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It's been quite awhile since I have made some post updates. I have had quite a lot going on. I will load some pics and blather on for a bit. I miss being active in the forum. I am not making just one off knives right now and that has me spinning in circles. I am in transition from my day job to my blacksmith job. I am 20ish hours a week at the day job and probably 30+ at knives and then I have another part time design job. That with the family I am quite booked. Anyhow, I managed to get back on Forged in Fire (thanks to people on facebook) and that ended up being a good thing this time. I know some of you hate the show. I don't. I see both sides of the picture, believe, I do. I have had my ups and downs with it. The first time I was on I lost in the final round. They made it seem like I didn't know how to sharpen a blade and that hurt my business. I didn't sell a single knife for 3 months after the air date. But I made more knives, put of videos of me cut testing and booked a lot of shows. I got out and met people, taught lessons and kept forging. My build up was slow but it grew and I started selling knives again. A little over a year after having been on the show I was back to selling knives at a decent rate and price. I had felt like I had at least repaired a lot of my reputation. I also started taking more sculpture work (I can't believe how much more money this can make... lot of work though). At the beginning of this year I was asked to come back on the show. I went. This time, though, I practiced a lot. I practiced the 3 hour forge time and the 3 hour handle time over and over. Some of my practice rounds I failed. I had a blade shatter to bits (I rushed and didn't heat the oil on a cold day while using 52100) and I had a couple handles that looked like horror film knife handles but I learned and pushed myself forward. I worked on my edge geometry and grinding. I worked on forging to shape. I worked on forging random steels and memorizing junkyard steel sheets. I poured over several of Jim Hrisoulas' books over and over. I won. It was very close and I made mistakes along the way but I won. It felt good to come back from a previous loss. I have a lot of you to thank. This forum is chalk full of information and help. Even if you don't know you helped, you probably did. I scour(ed) the forums for information and techniques that help me every day. I would not be where I am today as a bladesmith without you. Let's move on to post FIF. I don't carry a knife. Weird, right? A knife maker that doesn't carry his own knives. I don’t like the bulk. Plus I like to sell everything. But I don’t like full pockets I don’t like belts and though I like necker knives I hate how they fly around if you move. So, on a plane ride back and forth from Brooklyn I sketched up a wrist cuff sheath. I really wanted it to be more cuff accessory than sheath or bracer but yet influenced by both. I am selling these now. Working on a patent and have had an article written about them by knifenews.com. The reaction has been good. I have sold quite a few of them and continue to develop the product. A harsh year of feedback from the first time on FIF has prepped me to deal with the haters (can you believe how many just horrendously negative people are out there). Business is moving along. I have plenty of work and am getting paid a decent amount for it. I thank God for that. Here are a few pics from the last year.