newbie teaching a newbie

[baseinba]

I'm a newbie with five knives completed and I visit the forums quite often. I have several of the books reccomended. I have a co-worker who has become interested in knives recently and keeps asking alot of questions. Isn't it just too cool how excited a newbie is when they first start. I've sent him to the forums for reading. Anyway I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who answers questions and posts information needed by us newbies.

[Ray Rogers]

We're all Newbies, never stop learning........

[Ed Caffrey]

You've stumbled upon one of the "secrets" of improving your knives.......exposing yourself to others who also make knives.

There is no doubt in my mind that the reason a lot of us in the Northwest got better at making knives quickly......is because we were always comparing notes and pushing each other. There was a time when Wade Colter, Shane Taylor, Barry Gallagher, Rick Dunkerley, and myself would be on the phone with one or the other every day of the week. One would do something that we though was "cool", would call another, who would take it a step further, and then pass the information on, between doing that, and visiting each others' shops we basically pooled the knowledge of the group, which accelerated everyone's learning curve. Combine that with going to just about any hammer-in that could be found, we had as much information as we could take in, and our "level" increased at a rate that would take a lone individuals decades to achieve.

Even though I've been at this for 25+ years now, every time I attend a hammer-in, or visit another maker's shop, it gives me new ideas and directions....and as Ray said... We are ALL newbies in one way or the other......thats been the "draw" or this craft for me...ever a learning experience.