Mistakes, Let me count the ways

opaul

opaul

Well-Known Member
I'm going to blame it on the heat :).
I glued some two tone scales and drilled the pin holes, that are on this blade, for a different blade. Well, they happened to be a bit short for the intended blade so I decided I'll just put them on this blade. The problem was, I had already drilled the pin holes.
Easy enough, I'll just use the scales (now with drilled pin holes) as the template for new pin holes on the blade that already had pin holes drilled. I know this is complicated.
I was proud of myself, yep I saved those scales! Now as I began to dry mount and sand the scales to the blade I noticed the pins weren't centered with the tang. What to do :( , I decided to press ahead.
This is the result. I love the combination of the burl and the black wood, but as with any of us would be, the position of the pin holes really bother me. This will mostly likely stay in the family.
Lesson learned, don't try to save a set of scales at the expense of sacrificing a nice blade. I should have set those scales aside and started fresh.


 
That's a beautiful knife...if you could turn the rear pin into a lanyard hole and just tangent the backside of where the pin is...it would look real good...a larger lanyard hole will give you some up and down and forward location...I wouldn't do it if the handle was hard. That's still a very clean little knife...
 
Some days you eat the bear......and some days the bear eats you! :) Been there many times, and I never know when the next encounter is gona take place. I often tell my students.....it's not a "mistake".....it's a opportunity to excel! Anyone who says this sort of thing "doesn't happen to me"..... is very likely not being truthful.
 
I learned long ago if there was a way too mess up I will find it.And the guy who says it's fool pruff let me in there and I will make a liar out of him every time :)
 
The old Murphys law, it applies to everyone. I lost half a giraffe bone scale on a disc sander before,
I also lost half of a mother of pearl scale the same way, still got both other sides though.....somewhere, Ha ha.
Bad things are always going to happen....then they pass, and usually turn into learning experiances.........usually.
 
I'll throw this out there for a laugh...when I first started making knives I had a 440-C blade come out with a bad warp, so I put it in a vice to see if I could tweek it. it broke in two.

I later had a friend over that saw it and asked what happened, he asked if he could have it and weld it back together.
I worked with this guy, he was our welder working on 2"- 8" steel gas distribution lines.

So a week or so later he says...hey look I fixed it. it was hilarious, he welded the handle back on upside down.
there was a few of us laughing at this goofy looking thing, I told him....you need to throw that thing out quick, don't show that to anyone else.
 
I have learned on those kind of days, put it down and walk away. The more I try to make it a winning day the worse the day gets and the more frustrated I get.

I was working on my truck on day on the drive and having one of those days. I smashed my thumb with a hammer and I said a few words and threw the hammer so hard it landed in the cul-de-sac. After I calmed down a little and stopped the bleeding I walked out to get the hammer! My neighbor hollers at me. I would have bet money you couldn't have thrown that hammer that far! I laughed and said it must have had something to do with my smashed thumb. He laughed again and said that must be close to a 100'. 110' I measured it one time when I was gonna pour concrete all the way to the street!!

So experience has taught me walk away before it gets worse!! :p
 
We are in the business of handmaking knives which in itself is a recipe for something going wrong from time to time. There is a demand for our output because they are not punched out on a machine where most times the end result is one we started out to achieve and other times it morphes into something else on the way.
 
I ran into something similar when I used to make Longbows. I was working on shaping a bow riser once and I uncovered a hole in the wood (more than likely a knot). To save the riser I filled the hole with colored epoxy (Smooth-on I believe) and sanded it smooth and glossy. When I did the finish work on the bow it blended very nicely. I do not think that would work as well on a knife handle but it would allow you to relocate the pin in the handle. Just a thought...
 
Making mistakes is part of the learning curve. I do not think you made a mistake to try to save this material. Your mistake, at best, was just lining up the holes. Nothing to be ashamed of as we have all done that in one way or another. Lesson learned, until next time.
 
I have always heard the true measure of a craftsman, was to take an ut oh and make it look like it was an intentional!!

If your not making mistakes your not doing anything and you are surely not learning!

Back when I use to do construction I would tell the guys if you have an idea of how to do something, easier than how we are currently doing it. Let me know, I will try it but, if it is not faster/better than the way we are currently doing it we are only gonna try your way one time. And if I tell you I have already tried to do it that way, we are not going to try it again. Every once in a while some kid would surprise me and come up with something that worked and worked well!!

You are never too old or too smart to learn something new!!! :)
 
Cliff...very few bosses think that way....That was what i told guys under me in machine shops...and yes being pleasantly surprised was the occasional reward.Sometimes the guy above me would shut down "fresh thinking" though....not any more though...I'm my own boss...and also gettin' low on fresh thinking...LOL!
 
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