The Knifemaker is Big News!

 

It is always a joy to boast about my favoriate knifemaker but low and behold if this don't beat all!  There he is on the interstate billboards for the Craftsmen's Fair! The family news just gets bigger and bigger!

I hope you can visit the Fair - the number of handcrafted items is both remarkable and inspiring!

Combining books with knives?

Town and Country Living

Now that knives are understood, or at least better understood, what to do with the knowledge?  From an educational point of view, how can they be combined with books?  This knife holder came to my attention...for kitchen knives, old cookbooks or foodie books would be appropriate for cooking utensils but would about hardware or DIY books for garage knives?

Mohr Gratitude

The knifemaker's aunt owes her month of education to Mohr Custom Knives' knifemaker, knifemaker's dad, knifemaker's office manager, and shop dog extraordinaire, Riley. They made the learning easy, understandable, and productive!

Summing Up the Month

When the month began....

...when the month ended.

The month is coming to a close and the knifemaker's aunt is returning home. The learning, the living, and the loving of metalworking have been a dynamic educational experience. As demonstrated by her apron and name toggle, she learned the day-to-day work of how metal can be fired, hammered, ground, polished, and buffed into a gleaming knife blade or household product. With the process came the opportunity to re-visit how to set up an experiment when trying to investigate a new idea from an existing product: change only one variable at a time! Re-doing the experiment will have to wait for the next show coming up in the fall.

From the ashes of a rusted
railroad spike come the
gleaming finished knife.

 With fire and manual labor, and the dirt that accumulates, the knifemaker's aunt made final products to demonstrate the steps necessary to work metal into nail knives, hooks, and broaches. Life lessons learned were 1-  metalworking is a process that shapes the rhythm of working days, 2- metalworking brings with it the excitement of seeing a Phoenix rise from the ashes of filth, and 3- there is a constant activity to eliminate dirt. Just as folding clothes recurs every time clean clothes are produced, sweeping up metal dust recurs every time metal is forged, ground, or polished. One follows another. One is inevitable after the other. Once the rhythm is recognized, the days fall into a pattern and work doesn't seem like work anymore.

As for the day-to-day rhythm of seasonal visitors in a tourist area: the approach to scheduling work days should be approached as an annual pattern...work is every day until after the holidays when there is a 3-month break to catch a breath, take a break, and regroup for the next start of tourist season. In the teaching profession, this pattern is 3 months later with the break being during the summer months, not the winter.  During the school year, teachers are on an alert day in and day out until the end of the academic year.

Valuable lessons all.

Scarf Broach

The knifemaker's aunt gave the scarf broach a good brushing with a brass brush. She was going to add gemstones for added color, but decided against it. The forged look of metal next to the cloth didn't need additional beauty!

Shop Hook Board

The regular nails, with the hook shape but no special design at the head, can be made into a coat or jacket boards for the shop. The knifemaker's aunt returned to the scrap pile of wood pieces left over from the ramp project. She changed the quote used for the shop stool and put it on a piece of wood: "The cutting edge of custom is a dynamic place. Leave your hang ups here." No gemstones, or special meanings other than the idea that no one brings a bunch of stuff into the shop where it can get in they way (physically, or maybe emotionally?).

There's nothing like lining up a bunch of forged nails to see the imperfections!

Kale Nails

The flattened, leaf-shaped forged nails are going to be kale leaves for a hanging board for the knifemaker's other aunt, the bold family member who has embraced the concept of a whole foods, plant-based diet. Her birthday is coming up soon, and what better than some kale nails!

Remember forging the kale end of the nail? It may have looked like a blob at first, the shape led the design in the end...a case of making lemonade from lemons. The knifemaker's aunt scrounged up a piece of scrap from the ramp project. She shaped it into a loose curve and added a quote to the board that addresses the WFPB lifestyle: "The cutting edge of Vegan is a place of green. Leave your hang ups here."  Adding to the metaphysical meaning are four gemstones that come together to symbolize life balance - citrine, amethyst, flourite, and snowflake obsidian.

What do the stones mean? Citrine is associated with the solar plexus - a person's core of life and health. Amethyst evokes balance, peace, and heightened intelligence (pretty handy when balancing life events). Flourite offers a reminder there are forces bigger than ourselves and that a person can always begin again. The serenity of a deep snowfall is seen in snowflake obsidian which is a reminder to block the distractions of life.

Happy birthday Knifemaker's Other Aunt -- the whole foods, plant-based aunt who will lead others to  healthy lives!