W-Based Mosaic WIP
- Thread starter Graham Fredeen
- Start date
Graham Fredeen
Well-Known Member
Hey Peter,
That came out great! Looks like you've made great use of some of the ideas I put forth in this thread. Its great to see.
You'll definately have to post some pictures of what you end up doing with your billet.
As for myself, got hit hard with knife comissions recently that I've had to deal with. Guarenteed knife money, unfortunately, has to take precedence. Got a big 3 blade order for a former customer that I have to get done, and another mosaic dagger blade comission for a fellow in the Czech republic hanging over my head. So unfortunately, what very little shop time I've got has had to go towards those.
I did get the dagger heat treated, so its ready for more grinding. I'll do that before I go to grind the comissioned dagger, just to make sure the grinding techniques are polished, so there will be more updates in the middle of the comissioned work, just a few weeks away still. But until then, everyone will just have to suffer a bit longer. Sorry folks. I want to work on it, as much as you all want me to
.
That came out great! Looks like you've made great use of some of the ideas I put forth in this thread. Its great to see.
You'll definately have to post some pictures of what you end up doing with your billet.
As for myself, got hit hard with knife comissions recently that I've had to deal with. Guarenteed knife money, unfortunately, has to take precedence. Got a big 3 blade order for a former customer that I have to get done, and another mosaic dagger blade comission for a fellow in the Czech republic hanging over my head. So unfortunately, what very little shop time I've got has had to go towards those.
I did get the dagger heat treated, so its ready for more grinding. I'll do that before I go to grind the comissioned dagger, just to make sure the grinding techniques are polished, so there will be more updates in the middle of the comissioned work, just a few weeks away still. But until then, everyone will just have to suffer a bit longer. Sorry folks. I want to work on it, as much as you all want me to
.
schakaa
Active Member
Yes, you gave me lots of inspiration, thank you so much for that.
I definately will do so.
This is great, i'm glad to hear that people do appreciate your work.
Would love to see some pictures of the work you do for them.
Wish you all the best.
Regards Peter
Graham Fredeen
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, right now, depending on how you look at it ), I don't really get many commissions or sales of my work. About the only thing I can currently continuously sell are damascus rings. They are good money, but the demand reached the point I could no longer deal with it, given my schedule, so I've taken a bit of a hiatus from them for awhile.
As far as my knives go however, I don't have the "name" awareness or customer basis to really have a lot of demand for my work (yet). I unfortunately don't have the time to really turn out a lot of knives, so the name hasen't spread around very quickly. I get the occasional commission/sale, unfortunately it seems like whenever that happens it comes all at one time, then nothing for months on end, I've always found that strange. It just takes time to build a name/reputation, and thats what I'm working towards. In about 5 months, when I polish off my degree, I'll have a lot more shop time available (well, might have a couple months without any shop, while I get things setup in a new location). Then maybe I'll be able to build my bladesmithing empire
Peter, I'm glad to have provided some information that you found useful and were able to apply and further your work. The bladesmithing/knifemaking community has given me a lot, so I'm glad to give a little back and join in the spirit of sharing.
And I'll certainly post pictures of the other blades I'm working on, as I get them done.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, right now, depending on how you look at it
), I don't really get many commissions or sales of my work. About the only thing I can currently continuously sell are damascus rings. They are good money, but the demand reached the point I could no longer deal with it, given my schedule, so I've taken a bit of a hiatus from them for awhile.As far as my knives go however, I don't have the "name" awareness or customer basis to really have a lot of demand for my work (yet). I unfortunately don't have the time to really turn out a lot of knives, so the name hasen't spread around very quickly. I get the occasional commission/sale, unfortunately it seems like whenever that happens it comes all at one time, then nothing for months on end, I've always found that strange. It just takes time to build a name/reputation, and thats what I'm working towards. In about 5 months, when I polish off my degree, I'll have a lot more shop time available (well, might have a couple months without any shop, while I get things setup in a new location). Then maybe I'll be able to build my bladesmithing empire
Peter, I'm glad to have provided some information that you found useful and were able to apply and further your work. The bladesmithing/knifemaking community has given me a lot, so I'm glad to give a little back and join in the spirit of sharing.
And I'll certainly post pictures of the other blades I'm working on, as I get them done.
Ironwolf
The Knife Poet
Graham,the quality of your work,and the Passion you invest in them,will ensure some recognition...
Good marketing will ensure some more.
But,it's YOU and the spirit in which you offer back what has been offered to you
that will see your name up there where it belongs.
I see a long,happy and prosperous future ahead of you...
(well,as prosperous as a knifemaker gets anyway:3
Good marketing will ensure some more.
But,it's YOU and the spirit in which you offer back what has been offered to you
that will see your name up there where it belongs.
I see a long,happy and prosperous future ahead of you...
(well,as prosperous as a knifemaker gets anyway:3
Graham Fredeen
Well-Known Member
Graham,the quality of your work,and the Passion you invest in them,will ensure some recognition...
Good marketing will ensure some more.
But,it's YOU and the spirit in which you offer back what has been offered to you
that will see your name up there where it belongs.
I see a long,happy and prosperous future ahead of you...
(well,as prosperous as a knifemaker gets anyway:3
Thanks Ironwolf!
As far as prosperity goes.... thats why I'm off to play engineer for awhile :3: . I wouldn't want to try to survive on knifemaking as a sole source of income, especially with the poor economic state of the country, and the fact that it would basically take all the fun out of things. Plus I'd have just "wasted" 4 years of my life getting a degree if I didn't do something with it. I've got some pretty decent prospects already that will certainly get me on my feet and then a bit, once graduation rolls around. I'll get a lot more shop time than I currently get, even working full time. So the bladesmithing will actually be able to take an even larger presence in my life than now, and I'll have a nice salary, beni's, and bonus package to support the habbit :biggrin:
Perhaps an earlier retirement, and then full time bladesmithing then, we'll see.
Ironwolf
The Knife Poet
Here's some advice from a blue-collar grunt who's been on the ground,cursing you engineers and architects :3:...
Spend at least 6 months on a job-site,working with what you intend to design and build.
I can't recall ONE jobsite where what was happening on the ground wasn't at odds with the engineer's and architect's "vision"...
There are variables that come into play on the job-site that no text-book or program in a simulator can ever anticipate:
Murphy's Law comes into play in ways you can't imagine unless you deal with them first-hand.
Graham Fredeen
Well-Known Member
I understand where you are comming from. I've done some blue-collar grunting before I started college. I've worked as a welder for a few years, and have ran into similar issues with architects/engineers not grasping the concept of how something has to be built, and comming up with designs that can't be manufactured in any reasonable way (welds where there's no physical way of getting to them to weld, for example). There are certainly a lot of "dumb" (and arrogant) engineers out there, and I've ran into some of their handy-work and seen some really "stupid" designs for things that you just have to shake your head at (looks great on paper and works perfrectly on the computer, but not in real life).
The lack of practical experience that most engineers have is a big problem, and I agree with you, that some direct field-related experience should be a requirement before you're unleashed to make designs that are "less-than practical". The lack of practical experience in the future engineers that are my classmates is clearly evident to me when working with them on projects and such.
So, from my working experiences, I don't want to be one of "those" engineers. I'm the hands-on type of guy and always try to get complete understanding of how things are done when I'm doing something, so feasible designs are made, and not stupid ones. I'm also the guy that wants to actually go out and personally build my design, test, and operate it.
Additionally, I don't plan on becomming a "design engineer." I wouldn't be too happy cooped up in a cubical staring at a computer screen designing "widgets" all day. The companies that are currently really interested in me are large manufacturing corporations that do "huge-scale" industrial forgings and investment castings for areospace, petroleum, power generation, and many other industries (jet/gas turbines and fan casings, extruded pipe, fasteners, automotive parts, fighter jet bulkhead forgings, you name it). Most of what I'd be doing would be essentially working directly with the equipment and processes to keep everything running right and make improvements where possible. Definately more of a hands-on type of engineering, directly on the shop floor where the action is going on. You'd better bet that I'll become good friends with the foreman and floor guys to learn as much as I can about how everything is done, not to mention all the other engineering team and their experience. I did an internship in a food manufacturing facility last summer. Lots of problem solving that wasn't "by the book", and lots of unique problems that engineers outside of the scope of production didn't grasp (had to deal with some parts sourcing, etc. and talking with other engineers with those companies). Lots of direct work with the equipment, and also talking with the guys on the floor to find out what the problems were exactly.
The lack of practical experience that most engineers have is a big problem, and I agree with you, that some direct field-related experience should be a requirement before you're unleashed to make designs that are "less-than practical". The lack of practical experience in the future engineers that are my classmates is clearly evident to me when working with them on projects and such.
So, from my working experiences, I don't want to be one of "those" engineers. I'm the hands-on type of guy and always try to get complete understanding of how things are done when I'm doing something, so feasible designs are made, and not stupid ones. I'm also the guy that wants to actually go out and personally build my design, test, and operate it.
Additionally, I don't plan on becomming a "design engineer." I wouldn't be too happy cooped up in a cubical staring at a computer screen designing "widgets" all day. The companies that are currently really interested in me are large manufacturing corporations that do "huge-scale" industrial forgings and investment castings for areospace, petroleum, power generation, and many other industries (jet/gas turbines and fan casings, extruded pipe, fasteners, automotive parts, fighter jet bulkhead forgings, you name it). Most of what I'd be doing would be essentially working directly with the equipment and processes to keep everything running right and make improvements where possible. Definately more of a hands-on type of engineering, directly on the shop floor where the action is going on. You'd better bet that I'll become good friends with the foreman and floor guys to learn as much as I can about how everything is done, not to mention all the other engineering team and their experience. I did an internship in a food manufacturing facility last summer. Lots of problem solving that wasn't "by the book", and lots of unique problems that engineers outside of the scope of production didn't grasp (had to deal with some parts sourcing, etc. and talking with other engineers with those companies). Lots of direct work with the equipment, and also talking with the guys on the floor to find out what the problems were exactly.
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Ironwolf
The Knife Poet
You my friend,are going to be very,VERY much in demand once you've established yourself in your career...
the ONLY job-site I ever worked on that went smoothly (as smoothly as they do go),was the one where the owner was the engineer,and the architect, and was on-site...
(a residential site)
He grew up building houses,and was a nice guy to boot.
He could have named his price,and companies would have paid double to get him.
You sound kinda like him,and I expect you will have the best of both worlds: getting paid what you're worth,and liking what you do!
Way to go.
Now,to get back on topic,about that dagger...:3:
the ONLY job-site I ever worked on that went smoothly (as smoothly as they do go),was the one where the owner was the engineer,and the architect, and was on-site...
(a residential site)
He grew up building houses,and was a nice guy to boot.
He could have named his price,and companies would have paid double to get him.
You sound kinda like him,and I expect you will have the best of both worlds: getting paid what you're worth,and liking what you do!
Way to go.
Now,to get back on topic,about that dagger...:3:
Graham Fredeen
Well-Known Member
Hi Peter,
The finished knife looks great! The pattern came out extremely well, with great contrast. You definately have a winner there! The black and white micarta isn't bad either, it kind of matches the strong black/light contrast of the steel. Very good job.
As far as my dagger, unfortunately it has had to be put on hold for even longer than I initially anticipated. I am still not finished with the other comissions I recieved (this weekend I will hopefully finish off 3 of them, as they are really close). The reason for this is my shop time has been seriously decreased due to lots of travel for interviews. I will be finishing my Mechanical Engineering degree in 2 weeks, so I have spent the past few months looking for career options. I have been on 7 second round interview flights in the past two months. All the traveling means playing catch-up with things, and loosing out on shop time.
To make matters "worse" (depending on how you look at things), I'll be moving in about 6 weeks, to start a new career. This means I might be out of a shop for awhile (I'm looking for a place with shop space though, so I hopefully won't be out of a shop for too long). The "good" thing is this career is extremely promising, with a lot of opportunity and prospects for very quick job advancement. It is also pretty cool, I will be working in a steel mill that produces speciality steel alloys (many of which are common knife alloys, like 5160, 52100, 1095, etc.).
So, in the next 6 weeks, I have to finish up all the comissions I have, and start getting ready to move, so unfortunately, I don't think the dagger blade from this thread will have much progress made with it for quite awhile. My appologies for this, but priorities have to take precedence. You have my promise however, that when I do get to work on it and make progress with it, I will come back and post it in this thread.
The finished knife looks great! The pattern came out extremely well, with great contrast. You definately have a winner there! The black and white micarta isn't bad either, it kind of matches the strong black/light contrast of the steel. Very good job.
As far as my dagger, unfortunately it has had to be put on hold for even longer than I initially anticipated. I am still not finished with the other comissions I recieved (this weekend I will hopefully finish off 3 of them, as they are really close). The reason for this is my shop time has been seriously decreased due to lots of travel for interviews. I will be finishing my Mechanical Engineering degree in 2 weeks, so I have spent the past few months looking for career options. I have been on 7 second round interview flights in the past two months. All the traveling means playing catch-up with things, and loosing out on shop time.
To make matters "worse" (depending on how you look at things), I'll be moving in about 6 weeks, to start a new career. This means I might be out of a shop for awhile (I'm looking for a place with shop space though, so I hopefully won't be out of a shop for too long). The "good" thing is this career is extremely promising, with a lot of opportunity and prospects for very quick job advancement. It is also pretty cool, I will be working in a steel mill that produces speciality steel alloys (many of which are common knife alloys, like 5160, 52100, 1095, etc.).
So, in the next 6 weeks, I have to finish up all the comissions I have, and start getting ready to move, so unfortunately, I don't think the dagger blade from this thread will have much progress made with it for quite awhile. My appologies for this, but priorities have to take precedence. You have my promise however, that when I do get to work on it and make progress with it, I will come back and post it in this thread.
schakaa
Active Member
Hello Graham, thank you for your comments.
Great that you found a place where you can make chareer, guess it was a lot of work to achieve this Mechanical Engineering degree, i hope it pays back for you.
I wish you all the best and thank you again for the inspiration you gave me.
Yours Peter
Great that you found a place where you can make chareer, guess it was a lot of work to achieve this Mechanical Engineering degree, i hope it pays back for you.
I wish you all the best and thank you again for the inspiration you gave me.
Yours Peter
HHH Knives
Super Moderator
Graham, Hey buddy, Did you finish this dagger? I really was looking forward to seeing it.
McClellan Made Blades
Well-Known Member
YEAH!!!! Me too!
Rex