The value of mentoring and its rewards.

[Fred.Rowe]

A student of mine, Burton Harruff, won big at his first knife show, held this weekend, at Cambridge, Ohio. He took best new maker award, along with the award for the best hand forged knife.
I thought they were well deserved. Burton was an excellent student, for the two years he worked at my forge. He applied what he learned at the shop and also learned a lot on his own with an occasional phone call if he was in doubt.
His background in graphic design really shows in his work.

Here are the two knives that were judged:

Mentoring takes a lot of time and effort, to do well, but I think its value can not be overstressed, when the future of quality hand made knives depends on it, you can only agree, it is time well spent.:thumbup:



Well done and well deserved, Fred

 

[Kevin Cross]

Obviously the work of a willing student, natural talent, hard work and a gifted teacher. Congrats to you both.

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

I got to hold them and fondle them both.
Not only is burton a heck of a knife maker, but a heck of a nice guy as well.
Congrats from Andersen Forge!

 

[Jos]

Wow. Those are two beautiful knives. Congratulations to both maker and mentor!

Kind regards,

Jos

 

[Peregrin]

Congratulations to mentor and maker! Nice looking knives.

 

[Steve Nuckels]

Great looking knives! Congrats to teacher and student!

Steve
----------------
ABS Apprentice
Potomac Forge

 

[Lorien]

mentoring is so important in everything, not just knives:thumbup:
I'm glad you brought it up Mr. Rowe

 

[Kevin Jones]

It must be almost as gratifying for teacher as student in cases such as this where a newer knifemaker takes his craft so serious and progresses so fast.

I got a chance to examined Burton's knives very closely and was quite impressed. It was obvious from his attention to detail, overall execution and high degree of fit and finish that someone had really driven home the importance of mastering the fundamentals.

Keep up the good work Burton. :thumbup:

 

[xaman]

Those are beautiful knives, congratulations to both of you!

 

[Burton Harruff]

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words. Thanks Karl it was nice to visit with you for a while again. Your knives are always nice to handle. Kevin thanks much to you also it was very nice and informative to visit with you also. Thanks for the feedback and pointers. Also thanks for the info on the CKCA. Fred, thanks for everything and thanks for starting up this thread. Fred has become a great friend who I also call a lot just to visit with.