Yeah it's crazy, I'm convinced Forged in Fire starting in 2015 changed the game completely. Blacksmithing tools went through the roof, especially anvils.
It started a ton of advantages though too, there's a lot of new knifemaking supply businesses and tools and equipment that were hard to find are pretty accessible now. It used to be you had to call places and track things down, now they're on websites everywhere.
It brought a lot of people into the community and raised peoples interest in knives in general. The amount of people making knives went through the roof though a lot didn't continue.
My interest started in 2009 and I spent a year just researching. One of the things I researched was makers that were just starting out. I'd look for pitfalls and try to learn what to avoid. The overwhelming problems with knifemakers was communucation. I'm not the greatest at it bit I do make a sincere effort. Second seemed to be overconfidence, once they made a few sales it was like they quit working on their skill level. That's a recipe for a failed business in my opinion.
Aaaaand I'm rambling, I'll stop lol.
Ya guys heading to Sheridan again this year? Looks like we're finally gonna make it to the show.
I remember anvils just being lawn art for years before they got so pricey. There's some of that, that hasn't changed much too on makers . Can't tell ya how many times a week we get told an emphatic thanks: for calling me back or thanks for emailing me back or messaging or what ever. I mean its like nobody else does.
So here's my story since I got a minute now.
Boo Kitty was insistant that we were not leaving with out her:
I won her over by telling her she was in charge of the rancho while we were gone. We were heading off to AZ to visit the Grand Canyon. Nichole my wife had never been and it had been 44 years since I'd been there. We had an ulterior motive too as we were meeting our other son Josh there. He was in the process of moving back to California from Florida and was enroute. He got there a day earlier then we did and did some strenuous hiking, tougher and more than this ol horseman was likely to want to do. But the other side of the coin was he had scouted out all the cool stuff and how to get it to it from the Lodge. So we had a guide. Heading east of I 40.
Met up with Josh and did some hiking around along the rim in the late afternoon evening:
I'd been talking to Mack and he'd said winter was a great time to go to the Grand Canyon. He was right. Rain squalls over the canyon provided some great light:
Perhaps my fav as it gives the size and scope, the immensity of the place:
Also interesting was the amount of wildlife. We'd seen two herds of elk on the way into the park but these guys were right on the rim.
These guys too. They were more wary then the elk:
Walked back to the lodge and had drinks and dinner in the tavern:
Woke up the next morning and it was snowing hard! So we packed up quick. Loaded up and headed off back to the rim:
We'd had big plans of shooting some product pics with the canyon behind but it was not to be. Snowing so hard ya couldn't even see the Canyon, even standing on the rim. Ya know ya could feel it though.
We got a few pics of some other stuff, not so much knives so wasn't a total bust:
It was snowing so hard we thought we'd better hustle on down the hill so we did. Had breakfast in Williams. Great trip! And I bought a cup:
