Guys: The first knife I made i was 12 with my father. From a file and I turned the handle on his lathe. Fast forward 15 years I was probably 28. Started making had a 2 x 72 grinder, drill press, etc. Got divorced X kept everthing.. Fast forward another 20 years and at 53 I am starting over. I was in Afghanistan in 2010 and decided to get back at it i knew a guy here in Newfoundland selling his gear and I bought it. Sat in my small,,, small shed till about last month when I decided to try. It felt great... hopefully selling my house to move onto a better property with a decent workshop with power......
Welcome John. You've had quite a journey to get here, but sometimes taking the long way home is the most interesting one. We're happy you decided to stop here.
It has been a journey. With all my deployments and issues with PTSD I never lost the love of making that first Knife!!!!! Hoping this is a new birth, new chapter,,, and a healthy outlet
Welcome John. There's something very therapeutic about being in the shop. To be honest, for me anyway, it doesn't have to be knife making at all. Just being in the shop and tinkering around, using your hands to make something or solve some problem. I spent 2-3 on Saturday just making little tools I needed in the shop (a long belt grabber arm for the belts i store on hooks on the ceiling, a brass glue scraper because i always leave epoxy behind no matter how hard i try to get it all ) and it is relaxing. You're going to find a lot of helpful people and, honestly, a lot of good ideas here to inspire you.
Thanks. I forgot how good it is to work with your hands. I loose all the anxiety, the tension, the PTSD symptoms when I start to move metal. Something I find primal.. making a tool, weapon, functioning object!!! Nothing compares. I can't wait to get a new shop. I have a lot of tools, and jumping I've sousaphone with one plug ran from the house isn't fun. I've got a kilin that I can't use because it is 220. But learning how to heat great 01 steel the old way...
