Forgive me, I am not really in a preachy mood but I have been thinking a lot lately about this little truism that seems to be pretty universal in anything that is worth-while. It is only when we push ourselves that any improvement it made, and if what we do feels too easy, we are not pushing ourselves. I have also been thinking more about this lately as I help teach martial arts with the challenge of doing it over teleconferencing video software. And I am remembering just about every time, as a knifemaker, I said “I don’t know what the big deal is, this is easyâ€, and then, later on, I was embarrassed by the work I did that was “easy.†While it is the toughest things that I consider among the best work I have done.
For instance, I remember an experienced maker of the Japanese style telling me how much of a pain a habaki can be to make. In my naive lack of experience at the time, I scoffed, because the ones I had done were “no problem.†Well, years later, when I actually understood habaki, I was ashamed of my previous ignorance, and the horrible pieces of copper that I had just wrapped around the blade and soldered.
In another instance, I remember having an online discussion about rapiers. When I explained how much of a challenge they can be, even over most other sword designs, one participant, that I had never heard of, proudly proclaimed how he found them easy to do and not much more difficult than any other blade. When I later met him in person and he showed me his work, I completely understood why what he was making was so “easy†for him, and I hoped, for his sake, that one day he would realize how difficult it can be to do it correctly.
A very popular term these days is the “Dunning-Kruger effectâ€, and I have not seen another field of endeavor more prone to that problem than knifemaking. The knife seems like such a simple tool, and just about everybody has, at one point or another, put a file to a grinder in order to be a “knifemakerâ€, if even for a day. I think this contributes to the susceptibility of our craft to the Dunning-Kruger effect- “I can do that. Anybody can, its easy.†But it is only after years of understanding how it is done properly that you fully realize how none of it is “easy.â€
In full paradoxical irony, it is only those who have done it correctly long enough to make it look easy, that fully understand how difficult it really is. And it is those craftsmen who will rarely say that something is “easy.†I have often teased my dagger students that I do daggers for relaxation, or stress relief, but I preface that with the point that this is when I take a break from rapiers, but there is nothing “easy†about doing either properly, and if there was I wouldn’t bother, I would find something that was worth doing instead.
I can’t tell you the number of heat treatment conversations, in real life and online, that I have passed by, and left alone, because I have gotten pretty good at spotting those fully under the Dunning- Kruger effect. I realize that there are people who will not be helped until they first understand how complex it really is. For the first step in learning, is realizing what you don’t yet know. They would say that folks like me are overthinking it and are making it much harder than it really is, because for them it is “easy.†So, I just leave them to find their way, knowing that, if they stick with it, they will eventually understand how much more there is, in both the potential of their knives and in the process of producing them. Because I really can’t comprehend continuing to do something for years if it isn’t continuously presenting me with new challenges by which to improve myself, and “easy†doesn’t have a place in that.
In the martial arts, this problem is much simpler to overcome, if a green belt student thinks he has it all figured out, because to them it is “easyâ€, we can get that straightened out quickly, in the ring at the very next tournament. This is why the ABS is so important to our craft, those who decide to go for a stamp quickly find out how “easy†it is to make knives properly, and I have found that those who badmouth and denounce the ABS rating program are almost always guys who would think this whole knifemaking thing is so much “easier†than the ABS says it is, and ten years from now it will still be just as “easy†to them.
"One test is worth 1000 'expert' opinions" Riehle Testing Machines Co.
When I met Jerry Rados in '96 he passed along to me a couple axioms I have never forgotten. (Every single one of them still holds water today.)
One that he told me I thought was so far fetched that I set out to prove it wrong.
He said, "It takes 20 years to be a knife maker." I thought that was absurd. Heck - anybody can make a knife - right?
Once again, my good friend was right. A few times a week it becomes evident I'm just getting the basics figured out.
In other words, one person's idea of doing something right may not always mean the same thing to another.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
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I have found that those who badmouth and denounce the ABS rating program are almost always guys who would think this whole knifemaking thing is so much “easier†than the ABS says it is, and ten years from now it will still be just as “easy†to them.
Agreed. I know one of those guys. He's even got a stellar reputation of smelting and Wootz, etc. Every time I encounter him he's always making snide remarks about the ABS. But the "things" I have seen that he has assembled look like they were made by a bunch of stoners in shop class.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
A very long time ago I decided to get my Basic Life Support (BLS) certification and become an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Those are the guys who drive around in ambulances saving lives. I didn't want to work on an ambulance, I was a very avid rock climber and budding mountaineer. I decided I needed some advanced form of first aid, as most of my adventures happened very far away from any sort of medical help. It just seemed like a good idea. I found out it was a very good idea.
There was one thing the instructor for my class said that has forever stuck with me.
"If you ever get to the point where you think you have nothing left to learn, it's time to find a new occupation."
I used to get in discussions with those anti-ABS guys. Now I just say, "Yep, you are right. Making a knife is easy. Just sharpen a piece of steel, stick a handle on it, and you've got yourself a knife. Making a good knife is much more than that." Then I walk away.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
Dunning Kruger is a real thing, there are so many areas of knife-making this can take hold it seems it is rampant. You tube and the internet in general have not helped, nor has this new marketing environment where sales and buzz can dictate skill or quality to the general public (clearly not the case in reality). it gets really bad when they start to believe there own hype.
I have also noticed a corollary to it, there is a weird pride in some at how long it take or how much work they put in to there knives or even certain steps, sometimes unnecessarily. Spending 2 days on a $300 knife is silly and just bad business, That attitude of spending weeks or days polishing a blade as if it is a point of pride .. I can appreciate the craftsmanship of wanting to make it right but it tells me they need to learn to grind, but what do I know..
MP
The guy who can't polish, shouldn't get the money (note I said "shouldn't"). The guy who takes unnecessary hours to finish won't get the money. It is the guy who has developed his skills to get the same fine finish in minutes that should get the money. It is the years he spent getting that good that you are paying for.
"One test is worth 1000 'expert' opinions" Riehle Testing Machines Co.
The customer asked: "How long did it take you to make this knife?"
The smith replied: "Twelve years."
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
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The customer asked: "How long did it take you to make this knife?"
The smith replied: "Twelve years."
Many many moons ago at one of the early Hammer ins, Bill Moran was giving a class on customer/knifemaker interaction. One of the things Bill brought out was that when someone asked how long it took to make a knife they were looking at on your table, what they were doing was trying to get you to justify the price you had on it. Bill grinned and said that after a couple of times being asked he (Bill) would ask them how long did they think it took for the auto manufacturer to build the expensive car they drove. Bill said that usually put an end to that line of questioning and they moved on with knife discussions.
When a customer buys one of your knives they are paying for your skill, not your time.
|quoted:
The guy who can't polish, shouldn't get the money (note I said "shouldn't"). The guy who takes unnecessary hours to finish won't get the money. It is the guy who has developed his skills to get the same fine finish in minutes that should get the money. It is the years he spent getting that good that you are paying for.
Word
|quoted:
The guy who can't polish, shouldn't get the money (note I said "shouldn't"). The guy who takes unnecessary hours to finish won't get the money. It is the guy who has developed his skills to get the same fine finish in minutes that should get the money. It is the years he spent getting that good that you are paying for.
Herein lies the paradox you referred to earlier.
You cannot figure out how to get that polish quickly without practice and that takes more time than you can probably get paid for.
So while you practice getting some technique down well enough to execute it quickly, you are putting in huge amounts of time that probably will not pay any dividends, at least not monetarily and not right away.
Still, you have to do it.
Joshua States
www.dosgatosforge.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg
https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71
Also on Instagram and Facebook as J.States Bladesmith
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.â€
Quote : "This is why the ABS is so important to our craft, those who decide to go for a stamp quickly find out how “easy†it is to make knives properly, and I have found that those who badmouth and denounce the ABS rating program are almost always guys who would think this whole knifemaking thing is so much “easier†than the ABS says it is, and ten years from now it will still be just as “easy†to them." Kevin
This is a true statement. If I say much more I'll be in over my head. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
