Time and away....

In the past few years I have been out off the line completely due to physical condition. The drive is not there anymore to get new gear as I have settled into a routine with what I have that works for me. I remember back many years ago when many of us where on that huge forum in a tiny closet of special interest knives. How fast we grew and all the ideas and crazy experiments we worked on to find our way. Those first gatherings that where so un-predictable as to what people had and how they where using their knives. I'm glad I still have those memories

In my time away from kitchen knives I discovered straight razors and later fountain pens, and have now rounded onto Photography, I still don't see it as a loosing a hobby... it's more of a cooling off of something I was incredibly hot and heavy into (can we sustain such hot passion over time?) and now resting with my tried and true friends, Hiromoto's, Harner's, Carter's, Tekada's (ok I could always use more Tekada knives) and the CCK1102. I doubt I will ever wear these out in my life time and I couldn't ask for a better fit to my use pattern. Heck I used that CCK so much at work that knives I was proficient with started feeling foreign again LOL.

Coming back to this forum has been like a class reunion, catching up on whats going on in the field and realizing 95% of it is all the same thing we went over back in the day, only the words have changed and the titles are different. I guess once you step out of the fast lane and get comfortable in your patterns the world just takes on new meaning LOL Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying being in here seeing all the new faces working on stuff as well as some of the old timers (even well before my time) popping in now and again. It's pretty cool to all over again

I've even dug up my box of knives and checked their storage to ensure they are in good repair Still working on a way to photograph them well

Even though my post count is not burning the up the ranks, I'm here every day seeing what going on

Shawn J.
DC

 

I just saw this thread for the first time...and love the nostalgic feel it gives me. I myself am a veteran of many hobbies and interests. From street racing when I was younger, and building racing engines professionally later, to racing super street bikes, offroading trucks and dirt bikes, dirt track racing, bow hunting, bladesmithing, writing, drawing, online games, personal fitness....

The list is long lol, and doesn't stop there.

But I can definitely relate to the feeling of coming back to one of them after a time of being away. Bladesmithing has become my profession, and I believe I've chosen the right one (at one time or another most of my 'hobbies' have made me money on a professional or 'semi' professional level) for this point in my life. Hopefully, it will be the one to stay! But even so...I still go back to the old streets I raced on occasion...hit the desert trails with my truck...feel the need to create with words or pencil...and the feeling each time is exactly as you've described. Like finding a small piece of yourself you left behind without realizing it.

Kind of an amazing feeling .