Cuts like a knife...
Usually April fools arent that hurtful or anything, but one I experienced today kinda hurt me a bit. Here's how it went down.
Ok...as many know, I love knives. Been into them since I was a kid. One of my favorite things to do EVER is to take an old beat up, rusty pocketknife and make it look like diamonds and mirrors. Brand new and beautiful. There's no better feeling in the world to me than working meticulously on an old worn pocketknife, making it look as good or better than the day it was made. The look of sheer amazement when I return it to the customer is worth infinitely more than the money paid to me.
I belong to a custom knifemaking forum, and I'm fairly new at that....So I go there to get some knowledge, and talk to guys about the thing were all there for, knives. I noticed a guy made a thread about an old worn out pocketknife his son found in the bottom of a toolbox, and was wanting to know how to approach the thing to try and restore it. He was asking for help. It looked like I got to him a bit late, as he had already tried to fix it. He had a before picture....a rusty old knife....and an after picture, the same knife cleaned up very crudely, one of the blades ground down to a stump. He said he didnt know how to remove the rust, so he just ground the blade into a different shape. He said he hoped that it looked ok...
I replied to him, and wrote out this huge tutorial for him. I listed all the supplies he would need, and the techniques and tools I use to restore knives like that. I spent a great deal of time writing that out, because it's something that I really do love, and am very proficient at. Others on the forum replied to my post, saying that they'd have to try out some of those tricks, that I had some sound advice. For once I didnt feel like a complete newbie. I was actually giving advice to some of these guys, where usually it's the other way around.
I visited the website a bit later last night, and saw that the original poster had replied and made a new post. I saw that he posted a new picture... A picture of TWO knives....the one that appeared in the before pic, and the one in the after pic. They were side by side, and the words APRIL FOOLS were written on the picture. It was two seperate knives of the same exact model. Very similar to each other, but different in condition. Haha damn it....got me. Good one.
I was amused at first, until I read what he had to say. The guy was actually a knife collector and an appraiser, and some of his little forum buddies were in on this joke, tricking members who do not frequent the website (me) and do not recognize all the other members... The same guys who said they liked the advice I gave... I didnt know the guy was an appraiser, or some kind of a knife expert....I was just giving a guy some pointers on something I happened to be experienced at.
Basically....He said that cleaning and refinishing a pocket knife in any way was one of the biggest mistakes anyone could ever make....That it decreased the value of the knife greatly, and that collectors and appraisers like himself can see a refinished pocketknife a mile away, and refer to knives in this condition as "Kentucky mint condition". Just had to throw in the "everything having to do with Kentucky is completely fucked" stereotype didnt he?
I felt like a complete idiot. Broke my fucking heart. Total embarrassment.
I think I just need to keep to myself even more than I already do for a while.
Ok...as many know, I love knives. Been into them since I was a kid. One of my favorite things to do EVER is to take an old beat up, rusty pocketknife and make it look like diamonds and mirrors. Brand new and beautiful. There's no better feeling in the world to me than working meticulously on an old worn pocketknife, making it look as good or better than the day it was made. The look of sheer amazement when I return it to the customer is worth infinitely more than the money paid to me.
I belong to a custom knifemaking forum, and I'm fairly new at that....So I go there to get some knowledge, and talk to guys about the thing were all there for, knives. I noticed a guy made a thread about an old worn out pocketknife his son found in the bottom of a toolbox, and was wanting to know how to approach the thing to try and restore it. He was asking for help. It looked like I got to him a bit late, as he had already tried to fix it. He had a before picture....a rusty old knife....and an after picture, the same knife cleaned up very crudely, one of the blades ground down to a stump. He said he didnt know how to remove the rust, so he just ground the blade into a different shape. He said he hoped that it looked ok...
I replied to him, and wrote out this huge tutorial for him. I listed all the supplies he would need, and the techniques and tools I use to restore knives like that. I spent a great deal of time writing that out, because it's something that I really do love, and am very proficient at. Others on the forum replied to my post, saying that they'd have to try out some of those tricks, that I had some sound advice. For once I didnt feel like a complete newbie. I was actually giving advice to some of these guys, where usually it's the other way around.
I visited the website a bit later last night, and saw that the original poster had replied and made a new post. I saw that he posted a new picture... A picture of TWO knives....the one that appeared in the before pic, and the one in the after pic. They were side by side, and the words APRIL FOOLS were written on the picture. It was two seperate knives of the same exact model. Very similar to each other, but different in condition. Haha damn it....got me. Good one.
I was amused at first, until I read what he had to say. The guy was actually a knife collector and an appraiser, and some of his little forum buddies were in on this joke, tricking members who do not frequent the website (me) and do not recognize all the other members... The same guys who said they liked the advice I gave... I didnt know the guy was an appraiser, or some kind of a knife expert....I was just giving a guy some pointers on something I happened to be experienced at.
Basically....He said that cleaning and refinishing a pocket knife in any way was one of the biggest mistakes anyone could ever make....That it decreased the value of the knife greatly, and that collectors and appraisers like himself can see a refinished pocketknife a mile away, and refer to knives in this condition as "Kentucky mint condition". Just had to throw in the "everything having to do with Kentucky is completely fucked" stereotype didnt he?
I felt like a complete idiot. Broke my fucking heart. Total embarrassment.
I think I just need to keep to myself even more than I already do for a while.