Why Do You Make Knives?

Mr Pink hit the nail on the head. Its ten zillion times easier to just do it than try to explain to someone whats in my head. Doing it myself I can be fussy and do it my way too. It hurt my feelings when I hear Jerry Hossum couldn't afford to own any of the knives he makes. I wish I could buy him one, but maybe its something more profound than the money angle *shrug*. I loved reading about Bill Moran " I wanted to have all the knives I wanted" that's cool as anything. Also when Bill Moran said "It's fun!" when asked why he makes big bowies. The one thing that irritates me is all the cool side skills I can't do like machine shop stuff, wire inlaid into maple and getting the fit and finish that drops jaws. I may never get there, but I have to make a living in another more conventional way. I make knives so I can have lots of cool knives, I got into it so I could make what I wanted when I saw a cool knife, with changes to make it better to me. Does that make sense? One thing..all the good advice and friendly people who help mean alot..but I would love to find a mentor..this reinventing the wheel everytime I want to make a knife is a crock.:D--Joe
 
because chicks dig scars, and the United States of America has the best doctor-to-knifemaker ratio in the world.
 
I'm really not sure why I do it. I have always made something since I can remember. I had a pocket knife in my pocket all the way through school and used it every chance I got. The teacher took it away a couple times but gave it back after class. I had a switch-comb in high school. You know what that is? It looks like a switchblade but has a comb instead of a blade. Switchblades were illegal even back in the 60's. I hardly ever did anything illegal and still dont. I became interested in mechanics at a very early age and became a Japanese motorcycle mechanic (rice burners as Indian George calls it) right after my 2 year auto mechanic certificate from community college. Spent 27 years at that until I finally got burnt out. The knife making has lasted 21 years now with no signs of burn out except the easy ones are too easy to make. The fun for me is the challenge of the more difficult designs like the pistol/knife combinations. I marvel at the makers of old an how they were able to make guns, knives and swords with their own hands without the high tech machines we have in our heated shops and no electricity. I am spoiled because of my tools although I still cant operate a CNC anything.

I went to a gun show at age 14 and saw a table full of custom knives and thought to myself "Thats cool, I could do that" but it wasnt until about 18 years later that I tried to make a knife. But that first impression stayed imprinted in my brain all those years.

I would have to say the challenge and the fact that I can sell it when its finished. I like the finished product but usually it took so long to complete that I'm tired of looking at it and am glad to ship it off to its new owner. I've made so many knives that I cant remember them all but if I see one of mine somewhere I know it at one glance. People are proud to have one of my knives and that alone makes me feel great for doing it.

My family supports my habit and allows me to keep doing it as long as it doesnt interfere with more important things. I've seen people so obsessed with a hobby that they neglect family their house is a mess with the yard overgrown an such. I have to be careful to set time aside to keep up my lifestyle. Kaye and I have been married 34 years. If I wasnt married I would convert the whole house to shop and live in it. I need her to keep me half normal.

Nice thread, thanks for listening to my ramblings.
 
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Because the profit margin is simply AMAZING! :barf:Another 3 or 4 knives and 16 more years, and I should be able to quit my real job and retire for good!

That and I wanna be like Bruce Bump if I ever grow up!:D
Matt
 
mdoyle said:
Because the profit margin is simply AMAZING! :barf:Another 3 or 4 knives and 16 more years, and I should be able to quit my real job and retire for good!

That and I wanna be like Bruce Bump if I ever grow up!:D
Matt
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Knifemakers never grow up, they just spend more money on tools and handle materials. :D
 
Well to make a long story short.

Started blacksmithing after watching the history channel at 14, switched to knives, collected tools and supply's for a few years. Became hooked on damascus so I stated to build my own power hammer. At 17 I was extremely lucky and found a $21,000 hammer for $4,800. Went $10,000 in debt and took about 9 months to get the hammer running, switched over to almost exclusively damascus. Now here I am 18 and trying to make a business, of which 80% of the money made goes towards materials, loan payments, new equipment, and utilities.

So for a short answer, I'm like a moth to a flame when it comes to hot steel and I enjoy working with my hands.
 
ddavelarsen said:
But why do I make knives? Because I have to.
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This simply is why for me...

If I wasn't making knives I would be working under a boss as an IT staff. I hate to take orders and I love to make things all by myself, not to implement things requested by some guy. Knife making allows me to desing and make some beautiful and useful objects that are loved by their new owners. I love to see other people's faces with a silly grin holding a knife made by me...
 
i make knives for the untold riches in sale of them :D:D

or maybe i cant spell/type/write well but can make stuff with my hands no problem

o and i hate desk work and i am my own boss
 
Why do I make knives?

Because I got lost while driving around Columbus, Oh, in 1992 and in trying to get un-lost, turned around in the parking lot of Koval knives. Made knives from the blanks they sold until about 5 years ago, when I realized that the blanks were just too. . .confining, for lack of a better term. I wanted to make my own, so I started with stock removal.

In the last year I've come to the realization that trying to keep a knife design within the bounds of a rectangular piece of barstock is also confining, so now I'm exploring the pounding of hot steel. . .
 
indian george said:
They even sell their car to buy more tools and handle material.:confused::confused:
BB was that a Mustang that you sold????? HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!
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Yes, 1967 fastback. We bought it for $2500 and after only 27 years sold it for $19,600. Dont tell me I could have got more next year :grumpy:
 
My boss treats himself to knives from AG Russell every Christmas and so there's always a show and tell. After a few years of this, I started researching making my own (I'm a mechanical engineer) and wa - la, here I am. I make them for gifts, and let me say that giving a brother or friend a hand made knife and when they ask where it came from, and you tell them you made it yourself, now..........there's a good feeling!
 
I make knives because:

1. I wanted to be my own boss.

2. They're cool.

3. I like making things, and working with my hands.

4. I was dropped as a baby.



:D
 
Never believed I'd be doing it full time, never thought I'd want to. After about
30 years of going seemingly backward all I can say it doesn't get any better than
this. If any kind of honesty is to be you'll never get rich at it. Why? money or not
I make knives cause I can't help it.
Ken
 
I started because I always wanted to do one of those "different" things- growing up there were the occasional people you'd run into or family friends who didn't have JOBS or CAREERS but...did stuff. A Science Fiction author, a knifemaker, a jeweler. Heck, my unlce paid for a house picking gold and silver out of the trash.

Knifemaking was the on I wanted to do, all along.

So I decided to do it. Made a few KSOs and then discovered that I could break the rules and that really got me going. I don't mean break the rules of heat treating or annealing (though, even there, there's more than one set of tool to do the job)- but really just getting my own 'groove' and doing things that other people don't. I don't have a platen on my grinder. I don't own a file guide. I use my belts all wrong and insist on finishing my scales on the tang. I'm a real rebel, I am. :D

But in knifemaking I found a way to really do things "my way" (within reason) and have it WORK. And have it work for other people out in the world.

That, there, is power of creation, mano. Makes the opposable thumbs worth having.
 
After 40 years as a psychologist, director of psych programs, program development, I retired. Got sick of deadlines, budget meetings, state and federal inspections, etc. Now I play with fire, hot steel, sparks, power hammer, belt grinder and end up with something that can cut or kill as needed. Start when I want, stop when I want. What's not to like?
Chip Kunkle
 
Kunklec said:
After 40 years as a psychologist, director of psych programs, program development, I retired. Got sick of deadlines, budget meetings, state and federal inspections, etc. Now I play with fire, hot steel, sparks, power hammer, belt grinder and end up with something that can cut or kill as needed. Start when I want, stop when I want. What's not to like?
Chip Kunkle
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Hi Chip (Doc)
You should know why we do it with your background and education. Are we excaping from reality by hiding out in the garage?
 
I saw this post and hesitated for a moment....then I said what the heck?

I make knives for a multitude of reasons, but non more important than the "feelings" that it evokes in me. I am not a seasoned maker, however, I bring a mess of life experience to the craft and I rely on that with each piece I fabricate.

When I was a young adult, I was told to get a good job, subsist on the income and benefits, raise a family, pay taxes, and then die. The folks around me said that it's not important to like what you do as long as you make a good living, things will fall in place. So, I got a good job, raised my kids, paid my taxes, and.....is that all there is? There has to more to life than mere existence, right?

I decided to go back to school when I was 31 years old.....earned and Associates, then a Bachelors, then my Masters....when that was all over I had spent my 30's learning and was no closer to where I wanted to be. I tried to apply my Masters of Adult Education at work, but found that the political arena was to well established for me to make any real progress. The powers that be were unwilling to admit that I had anything, (other than manual labor) to offer. Even though they reimbursed me for my educational expenses, they would not utilize my skills.

Then, one day at work, during a slow period, I picked up an old machinist file and headed over to the grinder. I had every intention of making something sharp and pointy, O.K. maybe just something pointy. Grinding away, I got the idea to ask for some help from one of the welders....perhaps he had a better way of creating pointy objects? He was more than willing to share some grinding knowledge with me as he grabbed the 4" angle grinder and went to work. Before long, we had a K.S.O. (Knife Shaped Object)...with some real potential. My welder buddy then said I should visit with one of our machinist to learn a little more about the sharpening aspects. He too shared some great ideas and quickly added that the tool makers would be another great resource for my project. They were eager to help me understand that geometry and heat treating were going to play a big role in my project.

Word got around the shop and within half and hour, I had a young fellow offer to bring me in a nice piece of antler to use for the handle.


I never did finish that knife....but I was hooked. I got an issue of BLADE Mag. and never looked back.

The reason I've explained this humble beginning in such detail, is not so that I can relay my knife make origins. Rather I'd like you to understand what I was feeling when this was occurring. I was totally engrossed in soaking up as much information as possible from my co-workers. I never once wished I was somewhere else or doing something else. And I was learning and retaining more than I'd learned in all of my years in college. The fellows that were aiding me seemed to be just as enthusiastic as well. Then I put it all together. We were working and learning at the same time on something interesting to us. There was no false pretenses about what we were doing, we were simply making something because we were all interested in the process.

Unfortunately, for most individuals, work and processes will never seem so interesting. Abject drudgery, lack of any real hope are all that they will ever know. I say that is a shame and I feel for them.

Making knives makes me "FEEL ALIVE", like I have something to contribute to the world. I can express myself in a tangible, functional way and I get to try my hand at flow and form as well. No one tells me what to craft as I can pick and choose what forms my knives will take. The community on the forums, and at various events is shockingly transparent.....techniques are disseminated with pure glee. And, I feel perfectly comfortable/welcome sharing my burgeoning skill/knowledge base with any one who is interested. That willingness to share is priceless......not something that you find in every profession and or art form. A lot of folks hold on to their retained skill sets and knowledge bases and never get to complete their full working, teaching life cycle.

The best part of making knives is, without a doubt......helping someone else make a knife. They learn a little and I learn a lot about myself. It make me complete and it makes my life more fulfilling.
 
grease-man said:
I make knives because I like burning my fingers, having black snot, and covering everything in the shop with fine layers of assorted dust...

I also make knives because I enjoy being angry and frustrated because I can't get the plunge grinds right, or the design quite right, or I uncover a scratch that makes the Grand Canyon look small in comparison!

I make knives because I enjoy the charlie horses I get when I accidentally dig my thigh into the horn on my anvil, when all I'm trying to do is find my drill press chuck key, or some other thing that went missing!

QUOTE]

This pretty much hits it on the button for me. Besides, for some reason :confused::confused:I married a real nagger and just can't wait to get out of the house. The wife's real scared of machines and never bothers to come nag in the workshop ;-):jerkit:
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