Good to meet ya Scott!

You're the second guy in two days I've read about that visited Karl Andersen. I'm jealous! Where do you hail from? You might want to fill out your profile/About Me info with a few tidbits about yourself so we can meet you a wee bit more. Sounds like you've been making good progress with your bladesmithing and have clear minded goals. Have fun at the hammer-in. Maybe snap a few photos if you can and let us know how it went.

All the best, Phil

Welcome Scott. I'm glad to see your getting both feet wet in this forging thing. The ABS site is relatively new and we are generating input and participation as we go, but it's gettin there. I've seen some of your work already on Tradgang and it's lookin good. When you start posting photos, be sure and read about the size limits for this site and if you need help holler. Once you use the webresizer site, it's a cinch. Lin

Scott:

Welcome to the ABS Forum. I remember talking to you on the telephone when you joined the ABS and how much you wanted to learn more about bladesmithing. It is great to see that you are attending our ABS Hammer-Ins and the members are giving you advice. Karl Andersen is an excellent bladesmith and teacher.

Sally and I will see you at the Mid America Hammer-In in a few weeks. Enjoy the Forum!

Hi Scott,

Welcome aboard!

I spent some time on your website today and am very impressed with your work, knives and photography. Funny thing... As I was perusing your photography section I actually said to myself that you should be doing work for National Geographic or Discovery Channel. Then I read that you were commissioned to do some photography for Planet Earth series. Sometimes I'm just downright psychic. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmiths.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//rolleyes.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' />

I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep up the good work. It looks to me like you're well on your way to your own style. With your artistic and technical eye you're going to do well in your knife making venture.

Rick

Welcome Scott. Glad to have you aboard. I am glad to hear that you are going to Hammer Ins and Karl's shop, enjoy yourself and ask a lot of questions. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail or call.

Best regards

Brion

Thanks for the warm welcome fellas....

Phil... I'm the same guy! I'm 'mossanimal' on Blade. I'm from Northern Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Superior... near Bayfield. I've felt pretty lonely up here with my knife making!

Thanks Lin... Looking forward to using this site. Thanks again for all the help you've given me.

Rick... yeah... underwater, nature and travel photography were my big passions until a family and land rooted me. Smithing is something I can do and still be around the family. I love photography, but bladesmithing is WAY more gratifying. I tell ya one thing... I went into knife making kind of smug thinking I would instantly be good at photographing knives. Not the case. I still don't feel like I can make a knife pop the way Chuck and others do... Of course, you would have to be a real hacker to make a poor showing of the knives he photographs anyway.

So thanks again for the welcome... I will look into my profile...

It's pretty easy to be a "good" teacher when you have such a hungry and attentive student.

Scott may be new to the ABS, but don't let that newness fool you!

He is a very creative artisan and I expect to see great contributions from him

It's really breaking my heart to miss the Mid America event in a few weeks, not only because of the consistently fabulous line-up, but I'll not get to see Scott bothering everyone to learn as much as he can.

The ABS just got better with him signing on.

Since I joined a couple months ago and I have been reading and learning from all of you, I should introduce myself. I am Steve Hansen, I started making knives in 2007 on my own. I discovered the Kansas Custom Knifemakers Association and started going to shop tours. I also joined the Knife Group Association of Oklahoma. I recieved one on one help from Ray Kirk who invited me down to his place for some forging help. I am always thankful that so many in the knifemaking business are eager to share and help others, I assumed that experienced knifemakers would tell me that they had to learn it the hard way and I will too, but it certainly is not that way. Thank you to all of you for the help. I should also mention that what got my interest in making knives was an unexpected visit to Rob Weber's shop. Rob showed me how to hammer out a blade but I was learning to blacksmith and did not think I would like making knives but after seeing him work a strange desire started filling me up untill I decided to try and hammer out a blade. Now making knives, and tools to make knives, occupies my universe. I would have never known that making knives would be such a challenge and so much fun. From seeing all of the veteran knifemakers work I see that one will never have done all that he could do. I am attaching a picture of my second damascus knife. I heat treated it in my propane forge and had the pressure up too high resulting in the edge getting hot before the body, so it etched unevenly, the next one will be better.

Thank you to Steve Culver for the info on picture resizing I would never have known how to do that.

Welcome. Really nice work. Where are you in OK?

Hey Steve,

Glad to see you posting on the forum!!

Nice looking knife there! I like the contours of the handle.

I'm happy to hear that the photo editing tutorial helped you out.

Steve

Welcome to the ABS Forum and we are glad to have you as an ABS member!

You did a Great job re-sizing and uploading your knife photos. Now you can take full advantage of the outstanding advice and assistance of your fellow ABS members on the Forum.

Hello Steve good to see you here. Nice looking knife. The blade shape reminds me of one of the Western skinners from some years back. Good work. The handle shape flows very well with the blade shape. Welcome to the ABS and the forum.

Brion

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Welcome. Really nice work. Where are you in OK?

Jarrett, I live in southeast Kansas.