What got you started in blades?

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,060
What got you started into making knives? Obsession with pointy things? Search for the best tool meant you ended up making it yourself? the personal satisfaction of crafting your own knife?
 
hahah i thought how hard could it be..........

that and i thought it would be cheaper than buying them.......
 
I've always liked knives. I made the mistake of going to a knife show. Got one of the Darrel Ralph Knifekits (DDR2). After going to a few shows, I spoke with a knife maker from Hawaii about starting to make knives. He said just go for it. I did, now I'm addicted. "Hello. My name is Ric. I'm a knife-aholic."
 
one day when i was at work with my dad he needed to sharpen some tool and used a hand held belt sander. i was mezmerized by the shower of sparks. that night i snuck out to the shop and started making sparks and i ended up with a pointy thing that was not half bad. i was 10 or 11 years old and im still adicted 18 years later. i told my wife that if i dont make a knife for a wile i get this wird twitch. she says im addicted to knifemaking, but at least its a legal adiction :).
 
couldnt find the folder i was looking for (found out i still dont know just what i "really" want

right now a straight razor just the 5th hollow grind ive tried (2 inch wheel no less)keep driving for the next
 
After my brother asked got a 119 for Christmas, i wanted a fixed blade so i got a kabar. I took it back, now, I am making the fighter I always wanted :D.
 
I couldn't find a production knife that would hold an edge and almost everything was stainless. I started doing some research on the web, lurking, and finally asking a lot of "dumb" questions. And here I are!

Mike
 
I got fed up with having nothing to show for a day's work of computer geeking, so I took a blacksmithing class. Then a year or so later I took a couple more. Then I took the Guild's knifemaking class and was hooked. Always had a knife, but had never been obsessed with them. Now I am and there's no turning back :D

-d
 
I saw a damascus blade years ago and always wanted one. My brother had a 2x48 grinder he had made and done a few knives. I got diagnosed with Hepatitis C and had to under go 6 months of interferon therapy, which gives you with a low red blood cell count no endurance and could not work. I was bored and got the grinder and some steel from my brother and 4 years, a bunch of tools and about 50 knives later I think I am getting the hang of it. PS I have not had any detectable Hep C for over 3 years:)
 
when I was a kid I spent most of my summers room grounded for not getting "A's" (my father felt that a B or C in public school proved you were an underachieving lazy slug) the one real break from that was the week my grandfather would spend taking each one of us kids camping. The first time I went camping with him I think I was 9 or 10, I found a Puma "Hunter's Pal" badly rusted in one of the boxes in his camper. He let me clean it up with some riverbank sand and sharpen it, and I wore it every year when we went camping. Nice looking knife, but the design was horrible! I read how to make a knife in the Popular Mechanics Do It Yourself Encyclopaedia when I was 14, and every night after my parents were asleep I would sneak into the wood shop and work on the blade I was slowly filing out of a torch softened nicholson file, I ended up finishing the knife in college. I have been hooked ever since the first inkling I had that I could make a knife that would work better than that Puma.

-Page
 
I got tired of sharpening my skinner several times while skinning and boning out a deer.
Thought "There has got to be a knife out there that can do this"
I started researching knives/steel and that was the beginning of the end
 
I was always addicted to knifes and like to collect odd-ball knives, even if they are really worthless at actually doing anything. I have done a lot of studying on knives over the years, mainly the time of the "dark ages" and think they are truly fascinating! I haven't made my first knife yet, but am working on it. I have a feeling this is going to be a true addiction for me. :D
 
I was probably a freshman or sophmore in college and I had seen a few demos on forging a knife. My dad had a small coal forge and an anvil so I hammered out a few knife shape objects. I am now about to head over to my dad's house to pick up that anvil and bring it home. So I had better get off the computer.

Allen
 
I just couldn't find a factory knife I really liked. A friend showed me an Atlanta Cutlery catalog. I ordered a kit knife, looked at te end product and thought "I can do better than that" and the bug had bit. I met Bob Engnath and it was all over. When I had some time off I'd hang out at his shop.

It's been downhill since.

Gene
 
I needed both a hobby and a knife that I would like. Most of my co-workers had hobbies ranging from carpentry to car restoration, so I wanted something unique that did not require heavy lifting or having to bend my body in awkward positions.

Knifemaking fit the bill, there was little information in those days about knifemaking, but a couple of knifemakers led me in the right direction with advice about building a knifeshop, and what machines to buy.

After that it was a natural progression with practice and more practice, and out of all the dust and sweat came the knives, I knew I was addicted after that.
 
Well I have always loved edged weapons/tools. I was watching the history channel about two and a half years ago and they showed Paul Champlane forging swords on the show. Soon after that I made a wood forge, then charcoal, then about 10 different charcoal forges before I had a good one. Soon after I gave into the dark side, I started using electricity then... a gas forge:eek:. Currently I'm waiting on my new grinder and a controller for my new forge blower, feels like an eternity.
 
I bought the "make the knife you carry" booklet from atlanta cutlery..presto..hooked and no hope..later Luke
 
Grew up in northern Ontario and ALWAYS carried a knife - even to school - that was a while ago!!
Then about 10 years ago 'discovered' bench-made knives. After 5 years of going to shows, I just had to try making one.
Basically, they are just beautiful in their simplicity.
And there is no end to what one can do with a piece of steel.
I'm hooked.

Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top