Hit 500 knives forged and it messed with my head

I keep a tally on the workshop wall, just chalk marks. Last night I hit 500 after about 4 years of doing this part time. I figured it would feel like a milestone but honestly it just made me think about the first 50, which were mostly ugly scrap metal. That number made me realize how much repetition hides the progress. You dont notice it week to week. Anyone else have a count that snuck up on them, or do you guys just lose track on purpose?

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1 Comment

nelson.wren6h ago

Did you ever go back and look at your early welds or hammer marks? I kept a box of my first failures for years, the crooked stuff nobody would buy. When the count got weird I pulled one out and it was like looking at somebody else's work. Now I just save one piece from each batch of ten, labeled with the date. It makes the progress obvious without having to trust my memory.