Mr Harsey,

I'm curious how you got your start in knife-crafting. It seems like a fairly esoteric art. Did you learn it from a family member? Did you start off just repairing blades for practicality sake and then move on to making your own? Did you get any formal education in it?

How many expert bladesmith's are there in the US? Do their educations vary from yours?

X-factor,
Shortest possible version: Started welding on logging equipment at age 15, learned about various steels and carbon contents because that changed how they needed to be welded, spent about 10 years logging including running just over 2 ton of welding rod building and fixing stuff for logging operation in Oregon.

Started forging tools for carving, timber frame and wood boat construction. heat treating the various steels was very interesting to me and I started doing more and more homework on this topic. Then I tried to make a knife...

school degree is in Design, Fine Arts, instructors came from the Bauhaus.
After enough logging, I'd do anything to get away from that stuff, from the frying pan into the fire.

My heart is always with those that do the hard work, now I get to make posts here.

I have no idea how many expert knifemakers there are, I can't define expert. Few educations like mine in the field.

Thanks. I'm always interested in hearing how people become experts in things. Especially unusual arts.

Do you teach at all? Formally or informally?

Hey 8944, that is a very nice looking knife. I really like the blade shape. Like Mr. Harsey said, Make more!