What level of your knifemaking addiction are you at?

What level of your knifemaking journey do you consider yourself to be at?

  • Newbie Level

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Basic Knifemaking Level

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Apprentice Level

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Journeyman Level

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Candidate Master Level

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Master Level

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
I think I am pretty Basic. I have tried a lot of high end productions and now a good number of customs and have pretty much found what I like. I got a David Mosier Defiant in November which has eliminated the need to carry anything else so I don't think I will progress much farther. I will try and pare down the collection to a reasonable size and stay pretty static. I don't find myself doing any impulse buys anymore which is a very good thing.
 
This poll is for your actual knifemaking abilities/knowledge. Not the knife maker's knives that you collect...:)
 
Nick, I actually don't mind if you meant me. :D I do come across as a self appointed expert :p My teacher ensures that I stay humble though :)

We are all in the craft for different reasons. When I first started I'll be honest that I liked making knives but liked the money more. Now I love making knives and the money is a side issue that allows me to continue my journey. I can't forsee a time when I would consider myself any more than a basic knifemaker because the further down the path I go I see how long the journey becomes.

I actually am working kind of on a "lesson plan" of skills. The simple knives I make were actually designed as a test bed platform for me to develop skills while being affordable for my customers. The added benefit is that I don't have so much tied up in materials as to become painful if I fail and have to scrap something. Braiding and carving were specifically targeted as skills with these small knives. Luckily people seem to like them :p

My want list:
I want to develop the hammer skills of Tai, Ray and my teacher.

I want to develop the flow of Fogg, White and Kelso.

I want to develop the fit and finish of Hanson, Karl and Nick (but I'd like to finish a knife :p).

I want to develop the love of teaching that IG has but without the looks and urinating dogs and owner :D

I want to develop the love of knowledge that drives Kevin, Mete, Stacy and Fowler.

I want to develop the carving skills of Kelso and Fuegen.

I want to do leatherwork like Morrisey and Long.

I have quite a path ahead of me and I enjoy most every minute on it.

Edited to add:

I picked people that I felt most would be familiar with, there are other makers that I aspire to also.
 
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I don't want to be peeing in the punch bowl, or throwing a monkey wrench in the gears here.... so by the parameters that Scott laid out, then I guess I would be a "master candidate".... I suppose. It just feels funny saying/typing it.

The fact that my profile says "Js working towards Ms" should have answered that for me... but that is more in the "technical lines" of things.

In my heart I feel I am just in the first steps of a life-long journey. :)


Edited to add: I still didn't vote though!!! :)
 
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I didn't read the description before I answered the poll.... I'd say based on the posted descriptions I'm a journeyman but I can't change my vote lol
 
Wow, when I red on the Knifemakers that classify themselves as basic, is there a level under newbie. I have made 1 knife that turned out fairly well, and I don't know how much was luck and how much was skill, so I put myself in the Newbie Level. Now that may have to be downgraded. Ha Ha
 
Well, I'll let you all be my judge about this. I have always believed that there's always something new to learn in making a knife. But I have no one here to hold my hand and help me on my way. So, that makes me the teacher and the student in my shop. :)

So, I can not classify myself on this topic. All the knives I do are patterns of my own design. I do not try to copycat someone else's, but come up with some unique and different for my customers. It gives me great enjoyment seeing my designs come alive. Great post here Scott: :thumbup:
 
I am at the apprentice level, but hoping for promotion soon. I won't actually be that much better when I get my JS stamp, but I might be more popular.:D
 
jdm61 said:
I am at the apprentice level, but hoping for promotion soon. I won't actually be that much better when I get my JS stamp, but I might be more popular.:D
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Just remember, this has nothing to do with ABS standards at all.
 
I voted newbie level because, while I've put together 4 complete knives and forged another two this weekend I still:

Have only been making knives for about 2 months.

Have only worked with 1 steel alloy.

Have not actually drawn out a design for a knife.

Have a lot of testing to do on my HT.

Have a long way to go on fit and finish.

Have not made a sheath.

+ I'm sure many, many more that I can't think of right now or haven't come to yet.
 
well after just starting less than a month ago i now realize there is alot more to making a knife than smacking some steel or sanding some wood. I do know power tools are the only way i could do this hobby.We will see once i get a forge built as to the type of knife i turn out. Until then im forced to make knives from blanks.I do know what it takes to work wood and have been wood working making cupboards display cases tables for some time.Ive been dissabled for 4 years and decided to try this as far as the pounding of steel ive got 2 sons that will function as my hydralic power hammers.
 
It's a bit rough- I do mostly stock removal or 'light forging' for my orders, though I just finished yet another polsihed up shiny fully forged from a different shape EDC. Every time I say I don't DO much of some aspect I end up doing a whole bunch of it for one reason or another. Which is why I never, ever mention b*****rs.

Anyway, I have different answers for stock removal and forging.

I've enlarged my box a bit with through tangs and interrupted quenching and pushing my heat treats. Hell, I just had some crazed customer chop through frozen tree trunks and bend some of my knives 40 degree in a vise just to see if the edge would hold and the knife would return to true (yes to both, thank Ghu) I guess I can't be a newbie anymore, which is my safe excuse when I say or do something dumb :D

I still make a bunch of 3 piece knives, though! and convex (taper) ground even! Well, hell, even that won't work for an excuse. it's not necessarily easier to do a 12 pin all peened full tang scale knife than a nice peened through tang! And a variable convex grind is like painting big zen zeroes.

So, no one feel bad about what KIND of knife you make- how good at it are you? how's the handle shape? Blade geometry? heat treat?
 
Newbie!!!! Way more questions than answers. But making a couple bux to buy tooling to do more.
 
Crazy Horse said:
Wow, when I red on the Knifemakers that classify themselves as basic, is there a level under newbie. I have made 1 knife that turned out fairly well, and I don't know how much was luck and how much was skill, so I put myself in the Newbie Level. Now that may have to be downgraded. Ha Ha
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If all those guys say they're at a Basic level, I, for sure have a long way to go to make it to Newbie. Maybe I'm a wannabe-someday-maybe-if-I'm-lucky-newbie!
 
You guys are humble! I guess that's a good thing. I think an interesting sub-poll would be how we judge each other's work, but that would be impossible unless we could examine the work personally. I think the results would be vastly different.

I don't feel that I'm an apprentice, though I ask a lot of basic questions! I have the HT nailed on my preferred steel, edge geometry is finally there, I've never made a kit knife (except folders, which remain in my own collection), the knives are comfortable to hold and well balanced and properly designed for their intended task. Not to sound like a jerk - because I know most of the flaws in each of my knives - but my work is easily comparable to what I've seen for sale by most makers (not masters!). Possibly that's a function of living in a backwater and not seeing many handmade knives.

It's not that I have little left to learn; I've hardly scratched the surface of what I expect to learn, and I will never master this craft. But I think most of my knives would stand up to most maker's judging in person. Not that I haven't made a bunch of clunkers! They will just never see the light of day. And it's not that I haven't made a number of knives that were pure form with no consideration for worldly function. That's just sculpture with an edge. ;)

Probably the way to assign these levels would be some objective measure of fit and finish, and performance. I can't feel good about assigning myself a journeyman level, because so many makers far surpass anything I will ever make, but probably I could pass the judging for either of the professional organizations. I just hope that each knife I make is better in some aspect than the one before it, and that I can continue to increment my skills until I fade away. I only wish I had someone skilled and picky to work with so I could see my work from a different perspective. There will be other makers - some of you - at the Wolverine show, so I hope to get some honest and instructive feedback. Assuming I get a few knives made to take...
 
Wow, I really didn't mean for that to sound as arrogant as it did. My apology! I wasn't quite awake yet I guess. :o
 
I would say I am at a low level apprentice, high level basic. Forging is getting easier, and my level of fit and finish is increasing - ALOT. I have this forum and you all to thank for that. you guys rock! :thumbup:
 
NickWheeler said:
In my heart I feel I am just in the first steps of a life-long journey. :)
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I fell exactly the same way. I am learning and I aspire to keep learning and improving. Thats one of the best parts. I hope one day to make top shelf knives that make people drool. But, in the words of a great blacksmith who gave me my first real lesson "I know that when I finish my last piece, I will really only be somewhere in the foothills of the mountain of knowledge".
 
I am basically a 3-piece guy. I can make these fairly quick, thereby, allowing me to replinish my stock of cold beer and making supplies.

I spend way too much time being concerned with fit and finish, and I don't know if I will ever be satisfied with the end result.

If you visit my website, you will find a few knives that actually have more than 3 pieces. I do these when I get bored.

I forge a lot of my blades, but I also do a fair amount of stock removal. I don't offer a lot of advice on this forum because I don't feel that I have much to offer.

I also spend way too much time trying to make a good looking sheath and a fairly decent photo of the finished product.

Althought I won't rate myself on the poll, I will say that on a scale from 1 to 10 in the areas of forging, grinding, heat-treating, fit and finish, sheathmaking, photo skills, and everything between, I feel that I am around a "4".

I will never see a 10 because I waited too late in life to get serious about making knives.

Sorry for the ramble...... gotta go let my fingers rest.

Robert
 
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