Les Voorhies
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I've been thinking about writing this since this new knifemaker area opened but it's hard to put this kind of thing down in writing and not have it offend someone. I've told Jake (my apprentice) about this subject and he was not offended but that was verbal, so I hope I can get this down without making anyone mad at me.
I saw a statement in a thread here the other night that reminded me of something that happened to me. I doesn't matter who said it because this is not about that person (I've never even seen his knives) but he mentioned that someone told him his knives looked better than some makers who have been making knives a long time. That's a great compliment for a new maker and many times it's true, but what worries me is the effect it has on the new maker.
Here's what happened to me, When I'd been making knives a few months I was getting compliments like this and it went straight to my head, I had local makers tell me they would sign my knifemakers guild application, so before I had been making knives a year I went to the guild show to show my knives around and get at least one signature from someone I didn't know personally, by this time I sort of thought I was pretty hot stuff, my head was growing like a melon. I got the signature (or the agreement for a signature, there was a snafu with getting the app.) and continued around the show. I ran into a well known maker that was not in the guild but was visiting someone there and started talking to him and showed him my knives, he warned me that he was going to be brutally honest and that many times, makers have been told by family and friend how nice their knives are that they might have a somewhat inflated view of their work, but I let him look them over anyway. He did not unduly rip into my work but he did pick them apart thoroughly, my head was pretty well deflated by the time I walked out of there, but that wasn't a bad thing, when I got back into my shop I had new goals, I looked at other knives with a new awareness of the subtleties in fit and finish and I work hard to this day to try to achieve that goal.
I didn't actually learn my lesson at that time, I'm still learning that lesson. At one time I thought I had advanced pretty well but I noticed that some dealers who carried mostly customs of a higher quality would walk by my table, look briefly at the knives and walk on, I got the message after a while, I wasn't in that league yet, I'm still not. My head has been inflated and deflated so many times I probably have stretch marks on my scalp.
Another component to this happens with a new maker that really is quite extraordinary, someone who came out of the gate making very excellent knives, maybe they had some other career or hobby that translated quickly to knifemaking or they are just extremely talented, big name dealers buy some, the mag's write articles and the maker is a superstar almost overnight. To see the bad side of this, just look up Brad Duncan.
So what all this boils down to for the new maker is... try not to get a melon head, any time you spend thinking you have arrived or don't really need to improve is wasted time. In my opinion it's an excellent idea to be your own worst critic. Compliments are a strong drug, don't let them lull you into contentment. A little humility can save you a lot of trouble in the long run, that's really the jist of this thread but if someone had just come up to me 15 years ago and said "have a little humility", I would have just scratched my head and gone on my marry way, that's why I wanted to explain why it's important.
I saw a statement in a thread here the other night that reminded me of something that happened to me. I doesn't matter who said it because this is not about that person (I've never even seen his knives) but he mentioned that someone told him his knives looked better than some makers who have been making knives a long time. That's a great compliment for a new maker and many times it's true, but what worries me is the effect it has on the new maker.
Here's what happened to me, When I'd been making knives a few months I was getting compliments like this and it went straight to my head, I had local makers tell me they would sign my knifemakers guild application, so before I had been making knives a year I went to the guild show to show my knives around and get at least one signature from someone I didn't know personally, by this time I sort of thought I was pretty hot stuff, my head was growing like a melon. I got the signature (or the agreement for a signature, there was a snafu with getting the app.) and continued around the show. I ran into a well known maker that was not in the guild but was visiting someone there and started talking to him and showed him my knives, he warned me that he was going to be brutally honest and that many times, makers have been told by family and friend how nice their knives are that they might have a somewhat inflated view of their work, but I let him look them over anyway. He did not unduly rip into my work but he did pick them apart thoroughly, my head was pretty well deflated by the time I walked out of there, but that wasn't a bad thing, when I got back into my shop I had new goals, I looked at other knives with a new awareness of the subtleties in fit and finish and I work hard to this day to try to achieve that goal.
I didn't actually learn my lesson at that time, I'm still learning that lesson. At one time I thought I had advanced pretty well but I noticed that some dealers who carried mostly customs of a higher quality would walk by my table, look briefly at the knives and walk on, I got the message after a while, I wasn't in that league yet, I'm still not. My head has been inflated and deflated so many times I probably have stretch marks on my scalp.
Another component to this happens with a new maker that really is quite extraordinary, someone who came out of the gate making very excellent knives, maybe they had some other career or hobby that translated quickly to knifemaking or they are just extremely talented, big name dealers buy some, the mag's write articles and the maker is a superstar almost overnight. To see the bad side of this, just look up Brad Duncan.
So what all this boils down to for the new maker is... try not to get a melon head, any time you spend thinking you have arrived or don't really need to improve is wasted time. In my opinion it's an excellent idea to be your own worst critic. Compliments are a strong drug, don't let them lull you into contentment. A little humility can save you a lot of trouble in the long run, that's really the jist of this thread but if someone had just come up to me 15 years ago and said "have a little humility", I would have just scratched my head and gone on my marry way, that's why I wanted to explain why it's important.