Knife Burnout

I know I had a post about this before on the other forum, but I wanted to make an update here.
I am burnt out on knives, and am taking a break from them. I still plan to make my 'Kneck Knives', and hopefully will have a good supply of them in a few months, along with some YouTube video's about them and other things. Right now, I am focusing my daily activities to Locksport/Lockpicking, as my health is not allowing me to do my knife stuff right now, and lockpicking is enjoyable, relaxing, and most important not physically taxing, although it can mentally strain you. So hopefully I will be back to my old knife loving self in a few months. I really appreciate everyone here, and I am still doing the maintenance work on the forum, so if you need to contact me either PM me here or send me an email.

Thank you all,
Jason

Variety is the spice of Life

Lockpicking sound like it could be fun and very different from knives

I have so many new knives coming that I didn't expect. But very little real world ways to use or enjoy them

Kyley,

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But very little real world ways to use or enjoy them

This is also an issue I am having, I have ton of knives, carry about five or more knives on me, but the only thing I use them for is cutting the tape when I open a package, a chore that can be done with a key or a ball point pen.

Best thing anyone in these situations can do is start cooking a lot. I debone about 3 chickens a week and slice and dice a lot of vegetables.

Sometimes it's interesting using camp knives etc for these tasks to see how well they actually can do.

So far. Very little has come. Close to. My vnox boning knife when. It comes time to. Tear down a chicken

Kyley,
Yeah, cooking with EDC knives also allows you to see how well they cut, and how well the ergo's are on the knife. A surprise EDC knife that performed well in the kitchen was the Benchmade Tanto Griptillian.

I understand the sentiment. At the moment, I can’t quite say I’m burnt out completely, it’s just that everything has slowed down a lot.

I’m still buying a few new knives each year, running the whole range of prices from $8 to $300, when interest peaks. I’m not really learning as much as I did back then, other than learning about the individual knives themselves as opposed to learning broader concepts of things like cutting geometry, metallurgy, etc.

Not quite burnt out, but slowed down.

Lock picking is enjoyable. (Check out the Lock picking Lawyer on YT for some great advice)

I made myself a small set and took to some cheap locks to see if I could do it, and repeat it. Worked out well. First time was the hardest, but also the most rewarding as it gave me confidence to continue.

I intend to make some more tool variations (I get the pick types from photos and just recreate it). I’ve been using the metal inserts from old auto wiper blades. They seem to hold up very well.

Wolfgang,
If you are going to make your own picks, check out Christina Palmer's designs, you can download the files and print them out to use as templates:
[elvencraft.com]

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jasonstone20
Wolfgang,
If you are going to make your own picks, check out Christina Palmer's designs, you can download the files and print them out to use as templates:
[elvencraft.com]

Thanks! Seems like a good idea.

Good luck! It's funny, I had to take a break from locksport things because I did it so much it bothered my fingers. Haven't had the chance to try knife making beyond an intro blacksmithing class on tapers, but it verified my interest.

bowyery,
Cool! Do you have a locksport YouTube channel?

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jasonstone20
Kyley,
But very little real world ways to use or enjoy them

This is also an issue I am having, I have ton of knives, carry about five or more knives on me, but the only thing I use them for is cutting the tape when I open a package, a chore that can be done with a key or a ball point pen.

I hope your health situation has improved since then?!

Little real world use is a problem I also have with knives, which brought me to kitchen knives and cooking years ago and recently also to carving - the latter is really fun once you have got used to it.

As a side effect, I've become a very good hobby cook - better than my wife....at least that's what she says.

KingShapton,
Yes, my health has improved, thank you. I finally got the daily migrane attacks I was having under control, and heard about a life hack were you don't drink caffeine until you have been awake for 90min so you don't get the afternoon crash, which has been helping me stay awake and have a little bit more energy than I was having. Also, I learned from Kyley Harris and Jozef from JS Cutting Tools to use vitamins, minerals, and supplements to help manage my ADHD, which has helped a TON!! I am also eating less I noticed. I learned from watching Cliff that using a knife in the kitchen is a great way to evaluate how it cuts, ergonomics, etc. I recently was using the Swamp Rat Rodent 9 as a kitchen knife if you can believe that, lol....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2022 05:14PM by jasonstone20.

I am glad it worked for You Jason !

The lock picking came in handy a few weeks back when I was changing a lock and handle on a door and I couldn’t get the cylinder out due to not having the key.

I also misplaced my lock pick set so I made a new 2-piece one in a few minutes on a bench grinder, picked the lock, and installed a new one.

I was actually impressed that: 1) I found a real world use for the limited skill I have; 2) I picked the lock in short order.

So, overall, I find it a very useful skill to have; even at a basic level.

Wolfgang,
It is a very useful skill to have, it has helped me out more than once.