First attempts at......

My first attempts at Loveless small wilderness. One with cocobolo, the other with ironwood and stainless bolsters. I had never done double hollow grinds before, though they aren't perfect, I'm very happy with how they turned out. Thanks for looking!

Beautiful Knives, You did well. Ed

You can "nick-pick" a knife to death! Being the maker, it's difficult to NOT see each and every flaw!
My advise is focus of the good, and ignore the bad! Not saying completely disregard any flaws that
can be improved on the next knife, this is a journey, with each and every knife you make it's like
another destination you've visited! Learn from it, but don't forget the good stuff! Celebrate all of
those things you've had trouble with getting right, and set aside all of the flaws you can see,
(I DID NOT SEE THE FIRST FLAW IN THESE BLADES! BUT PICS ARE DIFFICULT TO SEE THEM IN!)
So, set aside the flaws and feel good about the stuff you got right! Then, once you go back to work,
address those mistakes, and try not to make them again, you might make the same mistake on the
next knife, and if you do, don't sweat it, finish the knife and try NOT to do it again on the next one!
It IS THAT SIMPLE! WHENEVER YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, TRY NOT TO DO IT ON THE NEXT KNIFE!
I know as makers, we are our worst critics, looking at the pics, those 2 knives look AWESOME!!!
Rex

Thanks guys. I haven't made a perfect knife yet. I think that pursuit of perfection is a big part of the appeal to making knives.

This is a beautiful knife, the work you've put in it, is nothing short of amazing! Do not think anything less
than that! Every time you've faced a problem, you've found a way to fix it! PERFECTION is difficult, but it is what
drives us, maybe not to actually be perfect, but to get close to it, that is what we are after, but think about it.
It is THE PURSUIT that drives a lot of us! It's a never ending journey, like chasing the end of a rainbow for a pot of gold, or any other
impossible task! No matter how perfect you make a knife you will always find SOMETHING!
You, (I think I'm really talking more about me!) have to find a place where it's good enough!
I know I have a hard time finding that place where, what ever knife I'm working on, is good enough,
that pursuit of perfection is so fleeting, so elusive, its not that its unattainable, its that it takes so much precision,
so much attention to detail, I think it all boils down to getting each and every knife as close to perfect as humanly possible!!
That is what we all try to do every time we make a knife, some get a lot closer than others, but those that do get so much closer,
are the ones that have failed, (they are the Masters), many more times than most of us have tried to make a knife!
It all comes down to perseverance! Those that preserver, overcome any problems and above all - NEVER QUIT TRYING!
Those will be the next Bruce Bump's, Ed Caffrey's or even Bob Loveless' in the world! We all have the ability within us, because of the
desire to begin is there, the ability to be awesome is only held up by our own minds! That's when you have to tell your mind to, "shut it!"
And then tell it what you will do! You will not believe what you will be capable of once you get to that point,
I too have had the same problem, not so much about being awesome, more so with believing in myself, in the quality of my knives....OK this has gotten a little long, but I hope I got my point across, I read a lot, and one of the first things I read was a Bob Loveless book, I think, the main thing that was impressed upon me was the difference between those that succeed and those that don't, it was that those that succeed,
DO NOT QUIT! They persevere, they fail and try again, that is the difference between those that make phenomenal knives and those that make a few good knives and quit!
Rex

I haven't musterd up the courage to try one of those yet. You did great!!!

Nice work!

That is some very nice work.