We were all new here once

Hi all, new potential blade maker here in Madison, MS, I haven’t made one yet - just bought a belt grinder and metal portaband saw and working in building a mount. Will be working out of the workshop side of my garage with two of my boys (17 and 12) who got hooked on FIF and then got me watching it as well.

They need a useful hobby anyway rather than laying around, so I decided to blow my new guitar money I had been squirreling away on blade making equipment. I hadn’t saved much but decided to get something that will tide them over and get them some practice. And truth be told, I could use both tools anyway.

Maybe a two burner forge and/or drill press for birthday depending on price (recommendations on these?). Anvil will have to wait until Christmas unless I can find something close by in the $100 range.

I haven’t found any local steel here in the Jackson metro area so it looks like I will have to order some 1084 bar stock online, any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading, hopefully in a week or so I will have a picture to post.

Welcome Jeff.

There is a sub-forum here at Bladeforums specifically for knife makers. Click on this link- https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/shop-talk-bladesmith-questions-and-answers.741/

I'm confident that just about any question you might have someone there can answer it, or offer recommendations :) .
 
All I currently use is a 2 fire brick forge and a map torch. It got me going on a budget and it will work until I get my forge built. I've also sourced blanks from amazon.
 
I don't mean to be preachy, but those of us who have been here awhile know that sometimes newbies don't always receive much in the way of patience and understanding. Sometimes it's easy to jump on those who are new to knives, know less than we do, or simply have different tastes in knives. Sometimes criticism comes a little too easy on internet forums.

Remember that we were all new to knives once, we didn't know anything. And if we were lucky someone with a generous amount of patience and understanding was willing to take the time to teach us, even if it meant pushing their patience and understanding to the limit.

How many of us can say that every knife purchase we made was a smart one. How many of us at some point have bought a knife simply because we thought it was "cool", or "tactical", etc. How many of us have bought knives from questionable companies with silly marketing. I doubt that any here are perfect.

In my humble opinion, this forum should be about more than personal entertainment, it should also be a place to provide guidance to those who are new to this "hobby", even if that means exerting a bit more patience and understanding. After all, how would we want to be treated if we were new here? In the end, we can teach newbies a lot more with patience and understanding than with insults and criticism.

Of course, if you've been here a while then you better have thick skin, because you're fair game ;).

Just my thoughts.

UPDATE: It's been over 8 years since I started this thread, and I thought it was time for an update.

When I started this thread back in 2012, new members were sometimes treated a bit rough. But things have changed since then. These days most active members are eager to help new members. So I don't want you to get the impression that you're entering a lions den where the members are just waiting to bite your head off. I think you'll find the vast majority of members to be friendly and helpful. So welcome, and enjoy :).
Thank you! I’ve been here a couple months and find members very helpful for the most part. Some can still be a little short, but they’re probably that way about most everything. Overall, best knife group out there. Thanks for all the help! I’ll be asking for more….
 
As another one of the "noobs" in here: thanks, and I'll try to stay out of the way of the experts...
 
Afternoon folks! Had I seen this thread, my first post would have been in here ;) Still getting my bearings as to the navigation, I hope you'll forgive me.

New to this forum but definitely not new to knives (currently in love with aebl). Joined up to follow a couple of makers in particular and to check out other leatherworkers being that I toy with sheath making from time to time. Seems like an excellent place to be as a knife guy, happy to see such an active exchange. I'd say my sense of taste leans toward the scandinavian side of things and you guys have some of the most amazing puukko makers in the world! Definitely not an alchemy wizard but I've been following Larrin since big brown first mentioned him. Again, you guys have some amazing talent here.. happy to come aboard :)
 
Hey all, newbie to the knife game. Ready to jump in and get involved. The first knife I recently bought is an Ultratech and I love it. Looking forward to learning as much as possible and hopefully making some purchases on the exchange. Have a good weekend!
 
Hey all, I'm new. Seems like this is the place for intros. I'm only a few months into more serious knife collecting, though I've always liked knives. I've been watching lots of youtube thanks to a busted elbow, and my habits eventually got the algorithm to fill my feed with knife videos. That, and my brother, has hooked me.

Anyway, now off to find the right forum to post the question I signed up to ask.... :)
 
Hey all, I'm new. Seems like this is the place for intros. I'm only a few months into more serious knife collecting, though I've always liked knives. I've been watching lots of youtube thanks to a busted elbow, and my habits eventually got the algorithm to fill my feed with knife videos. That, and my brother, has hooked me.

Anyway, now off to find the right forum to post the question I signed up to ask.... :)

Had you told us the question we could help you go to the proper forum. Oh yeah, welcome to the forum!
 
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Hey all, I'm new. Seems like this is the place for intros. I'm only a few months into more serious knife collecting, though I've always liked knives. I've been watching lots of youtube thanks to a busted elbow, and my habits eventually got the algorithm to fill my feed with knife videos. That, and my brother, has hooked me.

Anyway, now off to find the right forum to post the question I signed up to ask.... :)
Why not just ask it here?
And welcome to our campfire. Cut yourself a marshmallow stick with your blade of choice, and start swapping stories!
 
Hey I’m new to the forum! I’m just wondering what the best way to go about buying/selling/trading is?
Thanks!!

Welcome Chop.

If you look under the Bladeforum's logo in the upper left-hand corner of the screen you will see "Knife Exchange". Click on that and it will take you to the Bladeforums marketplace. But be sure to read the rules. You have to be a paid (Gold level) member in order to sell things on this forum(but any membership level can buy). That's to prevent everyone and their uncle from using this forum to sell stuff.
 
Hello.
I found a lot of good info here, so time to join in for real.
I’m taking the first steps in to higher quality folders (a bugout and bugout mini on order).
I use mostly fixed blades (Marttiinis for fish and moose, Moras for general yard work, and one Terävä fixed blade from Varusteleka when playing at bushcraft).
Previously folders have been limited to SAKs and a CH3504 (which has been excellent). I’m interested in any good recommendations for folders that work well with winter gloves (if there is even such a thing 😁 )
 
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Welcome Chop.

If you look under the Bladeforum's logo in the upper left-hand corner of the screen you will see "Knife Exchange". Click on that and it will take you to the Bladeforums marketplace. But be sure to read the rules. You have to be a paid (Gold level) member in order to sell things on this forum(but any membership level can buy). That's to prevent everyone and their uncle from using this forum to sell stuff.
And having a Platinum MasterCard doesn't hurt either! 😂
Happy shopping!
 
Hello.
I found a lot of good info here, so time to join in for real.
I’m taking the first steps in to higher quality folders (a bugout and bugout mini on order).
I use mostly fixed blades (Marttiinis for fish and moose, Moras for general yard work, and one Terävä fixed blade from Varusteleka when playing at bushcraft).
Previously folders have been limited to SAKs and a CH3504 (which has been excellent). I’m interested in any good recommendations for folders that work well with winter gloves (if there is even such a thing 😁 )

Welcome to Bladeforums.

A good folder for use while wearing gloves sound like a good discussion topic. I'd like to encourage you to start a new thread here in General Discussion and ask the overall community. To start a new thread just click on the yellow button that says "Post Thread" on the upper right side of the screen on the first page of each sub-forum.
 
Well said, being a noob I noticed most people are very helpful and willing to share their knowledge, but a few just seem to just hang around to make unhelpful, mean and sometimes plain insulting comments to questions or queries made buy people who just want to learn and share,

I don't think that most of them mean to be insulting, they just like to goof on people. But of all the forums that I have spent a decent amount of time on, Blade Forums is the best.
 
Hi all -

I'm new to the site and still finding my way around, but just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I'm pretty new to the game, right now my collection is only three knives, all folders - but I'm starting to branch out into fixed blades and hope to add one to my collection soon. I also manage an EDC retail site that sells knives among other things (don't worry, not here to self-promote or sell anything, and will never mention the site by name), so places like this have been really helpful in my education. I've been reading the forums for a while, but just signed up today for the first time to post a thread.

Thanks in advance for any help as I ask questions to try to educate myself more!
 
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