"Sharpening my knife is meditation to me. There's something about connecting to our roots when we rub a piece of metal on stone to sharpen it."
- Chef Pete Servold
Skills and practices of the old will breed inspiration, deep thought, and a connection. It's understandable that a lot of people do not enjoy monotonous and normally boring tasks however there is usually a window time for contemplation and deep thought accompanied with realization.
I have learned to try and enjoy these things. It takes time and patience. Which at my age of 32 has been a journey to say the least. Claiming to be patient and to really understand it for me is a lie, but I can share something about this learning process. Like many people this progression is slow and requires well... patience. While practicing certain skills some times you learn these lessons faster if its paired with consequences.
With gun smithing patience is a must. Cleaning and repairing and restoring requires attention to detail and sometimes days between steps. This is especially true if you work with anything wood. Anything worth doing is worth doing right and with firearms it is no different. Its easy for me to understand patience in this regard because firearms and weapons require respect and discipline. These things come with time. With firearms this is quickly understood if the work you are doing is on an item you may need to have it work when you need it the most. Failing to be attentive to details and the overall result could cause a malfunction, or a disaster on range if you planned to fire it when it is finished. And even worse in a defensive scenario the thing may not work. Taking days between steps and taking the proper time to complete the work makes the end result so worth it.
Gun smithing is just one example that made a huge difference as far as patience goes. It helped me understand that with some things slowing down has to be intentional and deliberate. Reading this you probably have thought of more than a couple of hobbies, tasks or activities that have helped you with patience too. Keep those in mind.
When you have something that has an inherent consequence with going too fast, you tend to learn patience much quicker.
With knives people who are into prepping, surviving, EDC, outdoorsy activities and folks who work in industries take our tools seriously. We care for them differently. If you carry them for defensive reasons then yeah, this is important.
There is no reason that I can think of to have a dull knife. Its unsafe at the core. When I was in school the shop teacher told me this and it sounded counter productive. In my child brain my knee jerk reaction was that if I made a mistake with a sharp knife and cut myself it would be far worse. The instructor said that with a sharp knife and paying attention you wont have slip ups. You just have to pay attention and be aware of what you are doing at all time with your tools.
Caring for carbon blades recently woke this up for me. There is no reason to have an unkept blade. This is really true even with what we consider monotonous tasks related. Oiling, sharpening, and use is all part of the preparation, practice, and care. There is a zen though in doing so. During all of these things you have to be aware that its still a sharp knife, so zoning out isn't in the book. You will be reminded if you forget, so keep bandages on deck.
Often when I sharpen my knives or work on them extensively for a period I feel like there is a primal connection. A connection to my ancestors and the tribes they were with. It seems like such a basic and boring task but you get in a mode doing so. Something in our brains are wired to do it. Sort of like when you gaze into a bonfire. We get lost in it and have a deep rooted connection to every ancestor in our blood line. When you start to recognize these tasks and when you get into the mode its good to recognize it and maybe you will learn something deeper. And it can be any task or activity.
Like our brains we should always be honing our skills and always learning. For me gun smithing, knife maintenance and in a gathering around a bonfire are three things that help me understand patience, consequence, respect, and growth. For the heathen its a great opportunity to make a connection with those that we came from that are no longer with us. I am curious and want to hear what activities get you in the mode and help you connect with your roots.
And yes, if you are wondering even after doing this sort of knife maintenance many times I managed to cut my finger tonight. Always a good reminder me that were are not THAT experienced yet. No matter how many times we have done it.
Short update: I have always written blogs online as an outlet and a media for people that may find something useful or informative or enlightening. I've written for a series of publications in the past but first and foremost I have always written with the priority that it is shared and based here. All in one place and for a dedicated group of people. I have tried to blend my hobbies and skill sets while putting a traditionalist heathen twist to it. Right now this is the only place I will host material and for the foreseeable future.
