The first knife.

P.K.Hansen

P.K.Hansen

Joined
Aug 8, 1999
Messages
402
What got you to make your first knife ?
did you need a good knife for hunting/fishing and decided to do it yourself, or was it something totally different ?
I myself had a blade that needed a handle - that was about 40 knifes ago, and I'm still
trying to make that perfect huntingknife for myself, but somehow there is always one or two things about it that gets my to make the next one - the perfect one I hope.
 
Well, there was this handy-man type at my work place making small paring knives and some bowie types knives.I made a suggestion to improve the function of his blades but i was brushed off so i had to prove myself and made my first knife,a 5"tactical fixed blade with oak wood scales & brass spacers between the tang & oak. Only wanted to teach handy-man a little lesson about being so negative to others. DK

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Pretty nice,huh?
 
For me it was me getting tired of paying too much money for low-end factory knives. Thats what got me started 4 years ago

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KSwinamer

[This message has been edited by Kisu (edited 27 August 1999).]
 
I saw a knife a man had made and when I asked him why he did something the way he did, he didn't answer, just told me if I knew so damn much go make one better. So I did, or thought I did, which he later said was better. Actually both his and mine looked pretty bad and we used to laugh about them. He gave me the one he made and I gave him mine. He used to come by the shop pretty regular and always had that knife of mine with him. He said he traded knives with some really ugly guy with no talent and only traded to make the guy (me) feel better. He passed away about 6 months ago. He was retired military, same as me, and he was an ex-POW. Sure do miss 'Ole George.
 
i wasn't aloud to buy them, but my parents approved of me making them. i figured why not becuase my dad is a sheet metal worker i won't have to buy many tools. i'm now on my 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th knife. and i'm gonna start 2 more. it's becuase i haven't gotten the forge hooked up for heat treating, and i can't find a heat treater near me. does anyone do heat treating in nj. or penn. N.Y. or de.? otherwize it would take me three weeks to get my knife back.
 
What got me started in hobby knifemaking was good quality knives made with high quality steel were beyond my reach, and my Mrs. do-it-yourself Wife suggested that I make my own knives because "who knows better than you what you really want?" Well, who could argue with that?! I gathered all the info (books, articles, etc..) I could on knifemaking, gathered up some equipment and had at it. I had to teach myself how to operate most of the equipment as I had no real experience with power tools and with practice, practice and more practice I am now able to make a fairly decent knife. By NO MEANS a perfect knife, but a good, tough, working type knife. "Aesthetically Challenged" would be the PC term for my knives' look, but good looking knives come with more practice. It's a growing experience thing don't ya'know? Knifemaking is like eating Pringles, once ya pop, ya can't stop! I really enjoy this hobby!

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If it's stupid but works, then it isn't stupid.


 
I have found that you will never make the perfect hunting knife.
You will make a knife & think, well, this is it. This is the one, it's perfect. Then after a little while you'll want to change the smallest thing that will turn into a bigger thing. Maybe it would be a little better with a different handle material, or a little added or taken away from this area, & so on & so on.........The thing is that the perfect
knife is in the eyes of the beholder. That is so true.

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The size of a mans house does not reflect his wealth, but rather, his greed...BCK...Happy Knifemaking...
http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/cut/index.html
 
Plus,
I think it was Ed Fowler who said, "If you make the perfect knife, then you will be the first!"
Truer words were never spoken.

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If it's stupid but works, then it isn't stupid.


 
The fine lines. The pride in accomplishment. The glimmer of a fine polished knife , what else could be more rewarding than knowing you could create such magnificent beauty and art.
 
Well, I'd been in the SCA for about a year, when a friend of mine took me out to his home-grown forge. I heated up an old file, and beat on it for a while, until it was kind of pointed. Suddenly, as I beat that steel, it was like something woke up inside of me...I've never been so perfectly focused. When I work on a piece, whether it's grinding on one, or wrestling it out of the fire, I find my perfect center. I'm at peace (which seems very strange to me, considering the end product I'm working toward), and nothing else exists. It can be one hundred degrees, with sweat rolling down in my eyes, but I don't feel it. It's as if I'm not even there. Pure existence...

*Whew* Sorry...got a little carried away there, but you get the point. Knifemaking is probably the closest I get to Zen.


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It's the SUSPENSE that kills me! --Bugs Bunny
 
I had just joined the SCA, and I first met Jim Hrisoulas, Atar in the SCA. I couldn't take my eyes off of the blades that he had made. He had some pattern-welded pieces that you could fall into, the patterns were so intricate and beautiful. I pestered him with questions for the next couple of years until I finally broke down and bought his books. With what I've learned from him and the late Bob Engnath, I've been able to make a few usable blades. It was just something that I saw and just had to DO. I still want to be the guy on the other end of the table saying "Isn't that cool? Here's how I made it."
Oz
 
I bought a $3.00 kit at a store that was going out of business. I had so much fun with that. I file worked the tang and changed the handle some. Then I went to Wal-Mart and got a $30.00 bench grinder and made my first knife. I sold that knife for $75.00. Then, I met Jim Batson.....down hill ever since. All I can say is it's so much fun. I learn so much from each knife that I don't think I can stop. I dont think I could stop even if I never sell another knife. That is my goal, each knife better than the last. I made a forge at the prodding of Jim and my son has the first knife I forged. Now there is a new forge, three grinders, buffer, and a shop full of hand tool's. I could sit and talk knives all day, so I am going to stop now.
 
I only got bitten by the knife bug about five years ago, while at Hampshire College (very small, liberal school in Western Mass.) As a student, I couldn't afford nice custom knives, so I moved some tools into my dorm room and started modifying Benchmades. As I got better at it, I thought maybe I could sell some work in order to afford more knives. I did this for a while as well as a few re-handling jobs on various knives. When I took leave from school, I opened up a little shop and started doing my own knives.

View


The first (bottom) was a collaboration design with two sheath-maker friends who were to provide a Kydex rig (which never materialized). Too many cooks spoil the stew, IMO, and this knife has far too complex a grip and just doesn't work well overall.

The second (top) was more to my tastes. The complex grind and my lack of skill forced me to do a convex grind. The hole and groove are also for a sheath that never happened. Having a lot more handle experience than blade experience (something that still plagues me), I put filework akll around the tang.

Anyhow, I operated my shop for about 15 months before returning to a (new) school and am only just returning to it. My goal of "making knives to sell and buy other knives" is still unrealized - I figure about four times as much money has gone into the shop as has come out. No regrets, though.

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-Drew Gleason
Little Bear Knives
 
Magnum....

I'm just completing the setup of my little knifemaking shop in my home. I have a Paragon 14D furnace that I'm just learing to use. If you want to contact me via email Zenreich@MSN.com, perhaps if you're local to me in NJ we could work something out (let you do the heat treating, for example).

It's just a thought.

Oh, if there are any other knifemakers in the northern NJ area who would like to be supportive of yours truly as a novice... all help is welcome and appreciated.

Now... I have to get back to the shop and put another coat of paint on the floor <vbg>
 
I ordered a kit from Jantz, and was so appalled at the quality (ricasso ground at different angles, flat grind lines ending at different places) that I looked up a local maker to ask if he would consider making me some unfinished blades. To my great shock, he said that he wouldn't even consider it, but that if I wanted to come over, he would show me how to grind my own on his equipment, with his supplies and HT in his oven and cryo equipment. After seeing my kit knife, he kindly offered to show me how to finish out a blade too
smile.gif
What a deal!

 
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