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The Outpost This forum is dedicated to all who share a love for, and a desire to make good knives, and have fun doing it. We represent a diverse group of smiths and knifemakers who bring numerous methods to their craft.

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  #16  
Old 09-25-2020, 05:39 AM
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Man, there's nothing like "lighting" up a kid's mind to the fact that they can actually do things with their hands (and not need a charging cord). You can see it in their eyes and faces when things click. They are so much easier to teach, because they don't have the strength or the attitude to wail away with reckless abandon like an older "adult" male thinks is necessary because he saw it on TV. But when they actually see something useful take shape the game is on. I usually start them out with a simple hook or scratch awl, then move them on to a simple small blacksmith knife. This usually culls the want to's from the don't really want to's.
Yes I've been truly blessed with skills I can share, the Lord has been good to me in so many things. Yeah He's had to knock me around pretty often over the past 71 years to keep me on track, got plenty of scars to show for it.
Example:
Had two sisters from a missionary family on furlough from Bolivia - 7 and 9, come to one of my hammer-ins. They both made several hooks and then a couple of knives each. Were very excited to learn, their dad took notes and pics on how my travel forge and tools were made and set up. Two years later they came back - planned their furlough around the Trackrock dates. Tremendous improvement in their forging skills were evident - they'd been teaching the locals in their village how to forge simple work knives and other tools like spoons and scribes, etc. Last email I got from them this past spring indicated they are still going strong and asked for future Trackrock dates. I hope to see them again. Almost made me cry, beautiful young ladies paying it forward.

Being able to get a fire going under any condition is an extremely valuable tool. Building a good fire is a skill that befuddles many folks. No accellerant or lighter and they are lost. I learned early from my grandmother, dad and being in Scouts (no I wasn't abused). If you haven't tried one, look up "Swedish Log". While you are cutting up some logs for firewood, make a couple. Easy with a chainsaw. If you cut it up right it just takes one little finger candle to make a nice campfire you can cook over and enjoy all contained in one stump. Makes a lot of sense once you see it work. I always keep several dried out and ready at the cabin for that evening on the deck kickback.


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  #17  
Old 09-25-2020, 11:16 PM
Dana Acker Dana Acker is offline
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Wow, your accounting of the two missionary girls brought a tear to my eye. What a cool story! And maybe this side of Heaven we may never know how many people down through the years, should the Lord tarry, who will be making tools and knives who learned from those two girls, and then taught their family and friends, and and and and and and and....

You can bet your boots when those girls are of age to marry and have children of their own, their kids are going to want to know what Mama's doing out in the hut, building fires and making a royal ringing racket.

I like to think that on movie night in Heaven, we might get to actually see some of these things. Maybe that's a stretch theologically, but the Bible does tell us that, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." So, movie night in Heaven? Maybe.

Great story, Carl. That really blessed me. Thanks for sharing that. Bless you back, Brother.


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  #18  
Old 09-26-2020, 06:08 AM
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Movie night sounds good to me. We really don't know what to expect, but you can bet it will be great.

I'm hoping the Little Ladies will get to come back to TR next year. It would be quite something to see them again. Connections like these are definitely scripted by the Man and what He's got planned out for us.

It took me a good while and a lot of cuts and bruises to learn that the skills I have don't belong to me. Not that I wasn't raised to be a good steward, just a bit self centered from time to time. Now I feel like there's just not enough time to give it all back. Working on it though.


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  #19  
Old 09-27-2020, 12:53 AM
Dana Acker Dana Acker is offline
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As to the cuts, burns and such, I guess we all pay our dues. Once I was making a gunstock war club. I burned through the stock by heating the tang and forcing it through. My plan was to heat the rat tail tang with my Map gas torch to get it red hot, then curl it to keep it tight and so it couldn’t slip out it’s hole. Best laid plans....I had the whole piece in my vise and when I got the tang hot, I bumped the vise handle and the whole piece flipped over, and the red hot pointed tang also flipped around, pierced my hand through between my thumb and index finger, just south of the webbing between them. Pinned my hand to the table. Note to self, never ever do that that way ever again. Dumb NTM’s News.


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  #20  
Old 09-27-2020, 06:20 AM
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Down here in GA, that always starts with "hold my beer".


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  #21  
Old 09-27-2020, 11:37 AM
Dana Acker Dana Acker is offline
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Y'all do that too? I had come to think NC had a lock on that. I guess it's a Southern "thang." Well, we did fight on the same side in the War of Northern Aggression.

I like to tell people that the Soith really didn't lose the war. One day Robert E. Lee had a moment of clarity, and thought, "If we win this thing, then we're going to end up with Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, and what in the world are we going to do with them?" He wisely chose to surrender, so the North would have to keep and deal with them. I think he made the right choice.

Whatever y'all do, don't let the thugs and the terrorists get their hands on Stone Mountain. No sirree! If y'all need someone to stand with you, we're only 4 hours away.


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  #22  
Old 09-27-2020, 11:48 PM
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Forging goes back to the earliest part of the Bible: Genesis 4:22.


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  #23  
Old 09-28-2020, 12:07 AM
Dana Acker Dana Acker is offline
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Right you are! Great point, Texas Jack!

And depending on how you interpret Genesis 6:1-4, it was happening on a supernatural level according to the Book of Enoch, or 1st Enoch as it's often referred to, especially in Enoch's "The Book of the Watchers."

I know the book of Enoch isn't Scriptural, although both Peter and Jude quoted from it in their epistles, and several of the Early Church Fathers argued for its canonicity in the Bible.

I'm not equating 1st Enoch with Scripture, but it's clear several of the writers of Scripture were clearly informed by it, and, if you believe in the Scripture's inspiration, then the Holy Spirit had to have something to do with Peter and Jude using it.

Whether you believe it or not, it's still a fascinating read.

Didn't mean to go off on a theological rant, but this the Outpost, and anything can happen here.


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  #24  
Old 09-28-2020, 06:28 AM
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Defacing/changing the Rock will take serious labor, tools and sweat - somethings to which the thugs are very adverse. So not likely to happen on any large scale. One fella told me he thought the carving was offensive and ought to be destroyed. Told him if I agreed with him he'd have a bad day - I found his half mast pants and nasty mouth more offensive.....

Yeah smithing is the second oldest profession mentioned in the Book. Sometimes I muse that old Tubal Cain said "if you don't give me mention, I'll stop hammering out those musical instruments." I need to revisit Enoch, I ghosted it back many, many years ago.


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  #25  
Old 09-28-2020, 10:48 AM
Dana Acker Dana Acker is offline
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Dr. Michael Heiser, one of the preeminent Christian Hebrew Scholars writing today for guys like us recently put out a companion commentary on Enoch's "The Book of the Watchers," which is quite helpful, and you don't need a seminary degree to read it. If you really want to blow your mind, check out Heiser's "The Unseen Realm." One of the tag lines is, "Read your Bible again for the first time."


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  #26  
Old 09-28-2020, 01:20 PM
Tai Google Tai Google is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dana Acker View Post

Didn't mean to go off on a theological rant, but this the Outpost, and anything can happen here.
If you want to talk bladesmithing folklore and mythology, you've come to the right place!

There are better places for a bible study and religion...


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Last edited by Tai Google; 09-28-2020 at 02:03 PM.
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  #27  
Old 09-28-2020, 10:43 PM
Dana Acker Dana Acker is offline
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If anyone can and will present an older pre-written history account of metal smithing, than the Bibilcal account in Genesis, I'm sure we'd be all ears. The world religions were not created in a vacuum, but out of great civilizations who contributed much to the history of technology.

Whether one considers the Bible truth, folklore or mythology, one cannot deny that its texts say what they say about smithing and do so without proselytizing. I'm no expert on world religions, so im not aware of other historical religious texts reporting accounts of ancient smithing. So mentioning the accounts which do exist, and of which we are aware, seems totally appropriate to this site, since primal metal smithing is one of the topics of NT interest, despite the source, and whether or not one agrees or disagrees with particular matters of belief.

And since there are only about 3 or 4 people who follow this post, or most of the rest of the forums on TKN for that fact, there's no one to be offended. And if there were, last I checked, we still practice free speech in this country, so I assume we do on this forum as well, and said person would be more than welcome to offer a different opinion. If there are Islamic, or Shinto, or Buddhist, or Vedic or other ancient recorded accounts of smithing, why wouldn't their discussion of such be allowed on this forum?

The present discussion on this post was in no way designed to exclude any of different beliefs, and in fact after rereading all the posts, I find no attempt at to proselytize or push our particular beliefs or experiences off on anyone else, or criticize anyone who might disagree, though there were none who made themselves known. Three of the individuals involved in the discussion didn't seem to indicate any forum red flags were being violated, and at least two of the three either hold or have held moderator status. The entire thread overwhelmingly stems around smithing. So the insinuation that somehow what we're doing constitutes Bible study, seems a mite extreme. Unless censorship has now become a NT credo.


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  #28  
Old 09-29-2020, 02:52 AM
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My point was not so much to tie smithing to religion but to show how ancient it is and that it has always been tied to a spiritual experience. I've found that many times - maybe more times than not - metal will move or shape in a way that it's somehow meant to do. Try to line up blade with wood or antler and you find that there's only one that will work right. When a blade is done, it's something more than the iron and wood that you started with.


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  #29  
Old 09-29-2020, 08:35 AM
Tai Google Tai Google is offline
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Originally Posted by Dana Acker View Post
Dr. Michael Heiser, one of the preeminent Christian Hebrew Scholars writing today for guys like us recently put out a companion commentary on Enoch's "The Book of the Watchers," which is quite helpful, and you don't need a seminary degree to read it. If you really want to blow your mind, check out Heiser's "The Unseen Realm." One of the tag lines is, "Read your Bible again for the first time."
Dana, can you explain what this post and or the validity of apocrypha has to do with bladesmithing?


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  #30  
Old 09-29-2020, 09:51 AM
Tai Google Tai Google is offline
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I don't have any problem with a little thread drift, going off topic, humor etc., but think that for the overall health of the forum, we should avoid theology, religion, race and politics... These are crazy times we're living in. People are very touchy, easily offended and rightly so.

I like to think of the Outpost as an escape from all that.


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