Respect for this forum.

I think I know where Frank was coming from with his post. When I have asked good friends that are VERY WELL established makers, why they don't post here, the general response is something like, "It's a bunch of guys who ask a question and just screw off your answer if they don't like it, or it's guys getting in a pissing match about something."

While I figure it's pretty obvious I don't feel that's ALL there is here (or I wouldn't hang around) I certainly do see a lot of it.

I disagree about "newbies" being the life blood. They are the potential future of custom knife makers and have the opportunity to do amazing things, with information at their fingertips. But that doesn't instantly give them some sort of warrant to have an attitude or feeling of entitlement.

Things do indeed need to flow and move around here, and lots of new posts will accomplish that... but the overall tone of many of them seems lazy at best, and blatantly disrespectful at worst.

I know a lot of guys lumped Tai and BM together. I never did. While there's no denying that Tai likes to stir the pot around a bit, he is an accomplished knife maker with a long history and he strives for a level of work that is often times museum quality. The other guy wanted to sum up knife making as an overly simple thing that EVERYONE here makes overly complicated, all the while producing knives that were at a level of simple production knife at best. Stacy's post about the toilet lid wearing looney tune... made me laugh and perfectly summed up how to handle guys like BM.
 
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I see what you are saying Nick, but I wouldn't call it "stirring the pot". I guess I'm just not much for small talk. :) LOL

I like the bigger issues,... that's all. :)

(Ducks and covers)
 
NickWheeler said:
I disagree about "newbies" being the life blood. They are the potential future of custom knife makers and have the opportunity to do amazing things, with information at their fingertips. But that doesn't instantly give them some sort of warrant to have an attitude or feeling of entitlement.
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There is a difference between "New Members" and "Newbies" :) Plenty of new members are already accomplished craftsmen and even knifemakers. No one should have a feeling entitlement that is for sure.

One thing is for certain many can Master a Craft but never Master their emotions.
 
Tai takes some getting used to, that's all. He's got a sense of humor and philosophical outlook on knife making that is a bit different than most. I equate him to a greek philosopher who was a man of science and knowledge but also vague ideas and concepts that are almost impossible to put into words. The thing Tai regularly reminds me of when I'm reading his posts is that the science of hand made knives is secondary to the rest. It shouldn't be ignored, but if you get too wrapped up in it all the time you're going to wind up unhappy with the end result even though it works great. That doesn't mean a thread on raw science isn't important, just that when it comes to the actual knives there needs to be more than just the science, science is a tool we use to get the results we want, not the reason we do this. At least for most of us. Some folks really do find the science to be more interesting and important, but then they apply the creative work too.
 
AVigil said:
There is a difference between "New Members" and "Newbies" :) Plenty of new members are already accomplished craftsmen and even knifemakers. No one should have a feeling entitlement that is for sure.

One thing is for certain many can Master a Craft but never Master their emotions.
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I agree... I misread your first post. I was lumping the "problem posters" together as Newbie/New member.... but I totally agree that they are not always one in the same. :)

Oh, and I wasn't picking on Tai--- I just posted that because there have been some posts sort of lumping him in with that other guy.
 
I don't know how to make a knife without science. It's definitely a big part of it.

My approach to the science side of it just doesn't fit the contemporary "scientific approach" model, genre or trend, if there is such a thing... which I doubt there is.

I mostly rely on hands on "do it yourself" type science, testing things myself etc... because that's where the FUN is! This doesn't mean that I can't read or anything like that. I can read and do. However, I don't trust anything I read and have to learn things the old fashioned way, find out for myself. Observe it with my own two eyes.

As they say,… "Seeing is believing".

Some might say I'm limiting myself to my own human experience,... but that's all I have and all I really know.

... Make my own decisions. Think for myself. Thanks.
 
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Now if all the discussions were as civil as these last several posts.... man.... thanks boys.

We all play our part... dry, humorous, calculating, cynical, emotional, philosophical, scientific.... Questions asked, advice given.... the free flow of information! That's what makes a community. We all share a love for this craft and no matter what stage you are at in your journey, others are behind you and infront to offer assistance.

One of my favorite quotes..... "Teaching is not the filling of a pail, but rather the lighting of a fire." This is one of the most active maker's discussion forums on the net.


Baby, won't you light my fire?:p

Rick
 
"Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water."
 
Can I carry the water THEN chop the wood? So I've got some water to drink and cool off with while chopping? :D
 
There is a saying:
If you build a man a fire, he will be warm for a night.
But if you set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

Wait, that's not what I was going to say...

... it is the civil, rational and respectful discussion that we need to keep focus on. It may suck that BM got canned, I'm sure he could have made contributions here, and I think the social interaction was probably good for whatever was ailing him (I'm guessing aspergers) but the fact of the matter is, we have seen a diminishing level of regular talent post here, and an increasing level of disrespectful noobs vandalizing our neighborhood, such as the second post in this thread. So it becomes necessary for the moderators to moderate and BM was dragging the place down. Sometime you have to clip off the deranged branches from a sick tree to help it stay healthy. The staff here helps us maintain a civil discussion and discourage Random Internet Idiots from derailing things too much.

And perhaps Rick could replace the picture in his avatar with a cartoon or something (like mine) to help prevent eye gouging related vision injuries.

:p
 
Nathan, where do you keep coming up with these old sayings?... are you getting old?

I'm with you on Rick's avatar... maybe a little group pressure would work?
 
Hello everyone, I have been a guest of this site for about a year now but after reading this post I have decided to register. I am going to buy a membership this evening, I just wanted to tell everyone thank you for the unbelievable amount of knowledge I have picked up just by reading your posts. Not all texans are as rude as the jacka$$ that started this. I'm not a new maker but I am new to the site so hopefully I don't bother anyone with noob remarks.
 
Texblade said:
Hello everyone, I have been a guest of this site for about a year now but after reading this post I have decided to register. I am going to buy a membership this evening, I just wanted to tell everyone thank you for the unbelievable amount of knowledge I have picked up just by reading your posts. Not all texans are as rude as the jacka$$ that started this. I'm not a new maker but I am new to the site so hopefully I don't bother anyone with noob remarks.
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The first post wasn't the texan, I think you meant the second poster. But welcome to the forum :p
 
tryppyr said:
Women learn by sharing. Men learn through pain.
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From years of farming,blacksmithing,welding and working in prisons my hide is more scars and calluses than not..From all the pain I would have thought id been smarter by now :D
 
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