Teachers and influences and thanks

[Dan Gray]

dang I missed this too some how..
when I started , I didn't know of such a thing as custom knife makers.
and that kept me slowed me down right badly. and I just made a few here and there, some years ago now, Jeff Charles came into my shop and bought a chain saw from me, and he showed me a blade he made.. and that was it
the fire was lit again. he forged and did things I haven't seen before and his was the first knife shop I stepped in to though I didn't bug him a lot but I did get pointers from time to time from him, I bought a few books here and there
I think everyone has a David Boye book I have some I can't think of right now.
.. many people I have learned from is right here
newbis to the older guys, we can learn from stranger places and from life it self , it's all been done, you just have to see it in other types of work too. ,
the Knife mags are a great motivator for me. I learn a lot just from looking at the vast amount of makers advertised in the pictures alone. I thank them and you all here in BFC.
up here in Maine the picking are few compared to out west so I guess I did it the hard way, or still doing it the hard way
and that old Fart IG I can't not mention him and Joe Brumroll for some forging help I could take a pound and a half of steel and make it into a 6 once blade like no body could..and have nothing at all left hardly thanks all..
I do want to mention it's not just the help in hands on it's the subport too..
we all get from many places from the loved ones and guys like Mike F
thanks Mike.. I got an e-mail from Don (Peter Nap)
today too (he's alive and doing well ) he even gave me a great boost too today

 

[ddavelarsen]

Michael I couldn't have said it better myself. Without Shop Talk I'd be just another hack working in a vacuum.

Fitz thanks for starting this tread. It's good to remember how many people have helped us along the way. My influences were big ones: Lloyd Hale above all; Buster Warenski, Bob Loveless, Chubby Huesky, Clyde Fischer, the Nolan brothers, and many many more. "Back then" makers were doing something no one had ever brought to the public's eye. Only serious hunters and a very few collectors even knew about handmade knives. But because the work of these great men was so good - not just in looks but in performance above all - the craft began to earn a more general reputation and respect.

A poor hippie I could no more afford to order a custom knife than I could buy a jar of peanut butter. But I dreamed and dreamed. These men kindled a flame in me that has never gone out; it's been brighter some years than others but even in its quietest times the desire was alive and burning. Until one day I found a broken old file and started to grind the sides off it during slow times at work. Eventually I had made my first knife, which earned the moniker "The Mad Slasher Knife" by virtue of liberating great fonts of my own bright blood. But that's another story.

Because of my not-particularly-social personality and because I've always lived in cultural backwaters, I've never had the good fortune to work with another maker. Occasionally I've hacked away with all the wrong tools and come up with the occasional knife that I liked, simply trying to emulate the feeling I got from photos in those old gun magazines and the occasional knife book.

Until, that is, I found Shop Talk.

You guys have given me life. I mean it. Without you all I'd be no one going nowhere; you have given me everything I've been able to cobble together. I admit it's not a lot, but without all the answers to silly questions, honest guidance, knowledge freely shared, and valued and meaningful criticism from people who really care, I would have nothing to talk about. Because you have all been so willing to help, my work has improved tremendously over the last few years (thankfully! ). Sometimes when I look at pictures of the first knives I posted here I shake my head in embarrasement; and I'm certain, because you folks have so much to offer and do it so freely, I will find my current work equally lacking a few years hense. What a great feeling! I know that I can count on you all, every day, to pull me through whatever problem I've gotten myself into, or lead me to whatever little achievement my skills will allow me to attain.

I am deeply grateful to everyone here. You are my teachers.

Thank you,

 

[Dan Gray]

Dave send Money just kidding
still cobbling together my A$$ , your doing OK Buddy but it's thoughts like that, that do keep us bettering ourselves,, don't stop..

Michael I couldn't have said it better myself. Without Shop Talk I'd be just another hack working in a vacuum.

Fitz thanks for starting this tread. It's good to remember how many people have helped us along the way. My influences were big ones: Lloyd Hale above all; Buster Warenski, Bob Loveless, Chubby Huesky, Clyde Fischer, the Nolan brothers, and many many more. "Back then" makers were doing something no one had ever brought to the public's eye. Only serious hunters and a very few collectors even knew about handmade knives. But because the work of these great men was so good - not just in looks but in performance above all - the craft began to earn a more general reputation and respect.

A poor hippie I could no more afford to order a custom knife than I could buy a jar of peanut butter. But I dreamed and dreamed. These men kindled a flame in me that has never gone out; it's been brighter some years than others but even in its quietest times the desire was alive and burning. Until one day I found a broken old file and started to grind the sides off it during slow times at work. Eventually I had made my first knife, which earned the moniker "The Mad Slasher Knife" by virtue of liberating great fonts of my own bright blood. But that's another story.

Because of my not-particularly-social personality and because I've always lived in cultural backwaters, I've never had the good fortune to work with another maker. Occasionally I've hacked away with all the wrong tools and come up with the occasional knife that I liked, simply trying to emulate the feeling I got from photos in those old gun magazines and the occasional knife book.

Until, that is, I found Shop Talk.

You guys have given me life. I mean it. Without you all I'd be no one going nowhere; you have given me everything I've been able to cobble together. I admit it's not a lot, but without all the answers to silly questions, honest guidance, knowledge freely shared, and valued and meaningful criticism from people who really care, I would have nothing to talk about. Because you have all been so willing to help, my work has improved tremendously over the last few years (thankfully! ). Sometimes when I look at pictures of the first knives I posted here I shake my head in embarrasement; and I'm certain, because you folks have so much to offer and do it so freely, I will find my current work equally lacking a few years hense. What a great feeling! I know that I can count on you all, every day, to pull me through whatever problem I've gotten myself into, or lead me to whatever little achievement my skills will allow me to attain.

I am deeply grateful to everyone here. You are my teachers.

Thank you,

 

[rhrocker]

Mike, neat post, gets everyone thinking! Influences? Wow, that covers a lot of ground for me. I've gained (in one way or another) from just about every one on this forum, most good, very, very, good. I've got little files and such that I've made up, where I keep different info, like Heat Treating (which I just added Kevins current post to), tempering, stacked handle techniques (thanks Ron), and so on. To list everyone that's helped me out would take a lot of space. There are other mediums also, including DVD's and books. One of my favorites is Ed Fowlers, especially the part where he pulls up to the grocery store with a decomposing Ram in the back of the truck (the storekeeper had refused at one time to take back a can of bad product, so Ed just wanted to visit and say hi while all the customers gagged and ran for air . I've really liked the DVD's I've bought over the years, with the exception of one. Mike and I probably concur on that one, it was a bad experience all around. Anyway guys, keep it going, all of it, the good and the bad. It's what wakes me up in the morning and puts me to bed at night, all the while I'm learning something new