Workshop (of sorts)

I am looking forward to the day that I can attend a workshop at Haystack or Penland... but until then, I will have to devise my own little classes. So, in about a week, I will be heading to Oregon to learn some skills from pops Lake. Yep... I'm going to be in my dad's workshop for about two weeks. The end result will, hopefully, look something like a knife.
I'm pretty proud of my dad. He has been making handmade folding knives for over 30 years, plus he designs and patents knives and mechanisms for manufactured knife companies. He has managed to be completely self employed most of his working life.

There are two schools of knifemaking. One involves a lot of forging. Think of swords or daggers - heating, hammering... very physical. Then there is a more mechanical approach - referred to as "stock removal" ....Milling machines, lathes, close tolerances and precision. Since my dad is a folding knifemaker, with all its mechanisms, he uses the later.

He had me cutting out parts on the bandsaw when I was 9 and turning out parts on the lathe when I was 14. I actually made a miniature knife when I was in middle school, but, honestly, he did most of the work. There is a wealth of knowledge that I would be an idiot to miss out on, and making a knife will be much more about the process and the tools involved instead of the end result.

I am going to be documenting and posting my progress, so stay tuned!