Too basic?

Ivan Campos

Ivan Campos

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 4, 1999
Messages
2,509
I was clenaing up my shop the other day and was noticing that I keep owning less and less stuff, and using less and less, too, to make knives. Right now I have a 2" x 72" belt grinder, a old drill press, a forge, a small railroad track anvil, four hammers, one file, one hacksaw, two pliers, an edge marker, a center puch, a number of assorted scremdrivers, a small buffer, three vises, a hand drill a sheet metal scissors (that I use to cut kydex), an eyelet setter, a heating lamp and the rubber moulding plates, most of everything installed in two improvised benches made from recycled stuff (aka "junk"). I possibly could cut a lot from that like two vises, three of the hammers, the hand drill and one of the benches, as well as the forge, since I am not planning to do any forging anytime soon. I used to have a lot more but kept thinning the herd through the years.
I just thought it is funny that my shop is getting smaller and smaller (though I still need to get some stuff like an HT oven), and it seems the opposite of what most makers do. Maybe it will look like a car trunk sized Leatherman tool in the future... Sometimes I miss this and I would like to get that and I even plan on getting more stuff but I always keep reducing their number.
So you guys think you could survive in a shop like that? :D
 
A week in your shop would make it alot easier on me, I got less then you do, though I think I been at this alot less time too, I'm still building my tool collection. Maybe you should check out some of the neo-tribal stuff, it seems like you're naturally drifting in that general direction anyways. Check them out at primalfires.com, though some of the guys are the same ones you know from here and the outpost at knifenetwork.
 
I'd say you are just being frugal, Ivan. The simple fact is that knifemaking does not require as much equipment as it does knowledge and skill. If you are happy with your knives, then better equipment will only make it easier to make them. :thumbup:
 
I am well aware of the Neotribal makers and from time to time take a look at the Outpost on Knife Network, AwP, but I don´t think that is the route I am taking my knives to. I just have not planned much and kept selling, trading or simply giving stuff away until I got to the point I described.
Jeff, frugal is a good description I think, and yes, I am very confortable with what I have and can make knives just as I want them with it, and they look more and more like me (not good, I know, but when I look at IG, I feel a lot better! :D ). But I think I have to find space for a tapper on one of the benches one of these days - that´s a good thing to have.
What amazes me is that I know hundreds of knifemakers in person and on the web and I seem to be the only one satisfied with downsizing the shop. Everybody else seems to always be getting more stuff or at least wants to.
 
What are you saying?

Gadtget freaks? US?!? :D

I've got about the tools you listed, give or take(plus woodworking stuff), but I'm at the other end of the spectrum. This last year and a half is the first time I've been able to set up an actual shop, instead of improvising on kitchen table/back yard type set-up.
And I have a decent amount of space, and several hobbies I can set up correctly for a change(money(and wife) permitting of course). So I keep accumulating more tools and machines.

That said, there is something to be said for keeping it simple. I've already got plans to start in more on hand tools for the woodworking, and making as many of those as possible. It all just comes down to what your happy with.

Jon
 
Cripes Ivan, people like you make me sick! :D

I keep hauling more stuff in all the time, to the point I'm having to store stuff I don't use much anymore... Maybe I should take a note from you and just ditch all this stuff.

Naw... :D I love my tools! I just need a bigger shop. :D
 
Dave may be you could spend a lot of money digging down a couple of sub basement levels to store your gear.

Or purhase send it all down under to me the freight has to be cheaper than a new basement.

Ivan you make a good point. I help out at some knife making classes a couple of times a year and we make the blokes use the basic hand tools so they can go home with almost nothing and make knives.

Then I come home and buy a new machine or tool. I have 7 anvils is you count my 1/2 pounder and I have a 30 kg on order. I need slapping to wake me up. If that does not work I would love a miling machine.
 
:eek: Seven anvils???!!! SEVEN ANVILS???!!! :eek:
I think an anvil is a good thing to have even if you don´t forge. I still miss my 400 pound anvil - though it was a bull to move it an inch it really lloked great. The railroad track one I use now (borrowed from a friend) is not bad in size but its face is too soft and its all dinged already. I´ll get a 20 pound one when I find it at the right price.
 
Heck, I've got at least a dozen anvils in storage cause I don't have any room for 'em in the shop :)
 
Man you guys collect anvils the way I collect broken drill bits. :rolleyes: But speaking of anvils, the one I use is a railroad track anvil my Dad's uncle made in the 1930s. It's not heavy enough for forging anything but it's great for peening pins and tapping stuff flat. Sometimes I use it just for the nostalgic rush it gives me. :)
 
The railway track anvil I have is really quite impresive. It was a gift.
The top and sides of the track have been squares up, a horn at one end and a vice made at the back end.

I used it a little when I first got it. I had to clean it up and get the vice working. Wire wheeled it and got a great looking patena on it.

My 20 lb anvil gets the most use inside my shed in the wet season and at night. The 85kg is the outside beast. The others I just go and cuddle when I want to feel good. They are not as cold and hard as my wife. :eek:
 
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