own workshop and released onto the earth to drive intelligent men insane.
8. Knifemaking supply houses be damned: Pivot pins are actually called "circuit board stand-offs," and they only cost one dollar.
9. Most customers don't give a damn about anything but stainless steel blades, but beating the SNOT out of them is a felony in all fifty states.
There are more rules, but I must go now. It is again time for my meds, and then counseling, and later that finger-painting class I have been looking forward to!
[This message has been edited by samwereb (edited 08-11-2000).]
You see, kindred spirit, I was once like you: bright, eager and optimistic and proud. Yet, I willfully violated the immutable laws of knife-making and look what has happened to me: I haven't cut my hair in months. My once proud posture is gone, and I walk with my head down, and shoulders stooped. I've cut, ground, smashed and burned every one of my fingers, and consider it a minor miracle that I still have the ten I started with. I have no interest in talking to anyone about anything other than metallurgy and machine tools. My eyes are squinty and bloodshot, and I am constantly covered with grime. I curse constantly, and mutter to myself continually. I have the temperment of an injured rattlesnake and this morning, I nearly killed a man who said to me, "Yeah, it's a good knife, but I won't buy anything that isn't stainless."
If you are foolish enough to disregard my warning, then take a solemn vow to learn these hard-won lessons from me. I will look forward to your comments. I can get on the internet once a day when they let me out of my little rubber room after I've had my meds, and stop screaming obscenities.
Here is what I have learned, and may God save you:
1. Buy absolutely nothing before a high quality drill press. You cannot drill a square (straight) hole without one no matter how intelligent and capable you think you are. Trust me.
2. Buying a cheap belt grinder is a fool's gambit. When calculating the cost of your first grinder use this equation: The cost of a new high-quality belt grinder < the cost of a cheap piece of sh*t + the cost of the new high-quality you will eventually have to buy to replace that piece of sh*t which is utterly useless for grinding steel. In other words, IF IT SAYS CRAFTSMAN ON IT, AND IT PLUGS INTO THE WALL, DON'T BUY IT!
3. Tactical folders, (i.e. those with locking-liners and the like) are far more difficult to make than they first appear to be.
4. Playing hooky from your real job "Just this once!" to finish a knife is very unwise.
5. ALWAYS wear eye-protection and the best mask/breathing apparatus available.
6. Breathing the dust created from EVEN HAND-SANDING G-10 can hurt you badly.
7. This Kydex crap was invented in Satan's very own workshop and released onto the earth to drive intelligent men insane.
8. Knifemaking supply houses be damned: Pivot pins are actually called "circuit board stand-offs," and they only cost one dollar.
9. Most customers don't give a damn about anything but stainless steel blades, but beating the SNOT out of them is a felony in all fifty states.
There are more rules, but I must go now. It is again time for my meds, and then counseling, and later that finger-painting class I have been looking forward to!
[This message has been edited by samwereb (edited 08-11-2000).]
