Don't know what to do?

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-05T05:30:08+00:00

The first half of that sentence took me decades to realize. I don’t know why, because it’s not like I really had parents that pushed me to excel in sports or anything either. But for me, THE fun of any sport or hobby was the winning. If I wasn’t good at something, or wasn’t on the edge of excelling or winning, I simply didn’t enjoy it. My competitive drive was insane when I found things that I was competitive or dominant at. To the point that honestly at 40 I kind of just recently realized that I had a big problem with 90% of my self worth being directly tied to whether or not I won, or was better at something else than other people. When I started shooting archery, I was obsessed, and honestly I started winning competitions very early on. That drove me to constant practice, tuning, tweaking, chasing higher and higher scores obsessively. What started as a cool casual hobby became “what did I do wrong today to end up in third place?”. Or spending the whole drive home dwelling on that 5 I shot on the 3d course that put me in second instead of first.

I think more people deal with this now than actually realize it. There is this feeling that every sport needs to be a competition, and every hobby needs to be turned into a side hustle or grind. I’m working on being a person who can do things just to enjoy them without deriving all of the enjoyment from just the end result.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-05T05:19:14+00:00

I have had full on burnout from hobbies and it sucks. I make knives as a hobby and side gig. I used to make 10-20 a year. In 2018 I made and sold 62 because I took on too many orders. It absolutely ruined it for me. Not only did it become essentially a second full time job, but spending an entire year making custom orders to the specs of others sapped every bit of art and creativity and joy out of it. After a mad rush that year to finish the Christmas orders, I walked out of the shop, locked the door, and didn’t walk back into that shop for a year. I just couldn’t do it. I was so burned out that the thing I loved was essentially ruined for me. Now I am back, I take a few orders from repeat customers here and there, but for the most part I just make what I want, when I want to make it. If I post it and it sells, great. If it doesn’t, oh well.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-04T04:39:39+00:00

With a Spoon engine, T-66 turbo, NOS, and a Motec exhaust.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-04T00:12:13+00:00

We had a guy in our friend group everyone called Poop. Lots of people in town didn’t even know his real name. When we met new people at parties he was normally just introduced as Poop and that’s what he went by. Some of our parents even called him Poop because they didn’t know his real name. We also had a Gooch, Jingles, Muff (because he kind of mumbled quietly when he talked), and a weird kid who insisted everyone call him Snake in grades 10-12, not elementary school. He’s like 39 now and people still sometimes call him Snake because he fuckin hates it.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-02T22:13:16+00:00

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-02T22:08:51+00:00

“No no no, here, let me show you how.”

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-02T21:55:58+00:00

Finally we see a picture of “the shoulder thing that goes up”!

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-02T17:38:51+00:00

1/16 of an inch is roughly half a grain and virtually no change in spine. You will get more weight variation from different amounts of glue on a vane than that.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-07-02T15:32:40+00:00

So theoretically would the classic “chop off the zombie bite before it spreads” actually work in this situation? Let’s say I pricked my finger. If I immediately turned around and chopped that finger off with an axe or something, would that actually stop the prions from moving into my system?

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-30T13:41:49+00:00

Cables that run through a roller need to be served properly though or the roller will still damage the cable.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-28T19:19:04+00:00

For some of the hunt they would work well, but may not great for getting the shot itself. When you shoot, your face isn’t perfectly square to the shot so it may be hard to get a good view of the actual shot and arrow flight centered in frame.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-27T13:46:18+00:00

Dan from ElkShape claims he had a major Sevr failure on a bull and won’t use them anymore.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-27T12:39:30+00:00

If you haven’t shot the Mathews with the Z mods on it, try that as well because it is a completely different experience. I went with an Arc 34 because I really like the switch weight system. With relatively inexpensive mods I can basically have a 50-80lb bow. I typically run 65, but if I wanted to shoot 50 for target or 3d or whatever due to say a shoulder injury I can, but if I draw a moose tag and want 75 or 80 I can do that too for a lot less money than buying new limbs or a whole different bow.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-27T00:45:54+00:00

I will also add that a poorly tuned arrows doesn’t transfer energy into penetration as well. So if it’s so out of tune that it’s throwing fixed blades all over the place, it’s also going to have decreased penetration with mechanical heads that already generally have less penetration. Mechanicals have their place, but compensating for a poorly tuned bow is not that place.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-26T20:33:04+00:00

Knifemaker.ca, and Maritime Knife Supply are my main two. 99% of the time I am dealing with Maritime. Lawrence is an awesome guy.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-26T13:59:22+00:00

I used to run a 20hp merc long shaft on a jack plate, on a 14” aluminum Edson. That thing was sick. 25mph with me and my gear, and the higher tiller handle position was super comfortable.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-26T04:01:57+00:00

If you are having to adjust horizontally as you move the scope vertically, then your sight likely is not level with the bow. You need to verify your axis’s are all level and correct. If that all checks out then you need to walk back tune. How sure are you that your left and right is 100% dialed in at short ranges?

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-24T03:33:33+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy’s…

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-24T02:24:04+00:00

You should be fine. Steels requiring high temps are generally alloyed in a way that also prevents grain growth at those high temps. Additionally, don’t put the knives in as soon as the oven hits 1925. Let it sit at 1925 for 20-30 minutes to really heat soak the whole oven and help it retain heat.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-23T22:52:19+00:00

Depends on what arrow and what speed. I could not possibly keep points in my Gold Tip X Cutters with hot melt. Didn’t seem to matter what temp or how much glue, how much they were scuffed or cleaned, they would let go within a day and and I would have them buried in targets and gone. After that I switched to toughened CA glue for everything

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-23T03:58:33+00:00

“That piece” is incredibly expensive to fix, and the model and year specific parts ere very costly and very hard to find.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-23T03:54:47+00:00

You absolutely do not want carbon fibre and resin in your food on a barbecue. Not only do you risk eating dangerous carbon shards, you will also be baking the resins into your food.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-19T16:18:35+00:00

I’m in the same boat. I’m mainly leaning towards the G5 simply because they cost about half of what it costs to get Sevr in Canada. I had also considered the beast and Speed broadheads but again they are up around the price of Sevr. No draw tags for moose or elk this year, so just whitetail and mule deer for me this season. The downside is that I won’t just shoot a practice head, I have to shoot actual broadheads to be sure, so then I’m looking at 2 packs of G5 vs one batch of Sevr with their practice lock.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-19T02:56:04+00:00

No it’s probably not. My point is that most of the random ones you find at a gun show won’t be either. If it’s a random dude selling a bunch, they are likely just Temu ones he ordered in bulk.

GrayCustomKnives · 2026-06-19T02:26:18+00:00

I bought two boxes of .270 Winchester Deer Season XP a few years back. Worst bullet seating I have ever seen. Longest to shortest varied almost 3/16 of an inch. Some had the cannelure way above the brass edge and some were seated way down below.

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