Welcome and Please Read Before Posting

[Dennis Boas]

Welcome to the new Bladesmith Cafe! This forum is especially for those in the profession of knife-making, sword-making, blacksmithing, bladesmithing, stock removal, etc. and is a support forum for professionals. If you are a non-professional please peruse our General Forum instead - this is not a place for the general public to post opinion polls or questions.

[A. Ko]

Also, we have had a bunch of new faces come to Sword Forum International. If you are a professional bladesmith, blacksmith, cutler, knife maker, stock removal artist, etc. - whatever your title - please let us know if you're *in* the profession; we would be happy to change your Title (which appears under your name when you post).

The reason we would like to do this is to identify those here who are in the profession as this is a professionals' support forum.

Email us at sfiadmin@swordforum.com and include your business' website. Tell us what you are so we can change your title to what's appropriate!

[Trond Vihovde]

Originally posted by Dennis Boas
Welcome to the new Bladesmith Cafe! This forum is especially for those in the profession of knife-making, sword-making, blacksmithing, bladesmithing, stock removal, etc. and is a support forum for professionals. If you are a non-professional please peruse our General Forum instead - this is not a place for the general public to post opinion polls or questions.

could you define "professional" please? I'd like to know when I cross the line from amateur to that.

Trond

[T.L. Johnson]

Originally posted by Trond Vihovde


could you define "professional" please? I'd like to know when I cross the line from amateur to that.

Trond

If I may be so kind to answer, I believe it to mean any person that is in actual practice of bladesmithing and metalwork, whether it be a vital business venture or a hobbyist's forge.

I don't believe they mean that you have to be a businessman selling your work, but rather that you are in fact practicing the profession—as opposed to someone whose experience with swords comes from only handling the finished product alone.

[CE Stone]

I don't consider myself a professional but I have built two forges- coal and propane which I have used to make one sword and several knives. I also have been blacksmithing for about 10 years off and on and have sold some of my work. This forum looks to have topics of interest to me, may I post here?

Thanks,

Chris

[T.L. Johnson]

Once again I re-interate my beilief that the folks here at SFI don't mean "professional" in the sense that you have to be conducting your work for the selling of your wares.

Rather instead, since you are working in the "profession" of swordsmithing (even if it is in an amateur or hobbyist capacity) you are invited to discuss the "professional" matters of making swords—who cares if you sell them or not, just as long as you're the guy actually making them things.

[Larry Harley]

Originally posted by T.L. Johnson
Once again I re-interate my beilief that the folks here at SFI don't mean "professional" in the sense that you have to be conducting your work for the selling of your wares.

a professional is some one u wakes in the morning and makes there liveing at it

Rather instead, since you are working in the "profession" of swordsmithing (even if it is in an amateur or hobbyist capacity) you are invited to discuss the "professional" matters of making swords—who cares if you sell them or not, just as long as you're the guy actually making them things.

us professionals take great pride in doing that for a liveing
its not a hobby
we ant playing
its my liveing
u ant a pro
and the bladesmiths cafe used to be full of pros
look around how many r here now??
harley

[Dennis Boas]

The confusion is probably my fault for not clarifying this earlier. First a little history. The Café was set up as a support forum for professional blade smiths. Professional being defined as people who derived at least a portion of their incomes from bladesmithing.

Everyone has always been welcome to read the posts but the forum is first and foremost a place where working professionals can gather and share information. Amateur and hobby smiths do post here and to the extent that their posts are on topic and relevant they have been allowed.

[Josh Powell]

I hope that the amatuers among us, myself included have not disrupted the flow of the Cafe, or driven off the pro's.

I've learned a lot from people here, that I couldn't have pratically learned else where.

Thanks.

josh

[Larry Harley]

Originally posted by Josh Powell
I hope that the amatuers among us, myself included have not disrupted the flow of the Cafe, or driven off the pro's.

I've learned a lot from people here, that I couldn't have pratically learned else where.

Thanks.

josh

sorry if i came off a little ogerish
didnt mean to
harley

[Josh Powell]

No, it's not that, Harley.

What bothers me is that there are fewer pro's here for me to learn from.. Your comment just rattled a thought loose that's been rolling around in my head for a while..

You used to post on rec.knives, maybe?
josh

Originally posted by larry harley

sorry if i came off a little ogerish
didnt mean to
harley

[Larry Harley]

Originally posted by Josh Powell
No, it's not that, Harley.

What bothers me is that there are fewer pro's here for me to learn from.. Your comment just rattled a thought loose that's been rolling around in my head for a while..

You used to post on rec.knives, maybe?
josh

yes that s me
harley

[Larry Harley]

Originally posted by larry harley

yes that s me
harley

i,m this harley
www.lonesomepineknives.com
got no knives up for sale on the sight now
harley

[Josh Powell]

Don't need any. Make my own now.. Thanks for being a resource, even then.. I did a kindjal kinda like one of yours recently, though. Not nearly as well finished, though.

Hey.. you made a comment about being a head shrinker once, there on R.Knives... fer real?
josh

Originally posted by larry harley

i,m this harley
www.lonesomepineknives.com
got no knives up for sale on the sigh now
harley

[Larry Harley]

Originally posted by Josh Powell
Don't need any. Make my own now.. Thanks for being a resource, even then.. I did a kindjal kinda like one of yours recently, though. Not nearly as well finished, though.

Hey.. you made a comment about being a head shrinker once, there on R.Knives... fer real?
josh

that was in another life
on a planet far far away
i try to NEVER live in my head now
your guts tell u where to go
your heart only muddies the water
harley

[Larry Harley]

Originally posted by Josh Powell
Don't need any. Make my own now.. Thanks for being a resource, even then.. I did a kindjal kinda like one of yours recently, though. Not nearly as well finished, though.

Hey.. you made a comment about being a head shrinker once, there on R.Knives... fer real?
josh

josh
there r a lot of good smiths out there
find one that u can communicate with and get in his back pocket
none of us woke up on morning knowing all this ****
we all ;learned it from somebody or some resource
harley

[Josh Powell]

That's why I love the swordforum.. I've gotten a great deal of information here, from a variety of sources. It's allowed me to contrast different pieces of information, and take what's of value to me.

It would be nice to have some one to sit down with in a shop every once in a while, learn some stuff by actually seeing it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find anyone willing and able in the local area, so I just mess with stuff untill it works right for me, and if I find an obstacle I can't surmount on my own, I ask here..

josh

Originally posted by larry harley


josh
there r a lot of good smiths out there
find one that u can communicate with and get in his back pocket
none of us woke up on morning knowing all this ****
we all ;learned it from somebody or some resource
harley

[jared m. brooks]

i just started selling my works so am i a profeshinal

[jared m. brooks]

i just started selling my works so am i a profeshinal

[Joshua Doyle]

Originally posted by jared m. brooks
i just started selling my works so am i a profeshinal

Wow, my very first post! I hope no one minds it being here, but in my defence, I may not be a professional, but hey, I can at least spell the word.

[humayd abdur rasheed maho]

greetings from s africa
i am a full time knifemaker[stock removal] duh does that make me 1 o them perfeshnal fellerrs.any way i do have a forge,or more to the point ,my dad does[i work out of his shop].i'm new to this forum thing but was wondering if any1 can assist me-i have an order for a katana which i'll grind.my plan is to use spring steel[5160 or similar].after hardening i intend to draw the back of the blade.i wonder if any1 can give me any tips on this project[wink wink mr harley].i realise a forged blade is the way to go but cant do that soon.i intend to convex grind the blade n try to get it to look as authentic as possible,but looks at the moment is the easy part.the heat treat is what im concerned about.if steel is the heart of a blade,heat treat is the soul [probably read that somewhere].u can see the heart but can experience the soul as life,energy,vitality.without this soul all u hav is a pretty piece of metal.enuff poetic crap already.with thanx harm[is that allowed o moderator]::

[Dave L Patton]

I was wondering has anyone built a forge. If you have how.

Dave

[Jim McIntosh]

Forge patterns/designs are all over the net.

I am not a professional and the number of them is dieing out but we are also the pros of the future! I know that I am not the only one among the next generation of artisans.

[Glen C.]

A good helpful starting point to find some basics is this thread
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=30311

Cheers

Hotspur; I'd copy the thread to this section but haven't figured the best way to do it