We will now interrupt the regularly scheduled program for this Good Old Blades Micro Podcast. In order to appreciate the Knifemakers Guild's importance in American knife history, it's uh it's important to contextualize the early 70s and well sixties, fifties, sixties, and seventies, and and how uh chaotic or regional knife sales were in America. Um other than knife makers that had contracts with like Amber Crombie and Fitch and other magazines and and uh distributors that sold cutlery of some sort, the individual knife maker didn't have a lot of avenues to pursue knife sales outside of their town or city um in in those times. And the predominant focus in America when it came to shows was guns. All right. So uh a few knife makers got together in 1970-ish and uh formed the knife makers guild and started incorporating tables uh with with existing gun shows in order to give knife makers an avenue to sell. Now, as the knife makers guild started to grow, more and more people signed up and they were able to establish their own set of shows um to promote uh handmade knife making. Um one interesting thing about the guild is that in addition with uh promoting handmade knives, uh they also had a a process of arbitration whereby the the guild would help assist customers in any uh any type of uh arguments or disputes between customers and makers to make sure that everybody was fully satisfied with the work that they were given by a maker. Uh uh the inspection and expectation process of of a maker's work was uh was part of the purview of the guild as well. So those that joined the guild were expected to uh grind their own bevels to uh to play the largest part in every aspect of the knife that was being made, and that it attained a certain quality level. Um and that's important to note because the the guild over this period of time uh to current date has had a lot of different faces, a lot of different board members, a lot of different focuses, uh, but at the core has always been to promote the knowledge share and expectation of high-quality knives uh amongst the handmade uh uh community of knifemakers. And in in its current state, the knifemakers guild would probably be considered old guard, uh, especially with the advent of the internet, because it's no longer necessary, obviously, to go to a knife show in order to be able to promote your work. Um, however, there's been a paradigm shift in the guild's focus to more of the knowledge share, camaraderie, and um and and raising the bar of expectations around knife makers uh that it doesn't really exist in the wild so much. Um if if you're an individual knife maker and you're just uh going direct from uh learning the craft to sales, uh there really is a focus on promoting really good craftsmanship. And that's one of the reasons why I I joined the guild. Um, not only is because uh there's been a lot of honorable and fantastic makers that have uh been part of the guild, but it really is to promote the history, knowledge share, and and quality standards that I believe still exist in knives and are still promoted by the guild. So I wanted to talk a little bit about how to join the guild and what that inspection process looks like and everything like that. Now, the best place to start if you're looking at joining the Knifemaker's Guild is to go to the website and go to the join the guild page. You'll get to see uh the bylaws and read through them, and also uh look at the requirements and obligations to be a part of the guild. Um the most important thing is that you have uh your application process starts with your probationary membership. So you have to have four voting members in good standing uh that uh that look at your work and sign your application based on uh the quality of your work. And if they will vouch for you, then you can take that application to an officer at a at a guild designated meeting, which at this point is uh Blade Show Texas and Blade Show Atlanta. And sometimes uh I don't know if they actually have a a Blade uh like the the Blade West or Blade Utah Utah uh set up to accept it, but it just depends if uh board members are present at those shows, whether you can submit applications. But uh the current person who's in charge of recruiting is Les Adams, and you can reach directly out to him and start the process as well. Uh, usually a guild member will be able to help you uh work through the process of finding members in your area, and you can also use the member directory on the website, which will help you uh uh you know learn who's around you, uh, maybe talk to the the makers and get to know them better and also uh get some advice on your work so that way when you go through the application process uh you have a higher likelihood of uh it being accepted. Um but at the very least, you have to have four members that sign your application, and then when all of that is done, then you can go to a show and uh submit four handmade knives for inspection. Now, the inspection process for probationary members, um, when you when you submit your application, uh you'll go before a a board of inspectors. Uh typically it's uh you know two uh two people that are looking at your knives, uh sometimes three, and and they will just uh kind of take the knife apart, like break it down into its uh core components, fit, finish, and so on and so forth, and and give you commentary on things that you might need to improve on, and they will ultimately decide on whether your knife is of quality uh to be considered for probationary member status. Assuming that you pass that step, uh then at the designated guild meeting, uh they will vote uh and uh they will vote you in as a probationary member, and you have to wait until the next designated meeting to uh to be accepted as a voting member status. Now, uh some of these things are subject to change because the bylaws are a little bit outdated, um, and I I believe that the the the standard operating procedure might be a little bit different than what's online. But suffice it to say, it used to be that there the the waiting period for a probationary member uh was a lot longer, and it was also commensurate on tables being available for you to exhibit your work, which was a requirement for voting member status as well. Once you're done with the probationary portion of things and you're uh and you're deemed a probationary member, uh you will probably experience that the inspectors of their of your knives had given you some comments on things to fix. Now, take every one of those recommendations to heart, but remember that the like ultimately the inspectors uh, even though their their opinion is subjective, uh, that there are certain things, certain uh aesthetics and and basic requirements of how a knife should look and feel that you need to pay attention to. Take those things, go back to your shop, um, either fix the knives that you have if you can, or uh, or make new ones, and and remember all the elements that they told you um that you should focus on. The next time that you bring knives for voting status, those things should be fixed. So, regardless if it's uh how your bevels are ground, if they're symmetrical, if your finishes are good enough, you know, uh that that the grip finish that you're going for doesn't have lower grip finishes, if you're doing high polishes, or so on and so so on and so forth, look correct, that your uh pins are hit on your bolsters, that your your handles are ground symmetrically, all of those things. Uh, you know, uh if you're doing pocket knives, obviously there's uh all of the elements to liner locks, slip joints, frame locks, uh, so on and so forth. And if you're using those knives uh to inspect with, make sure that you're following general guidelines for uh and inspection guidelines for uh things that you might need to fix. All right. When you come in for voting member status, those things should be corrected. The idea is when you get voting member status, um, like when you're going up for inspection for that, all the previous recommendations and flaws should be fixed. Now, with that being said, there are certain things that a knife maker uh when they are inspecting your knives might comment on, like this thing would look really good as a tapered tang, and it would help with the weight distribution or um uh you know certain uh aesthetic decisions that you might think about that are not integral to the knife making process, but they are commentary on things that they might recommend. Um be aware that some of the uh the commentary is subjective and that just because the a guild member says this would look good as a taper tang, uh, doesn't mean you have to come in next time and put a taper tang on a knife. Uh but the you know it's important to it's important to look at those uh those recommendations and decipher which ones are integral uh you know components of making a blade and which ones are more like hearsay. All right. So the the process for voting member status uh occurs much like with probationary. Um you bring four knives in for inspection, and if you're granted approval, then they will vote on you in the next meeting, and then you will be inducted as a voting member and you pay your your dues uh for the year. I believe it's $200 per year. Um there is an application uh fee, and I can't remember, it's something like $20 or $50 or something like that. It's it's fairly nominal. But the idea in the voting member status is uh what you get in voting member status is you get listed as a voting member on the website, um you get one vote uh for uh called meetings, and uh you're also able to hold uh office like a board of director position and so on and so forth. So um I really encourage you if you're a serious knife maker and you would like to be inspected and join the ranks of a long history of of knife makers that you know share knowledge uh to consider the guild. Um I I know that there are there's a lot of rhetoric around the guild um and uh the antiquated nature of of guilds, uh especially in the age of the internet, but there are some things that I have learned to appreciate and uh that have made me a better knife maker that being associated with the guild has done. Um I will say I haven't been turned away by anybody um that is not part of the guild. Uh that everybody in in this day and age has been a lot more um receptive to those kind of concepts of the early guild, uh just as a matter of fact. But uh I still think that there's a lot of history to be carried on, a lot of knowledge that we as makers can share through the guild and transform it into something that really uh fits into the modern era. Um so uh it's something to think about. If you want to join an organization that is changing with the times and that is uh is focusing more on the the educational and um cross pollination of ideas, then the guild is definitely uh somewhere to start. Hope this helps.