[rick-in-seattle]

Hundreds of knife blades have been quenched in my shop; each with their own character. Why does one blade chip, bend, crack, or dull, while the next takes on a magical ability?

It has little to do with the handle, I have graced beautiful steel with the blackest ebony and the result was a worthless knife.

But when a knife is completed and I put it to wood, sometimes it sings.
When that happens, questions run through my mind; what did I do different? Can I do it again?

It is never that simple, those amazing knives happen on their own; some small thing that escapes my logic creates the magic.

I've been lucky to have held several over the years; many I wished I had kept for myself.

And yet, I know that one day another will come along to surprise and amaze me.

[BobD]

Rick,

If you're not careful, everyone is going to see the poet hiding behind your rough exterior--I've already seen him when you were reminiscing about the John Campbell Folk School!

Bob

[AlArchie]

OK, Rick, now it's time for my lecture to you, although I don't feel anywhere near quallified to deliver it!

You, of all people, should know that there isn't any "Magic" in what you speak of. The old (I'll include you in this) true craftsmen understand the intrinsic characteristics of the material they work in. When a true machinist picks up a piece of number graded steel, he knows what the material is capable of and how it needs to be treated in order to reach the maximum potential of the metal. His hands and his eyes tell him if the right aura is being produced as the material is worked. It's been a matter of learning to understand minute differences in sound, sight and feel. Years of working with and refining those skills, and hundreds and thousands of repetitive querries into the final results.

Experienced carvers and woodturners have questioned the qualities of the material and have come to understand the idiosyncracies of dozens of different species, by touching and watching the grain as it resists and conforms. Burly segments, straight grained bolts, twisted limbs that have been cut and planed, stressed growth, all have come under scrutiny and the designer knows by feel and sight what to expect.

Potters throwing mud from creek bottoms and hillside slides have learned the different consistancies of each source; what will hold true and what will fire imperfectly. It's a judgement sensed through the touch and look of the material, a "magic" perfected by rehearsal. Each episode brings a greater undersanding of the material.

Yet, material is not entirely predictable, small differences exist that the craftsman has not yet encoutered. Not until now. Now, this is added to the repitoire.

A true masterpiece, your exquisite blade, is not magic, but the result of your eye and hand working the best from a piece of steel that just happens to have all the characteristics you have come to understand so well.

The "magic" is, if any, is in the odd failures that you seldom see, and in your ability to recognize that, too, from among the many "singers"

It is a shame that todays' new craftsmen will never get the chance to develop your "touch" for the material, as they get their tactile returns from a keyboard, never actually knowing the heft and feel of the stock.

The magic is in your hands! That one specific blade that sang to you, told you of it's growth through touch, color, sound and grit. You have come to understand the communication with the material, and whether you realize it or not, you have learned from that last "most excellent blade" what is needed to produce it again. It is now in YOUR repitoire.

Al

[squbrigg]

Rick.....I understand of which you speak! It seems there is a spirit in some tools.....in a set of basic woodcarving tools for example, some have much better and more consistant "voices" than others. I have three gouges in a small set that I have, a #3, a # 4 and a # 5 sweep, each 3/8" wide and they sing! The other 9 pieces in the set, can hum along, but don't compare to the sweet melody of those three! Is it the steel, the temper, the shape easier to sharpen and hone......Lord knows? The handles are identical, so is the steel. I have three # 11's, all different makers, none can carry a note, in fact each have damaged vocal cords, in the form of a chip in each blade, in the same place in each blade. Perhaps this conductor had better sharpen his sharpening skills!!!

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Maybe its all that salt air! lol

[squbrigg]

You may be right Hi Ho.....just went down to "conduct" and one my singers bit me! Maybe I should have stayed at sea! Oh .....it's been a long winter! Blowing a great blizzard here today, 15" of snow on the deck this morning....so much for that nice spring weather. Even my wood and tools are rebelling!

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

gee sorry to hear about that! We are having to suffer with about 72 degrees, blue skies.....oops...thats mean isn't it? lol...you can always come to Arizona for the winters ....don't stay tho, too many people might make the weather change! ha ha