Favorite part of knife making

[Sweany]

hehehehe who hahahahah hehehe

I like Scagel

I hate it!
I HATE it!
I HATE IT !!!



......................"BARF !!!"

[Sweany]

So tell us Tai, how do you realllllllllly feel about standard ricassos.

A bush knife with a standard ricasso??? hmmmm

[MaxTheKnife]

None of my ricasso's are standard. Every one is different. One of the things I learned at school was to radius the tang shoulders instead of forging them square and then filing them down. No sharp angles. Of course, that just makes the whole job more tedious for me. And I don't worry about hammering on the ricasso either. I have a blade banging hammer that cleans up those ricasso flats real nice. Touch it with the flat grinder till it's flat and there you go.

I wind up driving my guards on the last 1/4" or so. And I don't solder the guards any more. Gave up on that and have gone to a total dry, pressed fit. I don't need no stinking solder! He he. I tried the JB Weld trick a few times and don't like that at all. What's a guy gonna do? Pound that sucker on is what! Works for me. And Tai, I hear you about the standard ricasso thing. One thing that keeps me going is that if there's something I don't like to do I just don't do it. I'm learning to say no and I'm not looking back. And I'm having fun.

[Raymond Richard]

I thought a ricasso was a fat opera star....

[Sweany]

OOOO, SOLO, MEEEEAAAAAA

It's just such a harsh transition from the blade to the guard and handle. Blade collars and habakis help. Integral bolsters help. Integral gaurds help. Integral socket handles help. Recessed shoulders even help... anything, but standard!

[Gene Chapman]

Not a big fan of there either, have made a few undersize, got them red and drive on tang, let them heat shrink on it, worked well but careful not to smack it too hard or it distorts the guard.
Used a big ugly forged driver to seat them.

[Dana Acker]

T. Hendrickson, welcome to the forum. Glad to have you drop in. Hope you'll stick around--Hey, Wyoming needs representation here.

Tai, you said that standard ricassos almost made you quit knifemaking. Why? I mean, that's a pretty serious statement, even if made in jest. I'm just curious, were you under pressure from the knife community to make them, or were they just not interesting or innovationg to you? I understand that you hate them, and I'm not arguing for them, I'm just wondering why? Gotta be more than just a harsh transition. While I agree they are a P.I.T.A., still it's a traditional style that a lot of people seem to want, even expect on their knives. If you got a serious enough offer (big $$$$$) would you make one? I don't enjoy doing them either, just never saw someone so adamant against them. Why do you think the ABS is so big on them? Preservation of tradition? ????? Enlighten me, Bro.

[Sweany]

I dunno I keep thiking about the favorite part,part of this thread.

I like to forge better than grind. I like to make bolsters better than guards.

But overall MY Favorite part is making knifes and concentrating on makeing each one better.

Stretching myself so to speak.

Does that make sense?

Looking back the knives I make today are not the ones I used to make.

[cactusforge]

Sweany, That is the best answer yet. Gib

Dana, after you make a few hundred of them, you just get sick of it. It got to where I was doing them in my sleep. So, to try and get away from it, I started doing blade collars (habakis). It helped, but I was still going through all the same motions, just adding a collar in front of the guard. Then those got real popular for me and I made a few hundred of them, until I got REALLY sick of it. I started doing fresh and exciting guardless desings and integrals, but people just kept asking for the standard type ricasso designs. The more that went on, the more I hated them. For about ten years afterwords people would hardly look at my new work. Of course I was fooling with rough finishes and odd designs too, but getting away from the standard ricasso is what really set me free as a knife artist.

[Sweany]

FREEDOM. NOW THAT'S WHAT i'M TALKING ABOUT!!

Gib, thanks.

A lot of that thought was shaped by the answers otheers have given in this thread....

Dana, it's my hatred for the standard ricasso that has made me what I am. I am the hatred of the standard ricasso made flesh. I am the hatred!

hee hee