new and only Shop poster!(so far...)

Smallshop

Smallshop

KNIFE MAKER
When I closed down the old (100 plus years)Mercantile store that I live above, I divided it roughly in half and ended up with about 1700 square feet of shop. It's actually nice enough to put some art on the walls. I've seen cool posters that I have thought about putting up but getting them in a mode that I can clean always becomes cost prohibitive (huge frames or custom material). So, after two years I have nothing...

Till today.

John Doyle made a statement on on a thread Kev started "hidden Tang design help" that was uber pithy...and resonated so well with me that I am having a poster made...2.5 x 4 feet!...using out door material (easy to clean)...and only $27 smackers! His statement came the day after I was getting depressed about the small slicers I love making compared to what seems to be the only acceptable style of knife in the magazines....breath of fresh air.... Thanks John Doyle!!

I think I will be watching for things you guys say to put on my walls....

Thank you all for the insights you are constantly sharing...both of a technical nature and philosophically speaking...I wonder if we realize how much we impact each other's thinking? I'm just beginning to realize...

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Ted, I read John's post this morning also and was very impressed with it. I LOVE your poster and agree with the sentiments totally.

BTW, you mean that isn't you in the photo? WOW - that's just how I imagined you looking {grinning broadly}

Ken H>
 
I'm glad he didn't call it, "just a fricking knife". THAT will get you in trouble "over there". Don't ask me how I know...,.
 
kuraki said:
John's just bent out of his shape because of his little hands. :p

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I one had a guy ask me to make a 3" hunter and use a 6 x 6 FULL ELK CROWN!!! for a handle. I thought it was ridiculous and refused.

But after shaking hands with you, you might find it comfortable.......if you wrapped some leather around it first to fill it out a bit.

See what you did? You made me lash out. What would Dr. Freedman think?
 
That's funny, but all too true.

Along with the "overbuilt" and "indestructible" debate comes endless nonsense about "good enough" steels. I keep hearing so many people wishing this knife or that knife came with "m390" or "3v" or "s35vn" or "20cv" or "insert flavor of the month steel here". Seems like the people that scream the loudest about the latest "super steels, or a knife's lack thereof, are the people that are only using their knives to cut open boxes with other knives in them. I mean, seriously... what are people using their knives on that 154cm is now considered just an "ok" steel, or s30v is considered inferior?

Maybe just learn how to sharpen and maintain a knife edge.

Don't get me wrong... building blades for something like a cutting competition is one thing, and I understand wanting to push the limits and boundaries of metallurgy. That said, if you're just using your knife to cut paper and clean fingernails, you probably don't need a tool steel that will never go dull, or be nearly impossible to resharpen if it ever does. And, hey, if somebody wants that? That's fine. But don't act like steels that have been used to make knives for the last 100+ years are now all but entirely useless.

[/rant]
 
J. Doyle said:
I never thought my (sometimes all too blunt) opinions would grace someone's walls as motivational posters, but I'm glad it inspired you.

What's the royalty on something like that? :)
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Prolly one o' my girly thin blades...lol. When I think I won't be embarrassed sending one to J.Doyle....
 
Daniel Macina said:
A lot of this stupid " indestructible" knife stuff came about because of Forged in Fire. I do enjoy the show but I wish people would do their research a little bit before expecting everything they see on a stupid TV show
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I think even before that....I think the "prepper boom" has done it's darn'dest to erase the thought of beauty from anything that has a utilitarian purpose...Forged in Fire only added drama, unreality, and sparks to the process...
 
Smallshop said:
Forged in Fire only added drama, unreality, and sparks to the process...
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That's the key word there. and I agree with Ted, the "Prepper" folks with the desire for all things "tactical" were the start of all the mess. Next thing you know they'll be wanting "tactical" paring knives.
 
Daniel Macina said:
A lot of this stupid " indestructible" knife stuff came about because of Forged in Fire. I do enjoy the show but I wish people would do their research a little bit before expecting everything they see on a stupid TV show
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It's been around much longer than FiF. Rembmer the Ginsu infomercials? I can also remember when youTube was first becoming a thing, there used to be a guy who's entire channel was based on testing knives to destruction, which included hammering them through 2x4s, cinder blocks, and even bars of steel. Can't quite remember the name of the channel anymore, but the guy always had a paintball mask on. Yes, certain knives certainly fared better than others, but the whole premise of what the knives were expected to do was (and still is) utterly ridiculous.

Around that same time, or perhaps a little earlier, you also had companies like Cold Steel, filming videos of guys doing pull-ups on their folding knife handles, pounding the points through car hoods, etc....

Again, I understand using these metrics in the context of a competition, where you have a very limited amount of time to weed out contestants, but the whole idea that a knife should be indestructible, while staying razor sharp indefinitely, or that one knife should be suitable for every cutting task on earth, it's just absolutely ridiculous. It started off as a marketing ploy, but somewhere along the line, because some sort of acceptable standard that never really existed in the first place.

Heck, companies are still trying shill the knives that "never need sharpening". I saw one the other day that claimed to NEVER need sharpening , but if you ordered in the next 15 minutes, they'd include a free knife sharpener. Say whaaa? :D
 
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