Course of Study?

[Walt-]

Hello All,

I think it would be a great idea to develop an outline for a recommended course of study and turn it into a sticky. For example a new person with limited tools can make this type of knife (fill in the blanks) with these features (Fill in the blanks).

If an outline is made I'm sure people would eventually add various tutorials / you tube videos to make the information more complete.

It could be broken down by type of knives (Intregal, folders etc.) with different blade / handle features, bolsters etc.

OK, I'll start - you smarter folks can finish if you choose

A. Intregal Knifes

[Ray Rogers]

From my experience I'd say that anything that resembles structure with regards to knife making is often met with resistance. That might just be the artistic element speaking out. All I'm saying is that while the general idea seems good you'll probably run into about twice as many opinions on what can be done and how it can be done as the number of people offering opinions and THEN there will be exceptions out the wahzoo.

What we have so far is a Sticky collection of tutorials about how some guy does some particular thing with whatever tools he happens to have. The new guy looks through those, finds somebody doing what he's trying to learn to do with tools similar to what he has or can acquire and then tries to emulate what he sees. Not a perfect system but not useless either.

If you, or anyone, can come up with something that works better and put in the effort to implement it I'm all for it. But, if you want a hint as to just how hard it is to get a consensus opinion on how anything should be done or even how to categorize what is being done just go read through the Knifemaker's Definitions Sticky. About the best I could hope for is that those who do go to the trouble to create tutorials also take the time and effort to get it hosted so that it stays available for many years, learn to take good clear pictures that actually fit on everybody's screens, and when necessary, get some help writing clear explanations of what they are doing . And this is very important: do it for free with no strings attached or fees involved because you want to help educate new knife makers....

[Doug Lester]

I agree with Ray, there are soooo many cans for worms waiting to be opened here. Another thing is that what might be workable for me might not work for other people. About the only things with any great consistency would be heat treating and even with that there is room for conflict.

Doug

[Walt-]

Thanks guys.

[fuzzy]

the search function works pretty well on these foroms and most all you want to know is in here someplace you just have to spend the time shearching. If you would spend the time to organize this information I'm sure you would get some thank you's lol

[piggy]

patterns for newbies also a step by step course w/ maybe chat room for what to do next followed by chat room how did that go is everyone caught up. This could lead into more advanced tuts.

[Crex]

Sounds like mixing a herd of turtles and a herd of cats and expecting to finish the roundup on time and in the money.
That being said I don't agree with Ray....I agree with Doug....figure that out and you've got your answer.

Best we can do here is throw everything in a big ol' box and label it "Knifemaking".

[Walt-]

Obviously there are many ways to do the same thing and no universal agreement on what should come first. Any public forum is made of the following ingredients: A wide variety of financial, educational, maturity and experience levels, pride in authorship, egomania, and an assortment of personality disorders.

If the goal is to teach a person to fish they need to know about the what makes up the fishing industry and areas they should be proficient in.

That being said ya'll have a nice day and don't sweat the small stuff.

[piggy]

This does not have to be just knife making. If a small group say 4 or 5 newbies want to build a small forge they can work as a group. Supplies, basic tools needed, design, stuff like that. I can go on u tube and get tuts but I can't get questions and answers as I go along w/ what ever I am building.

It seems like there is always something left out or step that is vague because it seemed easy or self explanatory to the instructor.

These tuts would be for who ever wanted them so if someone is not interested they are not being obligated to attend or instruct or be involved in any way that didn't interest them. However, they should not try to dissuade others who may see this as helpful.

[WynnKnives]

I don't think anyone is saying that tutorials shouldn't be available and the like. But rather to make a definitive "How to" is impossible. So what we are talking about gets lost in the grey areas, because really the best we can do (reasonably) is what we are already doing. If people have questions, they ask, and get multiple different answers on how to do things most times.

But as far as a full scale tutorial goes, that's really up to the person who is going to the time and trouble to do it. For those that have made a good one know that it is no easy and quick task. If anyone is as half as busy as me, it's hard to find the time to put into doing a tutorial, let alone something along the scale we are talking here.

[racjarrett88]

I think you could start different threads about different parts of knifemaking or knife related subjects and people could add videos or pictures and instructions for their method for that aspect of knifemaking or tool building. Different categories could include filing or grinding or finishing or sheaths or handles or designing orange other subject and only keep post that would be considered helpful. If that makes Spence. Even forge building and forging and heat treat or damascus

Austin

[ericbrinkerhoff]

What if we have a neat little "Newbies cookbook" , with all kinds of tips and tricks for the newbies .Things that have worked for us and not neccesarily a "This is the accepted way of the pro's" set of standards but just little things that have helped us get our feet off the ground.

[piggy]

Every class any of us has ever taken has been subject to the instructors knowledge, commitment, time, the list is unlimited.

What some have suggested is exactly what this and most forums already do.

The suggestion of a class that is live is a little different form the many and very helpful tuts already available (I use many of them, Thank you so much to those that have shared their skills so that others may learn.)

It does not imply that this is the only way to do something. I don't want to open a can of worms.

This could be as simple as a thread, example: Knife start to finish, here is the supply list items with * are mandatory for this class. Have supplies by date, class 1 print off pattern, tape or trace or whatever, onto metal, teacher now gets hit w/ can I use glue if I don't have tape, how much is that, where do I buy it, I traced it w/ a piece of chalk and it came off. Teacher demonstrates how to profile knife, gives several options for several tools. Students now left to accomplish this by next class. In the mean time if anyone has problems or questions they can ask for assistance. Class 2 everyone is caught up and instructor proceeds to the next step.

Complications: example, HT, will this be covered in the class, how to build forge or will the student be required to get this accomplished using his own devices. There could even be a secondary course same instructor, or not, that covers this prior or during the course.

Complication: keeping w/ the spirit of the forum. When a question is asked is this answered by the instructor or can anyone answer? Should this be left to the instructor to decide?

This whole topic is dependent on someone teaching and someone learning simple supply and demand. I am oversimplifying, there would have to be some rules and stuff.

[Ray Rogers]

Lots of good ideas here. One problem with any form of tutorial or class done here in the forum is that it isn't permanent. After a while, it disappears. Or, if the thread itself stays then the pictures drop off because the author used one of those photo hosting sites to hold the pictures and they are all temporary. I suppose that even the 'Attachment' method we now have available here has some kind of life span to it because storage space isn't unlimited or free.

These KITH's we've been trying to do may be the first step toward refining a way to do classes, coupling the KITH with this forum and the Chat Room. I have another idea I've been pursuing for a while related to making classes work and I'll continue to work on that. Meanwhile, keep coming up with these good ideas and, eventually, something will click ...

[piggy]

Thanks Ray, I am glad u brought up the issue of outdated threads. For newbies this can be a little frustrating.

This forum is a great source of material, and helpful people. Looking forward to your future plans.

The originator of this thread picked a good topic.