Kingguy Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Very interested. Very new to all of this. Looking for help with basics. Will appreciate any info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjh66 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 please keep me informed sounds like a great idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadHatter Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Can't wait to get started! Making a knife (or a few...) has been on my list and getting closer to the top, so the timing here is terrific! Thanks Rich and Steve. Will this be specific times? When will it start? (Mike, pass the gum!) Thanks chad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Tim215 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I am excited and pleased that you are going to provide another opportunity for people to discover and be presented with face to face information of the skills required in Blade making. To obtain the fundamental tools that would be required to make a simple basic knife is a small price to pay to get a good start in the craft. Then all they will have to do is put into practice what is presented to them.It is rare in this day-in-age to find this kind of opportunity that will to be presented openly, freely, but not cheaply for anyone who takes the effort and has the interest to be in attendance.I know the instructors have put in years of study and practice, not to count the money and sacrifice of the priority of the use of their time to master their skills. We found in the past, that if a person is respectful to the presenters who are highly trained knife makers that are moderating and teaching the skills, they will spare no secrets about the craft. A Problem: More than a few times we have had people over estimate how much personal knowledge they had acquired. And then they give out incorrect or dangerous information as though it was reliable information.A bigger problem: And all too many times when we have highly skilled craftsman (who have established their credibility) try to correct bogus information presented by un-skilled people, many have become disrespectful and argumentative. An attitude of this kind will waist everyone’s valuable time. Bottom Line: Well thought out questions, that are presented in a respectful manner that are given to the presenters and other students in the training chat room is of paramount importance. I hope for all who take advantage of this opportunity that they will share this valuable information with others when the timing is right.My best to all of you! Amen and again Amen. Lets respect the experience of our peers - I am certainly looking forward to learning new things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Chad and anyone else,,,,We have not set times or date yet. I am responsible for that delay. ( personal needed vacations,,,yes two,,,cannot ever remember doing that) But when we get thiis going I think I can make up for that. the chats will be one night a week in the evening. And that makes it a problemfor the international based group that may wish to sit in. There will be a new spot in the forums for a copy of everything we cover to be posted and seen by anyone at wotever time they wish. If it were me attending or reviewing later I wouild print each session and make a shop booklet to make the info readily availeable for review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 This thread keeps getting longer and maybe I can review some key points so foiks do not have to go back to the beginnng to see wot we have in mind. We will begin this on two levels:.Steve will make a blade using tools and methods he uses for his custom knives. He will select a steel that he knows is correct for this blade.He will cover all aspects,; selection, forging, all heat treat steps and all finishing steps. i will take a minimal approach to a blade.using mystery steel and how to see if it will make a blade and if so will forge it with a cheap hammer on a chunk of steel that even I believe may be too small for this work. i will finish the blade with files and hand methods, I will heat treat using methods that the steel itself will tell me will work and explain as we go. (I will have a second piece of recycled steel waiting nearby in case the first one does not harden. Recap. we will do the things in our shops that we have directed folks to learn from the information that is on this site. Homework: All up to you; if you make one of these blades or better yet both of them, even if they are a review of work that you have grown past. You will grow as a knifemaker. Homework is not mandatory, Your shop your call! If you wish us to review your work we will. Four ways for this part: Send pics for us to post for all to see and we and others may comment. You may also send us pics in private e mail and ask us to comment and not share with anyone. You mmay also stick your wor in a box and mail it to us and we will send knife and comments back. Please put return postage in with blade! Or Some of you may wish to be your own critic and can look at your piece and see wot you like or wish to improve. Wot can you do between now and the start of this program: Review knife steels and thoughts on mystery steels.( those that we guess have high enough carbon content but we really do not know for sure. Think vehicle springs or anything that has shown to have carbon content of .60 or hiigher. (that does not include rr spikes, If you wish to stick with spikes do so,,,your shop your rules!) You may also make sure you can move hot metal in a predictable manner.Make it wider, longer. tapered, thinner, all of the things a blade needs to do. Like go from round to an elongated rectangle in a manner that to the best we can eliminates hammer marks Learn more about fire mangement so you can end up with a blade without severe scaling or areas that have been burned and ruined Learn the language: if you review all of the steps in heat treat it will make it easier for you to follow wot we mean when we use those works for a next step. Learn the parts of a blade. if we say ricasso, wot is that and where is it? Spine edge, tang, etc..All the parts. Now: wot if you do not do any of this prep work prior to class? Again your shop your rules. We plan on trying our best to see that we make clear any of the steps we post in the sessions. We hope that if you want to follow along you will be prepared to do that. Have steel at hand, your choice of known knife steel or mystery steel. You have a way of heating and forging that steel into a blade shape. If you use mystery steel you may wish to follow our steps to determine if it is useable and to be willing to toss it if it fails to harden. We expect some of you will jump ahead real fast and we hope that no one falls behind. Please allow us to stay on track with this, we have a plan we know will work and also know there are other ways to do many of these things. We do not wish to get bogged down in long discussions on anything that will take away from that plan. The review of each session will have a placee for your comments. or you can send then right to us in the message feature of this site Neither of us have seen this type of thing offered on line in the past. Lets see if we can make it another of the top features of this site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 The last 2 Day's I have been trying (key word, "trying") to make some decent knives, so I am REALLY looking forward to this knife chat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadHatter Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 OTOH, I have a project that demands I stay focused on it till 2nd week of October, so no sweat off my back if this doesn't get off the ground till then... :rolleyes: After that, I'M IN!!! chad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 In late October Steve Sells and I will begin a weekly knife chat program. No admission no registration. no attendance counts.Come when you like or not. Anything we cover will be posted for you to review on your schedule. We will each show how we make a knife using methods including very basic tools and the tools you wished you had. One very basic tool is a hammer and i posted a How to rework a hammer for forging based on a store bought hammer..I had blades in mind for this hammer but it will work for most any general forging work. Hammers are one item that a lot of folks have strong feelings about. i give my ideas in this post. If they do not suit you do not do them. The knife chat will be like that. We will show wot works for us. Not trying to change those of you that have methods that work. But for new folks it is a way to begin. For those that have developed their own working ways. Keep ane eye and maybe we can show at least a way now and then you may like. I had trouble posting pics for this hammer and Glenn will help as he gets time. If no pics check back later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elemental Metal Creations Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I am moving tomorrow and will not be able to do any smithing for several weeks.I will not have internet access for a while either (except at Mc D's or other places) but I will tune in when I can and when set-up I will catch up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 These knife chats will present you with several methods that you may wish to try at home. It is not mandatory that you follow our directions but we will put every effort into presenting usable tips designed to help you learn how to forge a blade and work through the steps into making a completed knife. We feel those that do the work in their own shops will benefit a lot as they follow along each week. If you miss a week it does not matter. It is for you, learn at your own pace. Any one that wishes can send us pics for our comments and they can tell us if they wish our comments to be public or private. If you wish to send me a knife for my comments at my shop I will do so. You pay shipping both ways. Your choice and your cost if you wish it insured for the return.Our weekly time for these chats is real short and we have a lot of material to cover. We will stick to the lessons we have planned. If you will please save questions and we will answer them after the time has passed. Each session of the chat will be posted in the forum and you may post questions and we will answer there. If we are covering one particular thing and you ask a question about an unrelated item we will most likely not answer. We know there are different ways to achieve the same end result. We will not cover all of them. Please do not ask us to take up time to ‘splain why we use a method or a certain tool for one step when we may all know that there are other methods or tools out there. Steve and I have noticed a need and stepped up to see if we can help blade makers in a step by step way that we expect to be beneficial to a large number of folks. We also know that just as there are folks that will heat steel for the first time there are also some that make knives that are simply outstanding in the forum. When a maker reaches a high level of skill improving that does not happen often and they search long for ways to improve. Those improvements are often tiny. If I were beginning and had this presented to me I would not try and make wot the week showed. I would spend time in the shop and make a small pile of those items and try to learn as much as possible. I would print out each session and compare my work with the plan and make them until I felt I had full benefit of the lesson. I would mark each and every item and look for progress. Wot you do with this information is up to you; It is your shop, your work. Your schedule This material is presented with simple rules. Print it, use it trash it, wotever. Do not offer this for sale or post in other forums. We give you this information for free. It would be theft if you then sold it It would not be right at all for us to present it in this forum and have it moved to anothere forum. Remember this chat is occurring in the regular chat room. Others will be in and out that have no interest in blade work, and they will be expected to comply with us taking over for a while, so we must also remember to be considerate of the non knife makers waiting for us to return the chat room to their use, by staying on topic so we can make good use of the time alotted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 The last wednesday of this month. October 31 we will begin the series on making knives. Join us in the chat room at 10 pm eastern std time. Or look in forums after that for the posted version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 We learn to make our own knives on line. Spooky (grin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 We will try, but we can not be held responsible for those that dont actually try to make a blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Yates Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Gerrr that is My youngest B-Day I hope it will be archived so we can review it after . Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Sam that is why we posted that we wouild have it in the forum. Worldwide program is a time crunch for lots of folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Yates Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Sorry missed that Rich , thank you for reminding me I do forget the simplest things often . bless you for taking on this task one is never to old to learn new things . Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Looking forward to it, I got a TON of questions, but most are knife handle questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Trip for sure we will get to handles and fittings but we will stay on track from the beggining. Blade materials and selection, sorting out wot works is the base. Follow along and be patient. We will get there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I'll come hang but not being a blade guy per se I won't contribute much. I'll try not to anyway <grin> sorry to be obtuse Rich but you say forum based rather than chat. Does that mean I won't have to try coping with a constant stream of guys talking? I wasn't good at chats before the Great White birch got me. You have my thanks and appreciation for all the time and effort this is going to take. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 FRosty if youi remember the last knife chat it was a constant interuption, Too hard to keep on track and move forward, Steve aand i think we can do it in this manner. we present the material and anyhone can review it later and respond at that time...hopefully we can help with the answers they are looking for...WE feel the need and will see wot happens...See ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Sounds good Rich, chats are usually too chaotic for me on a good day. So, do I have it straight, this will be similar to a regular topic/thread on IFI? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 WE sure hope soI sure hope so... :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancellor Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Just to make sure, I'm probably being to particular. Will this be 10pm Eastern Standard Time, or Eastern Daylight Time? Same time slot as the Blue Prints are presended, Just on Wednesday rather than Tuesday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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