Trials & Tribulations of knifemaking

3

30-30 Cal.

Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
243
I know the injuries I have encountered in the line of duty. It's true I've had a few minor mishaps, and there was an entire week my wife didn't speak to me. Since I'd been a good boy, I was confused. After a week of tension, she then told me the problem "every time you come in the house you shed iron filing, and I'm tired of it!"

Soo, just for fun, what injuries, problems (both eqip. & personal) have you been delt while becoming a knivemaker.

Oh, and newbies, the old timers will SWEAR they have never had one injury! :

Dave
 
Well, once I was drilling a steel ladle blank in the press, the bit snagged, pulled the sheet metal right out of the vise grips, pulling my hand in, and sliced my finger to the bone on the next pass. That was about 2 weeks before Christmas.

I have twice burnt myself (badly) by picking up a piece of hot steel, but I didn't have to look long to realize it was .. er warm. :)

Oh, and the black boogers, the wife hates those.

I can't remember most of the others, but there have been a few :)

Tony
 
Hey Hey Hey...
Don't forget that your in that catagory too still! :footinmou :p
I haven't done much other than square up my knuckles and finger tips (Bench grinder), but the tips were kinda already that way cuz of guitar.

I always seem to cut myself while polishing the blade. I did one today that seemed extremely minor. I stopped and got to work on painting the shed. I picked up a bucket and carried it outside. maybe took 30 seconds. There was a quarter inch pool of blood on the pail lid, and a cute lookin red streak runnin down my finger. Still pretty minor, but it wouldn't stop bleeding, and I had to put a band-aid on it. :grumpy:

Don (Peter Nap) can give you lessons on bandages! :footinmou :p
Do you have anything to show for 'coming through hell' (flames) dave?
BTW, how's that one healing up for you Don?

Hmm equipment....Not much, once a friend's bench grinder wheel started coming off :eek:
It was a 2 wheel job, and I was grinding on the coarse one. It seemed to be vibrating more, and I looked over at the fine wheel. I saw it move horizontally and freaked out! I hit the kill switch and took the guard off after it stopped. It looked fine. (It tightened back down as it slowed down it turns out) I started it up again and watched. The grinder wheel came loose and started moving off the shaft. I fixed it once I knew the problem, but it was a little interestin until then! :eek:

~Brian
 
Injury? Whaddaya mean? I'm so careful and so controlled, nothing gets away from me! Really! What are gloves and clamps for? :D

Wife now... Oh boy. Lessee... Tracking iron filings onto the carpet: Yep. Stinking up the house with horn aroma: Yep. Spending all my free time in the shop: Guilty. Spending all the discretionary money on handle materials, belts, drill bits: I need that! Only talking about knives and not caring enough about the grandbaby's latest achievement: I care, and that baby knows it; and she likes my shop too - she paints Dykem all over my drawing table to prove it. Only talking about knives period: So? Relentlessly asking for quality control inspections: Guilty. Obsessing over details: Yep. Begging company in the shop: Yep. Giving up sleep for shop time: Yep. Putting domestic routine second to shop time: Yep. Sharing the income from knife sales: Well, that's only right - right? I mean after all, she's given up her whole life for me to make knives. I should be grateful she shops sales.

Sigh.

Only the finished product holds any interest for my wife. Show her a completed blade and it's as if all the complaints were never aired. She does support the finished product, it's just getting there that's a trial! :D When I was making jewelry for her and her friends I played hell trying to get time to actually do it; but let her get her hands on some actual finished earings or something and she acts like she's married to Zeus. :rolleyes:

Chicks: Can't live with em, can't live with em.
 
Oh Yeah...
Being in knifemaking for a short time, and being young I haven't had the pleasure of as many joys as those :D :p

I DID upset my sister though when I put some Kydex in the oven. :eek: I KNEW I should have listened to the advice to 'wait until the missus is out of the house'. Well, she's not the missus but she thinks she is! ;)

~Brian
 
Lord! I thought I was alone in those black boogers. I've wondered how bad it has to be before you get instant black lung: luckily, unlike you Tony- my wife has yet to see a really good view. It's always "Ah, hell" turn away. Oh, and if you Ever do the old put the tissue in and twist make sure NO One sees it..

Brian, it's sadly true, it seems I may be an unlucky knivemaker to be-but I have hope. Don't believe the rumars IG spreads. I swear I shall post a most magnificent knife of my own creation, and blood free too. :)

Dave, you CRACK me up. as bad AS I THOUGHT I HAD IT, YOU HAVE TEN AND TEN AND TEN-too much filing... horn.......time in shop... spending...family..

Great,

Dave,
 
Well, most of my shirt fronts have burn hole in them but injuries...naaaa, not here.

Wait a minute...

Where the hell did all these scars come from?!? :eek:
 
As I think you know, I was joking...

Are you sure you want it blood free?? I hear it's pretty good for a quench...if you burn a sock at the same time with a full moon at midnight in your underwear! :D :footinmou :p
Oh! and don't forget the thunder clap, that's very very important...Right guys?

~Brian
 
Oh yah, makes for the perfect legendary katana that can cut through a car door, hold an edge perfectly, and never scratch. Then again, that's to be expected, as the only blade that most people have seen is either a wall hanger, or in D&D book.

I've had a few shop accidents, but I'm not making knives yet. I've shocked myself a few times, stabbed myself, sanded myself, appoxied my hand to my pants once, but it wasn't fully dried yet, so only a bit off skin. Name a power tool and I've skrewed myself up with it. It's sad, but it adds that touch of magic. Ya know, 1/10,000 of that project is made of me!
 
Peter,

You glued your hand to your pants (hahaha), that's the best yet! No blood, just pure old fun, huh? At least, you didn't touch you eyes or mouth.

Dave :)
 
My personal favorites involved router bits in Dremel tools and a couple of different high speed buffing wheel events.

There is the occasional slip that puts the knuckles into a new 40 grit belt at full speed.

Then there was the screw up involving cutting off a scotchbrite belt at full tilt due to having the blade turned the wrong way...I only did that once.
 
Yah, I'd been mixing some, and the Q- tip touched my palm, and slid. Didn't think about it, and when I rested my hand on my pants for a while, I dried there.
As long as were talking about the pain part, a funny, but somewhat painful story that my dad told me about one of his friends. He tried to light a fart with a torch, and his balls caught on fire. Ouch!.
 
Please don't forget the knife sticking in the wall after the buffing
wheel grabs it and throws it. Thats after you thank the good lord
it didn't throw it your way.

James
 
My wife is great.She even voluntarily gave me two of the upstairs bedrooms to convert into work rooms( I still get to sleep in ours with her ,too!).One night when I was oiling up a batch of sheaths with neatsfoot oil she came and asked if the smell bothered me.I asked,"What smell?" Wrong answer.I now do that out in the forge. - Stacy
 
There's only one thing Nanc doesn't like about the knifemaking, and that's when she hears that telltale holler, "Sweetie, better bring the tape" and she knows it's a bad enough cut I can't get it sealed myself with superglue. :( She even laffs when she's heard, "Cool, it's not bleeding so bad I have to stop grinding!" :D

A guy couldn't ask for a better wife for all the support she's always given me. Never even once a complaint in 24 years.

The worst thing that's happened to me knifemaking was the slow and insidious loss of breathing capacity combining smoking and chronically sucking in too much dust from not wearing a respirator. Emphysema and COPD is no fun....wear those masks! :mad: Black boogers means it's poisoning your lungs, too! Sorry to preach, but I'll guarantee you'll hate that damnable oxygen hose in your nose.
 
Hmmm,
I swear I've never had an injury :)






Seriously, I've had a few accidents that are better off not revisiting.
 
I've gotten innumerable cuts and a few burns, but those are nothing worse then I got at my old job, that kinda stuff doesn't bother me. My most embarrassing incident was when I was drilling something on a knife (I don't remember what it was) and I didn't have my hair tied back like I usually did. My hair got sucked into the back of the drill, wound all up in the motor and thunked me in the head pretty hard. It ruined the drill, so I ended up having to finish by putting the drill bit in my dremmel, getting my hair stuck in it, getting thunked in the head again and ruining my dremmel. I wear a hat when I work on knives now.

edit: I can't believe I just publicly admitted that, I shouldn't be posting at 4:00am
 
I cut my head off once.... Hmmm....

Dave my friend, I believe the saying is this:


"Women, can't live with 'em, can't have heterosexual sex without 'em"

HEHEHE HAHAHAHA... just kidding, but I do think it's funny ;)

-Nick-
 
I've had a few minor mishaps. I've burnt my fingers, had metal pieces fly into my eye, cut myself while sharpening. I've had the blade end up being a propeller on the drill press and smack my fingers. The thing that hurt the most was when I was using elk antler for handle scales. I had a piece of antler about 3 1/2 foot long, I went to put it in the vise and I dropped it on my foot/toes. I was wearing bedroom slippers. I was hopping around like a simpleton. :D I didn't think antler hitting your foot would hurt that much :eek: My first three toes were bruised for a couple of weeks. All in all, I've been pretty lucky.
Scott
 
AwP said:
I've gotten innumerable cuts and a few burns, but those are nothing worse then I got at my old job, that kinda stuff doesn't bother me. My most embarrassing incident was when I was drilling something on a knife (I don't remember what it was) and I didn't have my hair tied back like I usually did. My hair got sucked into the back of the drill, wound all up in the motor and thunked me in the head pretty hard. It ruined the drill, so I ended up having to finish by putting the drill bit in my dremmel, getting my hair stuck in it, getting thunked in the head again and ruining my dremmel. I wear a hat when I work on knives now.
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Okay man, I think you win. :D Just think what'd happen if you got it caught in the grinder... :eek: :D

NickWheeler said:
"Women, can't live with 'em, can't have heterosexual sex without 'em"
-Nick-
Click to expand...
You got that part right! I guess that's what makes em a viable gender - otherwise they'd be extinct. :D
 
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