When to give up on a blade

A

Amescua

Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Messages
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I would like to know at what point do you give up on a blade as you go in to each step from forge to finish and your like for the project gets less and less at what point do you throw it in the trash or do you go ahead and finish it thinking that even if you don't like it that there may be some one else out there that will.
 
If it's the design you don't like, change it, if it's the knifework in general, just stop.
Toss the blade in a drawer somewhere and one day you'll discover it and maybe figure a better way to do it or decide to finish it.

Or just clean it up and sell it at a garage sale. Everybody fancies themselves a knifemaker now and you shouldn't have trouble getting 20-$30 out of it.;)
 
I once messed up this tanto I was making. I just cut a bit of and made a puukko out of it.
 
This is one of the hardest lessons I had to learn. About like throwing out worn abrasives. :) I have a little pile of blades I've messed up, and sometimes years later I'll pull a piece out and make it into something else.

A friend once asked me to help him make a small knife, and he just kept getting more and more frustrated. He'd try to do something to save it, and then mess it up further. At that point, he'd learned from his mistakes, but if he kept going, he'd still never be happy with the knife. So without saying anything else, I brought him into the other room, laid his knife on an anvil, and handed him a big hammer. I don't even remember now if he bashed it into an unrecognizable lump like I would have, but the point was he learned that at some point you just have to start over and save yourself the frustration.
 
The temptation to sell a poor blade at a discount price is bad business. Destroy or recycle a messed up blade and start a new one. You will learn more and the blade pool will not be weakened by one more bad blade.
Stacy
 
I wholeheartedly agree with the others....keep your "screwups" for use later on as you get better. I found (and continue to find out to this day) that as I increase whatever talent I have for making knives, that one of the aspects that I can now do that I couldn't do earlier is this: I can most of the time fix my screw ups. Now, don't get me wrong...I never sell one of my "seconds"..like Bladsmth said, selling anything but your best work is bad business. I looked into my screw up bucket the other day and found a Loveless style blade I had given up on about 15 years ago. In no time flat I had the grind lines straightened out & pretty'd up, and she was ready for handles. I got a curious sense of victory in the whole thing because I had beaten one of my worst demons with knifemaking for me...symmetric grind lines. It was hell with I began...no big deal now.

My 2 cents,

Hank
 
Did you guys ever think to sell your uglies on ebay under an anonymous name and not put your stamp on it?
 
I started making knives about 11/2 years year ago. I know that the knives I make are not at the level of you guys but I was not talking about selling a knife that I thought was poor quality but one that the design was not turning out the the way I thought it was.
 
slightly screwed up blades can always be given away to folks. I built a nice knife and made a sheath for it, most people liked the sheath more. I think I'll post it.
 
Amescua said:
I started making knives about 11/2 years year ago. I know that the knives I make are not at the level of you guys but I was not talking about selling a knife that I thought was poor quality but one that the design was not turning out the the way I thought it was.
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Sounds like you have reached the point of giving up on this blade. As suggested in previous post, put the blade away and begin a new one. See what you can apply to the new blade you learned from this one and move on. This is a personal issue. Some beat themselves up over getting it all just right and keep doing a little more here and just a tweek there. Start with a bowie and wind up with a wittler. After the blade has been sitting for a bit you may go back and the lightbulb will go off and you can do something with it. or it may go the way of the great knife graveyard. I have a box full and if they are not marked I will give them to my students. If they are marked they are destroyed.

Just remember have fun

Chuck
 
I'm glad I read this thread! Funny how I had the same question for about a year and did not even think to ask anyone. I feel more "at ease" now about the direction I should take with my current project, instead of wasting time on something that won't turn out right. Even though I did not start this thread, I'd like to thank all who posted.
 
bladsmth said:
The temptation to sell a poor blade at a discount price is bad business. Destroy or recycle a messed up blade and start a new one. You will learn more and the blade pool will not be weakened by one more bad blade.
Stacy
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It's not like they're screwing and procreating and have their own gene pool for Gods sake. Lets keep some perspective.

You have a blade you don't like, sell it as scrap at a yard sale. Let someone else get some enjoyment out of trying to make a knife out of it. Look at all the kit blades made with steels most of us won't even use, are they ruining the blade gene pool?:rolleyes:

He's not selling a poor blade, It has no name on it, it's just cheap fun for somebody. Like I said before, everybody figures they're a knifemaker now, why spoil their dreams.

I've done it a few times and I got a kick out of the people's enthusiasm that bought them and how they talked of finishing them.

You ever think it might be the start of someone elses knifemaking career?
I think there's much more pollution in the human gene pool.:jerkit: The "blade pool" can stand it.
 
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