Just wondering

[Waycasy]

Just a thought.
Curiosity prompts this post. Wondering how many of you work on more than one knife at a time. For those of you who work on multiple knives how many at once? And how do you keep your concentration and direction? Or do the majority you work on one untill completion, which would seem to be the easiest way (unless you are a full timer!)
Just wondering

[DC KNIVES]

First of all welcome to the CKD. I am not a fulltimer though it sometimes feels like it.I usually work on somewhere between 5 and 15 at a time. It just depends on my order load or if a show is coming up.But I have been doing this for awhile and when I started one seemed to be quite enough.Customer knives are fairly easy to concentrate on since they are determining the design. My own knives for shows can sometimes take off in a different direction just because I can.I usually draw a design up with several types of handle configurations or shapes and play.Sometimes, it's take a piece of steel to the grinder and take off anything that don't look like a knife . Anyhow once you start getting the hang of it more knives becomes easier.One other thing multiple knives do is allow you to work on different stages of the process.I may push a few farther along so that the nights that I might not feel like grinding I can drill or do filework or sheaths.Just my thoughts, enjoy.Dave

[Ray Rogers]

I'm a full timer and I try to process my orders in the sequence that I receive them. But, when I have an order for a knife made from a particular steel I will also make other blades that mau be on order if they are from the same steel. I might even grind the blades at the same time. After that though, I usually finish the knives one at a time ............

[cactusforge]

Special knives I do one at a time. Other than that I try 3 to 6.
Gib

[YAMAMA]

I am a part time hobby maker and have only made 1 at a time.

I believe it would be a bit more efficient to work on multiple blades at once. Expecially for tasks like forging. You might as well forge out a few blades while the sucker is hot as it will save gas. Same goes for heat treating.

I think I am going to move towards this method.

[Saint Mark]

Its a hobby for me as well, but sometimes when I make a folder I just need to take a mental break and switching to a hunter lets me do that. Multiple blades at one time is great.

[Jason Cutter]

I did some experimentation for my own purposes and found I could quite efficiently work on as many as 6-8 separate projects at once, but there were a lot of variables and the amount of organisation required was almost not worth the effort. The other problems was that it de-personalised the individual work on a knife and that negates the whole joy of making knives, for me. When I make a bowie, thats all I do, till its done... I look at it as an art.

I will, however, do this on small knives. Eg.- a small hollowground personal knife 2.5-3inch blade, about 6-7inches OAL. I might cut and profile 4 blades, hollowgrind 4 blades, HT 4 blades, taper the tangs on all 4 and complete all 4 with different handle materials. Then 4 sheaths at once. It revolves around how quickly each knife can be finished.

I can make 1 small knife like that in about 6hours, hands-on over 2 separate days with a lot of waiting time for heat treatment times, cryo treatment, epoxy cure times etc. I can make all 4 knives in about 12hours, hands-on, if I do them all at once. IE>- I double the output. But organisation again, is the key.

The same applies to when forging. I use a gas forge which is easy enough to turn on, off. I usually forge 6-8 smaller blades (under 4inch blades) at once. But when I forge a bigger blade like an 8incher, I do it one at a time.

Many experienced makers will just work hard at forging out 10-15 blades in a sitting, because they get into the groove. Repetition can be helpful, but it can also be mind-numbingly boring and unfulfilling. There's a lot to be said for that type of efficiency, but that has to be backed up by confidence in your techniques and thats something that comes only with experience - which I don't have enough of. Jason.

Jason.

[cactusforge]

At one time I did knives in a production setting 20 at a time. The knives were ATS34 1/8" stock 1" wide 3" to 4" blades hollow ground with a machine satin finish, Marcarta handles. there were about 6 different profiles. The blades were sent to Paul Bos for heat treating. I found that I could get my times down to 1 1/2hr. including the sheath. This episode was a pain in the A** to say the least and took all the fun out of knife making and the only way I would do it again is if I had a order pre paid up front and it was well worth my time and sanity. Gib

[chaindogforge]

I live in south carolina and alot of the time it's like 98 F in the shade so i try to do more finish work in the summer but i do have a big fan in the smithy peace out my hommies

[metalking00]

I usually work on one at a time, but pound out about 3 at the forge (its too much work to restart the forge, not to mention its a waste of coal). But once they look like they MIGHT be knives soon, then I work one at a time, paying attention to detail. Once I finish one, if I dont like it, I inevitably have a friend who does, so I usually sell them for around $10. Ive sold about 4, and have kept my 3 best.Ive only make 7 in 4 years...Oh well, Im still learning