Why I make them......
My knife making story isn't quite like most of the makers that have posted here, I have wanted to make knives since I bought my first hand made from Jerry Mann, in Montgomery, Alabama. He made an extemely nice knife, I wanted a functional hunter/skinner, he chose what he called a Canadian design, kinda looks like a Grohman, very similar. Anyway, it has been on my mind to actually make them since then. Now that was in 91', I went into the USMC in 84', where I was a "Grunt", for 3 years, always carring more knives on my body than anyone else, but like so many have said when someone needed a knife they came to me everytime. Since the time I got that first custom, I have thought about it ,then I discovered a magazine called Blade, and from there knew I was going to make knives, from about 1995 untill I actually started last year I would gear up and get all excited about getting started, then talk myself out of it, once I would start looking at equipment, supplies just the overall costs of getting started, it would discourage me and I would talk myself out of it. Life happended and many things changed, I got remarried in 08 and I married an incredible woman that could see that I had to make knives, I did the same thing again, well, I tried to. I started talking about not making knives and she, my new bride, told me we would be having a knife shop in what was my old barn, whether I used it or not! So I couldn't talk myself out of it! It was the kind of thing that I felt I had to do, or it would never leave me alone. I had no idea if I would be any good at it, had no kind of training in metal or any knowledge before hand of anything to do with making anything short of basic carpentry. So I was basically starting with blank slate! Which wasn't a bad way to start, I didn't have any preconcieved notions, I didn't do it for money, I did it because I felt like I had to do it or the urge to do it would never stop. I'm quickly approaching my first year anniversary, I will say I have had some great times, alone in my shop or with the whole family, I've frozen my butt off this last winter, because I had to be in the shop, I got warmed by forging, something I knew I wanted to do eventually, but didn't think I would be doing it my first year. The thing that keeps me going is that there is so much to learn, and mastering any of it will take the rest of my life. I'm never bored with any aspect of knife making, because every part of it is challenging. I've done all kinds of hobbies, most of them I've either gotten bored with or found other things to do, but this is different, there is a burning desire that drives me, to make, or should I say create the finest quality, most functional and asthetically pleasing knife I can make, I have made about 10 knives to date, I get in no hurry to finish one, I will go all the way back to 80 grit to get a scratch out, to go back and find another that I missed, in the never ending quest of making one, just one, that is as close to perfection as I am capable of. Once I can do that, I feel like I would have accomplished something. Doing it again and again gives me a feeling like I can't explain, and when someone else appreciates my work, that feeling is an addiction. I don't know what it is, adrenalin maybe? All I know is that it is a satisfaction like no other, I have collected for many years, but my collection would be considered "used". I can't concieve buying a knife and not using it, it blows my mind, that some folks can. At the very least carry it, I have one that is pretty expensive, my former wife, bought it for me as an anniversaty present, it was our 11th and last, she pasted away 10 days later, it was made by Mark Laramie, and it is incredible. It has a Bubble wrap damascus blade, Desert iron wood scales, file worked all over, it is exquisite, but NO amount of money could buy it, it means so much more to me than a dollar value could. Much like most of my collection, mostly simple knives that I gave to my dad that I got back when he passed, they all seem to have a story to them, most of them don't have a dollar value on them, they have something much more important, a history, a history that I can rememeber, and for someone with brain damage that is precious. My collection will be going to my son, and the memories will be told to him over and over and over, so he can realize their value as well. So guys remember that you too will eventually make one that may not be your best work or be a 500 dollar knife to you, but they could become apart of a family's history, and one day be precious to someone. Rex
