John Wilson
Well-Known Member
After lurking in the forums non-stop for quite some time in an attempt to begin my knifemaking education, I suppose it's only good manners to finally introduce myself. My name is John Wilson and knives are something I have been interested in all of my life but I'm only now beginning to make them. I suppose I fell into it. I started reconditioning old knives I had. Friends began sending me their old dilapidated knives to see if I could clean them up. Some needed way more than cleaning up, it turned out. After making guards and handles it occurred to me the only thing I wasn't making were the blades so I decided to jump in and just do it, and like everything else in life- hope to fail my way to success.
This site has been a tremendous help to me. I read the forums religiously as well as utilize YouTube, and buy the books recommended in the threads I read. (Where was YouTube 25 years ago?!)
I want to begin first by expressing my sincere gratitude to the makers on this site who so selflessly share their knowledge and encouragement, as well as all of you makers who post photos and WIP so that newbies like myself have some idea of what we are trying to accomplish and a basic idea of how to even start on such things. This site and the information offered has saved me years of learning the hard way. While every knife I make is still a learning process, at least I have an idea of which direction I'm supposed to be moving in so that I can spend my time learning how to get there the right way to begin with.
I have uploaded some pics of knives I have made to my profile for anyone interested. The pics are of various stages of completion. On thing I continue to struggle with is blade finish. By the time I get all the scratches out from grinding I am at a mirror finish. I have attempted a satin finish on every knife I've made so far, but either I'm doing it wrong or I don't know what it should look like. I simply can't seem to be happy with it until it shines. But I supposed that's a question for a different forum.
Again, a sincere Thank You to all of you.
This site has been a tremendous help to me. I read the forums religiously as well as utilize YouTube, and buy the books recommended in the threads I read. (Where was YouTube 25 years ago?!)
I want to begin first by expressing my sincere gratitude to the makers on this site who so selflessly share their knowledge and encouragement, as well as all of you makers who post photos and WIP so that newbies like myself have some idea of what we are trying to accomplish and a basic idea of how to even start on such things. This site and the information offered has saved me years of learning the hard way. While every knife I make is still a learning process, at least I have an idea of which direction I'm supposed to be moving in so that I can spend my time learning how to get there the right way to begin with.
I have uploaded some pics of knives I have made to my profile for anyone interested. The pics are of various stages of completion. On thing I continue to struggle with is blade finish. By the time I get all the scratches out from grinding I am at a mirror finish. I have attempted a satin finish on every knife I've made so far, but either I'm doing it wrong or I don't know what it should look like. I simply can't seem to be happy with it until it shines. But I supposed that's a question for a different forum.
Again, a sincere Thank You to all of you.
