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We will now interrupt the regularly scheduled program for this good old Blades micro podcast. Knife making videos. Um what to say about knife making videos? Um, I think that probably the most effective way for you to wrap your head around the elements of making a knife is probably to go into another maker's shop and see how they do it. Um it is true that watching somebody else make a knife, so doing a knife making class can shave years off of your uh trial and error experience uh depending on who you go to. And there's a lot of fabulous knife makers out there that will take the time to set up classes where you can learn things, but sometimes uh it it does make sense to watch videos, especially if you're a visual learner, because wrapping your head around all of the things that you need to focus on to make a knife, regardless of whether it's a fixed blade or it's a forged knife, um, you know, so stock rem stock removal and forged blades, or whether it's a pocket knife, you know, like liner locks, frame locks, slip joints, everything. Um, it sometimes will help if you can watch somebody else make it in a video, and then you know what kind of questions to ask, you know what kind of uh makers to seek out for certain types of techniques. So I really encourage it. And you know, there's a slew of videos out there on YouTube. You can peruse other makers' Instagrams or Facebook um uh profiles and see how they do things. Some makers will post them up to specific niche groups, um, like making lockbacks and slip joints and uh you know bladesmithing or stock removal for beginners or whatever. Uh you know, on Facebook there's a ton of those communities, and a lot of people contribute to them. Um I'm very big on watching makers produce authentic material that doesn't um perpetuate certain types of myths or uh misinformation, and I uh you know that's one thing that you get on YouTube is uh along with the humongous breadth of information that's available on there, you also get a bunch of information that could be incorrect. And that's difficult because even the best-intentioned um you know YouTube contributor can still produce uh information that might lead you down a path where uh you know you you're not really learning the right way if there can be considered such a thing, uh, because the way that they understand the mechanics of knives uh might not actually be the way that it is. I think that's something that's you know for you to keep in mind because not all information is correct, and it's might be out of ignorance, um, it might be out of um you know single-mindedness or my myop uh my myopic tendencies to just say this is the way that to do it and this is the only way. And there are a ton of ways to make knives, and uh there's a ton of tools to make knives, and what you see online is one or a few ways uh that you could make it. And I've seen a lot of the old timers find very inventive ways of solving problems that we want to buy into by buying certain types of tools or machinery or whatever. Um, they created these processes by themselves on their own in isolation before the internet. Um, they were not in publication, you know. Maybe, maybe they saw something, you know, you know, at another person's shop, or maybe they were um uh performing some type of work uh in their day job or vocation, and they applied that to what they were doing in making knives. But by and large, just be careful of the kind of information you consume because not all of it's created equal. Um several sources that I really appreciate and I think are reasonable in the pursuit of learning knives is all of Chris Crawford's uh various videos. And the reason why I like his videos a lot is because he curates all of the all of the videos uh from makers that have reputations and that uh have a unique perspective on how to make knives, whether it be folders um or you know the specifics of um slip joints or um fixed blades or bladesmithing or you know and so on. And all of the videos that I have of Chris's are you know phenomenal and they're worth every penny, and honestly, they're worth you know thousands of dollars because I can watch that that video over and over and over again, and if I have any particular questions, then even sometimes I can reach out directly to a maker and uh fill in some of the gaps. But honestly, the videos that he produces are are very authoritative in the sense that they cover all of the um all of the rudiments and a lot of specifics around how to make those things. Uh Kyle Royer uh produces exceptional videos. Uh most of them are actually free on his YouTube channel, uh, but he also has a few paid master classes that are phenomenal. Uh they go over materials, material lists, he sends links out. Um they include all of the techniques and various ways to do it. So whether you're using more primitive methods or whether you're using you know top-end machinery, he kind of gives you some ideas on on how to break the the uh particular techniques down to the fundamentals. Jason Knight has phenomenal videos as well, and uh you know the way that they think about uh presenting the work um is uh honestly it's top-notch. I've enjoyed all of them. Uh I think that they're a great uh investment in the money. Uh Kyle's are a little bit on the more expensive side, uh, but uh you're really getting an ABS quality uh masterclass when you get it from him. And it's the same way with Jason Knight. Uh they they are really putting a lot of production value and taking the time to uh to produce really uh high quality work. So I would check them out. And for Chris's videos, uh, you know, he has a a wider range of videos that are actually very reasonably priced. Uh, and you can you can piece together certain things like um uh Brewer and Rupal Um and Luke Swenson, they all have really great videos on slip joints that allow you to piece together different elements of how to make slip joints. And I think the total price on you know three videos is like less than a hundred bucks, and and you get those perspectives, and you can kind of build this idea of how you can use tooling in different ways, the same way that they use them uniquely in their shops, uh, to make your own. So, what kind of tools would you need? How you can uh substitute certain tools and so on. Um, so I highly encourage uh uh videos and knife making videos and uh as a as a tool for learning because it really helps to frame uh the next steps in your making journey. And if that includes going to a maker shop and learning these things from an individual that you really admire or uh that offers um uh lessons, then you can do that next. You can buy books that that give you better specificity to the things that you're looking for. So do your research, use the Googles, um, check out Chris's uh uh website, uh Kyle's and uh Jason's, and and really dig into it because I really think that it's a it's a highly valuable tool, and these guys have spent a lot of time investing in furthering that knowledge uh from their perspective, and I think it's worth taking a look. Hope that helps.