A few words of experience for the would be knifemaker

not2sharp

not2sharp

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I am curious. What are some of the biggest headaches that new knifemaker can expect to encounter on their way towards setting up a long and successful business?

Would there be problems with the actual mechanics of forming and maintaining an actual business entity? Perhaps procuring enough insurance is the monkey on everyone's back? For some it may be the marketing, dealing with customers, planning production, developing a successful style and technique, securing supplies and services, dealing with the travel, working at home and setting up productive committed time for the work without stressing our commitments to the family. Please take a moment and share some of the hurdles you have had to overcome.

A big congrats to everyone that has managed to pull it off. I would probably end up spending the first year walking in and out of the emergency room. It would take me that long to figure out how to move around a shop without constantly wrecking myself. :)

n2s
 
My biggest headace is sales or the lack there of,
right now it is not a problem but in the past it has
been real tough to sell knives even when price was
reduced to almost give away. I will be very glad if
orders stay the the way thay are now, I have all I
can do for several months. Gib
 
I agree with Gib, its sales and getting people aquainted with your products, BTW Gib if you get to many orders I would be glad to relieve you of some :D , always willing to help out another maker.
N2s, you need to make a great product and be good at self promoting, no one else can promote your work like you can, it sounds conceited but you have get people to notice, it doesn't matter if your knives are the best out there, if you don't let the public know about them, they will never know.
the making of the knives is the fun part, its the promoting thats hard.

Good luck

Bill
 
i enjoy making as well as promo/selling. the paper work,book keeping is the hard part for me! i am looking for a lady that likes this kind of stuff to marry!:D it would be a great find if she is a leather worker too:)
 
I was full time and loved it dearly. Unfortunatly I dont make knives fast enough to make alot of money. After 3 years I decided to take a job that met my finacial needs and now make only my own styles. I dont care how long it takes to finish one and the prices went up. There was too much stress for me but not for everybody. Some people seem to thrive from being behind in orders. I go crazy. I cant make the same model more than once or twice either. I think a single guy with no family and bills and have a shop to live in would do great and be very happy making knives.
 
Bill is right about self promotion, it can be hard
to do but it is mandatory. I am handy caped in that
I can't get to shows as I should. That is one reason
I started the website, a word of advice there go
with the best pro you can find see Don Fogg site and
advice. Gib
 
There's an excellent article by Bill Herndon on just this subject, and specifically the economics of becomming a knifemaker, in the June Knives Illustrated. A couple of stats from Mr Herndon's article:

Expect to pay at least $1200 for your grinder, and with attachments as much as $3000 (mine was $2000 and it's middle of the road)

A table at one of the main shows can cost as much as $70 per hour plus travel and living expenses

From my own experience, supplies are a generally invisible but quite large component of the price of a knife. I estimate that I spend somewhere around $12-15 just for abrasives on each knife... Plus steel, handle material, heat treat cost if you don't do your own (and if you do your own heat treat you have the upfront cost of a forge or oven).

I built my own forge with largely free stuff; it cost about $125 by the time I was done. A programmable oven will cost a couple grand.

Okay, that's enough. You can see that from my perspective the cost of producing knives is a major factor. This is more noticeable in the early stages when you're tooling up and are still trying to find the best prices for the materials you use.

The years it takes to gain decent skill sufficient to produce a good knife is completely outside the scope of this argument, and you must have all this before the issue of self-promotion comes up... :eek:

Somewhere I read recently there may be half a dozen knifemakers making a living wage just from making knives; the rest of us have supplemental income, whether it's an understanding partner with a job that provides a steady income and insurance, or retirement income or a regular job. Me? I'll become a "real" knifemaker when I retire!

Meanwhile I'll make these few knives a year and try like hell to make a good one some day.

Dave
 
I personally think the most important, and the most difficult thing is to gain name recognition. The custom knife world is unlike many other industries in that there is a personal connection between you and the customer. A reputation is a difficult thing to build, and a very easy thing to loose! I have seen makers in the past who spent 15 years building a good reputation, and then let it all slip away because they allowed one product that was "less than the best" out of the shop.

All of the other areas you mentioned certainly come into play, but without the reputation/name recognition, they don't mean much.

There are also many sacrafices during the early years of a maker's career. Going to shows that you really cannot afford, going to gatherings with other makers (hammer-ins, ect.). It is certainly no way to "get rich", but it carries it's own rewards....... meeting and getting to know a wide array of people, feeling the satisfaction of being your own boss, and one thing that really shines in my mind, and that is the fact that if something goes wrong, there are no fingers to point, except at the man in the mirror! (anyone who works in government understands what I'm saying there)
 
Got a little strident there, didn't I? :) :o You can tell I "need" to buy supplies but "have" to be responsible right now, can't you? I forgot to mention "patience" is a virtue.

I also forgot to mention is how much fun this is!

Dave
 
Promoting yourself is a must,but hard to do.When you have small kids at home you just can't see spending money on a show sometimes when you know something unexpected can come up at any time with the kids and then you feel like you shouldn't have spent that money.But it is something I am finding out that has to be done...
When the economy drops the orders drop and then you are stuck with a big decision of either finding another job or holding on,Don't over extend yourself just in case this happens.You may not feel over extended at the time as you are making good money,but think what would happen if you went either 4 or six months without any orders comming in and wasn't selling what you already had made,Would you make it,are jobs easy to find in your local area so you could just run out and find one in a couple of days...Playing catch up is no fun and nagging bill collecters are definately a pain...This will stress you out and show in your work...
Equipment is something you will always want more of,buy the best you can as you will always find things you want to do and need a better tool or new tool to make it..Have fun during the learning perioed when you make what ever you feel like and don't be afraid to experiment with different ideas,because if you get loaded down with a bunch of orders and most are the same it gets to be no fun anymore and becomes a job and then you feel just like you did when you was working for someone else..Keep the fun it and whatch the finances and then don't be afraid to push your knives on anyone willing to take a look.
Have fun..
Bruce
 
The tough part for me right now is getting
the time to make the knives. I'm about 90%
full time and backed up about 6 months .. Knock on wood...
But you have to have gone though all the other stuff aforementioned here
_it's all called experience..
I don't and can't hit many shows
but the web has been good to me and the repeat buyers.
but it took promoting the web and I had to do it myself..
You can tell if your knives are good if only just by the responses
of your customer, listen to them and hear what they are saying.
they know what they want, most of them. and if they are not good
knives they won't be back.
but to get big money if you are good you have to hit the shows
to get to the big collectors, your name needs to be with them.
this I need to do more of to get the bigger money. the equipment is just to make your job easier and faster.
You can make a nice knife with just a bench grinder, files,
sand paper, drill, and a way to heat treat..I started that way a long time ago
_and made a damn good knife.I have one of them I've used for the last 25 + years.
_I just beeped my own horn ..sorry..
 
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