A little shocked

[Jim P]

I'm looking at the show and tell area last night and my wife said " I like that one" Huh? Did you use the word like and knife in the same sentence? The only interest she has ever shown is "please let me know when you sharpen the kitchen knives next time" Don't get me wrong I love my wife dearly.

 

Anyway, that led to a conversation about knives! About what she likes and doesn't like. She told me, well maybe I want to make one, but I don't want you to do all the forging and rough grinding. (like I did for my daughter) I want to do it ALL myself that way I can say I made it. (I thought, what was in that cake I just ate?)

 

I had to think quickly, I calmly said "well,.... when you're ready, I have a nice new piece of steel you can use. I'll just hold it and let you do the hammering"

 

I'm sure some of you have better halves that show an interest in what you do, and it's a great feeling.

[Noah M Legel]

I WISH my girlfriend would do something like that. She is deathly afraid of knives, even kitchen knives (I'm afraid to sharpen them because she's afraid she'll cut herself as it is). The closest I have come to a moment like this is when I was browsing online and she saw a little (less than 3" blade) knife with either a silver-wire-inlay of vines or some engraving (can't remember which) and she said "Well that's kinda cute"

 

Just give me time. I will wear her down, one of these days

[Jim P]

It only took me about 15 years.

[Noah M Legel]

Well shoot, I've still got 12.5 years to go, then

[Dee]

hmm ... an all girl bladesmithing symposium

 

eh? .. oh sorry .. was miles away there for a minute ..

im glad to hear your wife is going to be stepping on the other side of the anvil .. so to speak.

just make sure that she posts up her blade at the end of it all.

[jipp]

heh dee.

 

chris.

[C Daniel]

i'm making a dagger for my girlfriend i'll be showing here in a few days, she wants me to make her a sword, too. haha she loves vampires and the like, so i got really lucky to be with her.

[Jim P]

I'm hoping while I have her in the shop I can get her to make me one as well, something like a matched pair.

 

I'm glad you didn't take any offense Dee, none were intended towards the ladies. I see women at the knife shows, and I know women who are fascinated with knives as well. Jim

 

Edit: I'll be sure to post some pics when we get to work.

Edited August 4, 2009 by Jim P

[Dee]

no offense taken at All ..

 

everyone is different on this planet ..

its one of the spiffy things about "people"

 

but, tis true that a lot of girls dont tend to jump enthusiastically on the bandwagon when it comes to sharp pointy things.

and then there are those that do.

just as there are those guys who have asked me what i do and when i tell them ... they step away slowly as if im some rabid puppy.

 

heck, i have piercings that i love and cherish and yet my own dad cant listen to me talk about them without squirming and making girly noises .. tehehe..

 

it takes all sorts.

 

the only time i have troubles is when people come and tell me that they are changing their order because they have found out im a girl .. or canceling an order because im a girl and obviously cant make a "mans knife"

pff ..

 

whoops .. ranted off topic .. tehehe

anyhoo .. cant wait to see the pics.

[Howard Clark]

Well Dee, I can see you scaring a timid lad easily enough.

 

Once I got my wife used to sharp knives, anything less than scary sharp is unacceptable to her. I love her very much. She likes sharp pointy things, and guns too. (though not quite so much as the boys and I do).

 

Once you get them used to sharp knives, which actually cut things, instead of sawing them in two, they won't want one that isn't sharp. Even folks who have been squeamish about it have been converted in my life. It helps if you know what they like, then make one kind of similar that cuts well.

 

Good luck !

Edited August 5, 2009 by Howard Clark

[Donald Babcock]

My wife has tried her hand at general blacksmithing before. She actually likes it. Never showed any interest in making knives, but she does have good opinions on helping me with my work.

 

Any project that I am working on gets showed to her for approval of how things are progressing. She has a good eye for things like that.

 

Now that I have actually made her a kitchen knife she hasn't touched any of the other kitchen "knives" that she used frequently in the past. And she wants a few more styles to make a "set" so to speak. I don't keep them scary sharp as she is still getting used to knives that are sharpened properly.

[Jim P]

We had a discussion last night at dinner and my daughter asked my wife about going to work on a knife. And my wife replied that she felt obligated or something. I told her of my idea of making two.

 

So after dinner I was filing on a knife and she came out to the shop and presented me with a drawing. She's very artistic by the way. So I hung it up on one of the benches, maybe we'll start Friday.

 

She wants to run the forge and hold the bar and everything, I told her "I'll just stand back,.......and take pictures"

 

Dee, sorry about the discrimination. I like your work. I would think people would want it because a "girl" made it.

 

Some people are funny when you hand them a knife that you can shave with, my mother-in-law won't touch one, people I work with, they bring me theirs expecting it to be when I'm done.

[Beau Erwin]

I say we need more female black/bladesmiths! I think it's sexy.

I like seeing there are female blacksmith NPCs on World of Warcraft too, there's this little elf in the Dalaran smithy shop =-D

 

Anyway...

Think this was posted over on british blades recently.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article...mith/article.do

[jipp]

im a sucker for a women whit a sharp edge, or a guitar.. either works for me... heck with them dee.. you rock.

 

chris.

[Jim P]

I told my wife about this post and the "sharp knife thing" she wanted me to share with you about the sharpening the kitchen knives story.

 

I came home from work to find a block of cheese, a large mundial chefs knife, blood on the counter top and on the floor, and the phone, and phone book left opened up to the page with the doctors office.

 

No note, nothing. I knew she wasn't suicidal so I waited. When she got she got home one of the things she said was "please tell me when you sharpen the knives......"

 

Yeah it was about 3 stitches. I told her I was sorry..........

[tonn]

Women as a blacsmith/bladesmith.

You can find some and some very good makers. IMO it would be great if more women would be involved.

However - if only difference with male makers is.. well, the anatomy of the maker, it wouldn't be so interesting at all. Nothing wrong with that too, but what I would like to see is a different, more feminine approach to knifemaking (or forging)

 

Jim,

I would like to see the drawing too.

 

Tõnu

[Noah M Legel]

Dee, I can't imagine anyone actually turning down a blade from you because you are a woman! That's just asinine! Your work is artistic and excellent, and there should be more of it.

 

Maybe you should make a big ol' zombie chopper for those people who won't buy from you because you're a woman--even if they don't buy it, you can brandish it at them

[Doug Lester]

Dee, if some jerk wants to cancell an order because he thinks a woman can't make a knife, that's his loss. I'm certain that with the skill and quality of work you display that someone else was more than happy to purchase the knife that he turned down. Personally, I like the idea of an all women's workshop in blacksmithing or knife making. I've always admired men who were willing to show their wives/sweethearts/daughters how to forge or do other "manly" crafts.

 

Doug Lester

 

P.S. Just don't try teaching your wife and your sweetheart in the same class.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Doug Lester

[Bennett]

[nfm

Edited April 30, 2011 by Bennett

[Dee]

Jim~ ouch ... i can see how that incident might echo through the years ..

though i love the list of clues left behind at the scene.. lol

obviously your wife should never look at robbing a bank .. the cops would search your house and find a large sack with a dollar sign on the side ...a balaclava in the washing machine .. and the phone book open to the nearest bank listing

 

Noah ~ yeah .. well the world works in strange ways at times.

but i guess some people are used to a certain image.

i mean, big tough guys .. with cowboy hats ... tend to be a fairly reliable image of bladesmithing ...

so when i turn up and im nothing like that .. it might seem odd to them .. who knows.

 

i have a chopper coming up .. in a big project that scheduled .. im just waiting on something and then you will see some fun.

 

Doug ~

P.S. Just don't try teaching your wife and your sweetheart in the same class.

LOL!

 

Bennett ~ thats really kewlies.

and actually i find it quite interesting as some of the designs that she has sketched out echo designs that i sketched out when i first started.

funny how things work

[JCWalker]

My girlfriend makes and collects knives:)

[Justin Chenault]

When I met my wife she was afraid of knives and guns now she wants to get her own pistol and she's always asking me to sharpen the kitchen knives even when the are still sharp just not scary sharp.

 

My daughter is 3 and whenever I bring in a rough forged and profiled blade in to sketch out the handle and fittings she is always commenting on them the one I am working on right now she said was pretty neat and pointy. She is always asking to come out with me and I told her she can when she is bigger and every time she goes over to the wall we mark her height on and asks if she is big enough yet.

Edited August 8, 2009 by Justin Chenault

[Jim P]

Justin, thats just cute. My daughter is fascinated with knives. We're working on one right now and she's getting impatient with me to cut the wood for the handle. I took her to the Eugene knife show this spring and she had $5.00 that was burning a hole in her pocket. And she just had to buy something. It's great to see her interested in something good. Jim

[Brice]

One of the most talented students I worked with was a young lady with a fine eye for detail, and excellent hammer technique and became one of the best polishers I have ever worked with. She went on to be a midwife and beekeeper. I am delighted to have been a part of her path.

[Dick Sexstone]

Dee and all you other women out there who like pointy things.... I think you women need to get on the Opra show and turn on a new generation of women to how much fun you have doing smithing.... at the turn of the century( 1900 's) most women carried a folding knife (fruit knife).... there were every design under the sun.... It's too bad that now days one half of our population thinks of oj simpson and his switchblade when they hear the word knife.... So I agree.... we need more women involved in smithing All the ones I have seen are every bit as equal to the men they stand with....and some have way more talent than most men... and I don't mean this to be a slam as much as an observation but I would take a women on my side of a fight anyday.... they can be every bit as visious as a man...and what they may lack in physical strength compared to a man they more than make up for in mental strength and toughness.... and girls aren't afraid to be delicate . I think it takes real strength to be a girl in a mans world.... I was just watching Dr.John in the movie "lighnin in a bottle" comment on how most women sing in the style of a woman but when one such a Shemekia Copland gets up on stage and sings the blues in the style of a man ... In his gravel voice he says.."man she just really moves me"... I've read a quote from some one I can't remember also that goes... "there is nothing more powerful than a woman with a slide quitar on stage" ... I agree

Dick