Why Do You Make Knives?

I have always been fasinated by knives from an early age.I had two uncles in the Navy and I got to see alot of knives from around the world that they or thier friends had brought back but never thought about making them till I went to TKS to get a set of cardboard sharpening wheels.I have been hooked ever since.
When Iam in the shop time goes away and my everyday problems with it.It's just me and my knives.I was so proud of my first knife out of a file,what a POS it was.But atleast now they are decent and getting better.
I make knives cause I can't quit.
Stan
 
It's in my blood. My grandpa loved knives. He always had at LEAST 2 in his pockets at all times, and even made a few of his own. Sadly, he had alzheimers so bad for as long as I knew him that he couldn't tell me about his love for knives, I only heard it from family and was shown it in his small shop. I've always loved them myself and loved designing things and working with my hands, so I got a degree in Mechanical Engineering and for now just make them as a hobby. If I won the lottery, all I would do all day is make knives. Well, maybe fish a little too. :)
 
I make knifes so the wife cannot think I have time to do all the other mindless crap around the house, works pretty well. I use the extra money to pay the gardner and various trade folks who work under the close supervision of my wife.
 
Frank Niro said:
Because I have a NEED to make them. Frank
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That say's it all. Knifemakers are born not created. My dad says when I was 4 he caught me sharpening a stick on a cinder block, He ask wahat I was doing and I said I needed a deer knife like his.I became a student of Iaido around the same time I went to school to be a machinist. Things just progressed from there. It's a good thing I do make some money from my knives, If I did'nt you would probably see me on that show Intervention.
 
Theres not A whole lot left to say that isnt one reason or another why I make knives, so I'll just be repeating some. Its the satisfaction I get from making something with my hands and my mind. From drawing it out on paper to making it come into 3d from the steel, To the shiny mirror finish I can finally get on a blade, to the look on peoples face when I tell them that "yes I made that". its a craft that not a lot can do but that I can do a little of (not anywhere neer as good as some on this forum but gettin better every knife). its fun and I really enjoy it and I enjoy seeing the results of others that are better than me its kinda a driving force that makes me say I can do that to in time.

Bennie
 
There's something about staring into a fire and a ringing anvil. Sparks coming off a grinder. It's all hypnotizing. Then the finished product is an added bonus. To sit back and look and it and think it used to just be raw materials. Plus what Nick said "The fast cars and women".:D
 
As a kid I would tear stuff apart , see what makes it tick , most times put it back together. As I got older it got to customizing bicycles ( age 8 to 13 ) , custom paint , choppers , etc.. then dirtbikes and cars. Found I loved to do body work and paint... never followed that passion after moving cross country , fell into office jobs..cubeville.

Many years later I bought a house with almost a 1200 sq ft shop out back.. knife modding ( pimping ) soon paid for a Bader and I was grinding steel like a madman till wee hours of the morning.

I make knives because I find it enjoyable to accomplish something , and hopefully get to pass that something ( be it the knife or what I have learned ) onto others and meeting people who enjoy similar things along the way.

Sometimes I take breaks from it for weeks at a time , life happens , but I always hit the shop when the mood hits. It keeps me home , out of the bars and casinos :)

Besides , thousand of people gamble each day here , how many of them get to stick a bar of steel into a 50 grit belt spinning like crazy ? to me that's gambling...royal flush so far , still got all the fingers ;)
 
I think it relates back to a primeval need to create tools used to hunt for food. That and the satisfaction you get from each one turning out better than the next :D
 
Where else can you pursue a hobby or career which exacts tuition in Your blood, sweat, tears, and the odd portions of skin and flesh? -Doug
 
If I weren't making knives, I'd be making something. I've made a lot of stuff during my life - from model cars and RC aircraft to jewelry and weird sculpture and armor. But I love knives, that's really what my imagination revolves around. I've always had knives, and I always will.

I started making knives because, like someone above said, I couldn't afford a custom knife and thought I'd just make my own. Yeah, it'd have been a lot cheaper to just buy a few customs - but they wouldn't be mine in the way my own knives are. And I wouldn't have all these cool tools. ;)

For me it's all about the process, the making. Once a knife is completed it's seriously anticlimactic. I think that's why I seldom keep one; I just want to make them. I do enjoy the non-belief I get from people who think it's too difficult to work steel into anything respectable. It's hard alright. That's what makes it worthwhile.

I like making knives that aren't particularly useful. Fantasies, basically. Fantasies that'll cut very well mind you, but - not your everyday knives. Why do that? We could all buy a task-oriented knife that would perform its function as well as most of the knives we could make. I'd rather make something no one ever thought of before, and that's why I don't enjoy taking orders. I do take orders though, because that strokes my ego, which is as healthy as anyone's. :D And it gives me a little money to make more stuff.

James_Terrio said:
Funny you mention boobs, Sam... I saw plenty of 'em as a result of pickin' on a guitar, but I have yet to see a woman show herself to me because of a knife I made. :(
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Well now. When my buddy was trying to get me set up with this hottie I had my eye on, he was in the habit of calling me "Dave the knifemaker." Knifemaker? The last thing she wanted was to meet a knifemaker. She may as well be introduced to a serial killer or a child beater. Then she saw a knife I'd made and realized that knives could be ... artful. She ended up marrying me, and still likes my knives. ;) A little jealous of my shop time though.

But why do I make knives? Because I have to.

Making stuff is the only thing that gives me a sense of personal accomplishment, of self expression, and knives are about as traditional as you can get. And it's the only thing I can do to give something lasting back to the culture that I came from. Everything else I do is just the wind.
 
Because I can and I enjoy it and I have 2 and 5 yr old kids I like to hide in my shop from time to time
 
Alot of similiar stories here.
I thought alot like some of the others. I went looking for a custom knife to buy and found websites on how to make knives before I found some to buy. After I did find some to buy I went back to the making site. I mean surely it's cheaper to make your own right? After doing this a few years I own ONE of my knives. I would hate to see what all my knifemaking habit has cost me, that would be the total of that ONE knife.
Now it's not so much about that. I'm like the others here, I've always got to be making something. But after collecting pocket knives when I was younger and having some of my favorite memories in life out in the hunting field with my dad making knives just seems right. I make a tool a that is used out in the field where someone else's favorite memories are created.
I think there is just some weird undescribable NEED to make knives we all have an none of us can put into words. ADDICTION.

I'm having withdrawals too, I had an accident and haven't been able to work on knives for a week and looking at another 2 to 3 it's eating me alive.
 
ddavelarsen said:
Well now. When my buddy was trying to get me set up with this hottie I had my eye on, he was in the habit of calling me "Dave the knifemaker." Knifemaker? The last thing she wanted was to meet a knifemaker. She may as well be introduced to a serial killer or a child beater. Then she saw a knife I'd made and realized that knives could be ... artful. She ended up marrying me, and still likes my knives. ;) A little jealous of my shop time though.

But why do I make knives? Because I have to.
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That's cool Dave, what an awesome story :D.


James, that's weird because women show themselves to me all the time, must be the swords (bigger IS better ;) )
 
indian george said:
Because I can.:confused:;):D
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That pretty much nails it for me too.

Been a knife lover (and small scale collector) all my life. Hung out with artists and craftsfolks all my life. Married a few of them, but Donna has stuck and will keep sticking :D

Also spent my working life doing things that most people just don't understand. Want to be able to produce something physical and understandable even if it turns the sheeple off.

Then, about 6 years ago, my .com had died, I was out of work and Donna (did I mention that I love her?) gave me a knife making class for an anniversary present.

IG has it. Because I can.
 
For the sake of simplicity...because I like knives. Always have; always will.

That's what got me started, and the satisfaction of my customers and a job well done keeps me going.

--nathan
 
There are a lot of great designs out there, but the only way to get the one I exactly want is to make my own.
 
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