How did I get into knifemaking?

Story time! In 2019 my father and I moved back into the farm house he had purchased in 1999 here in Goodwood, Ontario. We hadn't lived here for some time and it was in disarray. The various renters had not been adequately maintaining the place and it needed a lot of work. So there were many renovations for the first few years living there.

We used to burn a lot of the flammable leftovers from all the cleaning and garbage in large bonfires and I always used the little fire starter squares to get them going. One day I decided to try to start the fire without using the fire starters. It was a perfect day and I had plenty of dry grass and a lighter. I thought it would be fairly easy and straightforward. About 30 minutes later I was frustrated and felt like an idiot. I couldn't start a fire under perfect conditions, what did people do when it was wet and cold?

I watched a video by Coalcracker Bushcraft where Dan Wowak said very simply to take your knife and grab any piece of wood on the ground. That dead wood might be wet on the outside but shaving off the bark would reveal dry wood on the inside. And that was the first time I saw what feathering a stick was. Basically cutting thin strips off of wood to use as fire starter, they're like pencil shavings.

I decided to try that out with my $10 folding knife I got from a big chain outdoors store and to my surprise, it worked. I also learned how to stack a fire so that helped a lot too. I was feeling very pleased with myself but when I looked at the knife I was a little disappointed that the edge was all chipped and rolled. Not long after I thought, man, it might be cool to get myself a really nice knife!

A month or two later, it was the first day of Ramadan and being Muslim, my family were up before dawn and eating our pre-dawn meal (suhoor). At daybreak, the fast begins and we pray our morning prayers and then go back to sleep. Since I was already up and full of food, I couldn't really go back to sleep so my thoughts wandered and I thought about the knife again. I decided to Google "what are the types of knife". Yes. That's how much of a scrub I was just a few years ago.
A few hours later I had decided on a Buck Vanguard and before anyone had woken up I was gone to the hunting store in York where they had one in stock.
After I got that first knife, I wanted to get a folding knife. I learned about steels, sharpening, and the selling points of different brands. Ask any knife enthusiast and he'll tell you, I was going down the rabbit hole. About a year later I had bought, sold, and traded many folding knives and even got a custom fixed blade for myself. I was enjoying the hobby but.... I found a lot of problems.

My favorite brand was Giant Mouse Knives. I loved the designs of the two Danish designers Jens Anso and Jesper Voxnaes. They collaborated on every design and did a phenomenal job of making very simple yet compelling knives that looked ready to be put to work and I had sampled more of that brand of knives than any other. But I often found little issues with their products that were mainly the fault of their manufacturer in my opinion. Nothing major, still great knives, but for the price I felt a little more could be delivered. Finally I got my hands on the GM8, a limited edition knife and I was thrilled. And then I found some horrible problems with it, mainly being the lock. It was super stiff, you could barely open it a few times without it causing you quite a bit of pain. I was very upset. That made me wonder, how hard could it be to make a knife? If so many big companies had so many small issues it must be very difficult or else we're all getting duped!

A few YouTube videos and rough sketches later, I was making a list of all the things I would need for a budget setup to make knives. About 8 months later, I had made my first few knives and that was the beginning of my knifemaking career. I don't have a background of making things with my hands and it has been a very difficult and challenging process to make quality knives. I had to learn about machinery, skills and techniques, sharpening, some basic metallurgy concepts, and there's always more to learn. I'm learning basic woodworking techniques now and have had to learn how to work and finish wood. And that prompts one to learn about the different types of wood and the challenges with working with different species. And there's a lot to making knives too. How to sand to a fine finish, how to sharpen without ruining the edge temper, how to finish G10, how to sharpen drill bits, how to drill accurate holes, how to freehand grind bevels, how to deal with difficult customers, how to advertise my products, how to design a blade to excel at its intended purpose.....
A LOT to learn. As Jesse Nordquist of Nordquist Designs once said to me about starting knifemaking, "it's like drinking water out of a fire hydrant".

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies with a minor in Political Science. Pretty much zero background in building and manufacturing things. I was not comfortable getting my hands dirty or working with power tools. But everything made sense to me as a series of steps to reach a final destination, which is to hold a blade and cut. That experience is what all my efforts culminate to and so far, my customers have reported back with excellent reviews.

Muslims believe that ones name impacts their life, it shapes them somehow, be it their character or in some way their destiny, and that is why it is important to have a name with a good meaning.
Sometimes I think that's what got me into this, my name Saif which translates to sword in Arabic. A lot of people who know the meaning of my name laugh about it and say its no accident.
Whatever the reason, I do make some pretty cool blades and I'm looking forward to making more :)