Why?

rasret01

Well-Known Member
The other day a friend asked why I spend so much time making knives. I blew him off with one of the standard answers – “Gives me something to do in the shop when my wife locks me out of the house.” – but the thought wouldn’t go away. I do not pretend to be a poet, but after a few days, this is what percolated to the surface…

I’m here with you for a little while
A day, a month, a year
Then I’ll be gone to what I’ve earned
With little to show I was here.

The woman who chose to share my life
Good children, one, two, three
But soon they too must follow -
Fading branches on a family tree.

A little land, a crooked house
My favorite maple tree
A few worn tools in the little shop
But nothing that says – me.

The neighbors will remember
For just a little while
But then their lives will trundle on
And they’ll walk their own last mile.

So I make this knife as best I can
But not for wealth or fame
For the art and craft, for the skill and worth
…for a place to leave my name.

I’d like to think that somewhere
On the twisted path of life
Someone will heft my blade and say
“this man could build a knife”.

And perhaps they’ll stop and ponder
The history of that knife
And even give a little thought
To this maker’s obscure life.

Dick
 
Dick, that is absolutely beautiful. It brought a tear to my eye when I contemplated the feelings that spawned those words. Sir, you are a poet. Leave those words for others to cherish, too.
 
Very nice.

While still quite new to knife making I feel the same. I've explored other creative avenues in the past, photography, writing and painting to name a few. While I did quite well with photography almost all of my photos are in slide boxes on a shelf. People see a few and think they are nice but even so none of these are permanent the way a knife is.

That was one of the reasons I decided to try knife making. Short of sculptures in stone or bronze (which I've thought about) , a knife will last and last like no other art form.
 
I find that most knifemakers are a sort of renaissance man, we seem to have to be skilled in a great deal of different fields. This proves it, as that is some of the finest verse I've ever read.
 
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