What are you in real life? Does that help your knifemaking?

I'm a pawnbroker and gun dealer. Get in the shop at night to relieve stress from some of the people who I have to deal with on a regular basis. Sometimes I am more of a social worker giving people advice than I should be. 33 years in this business makes you appreciate being alone in a knifemaking shop .

Marcel
 
im an arborist, and a rookie at making knives
but i try, and iam getting better
being an arborist really hasnt helped with the making of knives other than a supply of neat wood
wish i knew i would be trying to make knives years ago, i almost cry at the thought of the wood i pushed through the chipper, cut to firewood, gave away....

Mike
 
BMK said:
Good question! I have been lucky do do some interesting and fun things. Beyond that, and with a polite grin, I respectfully decline to elaborate. No further comment.
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Truly a laugh out loud moment. :D You're starting to grow on me. Keep up the intensive social therapy, it's working! ;)
 
I'm a retired chef and life long outdoor/canoeing enthusiast. In both pursuits it seems that a knife has always been an essential tool. I've also had an artistic bent as well..... painting, sculpting, wood carving(canoe and kayak paddles)..... where bladed tools were often used.

In the kitchen I've used about everything that's out there and I've learned what qualities look for in my knives. When in the backwoods, I've settled on a few favorites as well. In the wood shop I've learned how to work with and maintain hand tools, and I have a fair knowledge of wood varieties and their working properties.

Now, as a hobby maker, I find all that practical familiarity comes in handy particularly when designing a knife. That's the easy part. I'm not mechanically inclined however, so I constantly find my designs leading my skill-set into parts unknown. Things like electricity, and propane gas, and metallurgy, and milling, and lathe work, and welding were taught in high school shop class when I went through in the 70's. I was out getting high...... I think. So, acquiring that knowledge and those skills have created a very steep learning curve. (read: "thank god for this forum").

I make knives because its fun, challenging, creative, and in may ways (and in the truest sense) its a wilderness journey with each knife. ;)
 
I am a full time student right now at a tech college, and working there as an intern. Welding and Fabrication classes.
I have been self employed for several years now. I do whatever I can to make money, jack of all trades you may say. I have had a lot of jobs in the past that has helped me in knife making.
Metal refinisher on cruise ships, mechanic of sorts, rv repair, well drillers assistant, exc.
Making knives I think has helped me at school actually. Top of the class!
 
I've only made a few knives, but I don't doubt that the fact that I fix bicycles for a living helps me or has helped me with this stuff. Fixing bikes requires a surprising amount of improvisation, and I've found that making a knife from scratch requires a fair amount of creativity, problem solving and planning. That I own my own businesses I think has helped my self confidence which in turn allows me to approach knife making with some self assurance. My mountain biking, which I don't do professionally, has taught me that hesitation=death, so there's a little get-up-and-go, or even 'get back up' that I bring to my knife making endeavours. Also, the humility of being thrown violently to the ground and once again admitting that I'm fallible, (literally:rolleyes:). In my school days, I studied Art- its history- and methods and tools for making it. I own a small trail building company, in addition to building trails for my own enjoyment/sanity, and that really helps with the using of knives, (especially BIG ones, which are generally my favourite to use:)). With all that I do, I get to carry knives whenever I like, there's no one to question that or give me a hard time. My little knife store business has been a great introduction to a large assortment of different knives, and the exposure to them has taught me a lot.
This is a big question, lots of answers keep coming to mind, but I gotta get back to work.
 
I got a degree en systems engineering, I worked for industry writing software and as college instructor. Then I got a PhD in computer science and I worked for awhile in a molecular biology lab. I am now a researcher at a biotech institute.
The theoretical formation helps with the math and science. The working in a lab teaches you safety, especially if you are handling dangerous things, such as radioactive material. There's a lot of equipment and chemicals I can play with. For example there is a -80C=-112F freezer that could be used for cryo-tempering. I could etch the steel and watch it under a microscope to find out the grain size (never done that... yet!). I can walk to the metallurgy lab and get a blade tested. There are lots of things to scavenge :-)
 
I'm a dentist. Yep, it really helps both unwinding and doing fit and finish on a larger scale. What I don't understand is, what is so hard about working with mammmoth tooth? They don't even need novacaine.
 
I have been a full time tool and die maker for 15 years. I work with a lot of CNC equipment, Wire EDM, precision surface grinders, heat treating, lot's of cool stuff. But, it just doesn't compare to making knives on a belt grinder by hand with no programs or fixtures.
 
I was a cook for 10 years, then I joined the Navy, I also teach martial arts part time. I have always been an outdoors person though, hunting, fishing and camping with my father over the years. I don't know how much has actually helps but I know some gets in the way :-)
 
BMK said:
Good question! I have been lucky do do some interesting and fun things. Beyond that, and with a polite grin, I respectfully decline to elaborate. No further comment.
Click to expand...

Thankfully, thats something we can all use...

m
 
I am retired US Navy. My job did nothing to help me with knifemaking. I started making seriously about 8 years before I retired. After retiring I went for Voc Rehab and told them I wanted to be trained as a knifemaker. That was not on the table but they would train me a a machinist. So I went to school for 2 years to learn how the be a machinist with manual and CNC machines. Got a job for a while and had my own Machine Shop for about 3 years. Now I make knives and use the machine shop training to help with it. But I was a knifemaker long before I became a machinist.
 
I am a bartender and real estate agent, before that I managed produce departments for a grocery chain for 16 years. I've used knives a lot in my life, so I suppose that helps a bit.

I've always spent a lot of time working on engines, from go karts and mini bikes to motorcycles and hot rods when I got older, but I wish I had taken some opportunities to get into machining. That would have REALLY been helpful in knife making.
 
Retired electrician, started my apprenticeship in '69, IBEW L.U. 595, Oakland Ca.
retired last year after 40 yrs. The first 20 yrs. was comm., industrial, so a lot of metal work.
The second 20 I was self employed, mostly new homes 'till the crash.
It was all very helpful.

Now I have the time, that I could never make before.
 
Just another dumb ol electrician by day for local county school system, mostly technical now days from card access, fire alarm, video surv, security, telephones, intercoms and such. Most of my life I''ve had to learn to do more with less so that meant learning to do alot of stuff myself. Designed and built my own super insulated home 25 years ago and did 99% of the work myself by learning all the trades. That has meant a lifetime of designing,making and using tools which I'd say has helped in my most recent hobby of knife making. MY first main hobby is "traditional" bowhunting of which I make my own TD recurves, strings, arrow shafting, wild turkey fletching, taxidermy and butcher my own meat. I ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make knives so a couple years ago I visited a local muzzleloading guru where two nights a week all winter was spent with him teaching me to make damascus knifes. Between him and the internet ( read that mostly Blade Forum just reading) I was hooked! I'd say my background has helped me tremendously in alot of aspects but for one thing I built my own electric HT oven last winter for a whopping $150. Made my first 2x72 belt sander which I finally upgraded recently. I've learned ALOT right here on this forum but hardly ever post, just read and learn!
 
I have a mechanical engineering degree. I am currently a sales engineer for a local HVAC Trane franchise. Prior to my current position I was a sales engineer for a manufacturing company that made metal shims. Process engineering was a large portion of the job because I had to know how to make the parts in order to quote them. The shims were manufactured from sheet steel in all grades of carbon steel, stainless, copper, bronze, and aluminum. They also had a heat treat department with salt pots an I used that to my advantage. When I recieved an order from an industrial knife company I looked up some info on the material that they were using and found BF and discovered that knife making tied my interests in the outdoors, metal working, and engineering together.
 
I get a bunch of local IBEW guys at the tavern I run in Pinole:thumbup:

markb said:
Retired electrician, started my apprenticeship in '69, IBEW L.U. 595, Oakland Ca.
retired last year after 40 yrs. The first 20 yrs. was comm., industrial, so a lot of metal work.
The second 20 I was self employed, mostly new homes 'till the crash.
It was all very helpful.

Now I have the time, that I could never make before.
Click to expand...
 
I have been a professional photographer since I got 2 state fair blue ribbons when I was 14, goldsmith since 18, whatever I could do to keep a meal on the table and a roof over my head (and lately health insurance)
Oddly knifemaking got me my last day-gig in a roundabout way. To elucidate: In the medieval society I do swordfighting in, someone who is well respected was asked a question about medieval knives to which he replied some balderdash about how they didn't have carbon steel back in the 13th and 14th century so you could make a knife that was actually superior to what they had back then by getting some mild steel bar at Home Depot and filing it into the shape of a knife. That pi$$ed me off, and I started a 5 year project to make a metallurgically correct 13th century knife. That project took me to Ashokan to learn to smelt iron, there I met a bunch of smiths who were willing to share information and in addition to learning to smelt, I began to learn the importance of metallurgical fact. I started to try to learn as much about metallurgy as possible, then a friend told me about a Metallurgical Associate Engineer position at the Aerospace Superalloy plant he worked at, and despite having no engineering credentials, and all of my degrees being in photography and graphic arts, I was able to demonstrate sufficient metallurgical knowledge to convince the head of the engineering department to hire me. Unfortunately now I am back to being an artist/smith as my position got eliminated in the last round of layoffs.

-Page
 
3 and a bit years into my cabinet/fine furniture making apprenticeship. It had taught me a lot in the ways of quality control, attention to detail, patience, fit and finish, how to sand properly (really does take practice), polish, design and a lot more I'm sure.

Oh and more wood then I could poke a knife at for handles. As well as lots of bits and pieces for lanyard holes etc. (see my latest post in makers gallery)
 
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