There is a million tutorials online for basically anything anyone would ever want to make. Knife making tutorials is no different. Still tutorials carry a great value in many ways.
Tutorials have a way of being much more "human" than a how-to read from an old fashioned book. A books content is basically always peer-reviewed numerous times for accuracy, while a tutorial is something almost anyone can throw together and put online. This has both negatives and positives. Positive is that most things you can read in a book is actually true, but it can be aged info. Books tend to hold their value over time despite this, and so they are effectively spreading old info for better or worse. Online tutorials come and go and they can be changed and edited on the go or after publication, these types of guides live more than books. They keep updated with new info and new ways of doing things. If someone thought of something that works for a specific thing, it may never even hit the bookshelves if the market is small.
Then there is the personal aspect of an online tutorial. Most often, there is text and pictures or a video where you can easily follow and recreate what is happening. When you see it happening before your eyes, you trust it more than the same knowledge read from a block of text. Because they are made more personal, they also take into account aspects such as tool availability and whatnot. There is always someone who made up a new use for the hammer. Furthermore, since the tutorials are most often made by someone in the same community, by default we humans trust them more. We tend to bond with like minded people easier and thus take in information better.
Everyone is a scientist in their own garage. Every garage is different in regards to tools, machines, layout, climate etc etc. The biggest factor is still the scientist, what someone is able to do with the stuff at hand. Creativity with what you have. Seeing someone do something in their way with their tools often give new ideas on how to use ones own tools and capabilities. Hey, I dont have that specific tool but it should work with my..
And finally in this little writeup, it feels good to share wisdom and success. When succeeding in something, it feels good and the natural reaction is to share that feeling. Granny sharing her favorite apple pie recipe, the cat proudly presenting the litterbox, how to make a nordic style bolster fit easily. It is all the same.
With that, I just recently made the first post in the Knife Making academy. It tackles how to make the bolster fit for a nordic style knife, and more specifically a Finnish Puukko style knife. It may not be the best way to do it, nor is it the only way to do it. But it is the way I did it that time, and hopefully this post and future ones will help someone looking for knife making tips and tricks.
Link below to the Academy. Hopefully I will be able to fill it out with more tutorials of various kinds. If you have one you would like to share, feel free to send a mail and we will work something out!
