How did you get started kn knife making?

[Glenn]

We need to start a thread so others can avoid the same problem.

So, how did you get started in knife making?

[EdCaffreyMS]

I actually started out as a teenager. I grew up on a large farm in southern Indiana. The community was very small, and about all a kid did was work on the farm, and hunt/fish/trap. There were only three other boys my age anywhere around, and of course on of them became my best pal. At the age of 12 he and I worked all summer, putting up hay in order to make money for purchase new knives for the coming trapping season. Late in the summer we talked his Dad into taking us to the nearest sporting goods store (about a 45 min drive) and each of us purchased what was then suppose to be top of the line knives. The first thing we caught that trapping season was a 52 lb beaver. He sharpened his knife 4 times, and I sharpened mine 5 times to get through that one pelting job! The search was on for a better knife. I started searching around the farm shop for things that I thought might make good knives. I tried to make blades from everything I could think of.... old mower blades, old hacksaw blades, old parts from machinery, I even "borrowed" some of my Grandmother's kitchen knives! (which sometimes got me in deep dutch!)
I entered the Air Force at 19, and on at my second duty station met a second generation blacksmith out of Colorado who made muzzleloaders from scratch, including forge welding the barrels. One day at his outdoor smithy, I noticed a chunk of steel lying beside the forge that look like a knife blade. I asked about it and he said "Oh, thats a patch knife that will go with the muzzleloader we're making..." The light came on!! Within a month I had built myself a forge from the brake drum of an old ford pickup, found an old chunk of RR track for an anvi,l and was going to town! My first shop took shape the following summer in the form of an 8' X 12' shed that my landlord allowed me to build on the property I was renting.
I discovered the American Bladesmith Society in 1984, and decided that someday I wanted to earn my Mastersmith rating. I joined the ABS and have been a member ever since. As time went by, I started to sell a few knives, and turned the money around for more and better tools. Slowly my knives became more popular, and as I became better at my craft, the quality of my work increased. Today I generally run a backlog of 6-9 months.

Upon moving to Montana in March of 1992, I really became serious about my Bladesmithing. Once the moving boxes where all in the new house, I told my wife, "I've got to get a shop built." I put up a 18'X20' pole barn type building and after the first Montana winter in it, realized that eventually I would have to do something better. At -20F, it takes a LONG time to heat up all the tools just to get ready to forge! In 1994 I earned my ABS Journeyman Smith rating, and in 2000, earned my ABS Mastersmith rating. That same year I built a new 20' X 50' shop, complete with in floor hot water heat. And the journey continues.
There are MANY people that have helped me along the way. The thing that has kept me going all these years is a strong love of the craft, and the wonderful people who pursue it. Most everyone I have ever met in the Bladesmithing/Knifemaking community would literally give you the shirt off their back. In 2003, I retired from the Air Force, and took up Bladesmithing full time. At first it was difficult making the transition from wearing a uniform and having 40 people working for me, to just me and my two dogs in the shop. But once the adjustment period was over, I can't imagine ever doing anything else!
My favorite aspect of what I do is teaching. While I love to produce knives, I get a deep personal satisfaction from teaching others and watching them grow in the craft. I have been blessed to teach all over the world. Germany, Belgium, Canada, and at numerous locations within the US. Currently a good portion of my business is teaching others, one-on-one, in my shop.
I attend about 3-4 major knife shows per year, and spend the rest of my time filling orders and teaching. I have also served as a judge for the ABS at both the Journeyman and Mastersmith levels.

OK, now that I've covered my history, there is one more thing that I think needs to be said. We all had to start somewhere, and we all have/had very little actual knowledge when we began. No matter how far you go, or how successful you are, I believe that you should NEVER forget where you came from. We are all learning as we go. Everyday in the shop is a new adventure, acquiring new skills and knowledge, constantly chasing that dream of the "perfect blade". Its not about the finish.....its about the journey!

Today there are more Bladesmiths in the world than at any other time in history. We have venues such as this one to thank for that. I refer to the time frame when I started out as "The Dark Years", because at that time there was no internet, and knowledge of the craft was closely guarded. Today a vast array of knowledge on Blademsithing is as close as the nearest internet connection. Thats not to say its easy, you still need the drive and determination to make it happen, but the information is more readily available than ever before.

[brucegodlesky]

I amde a few file blades in the 70's and 80's but nothing special. In '86 I moved to a very rural area and opened an autobody bidness. With the slack time that goe salong with a slower rural pace, I started trying to fashion a better knife than I could buy, mebbe making a dozen a year. In 1999 , after a fistfight with a trixle dump , which I lost btw, I needed something to help rehabilitate myself. So I bought a Griz grinder. Along with finding the Internet, off I went. After a yr of stock removal I decided beating steel into submission might be fun. Spent a yr collecting equipment and then fired up. It's been a real party ever since.I'm slowly working my way outta the auto bidness into knifemaking and other fabricating ventures.
For the most part the knifemaking community has been very generous to me and I try to reciprocate any way I can. bruce

[cdent]

I'm a pure hobbiest. Been interested for about 15yrs. Always liked to make things and liked the out doors. I appreciate simple tools that you can count on, but I'm always amazed at the options for appearance. I just wanted to echo the appreciation of the internet. It really opened my eyes and doors to the possibilties. I really didn't think it was possible to forge on a small scale in the back yard.

Take care, Craig

[Christopher P.]

I've been at it almost 10 years now, from my first uninformed attempt at a knife. Propane, claw hammer, and the back of a vise. Now my passion is making steel to make blades with. Working full time with a wife and 3 daughters, I consider it the apprenticeship to my retirement, so when that day comes I can call myself decent enough to make grocery money from it.

In the beginning, I was interested in armor, a holdover from my geeky D&D days, but every time I found people online talking about it, they always said "ask the knife guys about heat-treating and hardening steel," so I started hanging out on knife forums and got bit hard by the bug. Saw some of the most beautiful work I'd ever seen, knew I'd never be able to afford it, and set the goal of being able to make what I wanted instead of just drooling at the so-called-impossible.

Today, I consider myself competent with a hammer, on the learning road with regard to heat treatment and a thorough understanding of the chemistry of steel, and getting into the smelting world so I can make my own. My first real crack at that was this last May, and I am a certified addict of smelting.

[Rravan]

i guss i was a little kid (which isnt that long ago) i have been turning out wooden knives and swords. then in my early teens i tried my hand at stock removal only with mild steel and now im 17 and part of a blacksmithing group in Aus, and forging my own knives and i still consider myself an amature.

[Finnr]

I got started because I couldn't find decent blades for the work i was doing. At that time I was trapping (before PETA) and spent nearly all winter in the woods. A good knife is your very best friend.
Finnr

[Hunterbow Smithy]

As a small child my grandparents took me to Lower Fort Gary, where there was a blacksmith working in costume with period tools. I was mesmerized by the rythm of the hammer. The blacksmith saw that I was watching him very intently and gave me a nail that he had just finished making. I still have the nail.
Then much later when I was a teenager my friend's dad had just built a (crude) gas forge and he turned us loose with it. I tried to forge a blade out of a piece of leaf spring that he gave me and ruined it in the process. There have not been too many moments of clarity in my life, but those two instances made deep impressions in me. Since that time, I have taken a blacksmithing intro course at SAIT and a couple of courses with Mark Pierce. However, my real interest lays in bladesmithing and that is quite different altogether. Hopefully I will be able to take some classes specifically for knifemaking, but I will have to practice more and wait until the kids get a littler older. There's me in a nutshell.

Chad