Experience Gained

During the early stages of 2 Jakes knives we spent a lot of time back and forth to knife supply companies. At the time, Premium Knife Supply in Hayesville, North Carolina was at the top of the market with their extremely fast service, low prices and high variety. An hour drive over the mountain for us meant a trip to the knife store once a week, at least. I remember being awed at the warehouse filled with boxes of blades and handle material. Being new to knife making it was like a trip to the candy store, anything and everything knife making was there in its abundance. We quickly developed a good relationship with the staff and owner, Doug. He would come to our shop once in a while and see what we were up to, sometimes we would all go to lunch talk knives for a couple hours. When you are new in knife making, or anything really, you want everything to do with it. Eat sleep and breathe 'knife' stuff. As we became more widely known and business for us started to boom, I became the 'gopher' running back and forth twice a week to Hayesville for glue and other materials. Doug seemed to have the hookup for anything rare, so there was always something else to pick up. I recall walking in one day and Bernie said to me, "You guys just need to move shop up here!'. As time passed and knives flew out of the shop like cupcakes from a bakery, I found myself at the grinder more and more. I couldn't stop trying to master the hollow grind, I would go through blade after blade trying to get it right. Being the perfectionist I am, none of the grinds ever seemed to come out right.

"I knew what kind of influence Doug had on the industry, so for someone trying to make a name, it was a golden opportunity."

Doug came to the shop one busy afternoon, I was at the grinder sparking away at a blade when he walked in. I turned and waved at him, with all my PPE on and the grinder running that's about you would get if you came in the shop. He came down to talk to Sr. about some folders he had been developing, but his gears were turning watching me grind a few blades and I felt him look over my shoulder and say "Dang! You got that down!". After talking with Sr. a while he came back to me, looked at Sr and said "Jake I'm gonna steal your boy!". Of course we all laughed, but he followed up with, "Do you want to grind some blades for me? I'll pay ya good!". It felt almost like being drafted to a pro sports team, having been asked by a big league team manager if I wanted to play for him. Of course I quickly responded with a not so modest, "Hell yeah!". I was excited to say the least. I knew what kind of influence Doug had on the industry, so for someone trying to make a name, it was a golden opportunity. He had been selling 'made in china' blades for years, and was trying to go 100% made in USA, so recruiting me would be beneficial for him. The first debate was where I would work. I didn't want to move to Hayesville and it wouldn't be efficient to commute every day, so we agreed upon Doug bringing me a supply of belts, drill bits and laser cut blades by the hundreds. My job was simple, clean the laser cut edges up, hollow grind and drill pin holes. Not long after starting, he ran into the issue of heat treating and since we had an Evenheat kiln, I took over that duty for a little more pay. As the first couple weeks passed we ironed out all the kinks and I was cranking out blades as fast as he could bring them to me.

After a couple hundred blades I had gotten into a rhythm and seemed to be on cruise control with the grinder. With Doug providing the belts and drill bits, all I needed to worry about was doing the work and calling him to let him know he had another box ready to pick up. Sometimes I would take them with me to the warehouse when I was sent on a supply run for our own knives. My role at 2 Jakes had been all but moved to a back burner, as all my time was spent doing blades for Doug. I spent every day at the grinder, piling up used belts and steel dust. Not only did I need the exposure but I needed the money, with a growing family of my own I had mouths to feed and bills to pay. At five bucks a blade, the more I ground the more I made. After a couple months I had become so good and so fast, Doug was bringing me 500+ blades at a time and getting them back in a week and a half. Grind drill heat repeat. Grind drill heat repeat. It became very monotonous to say the least. The big change came when he started doing VG10 damascus. The grind process was the same but two more steps were added. A deep cleaning of the blades after heat treat and acid etching meant my price went up two dollars a blade but now my time had been cut down majorly. With all the O1 tool steel I had been doing, all I had to do was give the blades a nice bath after heat treating, soak them in WD-40 and box them back up. Eventually the business had outgrown me and I couldn't keep up, he was bringing me new blades and different steel types, many of which I had not worked with before. During all this time Doug unfortunately became ill and after about 5 months of the blade dance, his trips to Cleveland had come to a halt. I was offered a full time position at the warehouse as they had set up a workshop with all the machines needed, even hired a few other knife makers. The issue for me was the same as it was before, commuting to Hayesville was not an option and neither was moving there, though in hindsight I could have done it. Ultimately I gave the job up and as quickly as it began, it was over. I was back to making our own knives full time, and I was happy doing so. The experience gained was worth more than the money made, and with where I am now I appreciate it more than ever.