We Have a Winner! - Dumbest things you have done as a knife maker?

[Burl Source]

What is one of the dumbest things you have done as a knife maker?
When you tell your story, that is your entry in this contest. The number of your post is your entry in this drawing. I will use the random number generator on Sunday 8/22 at around 4pm PST to see who is the winner.

Some of us newer knife makers make some pretty dumb mistakes that can be pretty discouraging. Since all you old timer knife makers were new once, you probably did some dumb stuff too. Hearing from others that have goofed making knives can help us to learn from what you have gone through or just help us to keep from getting discouraged.

Here is the prize. I will tell you what it is when I do the drawing on Sunday even though most of you probably already know what it is.

 

[Jason Fry]

Stabbing myself in the palm while polishing that last tiny scratch out, while the kids were running circles around me screaming.

 

[delbert ealy]

Cutting off the tip of my index finger with one of my own knives.
Set myself on fire 3 times while angle grinding.
Del

 

[jdm61]

Started making knives. Top that one!!!!

 

[tattooedfreak]

I was grinding the face of a smaller knife on my flat platten with a tool rest and the rest was a little farther out than normal and the belt grabbed the blade and jammed it down between the belt and the tool rest. No thats not dumb, however I then pulled the blade out and tried to grind the brand new gouges out of it. Guess what happened? correct. So in order to calm myself down, I picked up another blade, a bigger one thinking that it was just in the way I was holding it, guess what, the belt grabbed that one as well, this time jamming it down on the smaller rest I have below the platten and making the point of the new blade, a mushroom. If I tell you that I shut everything down and went in the house, I would be telling a lie. I adjusted the tool rest, platten and checked all gaps and continued on with grinding. After the belt grabbed the smaller knife again, I went in the house. I still have all my toes

 

[Justin King]

Nearly set myself on fire once with over-heated quench oil. Probably not the dumbest though, just the dumbest I can think of on short notice.

 

[Mark Behnke]

Putting off making knives since about 1980. Now I have to try and squeeze 30 years of lost experience into the few I have left.

Best thing I've done set up shop the last couple of years and make knives.

 

[Sam Salvati]

I almost killed myself, and am thankful for every day I am alive.

 

[jawilder]

Honestly, the dumbest thing I ever did was grinding with the shop closed, fans off, and no dust mask or safety glasses.

I've cut and burned my self, but that isn't nearly as bad as the crap I breathed in and tried to cough up in the shower!

 

[panch0]

I was making some bbq forks and wanted to make the gap between the two prongs a little wider so I slid them be hind the platen between the top wheel of the grinder and pressed to hard and it pull the fork into the top wheel on the flat platen. It popped the belt and threw the fork on the ground. Scared the begeeezus out of me. That was pretty dumb!

 

[godogs57]

Set my pants on fire while flat grinding a forged blade. stupid!

 

[David Loukides]

Putting a sheath in Boiling water to reform it. It turned a nice sheath into something that looks like a body part.:jerkit: Anybody want to see the pic's. I saved it to show what I have learned over the years.

 

[Mahoney]

Here's a couple:

I re-tipped a throwing knife for a variety act by hand filing tip-to back. The predictable thing happened, someone distracted me and I stabbed myself in the palm. The performer needed the knife to go back onstage so after wrapping my fist around a gauze roll to stop the blood I finished the job.

My first experience with a 9" angle grinder: A theatrical production needed a bunch of "cartoony" swords to brandish, so I cut them out of a big 1/8" thick mild steel plate with a cutting torch, and then cleaned up the edges of each one by clamping it in a vise and using a 9" angle grinder to remove the slag. Sparks everywhere...12 swords later I grabbed a bench brush to brush the grinding dust off my shirt and brushed away most of the front of my shirt...

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

File. . .Duck Tape. . .Train. . .Post. . .Death. . .salt. . .felony. . .Mythbusters. . . .

 

[Dan Pierson]

Draw filing in sandals in my downstairs bathroom (didin't have a shop yet). The file pulled the entire blade and vise off of the counter spiraling down into my heel. Ouch!

 

[Russ Andrews]

....Can't decide....

 

[Bailey Knives]

Took a knife out of the forge with tongs, it popped out of the tongs and I reached out and grabbed it before it hit the floor. I had a glove that was all covered in oil, and it immediately burst into flames. I took about a half a second before my brain said, "What the heck are you doing?" and I let the knife drop to the ground.

 

[butcher_block]

stabbed my self in the palm splitting burgers apart with a bowie knife i even looked around a few times looking at other options cause i new it was dumb but didnt walk the 10 steps into the house to get a propper splitter

making kitchen knives on a 1x42 as a full time maker for a while
im sure there are many more but thats the better ones off the top my head

 

[BChou-E29]

Try to grind with work gloves... The belt grabbed the glove and jammed my finger between the platen and the work rest. Damn well ground my finger off!

 

[lukus]

My grandfather taught me how to make knives. When I was 10 or 11, I was watching him grind. He walked away for a minute with the belt sander still running. I was looking at the contact wheel and could see something stuck on it and going round and round. I reached in a finger to get it off. My finger went around so quick I wasn't even sure what happened at first. Then the pain came!