Then we found that US steel once had a patten on multiple quench the opposition to my thoughts got pretty thin.
I tried to find that patten. Can you provide the patten office number?
One thought that has guided me came to me from the Kennedy administration -"Behold the turtle, he will make no progress unless he has the courage to stick his neck out."
This I have done and will continue to do. Maybe I will receive praise, most of the time criticism, but for me it is worth it. For without discussion and the courage to explore where others fear to go we as the knife community will stagnate and those who use out knives will never know what could have been.
This passage had a lot of meaning for me and is one of the reasons I decided to post in this thread again. I have received
many criticizing emails(and a few threats) in questioning your methods, Ed. You, yourself follow the above philosophy and graciously answer repetative questioning but many of your collegues do not. They attack me, citing the years you have dedicated to making a better knife and how insignificant and disrespectful I am.
I have never questioned your dedication. Infact, on more than one occassion have publicly confirmed my respect for your cause AND the outstanding performance of your knives. I only ever criticize your presentaion of FACT where I have not seen supportive proof. A quick example... You once told the story of a knife that hung on your wall for over a decade before spontaniously breaking in two. You later deduced that it was because of the way it was ground. I asked how you came to that resolve and your answer was that you examined it thoroughly and it was the only logical conclusion. I don't consider that a convincing answer but it was all I got, that day. On another occasion, I asked for you to provide the data on your freezer treatments and you told me things that sounded convincing but without the requested labwork could only be considered assertions. I admit, that the raw data would probably look like jiberish to me but I have friends who know what they are looking at and can interpret it. I also hear you when you say that the lab folks need to get paid for their work, too, so I look forward to the publication that you tell me is in the works and would happily pay to read it but what do I do until then? I feel like we are playing poker and you have announced a "royal flush" while only laying down 4 of the 5 cards in your hand. Most would see the potential strength in that hand as presented but for the win, I still need to see that last card.
The plain truth is that I feel extremely uncomfortable questioning a man with your reputation. I don't have the metallurgical background, the years of bladesmithing or the earned respect that you do. I could be damaging what little rep I do have... which would be unfortunate. I feel aweful for implying any sort of disrespect toward an elder who has thus far been very polite to me. Perhaps, I am totally in the wrong. I imagine people think I carry on with the intention to make a name for myself by attacking a giant. I don't see myself as that type of person and dread the thought of folks thinking that of me. I have friends and knifemakers who I consider to be very level-headed and knowledgeable(on both sides of the issue, BTW)... my "go to" guys. If any of them were to tell me to back off, I would.
Infact, Ed, keeping my last quoted passage of yours in mind, if you tell me to back-off, I will.
Sincerely
Rick
