Knife making / thoughts / level / what are you building

OK this is the place Boss says for such a discussion. This idea blossomed off a thread in "Shop Talk" called Roman knot file work?So if you are not up to speed then you can jump back and take a look at it! The discussion got way off track and somewhat heated. So I am going to post Boss's advice to all, including me!

BossDog said:

the main forum is entirely appropriate.

Post a starting topic/thread(s) and we will let it wander around. If it needs to be split up or grumped about, I'm your guy. We moderate here if things get rude or inappropriate. Everyone is usually fine with that until their thread/post gets moderated. We are equal opportunity that way.

I have no problem with controversial topics and there are plenty in knife making. What I have a problem with is bashing people, companies, ideas that don't match your own ideas, practices, beliefs. We are not Angie's list where you can post a negative review about someone or something. If we can keep it from getting personal and we don't say "your way is stupid and you are too" kinda things, we can talk about most anything you want.

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OK I am going to start this off! First while not intending, my comment on "trade secrets" in the other thread seemed to hit some raw nerves and when I qualified my opinion with a reason it seemed to have no effect! Too my surprise by the time the thread seemed to get back on track I may have even beginning to understand the other opinion! So if my opinion upset you remember it only my opinion and I have no intention of trying to force it on anyone!


I first got interested in knife making back in 2007. I still today consider myself a newbie in the field. I have given away as many knives as I have sold to date but I learn from each and everyone, as well as learning from this and other forums, and directly and indirectly from other makers. I consider myself a hobbyist at this point in time, manily because my wife is in bad health, as well as myself and just life and the time I take with my grandsons seems to always push my knife making to the back burner.

I have learned a lot from other makers over the years. In the past I have asked certain makers how to do something. Not because I was too lazy to try and figure it out but because what I was seeing impressed me. Often I get the answer in a very good explanation. However there has been times when I felt I hit the stone wall of "trade secrets".

Sometimes you ask and their is no reply, so then I figure they didn't want to share, and I respect that and I don't ask again. That refusal to share is OK, although I am not exactly sure why they feel that way. In the previous discussion some one mentioned there lively hood as to why they kept trade secrets! That statement put me too thinking that may be a part of the why when it comes to "trade secrets"!

However I feel in this day and time once the picture is posted online you pretty much lost all rights. Sure some have copyrights or watermarks on the pics. However what I am talking about it's open opportunity to copy anything in the picture! I can understand it took you years too perfect what you do with your knives and you don't want to give it up.
However I look at it this way. Even if you tell them "how to", copying what you showed them will still take drive from them to ever perfect it too the level you perform at! Besides I kind of like the fact that one day this maker might say, "C Craft taught me how to do that, he's gone now but I have always appreciated that he showed me how" OK so maybe that is fantasy but it sounds good" LOL

So I covered my thoughts on trade secrets.

The reason I make knives is the very reason that I always loved doing carpenter work when I was still able to do it! I like looking at the finished product and saying, "I built that with my hands and it is as perfect, as I can possibly make it"! I build all sorts of knives but I like building those most that represent the 1800's. Now sometimes I do take some liberties with that!

I do not build for the collectors all though some of my knives have been very authentic to the 1800's period. I use this line in my paperwork I send out with my knives. I want every knife I build to look so good you can't wait to pick it up, feel so good in your hand you can't wait too use it, and once you use the knife, see that it performed so well, you don't want to put it down. I don't do fantasy pieces or art pieces, but that doesn't mean I can't look at such a piece and not appreciate all the hard work that someone has put into it!

So there it is, I am a opinionated ole coot, who considers himself a hobbyist and likes knives from the 1800's. I do all of my own work on knives and sheaths and I am most happy when someone buys one of my knives and uses it!

So lets hear from some of the rest of you! As to where you feel you are in your knife making at this point in time. What you are building and is it selling? What is your real passion and why etc. etc.

I think there is a line that should not be crossed. The hard part is figuring out where the line is. I like the work of certain makers and therefore I make knives that look similar (at least in my view). However I would be mortified if someone told me I was trying to copy their work. When John Doyle posted about someone wanting to do an exact copy of one of his knives, that in my opinion is crossing the line. Some knives like drop point hunters all look similar and you can only do so much.

I can see both sides of the coin about "Trade Secrets". I don't keep track of the time I put into knifemaking but I consider myself a amateur at best. I want to learn as much as possible so I often ask questions about how certain details are done on knives posted here. My hope is the knifemaker enjoys answering questions about their work because it shows interest in their knife. I think the knifemaker has the choice in answering or ignoring my questions.

Bruce Bump's legendary WIP's are detailed enough theoretically that anyone could copy his knife. I'm sure there are knifemakers who could make a reasonable copy from his WIP's but 99% of us (Myself included) lack the skill to even come close to his standard. To do a WIP like Bruce's is a serious investment in time and effort with little return. We are the ones who gain from these WIP's and we should appreciate them

The facts are simple information costs money. When an engineer, mechanic, carpenter, etc finishes school and gets a job they use the skills they learn to make a living, knifemakers are the same. Some guys like Kevin Cashen, Bruce Bump, Ed Caffrey, (any other big name knifemaker) must get dozens of e-mails a day requesting information and asking questions. It is easy to see how they could spend many hours answering questions when they could be making knives. For these guys knifemaking is a job and it must make money. Most knifemakers are very free and help anyone who asks, some are not. Each has their own reasons for their point of view and it is their right to do as they please.

Great topic and as long as everyone is respectful there is a lot we can gain from each others perspective. Hopefully I have not offended anyone.

A word of caution I am not trying to kick off this whole issue on "trade secrets" all over again. Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut on that issue! I was trying to approach that discussion with the idea that the trade secrets issue may be based in the fact that as a maker you are making a living at making knives. The subject is something I wanted to try discuss from another direction.

Brad believe it or not I do agree with what you said. I can imagine that folks who have "got there", so to speak probably do get daily requests on "how to", and that may well be a factor that I had not previously thought of. I have talked with every one of those makers you spoke of and been graciously helped by all of them. I have even asked a few how to questions of them and don't ever remember one of them not answering questions.

You touched on another thing a blatant copy of someone work, this has been discussed before and I have to somewhat agree with that is absolute NO NO. However its like I said previously once its out there you pretty much loose control over it. Take for example Randall Made Knives, there are one of the most copied out there. I much prefer to see someone say, this is a Randall inspired knife.

I personally have a file called reference pieces. I try to put the makers name under each and every pic so if I do use their piece as an inspiration I use their name to reference the fact that my knife was inspired by, "maker so and so". Often it may not be the whole knife that catches my eye but maybe the finish on the blade, the shape, the shape of a ferule, the material used, etc. etc. I had one in my file a while back and I am sitting there looking at the pic and thinking why did I copy the pic, and then it hit me. It was not the knife that I liked at all it was the sheath, in that same picture. It had a unique look I had never seen before!

When I first started in this I designed a couple of knives that I thought had such a unique shape, I had never seen anything quite like it. Till about a week later I was researching something and came across some pics of some knives that might date back to Cleopatra times. Staring me right in the face was a knife with the shape so similar to the one I had drawn it could have been the a picture of that same knife. When you get right down to it we all are just making copies of something that has already been done! :what!: :biggrin:

Anyway I am glad to see others are beginning to join into this discussion and I for one am looking forward to see where this thread takes us! This discussion does not have to be all about "trade secrets", so please join in and lets see what a great community this knife making community is!



Brad I just went back and reread your post one more time, you gave a for example, Bruce Bump and his WIP's and said, "To do a WIP like Bruce's is a serious investment in time and effort with little return. We are the ones who gain from these WIP's and we should appreciate them"
WIP's no matter the person is always something I appreciate and I figure people like Bruce the return is that he gets the satisfaction of teaching you something in detail.

Much like a school teacher, the monetary return will never equal the time and effort they place into their students, so their big return is the satisfaction they achieved from seeing how they influenced one life! Bruce I hope you don't feel that I am speaking for you but, I have talked in depth at times about things I didn't understand and always came away feeling you did your absolute best to explain it too me, even if I didn't get it the first time!:57:

I hear my name over here. I do enjoy making the Work In Progress threads and enjoy even more when the new makers appreciate them. I've always taught everything I've learned and will forever I think. When I get calls on the phone or emails I simply link them to my forums here on knifedogs, that way I'm not on the phone much.

The monetary comes from collectors that enjoy watching their piece being built on the forum. I get requests from them to make a WiP on their project so they can watch it happen. Its quite exciting to some of them and us dogs too I think.

Wips started for me when I had to show them I was working on their knife. I wouldn't take a deposit until I has some progress made. Usually the blade has to be done and approved before I can go on to the guard and handle ect. So I would take pictures of the process and email the client a few shots so he knows what he's getting. If he approves the blade I get a payday. Some of the gun/knives take months to complete so I need a payday every month. No progress pictures, no paydays.

Good story, Bruce. I've certainly benefitted from your WIP's, and have done a few WIP's of my own. I just sold a knife, at my highest price to date, to a guy who was just thrilled to have had the building documented. Sometimes it pays directly.

I usually deflect people who say things like "talent" in reference to my knives. I have practiced alot, I suppose, if that's a talent. I have learned alot, but that's not hardly talent either. I usually say "I don't know anything about knives that I didn't learn from somebody else." A few epic WIP's and a few conversations with the experienced guys are worth their weight in gold to me.

For me, to get back on topic, I am in this as a long term option at retirement. I am a career military man and I will be able to retire at 55. That will leave me with 20-25 years of life where I will be able to work. I hope to get to the point where I can supplement my pension doing a job I love.

I have always had a love of all all things combat and I first started designing combat knives. My first knife was a collaboration with Paul Moore on his BOB reverse edge knife. I then designed my RETT reverse edge tango.

Looking forward, I am starting to make some traditional hunters and skinners, and making some kitchen knives. The idea is that those will pay for my experiments.

Some guys like Kevin Cashen, Bruce Bump, Ed Caffrey, (any other big name knifemaker) must get dozens of e-mails a day requesting information and asking questions.

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I forgot to add a very important point I have bothered all of those knifemakers that I mentioned and they have all answered my questions often in depth.

:biggrin: Really like the direction in which this thread seems headed! I tottaly agree with Brad on this one. Every one of those makers have answered many questions for me. Ed Caffrey helped in the design of my forge, Bruce Bump answered countless questions about a WIP he was doing and my brain couldn't make the connection, of what he was saying, and Kevin Cashen told me one day in a thread I started about quenching that I asked some of the best questions and and then proceeded to explain what he was talking about in terms, even I could understand. But then if I went through name by name there is so many more makers that have imparted knowledge to me whether directly or indirectly, than we have time or space.
I once had a karate instructor that said in a discussion about learning some of the moves that, "some people learn by instruction, for some people it is visual, and for some it is a combination of instruction and visual! Sometimes I think that my brain files info by more of the third choice, because when someone changes their avatar, it takes me a while too associate the info they imparted to me to that avatar! Where as, when I see someone's avatar I know the first thing I think, is this is a thread I want too read!

OK guys. I have been on a self induced hiatus from knife making this year. I'm trying different things, wrestling with a job and business, and generally trying to re-invent myself somehow. That is all my doing and fault, but I still check in here everyday and although I post less frequently than before, I still try to follow every post.

I can honestly say, and stand by it for life, that no one has helped me more frequently and with more fervor than Bruce Bump when it comes to sensible knife making. Artistry can't really be taught, but learning the processes and systems that make what we thought was impossible a little easier, leads to better design and function. When the little things sort themselves out, the rest comes more naturally. Maybe this is a progression towards learned artistry, I'm not sure.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that "knowledge breeds knowledge". When we still had decent trade schools in this country, we were taught the basics of material handling, safety procedures and product knowledge. With these skills mastered, we could then move on to assist and observe (yes, and sometimes buy lunch :biggrin: for our journeymen). This was the basis of learning. It's what made this country and the knifemaking industry as Great as it is.

"Trade secrets", if they really exist, are simply just a way for one maker to differentiate himself from the crowd. Fortunately for us KnifeDogs, the people who keep these "secrets" usually don't frequent the forums. But I really think that those secrets really don't exist anyway. (Whoa, that's a bold statement!!)
And here is why I believe that. Go to the Blade show or any Guild show and look at the finished pieces of the best makers in the world. Their finished product is as close to perfect as we can imagine. Trade Secret? No!....More patience, a better feel for fit and finish, an eye for balance, maybe better equiptment? YES. The guys who say "I wish I could that", will be doing "that" if they keep their nose to the grindstone, observe and remember, and not be afraid to try another method. And trying a method that someone else has tried and been successful at is not a terrible idea as long as you are not copying their concept line by line.

I'll tell you that learning as a group is also fun and surprisingly available. Attend a Hammer-In and have the masters of our craft anxiously awaiting to teach you everything they know and have experienced. This is a concept that is unheard of in other trades and crafts. If you can't attend, at least get together with a group of fellow makers and compare notes or just bang on steel together.

There are funny places to meet people, several years ago I was making crap knives and trying to sell them on Ebay for next to nothing, my first online compliment (on a knife that didn't deserve a compliment) came from a guy named Jim Coffee. This prompted me to be a better maker and we became friends and Jim has since elevated himself to one of the premier makers around.

Bottom line for me has always been to appreciate what others are willing to help you with, try it or don't try it, that's your choice. But eventually you work these other methods into your repertoire and be better for it.

OK, I've rambled enough and also need to mention and thank Boss for this forum and the opportunity to speak freely.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Janik

I would love to see more about what you build and why! What is selling, what you love to build and or what you hate to build. Do you do your own sheaths, etc. etc. Over the years I have watched some who started about the same time as myself blossom out into butterfly's so to speak. Some of there pieces are really showing the determination and hard work they are putting into them. Makes me feel like I have some catching up to do!

I sometimes feel I struggle with my own demons in my knife making. I will point out a flaw and other folks can't see it, so maybe I am own worst critic but that is not always a bad thing!

The first piece I contracted out as a custom piece was to a fellow who was my friend, (sadly he passed to cancer early this year) anyway he gave me free reign over the knife. When I brought the piece to him it was totally different than the other knife I had shown him!

However he had seen a skinner I had sold and that's when he told me wanted a knife made for his son. The son was in Afghanistan and a skinner did not seem the appropriate shape. I kept the blade short but it had more of a combat look/design to it, much more so, than any ole skinner. I even went on to use a new technique on the handle I had never tried before, except in my furniture fiishing. I used a pickled type finish on Red Oak handle slabs. It left it a green shade! To me Red Oak is a pretty wood but on a knife handle it doesn't leave a lot of space to work with and by itself it tends to be somewhat drab.

When I showed it too the wife she seemed a little hesitant to say that's great and when I pressed her on it, what she disliked was the handle color. :what!: OH OH! However, I liked it and so stuck too my guns. When I delivered it too my friend his mouth fell open and the first thing he said was I owe you more money!

No way, I told him we agreed on a price and that's what you get it for. He took it from the sheath and held it in his hand, " I wasn't expecting a sheath", he said. Well a knife is naked without a sheath in my opinion and laughed. Then I asked the critical question, "do you like it"? Sure do he says! Then I asked the question I was worried about! What about the handle? Cause if you don't like it I will re-do the handle!!! I really like that he said, I have never seen anything like it! He had a phrase engraved on the knife and presented too his son when he came back from Afghanistan!

The point to this long winded story is that we had been in a discussion on handles on the shop talk forum and I casually mentioned that I liked Red Oak and the pickling process I had used when doing furniture finishing! I would have never tried this finish had it not been for a seasoned makers encouragement to try new things when you had the oppotunity!

Anyway I have rambled enough. I really was hoping this thread would go in a good direction and I feel it has, so I am going to cool my jets on the thread for a while and see where it goes. Remember my intention was not just to bring up trade secrets, I was just hoping I could ease the bad taste I seemed to have left in some of the members mouth's!:biggrin:

Hey C craft I may be different then some I do this soley for me. This is my down time to decompress and knives I think have always been
in my blood from hunting to camping, work you name it I have always had a knife on me.
I think the jump to making knives was always going to happen soon or later.
Don't get me wrong I think its cool when someone really likes what I made but I build only what I can afford to give away.
And have met some great guys I now call friends Boss, Janik, peter martin. and some I have not yet met. And the shows are super fun I only do 2 a year but
they are a great time and you really get to hear what the people want and get to talk knives for 2 straight days whats better then that?
I try to learn a little of everything and do leather,kydex, fixed blades, and one day with the help of frank niro and peter martin I will get a liner lock done. Ok that's enuf out of me
before I put someone to sleep

C Craft said:

I would love to see more about what you build and why! What is selling, what you love to build and or what you hate to build. Do you do your own sheaths, etc. etc.

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I started building knives because I needed more knives. I kept building knives because it was fun. I still build knives because it's fun, and because it is at least a self-supporting hobby that occasionally pays. I write paperwork for a living, in a job that "helps people." Paperwork is killer on the mind, and people don't improve very fast, so I need an outlet. Knives allow me to start with nothing and end up with a tangible something.

My tastes in building have changed a little. I still build alot of hunters in the 8 inch range, because that's what I like to use and that's what my customers like to buy. I've also started building more complex pieces, as a way to push myself. I joined the Guild and the ABS both, mostly to provide an excuse to push myself to higher levels of quality and toward forging damascus. I still take orders, because they're more certian money. I still make about 30% of my knives just because it's what I want to make.

I have always done my own sheath work, and have always disliked it. I can make a good sheath now, but I still don't like it compared to making knives. On the other hand, there are evenings I just don't want to stand up and get dirty, but I can still sit on the couch and sew a sheath on those evenings.

i started making knives about two years ago. i sell at local craft fairs and farmer's markets. I started making knives so i had one that fit my long thin hands and a had a blade that worked. i have alot of help from Chris Williams and the other makers who meet at his place for first saturday get togethers.
I make knives for the kitchen. Most of my blades are O1, i am also doing some of O2 and 1.2519. All of my handles are natural wood from local sources. Most of the wood started as a piece of log. I enjoy the experience of splitting the log, then splitting out the most interesting pieces, then finding the knife handle that is there. Most of my handles are book matched, finished with satin or gloss polyurethane.
i do my own heat treat in electric furnaces. with the help of Kevin Cashin and others on this forum, i have been able to get repeatable results when heat treating.
my blades have a simple shape so they are easier to grind and sharpen. the larger blades are cleaver/nakari because that is the blade shape i prefer. I test all of them in my kitchen so i know they work. I make handles in many sizes and shapes, so customers can find one that fits them. That is the niche I have chosen, kitchen knives, with very hard blades (Rc62-65), very thin edge(i try to keep total angle between 15 and 20), a unique one of a kind handle that fits your hand. i hope to eventually sell enough for it to be my job.
the basic blade shapes in some cases are copies of commercial knives, at least in general shape and proportion. that is if taking an internet store picture, printing it, then measuring the picture is copying. the knife on the left is a small nakari made of 1.2519, 1.6mm stock hardened to Rc64. the knife on the right is an ajikiri clone made of O1, 3/32 stock hardened to Rc62. both handles are from an oak burl i rescued from a fire wood pile.
when i first started making knives, i was part of many knife forums. currently i am active here and a metallurgical site as all the others were either filled with silly rules or silly/dangerous/old wives tale advise. I forge steel for a living. I work on a 1600ton warm form press and two 800 ton cold form presses. i chuckle when i read some of the claims made about how folks are doing all these magical things to the steel microstructure while whacking it with a 3 pound hammer. we forge because it is the cheapest way to make car parts.

The last two weeks I've been working on a locking folder. I haven't cut anything yet....but I have piles of sketches and a design I finally like. Years ago I worked as a mechanical designer for a product development company. But the last couple of years I haven't done much design work. I have had an absolute blast doing sketches of knives the last two weeks. I had forgotten how much I missed designing things......

Hopefully I'll start cutting something next week.

I've also been helping a member here work on creating CAD files for his handles. It's been fun but surprisingly tricky. I haven't done any real subtle surfaces in cad in a long time and it's more art than science. I didn't realized how "out of shape" I had gotten on cad work.

Seeing all the amazing work on this forum has been a real boost. My dad died this Feb and I had made him a crude knife years ago but always wanted to make him a nice custom job. He was the one who got me into knives and guns and cameras and hunting, etc. An old marine used to come visit him from the VA the last few months of his life. Dad was a WWII pow and really enjoyed his visits. I think I will build one for the marine as a thank you in honor of dad since I can't make him one.

Thanks for a great forum, guys.....

Ted

I started making knives because I wanted a hobby in which I created something. All of my hobbies up to that point had been centered around collections. The problem with collecting things is that no matter what you are collecting it's all about who has the most money! I collected and still have a very nice collection of rimfire rifles. I sold most of my Hi Standard pistol collection.

I met Ron Hembrook at a gun show, and I was admiring his knives. This was the first time that I started to understand what went into building a knife. I started buying a few custom knives, and then I tried making my own.

I'm no where near the level of most of the people on this forum, and it takes me a long time to finish a knife. I'm making fewer mistakes with each knife I make. My goal is to have a skill/hobby that I'm good at when it comes time to retire. It would be great if it supplements my retirement. I have donated some of my knives to charity auctions/raffles, I've given away several, and I've sold a few. The ones I have sold have been to recoup cost of materials. I'm not getting paid for my time, but I'm learning and don't really think I should be getting paid for my time yet.

I make all kinds of knives, but really want to focus on kitchen knives because they get used on regular basis. I want to make a useful tool for people.

I'm amazed at the level of sharing that happens in the knife making community, it is a sure sign of the character of the people!

great thread!

i started making knives almost ten years ago at age 15 (24 now), why?
i always loved knives, like any other boy, around the age of 15 i had the time to think about my future as i wasn't really doing anything in school, understanding that my adult life is going to be 80-90% being at work and that with the example of my dad being an extremely talented man stuck in a job he doesn't enjoy for the rest of his life made me came to an understanding that i will only live once and i'm going to do what i love,
then came the question, what is the thing you want to do the most?,
the craziest thing, like you would ask a 5 year old what he wants to be when he grows up, and i wanted to be a knife maker.
along the way allot of people "advised" me not to do it, not to waste my time.

i then had the nerve (15 years old ) to ask no other then Allen Elishewitz for advice, he took the time to answer every one of my unexpirianced, too general questions, it might have not took much from him but it sure did meant allot to me.
with Allens help i made a list of the tools i'll need and how much money i'll need to save to get them.

i learnd most of what i know from the internet, meaning from knife makers how took the time to share their knowledge and experience,
coming from that sharing knowledge is a big part of knife making for me, i have no secrets, i see every other knife maker as a colleague reather then a competitor.

i love designing knives, it's my favorite part of the process, i take my inspiration from everything, a super car, old oriental knives, plants, antique tools, organic curves of the human body or a CNC machined aluminium part.
i can start listing the names of knife makers who have influenced my work but it would just be too long, from techniques through design and up to color and material combinations, needless to say it will NEVER be a copy of someone elses work, inspired by his work in the best case and if so it will have the proper credit.

i make mostly fixed blades, practical ones and more artistic ones but my goal is to make mainly folders, but like most makers i started at the start, making fixed blades.
i love working with exotic wood, carbon fiber, micarta, G10, almost every kind of handle material.

as for the last two years i'v been making knives full time and hope to move to my first real shop in the next few months, couldn't have been happier with the choices i'v made.

Lerman....I must say that I am floored to discover you are 24. Your knives are absolutely beautiful and would make me think you have 35 years experience!

It is interesting to read the stories - the life stories of the different makers on this site.

First, I would never have guessed that Lerman was only 24 years old. I would have guessed his age to be much higher with many more years of experience by just looking at his finished knives. Very impressive. I cannot wait to see what he is making when he turns 50. He was fortunate and started at a very young age with a great deal of talent and ambition. He has educated himself well in the knife world. Still, I think I have shoes older than him. :1:

I, on the other hand, started at a much later age. I began making knives at the age of 47. I am now, almost 50. Come November, I will hit a milestone birthday and begin getting discounts at all the restaurants worth visiting.

I am a mere hobbyist - at best. I have a full-time job, a loving wife, and three (3) children (all boys - ages 13, 11, and 8) that take up the majority of my time. I make knives to fill in the free-time and give me an outlet to relieve my other stressors. I also get to spend some time in the garage.

I began making knives after my father died of cancer. That sounds kind of strange. But, during his lifetime he owned a saw mill. I inherited about 1,000 board feet of lumber (walnut, oak, cedar, hackberry, maple, cherry, cottonwood, etc.) I cannot even identify all the different flavors. Some of it is on the nicer side and some on the plain side. All of it is special to me. Heck, I helped cut some of it 25-30 years ago. It has been stored in the rafters just drying out for all of this time.

I made the first knife as a momento for myself. I then made my children a knife using their grandfather's wood. Then my brothers each got one, my mother got one, my nephews/nieces got one, and then it just snowballed. So far I have made about 65-70 knives. Mostly hunters ranging from 6 inches to 10 inches. I have given away almost every one of the knives that I have made to date. I have a dream that I will make a slip joint folder in the future.

I don't even want to imagine selling/making knives for a living. I think it would be incredibly hard to take it to that level.

Most of my limited knife knowledge came from the internet. I would see an article, how-to, picture, etc. If I found interesting or helpful, I would keep it and investigate a little bit further. Eventually, I gained enough knowledge to not sound like a complete idiot. I began asking questions on here and other knife sites. I think, I have learned a little bit about making knives. There is still a great deal of knowledge to gather and process. I'm not sure you can digest it all in one lifetime.

I may get there, eventually - someday. In the meantime, I just keep gathering information, making knives and getting better equipment a little bit at a time.

As a new maker, I have found this site to be a tremendous help. Most of the people that post on here are friendly enough to tolerate a question or two from someone like me. I try not to take too much advantage of that situation. I am thankful that most knife makers are the friendly sort.

I am inspired by the creative and scientific processes of making knives/sheaths. 200, 300, 400 . . . knives from here, I hope to say, "I'm good at making knives".

DeMo

Hey Demo, I'm right there with you. I began making knives last year at the age of 44, so you and I (many other as well no doubt) are proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks, lol. I have always wanted to make knives but never could get out of my comfort zone far enough to accept the challenge. Many years ago I bought Wayne Goddard's books, several knife blanks, and handle materials with the idea of assembling some knives as a way to get into it without getting too involved financially. I never did use that stuff and sold it all at a yard sale several years ago.

I make knives because I like to. I would love to get good enough to be desirable and recognizable even locally some day, however I am horrible at knife design which is why I stick to stag handles. I just grab some steel and hammer and grind away everything that isn't a knife. The problem is sometimes there isn't a knife, lol.......