I have been thinking about this question myself for the past few days.So though I would ask you guys.So why do you like knife making?What is the appeal of making you own knife?
Why knifemaking?
- Thread starter Ozhaggishead
- Start date
I love using something that I made myself and knowing that I made it exactly as I want it.
I think making it yourself imbues something quite special in anything you use regularly. That's how it started.
I went on to make more because the whole process is really enjoyable and varied. Unlike lots of other hobby projects it requires lots of different skills: Design/ergonomics, metalwork, woodwork, leatherwork, even sharpening I find enjoyable.
I have also found the gratitude from people I've passed them on to very satisfying. Most of the other stuff I make is only useful to me.
I think making it yourself imbues something quite special in anything you use regularly. That's how it started.
I went on to make more because the whole process is really enjoyable and varied. Unlike lots of other hobby projects it requires lots of different skills: Design/ergonomics, metalwork, woodwork, leatherwork, even sharpening I find enjoyable.
I have also found the gratitude from people I've passed them on to very satisfying. Most of the other stuff I make is only useful to me.
playing with fire and big hammers can never be a bad thing. 
... and if you're any good, you can tailor knives to exact specifications.
i really need to get my forge built. all i'm waiting on is a piece of exhaust pipe or similar for a tuyere.
... and if you're any good, you can tailor knives to exact specifications.
i really need to get my forge built. all i'm waiting on is a piece of exhaust pipe or similar for a tuyere.
I make them to earn a living, and spend time doing the things i like, as my times my own,but you'll never become a millionaire.
Bernie
Bernie
Can't afford a 2nd hand RM one off ebay. Plus if you've invested some time, effort and a little blood the item becomes more personal and (in my case) looked after far better than something bought.
"I bought that" doesn't sound as good as "I made that".
right, back to sleep zzzzzzzz
"I bought that" doesn't sound as good as "I made that".
right, back to sleep zzzzzzzz
When I do get around to making my first knife what Lostagain has said will probably sum it up for me.
The gathering of skill and knowldge to make something, no matter what it is, and the sheer satisfaction can never be beaten. Something you have bought, no matter how beautiful or wonderful it is simply doesn't compare to having made it.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I think we could probably add to that the basic importance of a simple blade for most of mankinds history. Whilst most of us today live complex lives and many could survive happily without a blade knifes somehow connect you with the simple stuff, like making fire.
There is also that bit of alchemy about getting this hard unforgiving material hot in the forge and making it ductile. I find that however skillful I am as a woodworker and however amateur as a toolmaker folk are often more impressed that I make my own tools than by what I do with them. I think your average man in the street can imagine himself working wood, clay, leather or fibre but somehow unless you have worked hot metal or glass it remains a mystery.
i like the idea that i can make something with which i can make something else. One of the very few knives i've made good enough to move on has, i know, been used for butchery, hide and shelter building, cordage making, carving and in the building of a barn, workshop, house and three log cabins.
i love the idea that from one tool i am connected to all of those things
i love the idea that from one tool i am connected to all of those things
The knives I've made (about 8 or 9) have all been from stock steel, cut and filed to shape. Its been great having to learn about handling metal, tools, choosing shapes for purposes, , heat treating, building tools for heat treating and shaping. Then winding up with something you've made yourself that you can use to make other things.. The nearest I can think is the first time I made fire from a bowdrill..
I'd love to try forging sometime, havent told the wife yet..
I'd love to try forging sometime, havent told the wife yet..
All that and more,
They can loose their "Oh shiney thing!" status and become a pure tool, something that you don't mind taking to bits and rebuilding in a slightly different manner. So I guess it builds confidence, that you can take someone elses idea of the perfect knife, dismantle it and from it, create something akin to "your" idea of the perfect knife, somehow better than the thing you bought.
But then I might just be waffling.
ATB
Ogri the trog
They can loose their "Oh shiney thing!" status and become a pure tool, something that you don't mind taking to bits and rebuilding in a slightly different manner. So I guess it builds confidence, that you can take someone elses idea of the perfect knife, dismantle it and from it, create something akin to "your" idea of the perfect knife, somehow better than the thing you bought.
But then I might just be waffling.
ATB
Ogri the trog
It's always been about the MAKING of tools for me. And a knife is just another "tool".
But it goes past just making any old tool. Most of it comes from researching and replicating a tool that was used in days past, and in figuring out HOW they made and used it back then.
So I get the same type of satisfaction from making a replica of a Roman era flint striker, or Viking era blacksmithing hammer, as I do making a 1680's era iron handled clasp knife or Fur Trade era ice chisel.
The creation of a working tool.
And, as many people have pointed out over past centuries, it is the Blacksmith who makes the tools that so many other crafts rely upon.
Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
But it goes past just making any old tool. Most of it comes from researching and replicating a tool that was used in days past, and in figuring out HOW they made and used it back then.
So I get the same type of satisfaction from making a replica of a Roman era flint striker, or Viking era blacksmithing hammer, as I do making a 1680's era iron handled clasp knife or Fur Trade era ice chisel.
The creation of a working tool.
And, as many people have pointed out over past centuries, it is the Blacksmith who makes the tools that so many other crafts rely upon.
Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
I get paid for it
if that was the only reason they would not be as good as they are
I think that part of the appeal is that I made it my self thing.Also the appeal is you are working with so many different materials and skills.Also you end up with a very useful bit of kit!.I cant think of something else crafty that works on so many levels of skill and Design.Also it touches on history tradition and I think lot of homemade knifes today will end up family heirlooms.
Glass....now theres something I would LOVE to learn - but in a crude way without all the high tech furnaces etc.! I wonder if anyone does "backwoods glass making" courses?
IIRC Timeteam did a experiment with some Roman glass. I'm sure the furnace was built into the ground, charcoal powered and melted broken glass shards..
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Was that several years ago? A mate of mine Ed Igleheart did glass for timeteam several years ago. He is all but retired now, this is his blogspot. http://tipiglen.blogspot.com/ Mostly he likes walking in the woods and feeding his red squirrels.
and website http://www.northglen.co.uk/
These guys also do some primitive glass work and have done TV stuff, I see them about at re-enactment do's http://www.romanglassmakers.co.uk/
Red I don't know anyone who runs have a go courses, glass is incredibly high energy work so running a furnace for a day without getting a lot of production out of it would be costly. I have played with glass when demonstrating at shows with Tony Wassell http://www.anthonywassellglass.co.uk/
he is a great bloke and would I am sure be game for letting you have a play with some hot stuff if you visited by arrangement. He runs on gas. The most primitive glass set up I have seen was an Egyptian who set a furnace up at Art in Action near Oxford for a few years. It was a pile of bricks and a big diesel blower, he threw old bottles in and blew glasses and jugs. Ed Iglehart had a go and said the glass was incredibly "short" and hard to work but the Egyptian guy made it look very easy.
Thanks Robin,
As a guy who has had no training is such....crafts? sciences? Glass blowing is just almost magic to me!
I keep meaning to learn primitive pottery too.....
So many fascinating things - so little time!
Still the blackcurrant cordial and blackcurrant fire wine I plan to make this weelend is "doable"!
As a guy who has had no training is such....crafts? sciences? Glass blowing is just almost magic to me!
I keep meaning to learn primitive pottery too.....
So many fascinating things - so little time!
Still the blackcurrant cordial and blackcurrant fire wine I plan to make this weelend is "doable"!
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