D
DrGrip
Guest
Hola all,
I have just recently gotten back into the hobby that cost me more than one girlfriend back in the late 70s/early 80s... Some of them needed to leave!
Back when I was a teen we had an old hand crank forge that the resident farm hand showed me how to use one afternoon to fab up a part for a piece of farm equipment. I have no clue now as to what the piece was, but I knew I was hooked when he told me that he used to use a forge like this back in Mexico to make knives!
The first 5 or 20 knives I made on the forge were made from old implement parts and pieces that I found in the scrap pile, and they mostly looked like it. But, as the years progressed, I got a bit better and even sold a few.
The last knife I made from scratch with the old hand crank forge was in 1984, the year I graduated. I gave that knife to my former Ag teacher. That was back when a knife in the pickup or in the locker wasn't a bad thing... It did help that I grew up in the country (my graduating class had 23).
After graduation I enlisted in the Navy and spent exactly 9 weeks in Virginia. After they informed me that some old injuries I had would preclude me from service I had to get a job and not go into sub school. Shortly after the job came a wife, and then kiddos.
Long story short, or is it too long already, I gave up knife making to make a living and to go to college at the same time.
A few years ago I began to buy some knife blanks from a gent that imported them and I made a few "kit" knives; that really got me started back into the hobby.
My importer died in January of this year, and I went to the net to find out where to get more blanks... It was then I found a few forums dedicated to knife making and fell in love all over again. I feel like a recovered alcoholic that has had his first drink after 15 years! Not sure if it's good or bad, but I am loving it! Even the wife is happy about it since I now have a hobby that pays a bit, not much, but she does deposit a check now and then. huh1
The ONLY thing I have left of any talk from my youth is my anvil and a couple of files. I'm going to try and make a forge in the near future.
Earlier this week I went to digging in some old boxes I hadn't looked in after 5 or 6 moves over the years to find a few files I knew I had stashed back and I found a knife blade I started out of some sort of stainless in 1993. I was working for a metal fab shop in the evenings back then and I remember vividly the day I cut the knife out! Sadly I was living in an apartment at the time and wasn't able to do much more than tickle the blade with a file on the balcony. After much frustration I tossed it into a small toolbox and forgot about it. Since I found it, and can remember it, I figured I'd finish it as I started it; files and sand paper, no machines. Look for pics in the near future.
Thanks for sticking with me this long, but I thought some might want to know I am a new guy with old experience, but I have a LOT TO LEARN! Be patient with my newbie questions.
Charlie
I have just recently gotten back into the hobby that cost me more than one girlfriend back in the late 70s/early 80s... Some of them needed to leave!
Back when I was a teen we had an old hand crank forge that the resident farm hand showed me how to use one afternoon to fab up a part for a piece of farm equipment. I have no clue now as to what the piece was, but I knew I was hooked when he told me that he used to use a forge like this back in Mexico to make knives!
The first 5 or 20 knives I made on the forge were made from old implement parts and pieces that I found in the scrap pile, and they mostly looked like it. But, as the years progressed, I got a bit better and even sold a few.
The last knife I made from scratch with the old hand crank forge was in 1984, the year I graduated. I gave that knife to my former Ag teacher. That was back when a knife in the pickup or in the locker wasn't a bad thing... It did help that I grew up in the country (my graduating class had 23).
After graduation I enlisted in the Navy and spent exactly 9 weeks in Virginia. After they informed me that some old injuries I had would preclude me from service I had to get a job and not go into sub school. Shortly after the job came a wife, and then kiddos.
Long story short, or is it too long already, I gave up knife making to make a living and to go to college at the same time.
A few years ago I began to buy some knife blanks from a gent that imported them and I made a few "kit" knives; that really got me started back into the hobby.
My importer died in January of this year, and I went to the net to find out where to get more blanks... It was then I found a few forums dedicated to knife making and fell in love all over again. I feel like a recovered alcoholic that has had his first drink after 15 years! Not sure if it's good or bad, but I am loving it! Even the wife is happy about it since I now have a hobby that pays a bit, not much, but she does deposit a check now and then. huh1
The ONLY thing I have left of any talk from my youth is my anvil and a couple of files. I'm going to try and make a forge in the near future.
Earlier this week I went to digging in some old boxes I hadn't looked in after 5 or 6 moves over the years to find a few files I knew I had stashed back and I found a knife blade I started out of some sort of stainless in 1993. I was working for a metal fab shop in the evenings back then and I remember vividly the day I cut the knife out! Sadly I was living in an apartment at the time and wasn't able to do much more than tickle the blade with a file on the balcony. After much frustration I tossed it into a small toolbox and forgot about it. Since I found it, and can remember it, I figured I'd finish it as I started it; files and sand paper, no machines. Look for pics in the near future.
Thanks for sticking with me this long, but I thought some might want to know I am a new guy with old experience, but I have a LOT TO LEARN! Be patient with my newbie questions.
Charlie
