I think it's time : Another "who the heck are ya post.

My name is Jack Perryman and I am 13 years old. I have been making knives since latee 2010.I haven't made a whole ton of knives, but I work nearly everyday. All my knives have been stock removal, except for one that I forged alongside Mr. Craig Camerer. I love making knives and sheaths, and getting good deals at garage sales.
 
I am also a new maker. One of my neighbors as a kid was David Lang. I remember going to his house with my dad to see his latest creations and watch him grind on some steel. I have always been fascinated by knives and collected them most places I went. I am an avid outdoorsman and love everything from backpacking to hunting to you name it. Back in 2008 I was in search of the ultimate "survival knife", and that search brought me to blade forums. I bought and tested a lot of knives then finally I decided I should try my hand at making my own. I worked up the courage to go talk to my old friend Mr. Lang and ask him if he could teach me the ropes. That was last August and the rest is history.

I am married to my beautiful wife Julie and have 4 kids, all under the age of 6, three of which are a set of triplets. I am a home builder/general contractor by trade and have spent many years developing and building out multi family subdivisions. These days I am just fighting to stay alive in this miserable economy and have a lot of extra time that I use to make knives.

I make knives mostly for the enjoyment of creating something with my own hands that is aesthetically pleasing and functionally useful. I am my own worst critic and feel I have such a long way to go to reach even close to the level of many of the incredible knife makers out there. I am very grateful for all the help I have received from many on this forum and locally and try to extend my help any time I can.
 
Okay Rick Brown of Bayou Knives. Located in NE Louisiana. Disabled American veteran. USN 73-79. I started making knives in the mid 80's but gave it up because I moved around working. Back in February i was able to utilize a small portable building and the handtools I had to start making them again. I used what I had and invested the sales back into more and better tools. I utilized the internet and youtube to learn more than I ever had. Being a hunter, camper, fisherman and outdoorsman most of my life I know what makes a good blade. I do the stock removal because a heart attack prevents me from doing any forging. My website is Bayou Knives I know I'm just a rookie compared to the work I see on here but I hope to learn and share. I have a youtube channel under bayou knives and find me on facebook also
 
Hmmm who the heck am I.... well I guess I'm just like most of the other 3.55 billion men on this planet, son, father, husband, brother, grandfather, hunter, fisherman, mushroom getter, cat/dog lover, couch potato sometimes, beer drinker, carpenter, gardener, single minded, stubborn, I am always right LOL, aspiring knife maker addicted to knife making like a cheap hooker to crack

I guess that about sums it up ;)
 
Hey yall, my name's Jeremy (aka Nashdude since about 1998 on various sites around the internet hehe). I've been a hobby knifemaker for about 4 years, though I haven't done anything with it in about two. My preferred method is stock removal, and I tend to use cast-off materials to make my knives. No, I'm not a treehugger by any stretch of the imagination---I'm an ultra-cheapskate hehe

Eventually I'd like to build a full-fledged forge, but for now I'm using the one-brick microforge design championed by Wayne Goddard (again, the cheapskate in me hehe). I've added micarta to my repertoire, and will eventually add cable-steel damascus and mokume gane. For right now, I just want to get back out in the shop and do SOMETHING hehe

See yall around the forum :)
 
holy dead thread ressurection!!! supposed i had better post up, since i hope to be allowed to hang around for a while.

Name: Mike Haid
Age: 28
Location: Casper, Wy
Biography: I enjoy anything pre-1930ish... i'm an avid antique book collector, along with my wife. An avid outdoorsman, hunter, and fisherman. I specifically love taking old things, repairing/repurposing them, and using them. Though i have a tendancy to think that nothing is as good as it could be, because of this I always strive to look for ways of doing things better/more efficiently. Sometimes to a fault, though i'm working on getting over that. I truly am a jack of all trades, but master of none. I work as a maintenace man for a very large welding shop, where i started as a welder several years ago. Since i was little i have always been a tinkerer. I've always, however, been drawn to knives. Originally just picking up interesting looking knives from garage sales and trying to clean them up and re-sharpen them, to now trying to make my own. I am a perfectionest by nature, my step-dad tried to break me of that, so it'll be a very long time before any blade i create will be seen as good enough. I've built my own furniture, my own vehicle, and many of my own tools. I now have two little boys, ages 7 & 2, and hope to get good enough to teach them one day. Get them started early enough to be truly good at what they do, and all that they do.
 
Hello and Happy NewYear,
My name is Eric Kidwell
I introduced myself in another thread a few days ago but I thought that I should post it here as we'll.
I'm 42years old, husband to a awesome wife and father to the greatest little girl on this or any other planet.
I have always liked anything with a sharp edge. In 2000 I started thinking and learning about the making of knives. I did a search on line, found a Bladesmith not to far from home and gave him a call. After explaining who I was and what I wanted, he gave me the phone number of another maker who I should go watch. I called the number and spoke with a not overly nice man who said "I guess you could come watch for a little while this weekend". Well, I didn't go and I will forever regret it, as that person was Bill Moran.
It's now 2012 and even though I don't have any "extra" time I am going to give knife making a honest go.
I traveled to NC and had the pleasure of making my first knife with Chris from Willmount Grinders. Chris is a awesome guy and was very helpful. His shop has everything a team of makers could want and we were able to make a really cool fighter in a little over eight hours.
Now I am working with a local farrier/blade smith who has agreed to give me forging lessons.
 
Hey, everybody. My name is Ryan and I'm just starting out making knives. (I'm going to start probably my 10th as soon as I get the supplies). I'm 18 years old and I've been collecting since I was about 12. I only do stock removal because I don't have room for a forge, but hopefully soon I'll have access to one, as I'm headed off to Appalachian State University in the fall and they have a foundry in the design building. Anyways that's about all for now. See you around the forums.
 
Hello everyone, this is my first post on this wonderful site. My name is Dillon and I'm 28 yrs old. I live in Stephenville, TX but work in south TX in the oil fields. I have always loved knives since my dad gave me my first one which was a Swiss army knife. I have always wanted to make knives and when I came across the book $50 knife shop I read it and realized I had most everything I needed to get started. So I took off and made my first knife in about 6 hrs and it looks like a prison shank but it was a start. Every knife since then has been getting increasingly better. I am in the middle of number 9, 2-6 were gifted to friends and family and 7&8 were sold to people who just had to have it right off of my hip. I hope to be able to keep the next one. I taught myself what I know threw Internet searches, YouTube , $50 knife shop 1&2, and trial and error. I built my own forge and anvil.
 
My name is Gage Bauer, I'm a seventeen year old country boy. I grew up and live in a small town in Georgia where I gained an appreciation for knives and firearms from my pawpaw. I got into knives, like I said, because of my pawpaw who said every man should carry a pocket knife. I took his philosophy and ran with it becoming a "gear guy". I have learned a good bit from frequenting the forums and I will probably learn a lot more as time goes on.
 
Can't believe I just found this thread. I hate talking about myself, but the idea here is a good one.

I grew up in a nasty city in NJ. Great learning experience! I'd tried making a few blades, but they were nothing worth talking about. Gave that hobby up real quick. At 17 years old I'd had enough of that and current events (war) inspired me to join the military.

As an 18 year old infantryman living overseas in very austere environments, knives became a part of every day life. I'd immediately had quality issues with low end production knives. I also hated that many were made somewhere other than the USA. In my book it became a sin to carry a China, Taiwan, wherever made blade as an American warfighter.

The issue was that young guys on lower enlisted pay can't afford high end stuff. You'd probably lose or break that cherished possession, anyway. The other issue (fixed blades) were sheaths. Seemed everything was big, bulky, not durable enough, didn't have enough retention, or had so much retention you couldn't get the knife out quickly. A lot of the "tactical" knives were really fantasy knives full of snag points and weak links.

I arrived back from my first deployment with a head full of notes and immediately started making kydex and doing mods on blades. Eventually, I'd revisit knifemaking. At the time I'd been working on blades for guys to carry on/off duty and to compliment some of the Army's combatives programs. I wanted to use the highest quality materials, the best heat treat available, keep everything US made. Looks weren't important- function and longevity were. I still go by this basic criteria today and it hasn't let me down.

So, I'd go and whip things up for close friends. Eventually, I'd take orders from other guys in my unit. I'd deploy some more, and that was a PITA because I'd have to come back after a year of no grinding and essentially re-learn things.

I continued that cycle until last year when I left the military, and again knifemaking took a back seat for a while. It took a lot of coaxing for me to open up for orders outside of guys I knew. Finally, I caved.... and I also finally realized how much I loved making knives. Been at it as a part timer since.
 
I don't know that I can call myself a knife maker yet, but I am trying to be. My name is Aaron, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I don't have much I could teach to anyone about knife making but I sure want to learn.

I grew up in East Texas and landed in Tulsa after I got out of the Army because I had a sister living round here and didn't have anywhere else to go. So far I love this area and I've been here for a while now.

I currently work in an office where my rear is growing at an alarming rate. Most of my working life after the service I was a welder, primarily TIG welding but I also have some heavier vessel experience as well. I also have some machining experience with CNC grinders and a good bit of time running a sinker style EDM machine. So, I'm no stranger to working with metal but I'm completely green with this knife making venture.

In my spare time, I work as a reserve police officer. A friend was recently put into an situation on the job where he was forced to rely on his knife to protect his gun. An attacker who outweighed him and who was pumped up on some nasty pharmaceuticals was pounding the heck out of him and with one hand doing all it could to keep his gun in the holster, he managed to get the knife he carried on his belt out and do a little slashing. The knife is manufactured by a major "fighting" knife manufacturer with a reputation for well made, no-nonsense blades and this particular knife was designed for LEO's in exactly this situation. The end result was that the knife made a big mess but did little to stop the enraged lunatic. This story may seem to not fit into this threat but it's what brought me here. I started thinking about what I wanted in a blade for my duty belt. It so happens that I carry the same knife on mine that he was carrying.

Long story short, I've always enjoyed hand-crafting things and I own tools so I decided that I would give designing a good defensive tool for myself and others for this exact situation. Not that there aren't probably 1000s of them out there already but I wanted to create. I Love to create things. I like the feel of the steel on my hands and the mechanical motions of grinding and cutting steel. I always have.

I began researching and reading as much as I could about knife making through stock removal and forging and I am relatively obsessed with both at this point. I don't have an anvil, nor any blacksmithing experience so I am starting out with the stock removal approach but one day I wanna pound out a blade the old-fashioned way as well. Something about a big hammer and sweat and fire is really sexy to me. I get romantic feelings about craftsmanship, I can't help it. I've also always had a fascination for well put together cutlery.

I hope I'm not coming across as a weirdo but this is my where and who I am post. If anyone else is in my area, and wants to throw advice, chit chat or thinks I may have some knowledge they could use, feel free to get in touch.
 
A great hello to all !!! My name is Frank Niro and I've been making knives for about 39 years. That doesn't make me good but does make my age within a couple of months being 79. The best things about my life is my wife of 56 years and my son and two daughters with my grand children as well as other family members. After that well it certainly is the knife making or more accuirately the making of liner locking folding knives.
Originaly I started out with some gang saw blades from the Dad of an administrator of a very small hospital where my wife at that worked as a nurse. That hospital was in a very small town in the northern part of province of B.C. After the gang saw blades I went to planer blades for the straight knives only I made. Finally I was able to chase done a supplier of 440-C and a heat treating company that used a vacuum furnace and did the cryogenic treatment as well. Some time later, I was reading about ATS-34 in the Blade magazine, I believe then called American Blade, and was able to import that steel since it appeared to have a better rating for the hunting use most of my blades went to. About that time I was able to purchase a Canadian made 2X72 belt grinder. This machine looks a lot like a Wilton. Boy that was a great day when I found it on the porch after coming in for my regular job as a pulp mill worker or if you prefer process tecknician !! I was trying to get a supply of belts from some place, - any place. My wife encouraged me to take a trip with her and my mother in law to a knife show in California. I was able to spend the whole two days of the show in attendance. The makers all treated me first class. I placed a tag on my lapel saying "visiting new maker". Well, John Marette (?) from Tru Grit was there. That was the begining of the end of getting grinder belts aside from the shipping problems due to Canadian customs and taxes, and duties. I did make a lot of hunters always trying to put out a well finished good working tool.
About 14 years ago my wife and I decided we would move south to an area were we would the weather more compatible. In time I was I was able to by a table in a gun show . After 2 years I realized that hunting knives just weren't a knife that woulkd sell well at least for me. The Blade magasine about the same time as my move south had a feature article on liner locking folders and as well were offering one for a discount price if I would renew my subscription. The fire to make had never stopped, but now I was overwhelmed with the possibility of trying to make a folder of any kind. As well when we moved south I was now retired and had the time to get totally involved.
A few years later I found the Blade Forums as well as another. These provided me with the answers I needed to continue my journey. Sure wish I had these many years ago if they were there and if I had a computor. I still don't own or use a milling machine or surface grinder. I do have a couple of band saws, another clone belt grinder, some small drill presses, a small lathe, and a bunch of hand tools with and without power.
I want to thank all the members here who have helped me in any way and hope you will continue to do so. Frank
 
Hey Guys,

My name is Chris. I'm Married with my first little one on the way. I live in southern NH. I have always been an outdoor enthusiast and therefore had an appreciation for quality knives. My father was a Farrier, and my grandfather was a machinist, so with all of their old tools lying around it was only a matter of time before I decided to try my hand at making some knives. I've been making knives for a few years now, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get one right real soon :). I have gotten a lot of good information here as well as inspiration from the knives that I see on here. Thanks alot and I'm glad to be here.

Chris
 
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