Bladesmithing as a Career?

i really apreccite the advice. im 16 and i dont like a whole lot of stuff. metal working, longboarding, and playing the harmonica are abt the only things i REALLY enjoy, none of which make a lot of money. (accept for maybe harmonica). i have several friends who are welders, and apparently that pays pretty well. id just rather do something (or three somethings) for a living that i love rather than have 1 job, sitting behind a desk or running a corner store. i do realize that eventually money will become more important to me than that, but id rather try and have it not work out than not try at all and wonder what could have been
 
Cushing H. said:
I do wonder ... there are SO MANY store bought knives in awful, awful shape sitting scattered in peoples drawers and blocks. I wonder how effectively one could tap into the market (if it even exists!) for “refurbishing” people’s knives. I think some here have done something like that. Many of the same skills are used , and the time commitment per blade is likely lower...
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Well, I just recently started advertising knife and tool sharpening to people local to me. Price includes basic cleaning and "refurbishing" as needed, and I've even offered pickup and drop off service.
So far, I've gotten a staggering..... TWO customers. :D
Granted, I haven't bent over backwards trying to spread the word, or promote or anything, but so far nobody is beating my door down.
I'm going to put some more effort into growing a larger customer base, but it's more for fun or as an experiment at this point than as any kind of real income stream. If it grows into that, great; I've no plans on ever being able to quit my day job though.
 
I'm gonna offer some slight different advice here.

I currently live off the income I make from front my wood business, as I'm 23 and still on my parents health plan. I rent my own studio apartment, I run my business, and I take occasional trips with my girlfriend.

My shop nate is Nick from Fell knives, and knife making is his sole income. I belive he has health insurance from his partner, and he's currently 25. We are both doing this in Los Angeles, a very expensive city.

While knife making is not a long term solution, if you can build up your skills and your name recognition, it is perfectly possible to spend a few years in your early 20s as a knife maker. Will it give you a fully paid for life in your 40s? Probably not. But its completely doable in your 20s.
 
That's awesome. I would love to make a living doing some sort of metalworking. My plan was after I finish high school to find someone to mentor me in a metalworking trade for however long. After that I was gonna get my own house and start my own business. But I could start looking into welding. I would love to make money longboarding but that's even more impossible than making money bladesmithing.
 
Ox1 said:
That's awesome. I would love to make a living doing some sort of metalworking. My plan was after I finish high school to find someone to mentor me in a metalworking trade for however long. After that I was gonna get my own house and start my own business. But I could start looking into welding. I would love to make money longboarding but that's even more impossible than making money bladesmithing.
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I would take most of the advice offered here. Find a job that pays decent and make knives as a hobby. HAVING SAID THAT, I would wait to take that advice until you are a little older. I would live with your parents as long as possible enjoying life. Definitely get a job (maybe only part time) doing something that you may make into a career. Take your extra money and long board in your free time, maybe play some Harmonica in front of some crowds, and metal work when you can. I am 31 and have been working for the same company basically behind a desk for ten years now. Not ideal, I would definitely prefer to paddle board, hike, and travel full time. But working for this company has allowed me to pay off my house, get two masters degrees, have zero debt, and in my free time do whatever I want. I get about a month off per year from work, so I travel to Colombia or Europe every year. I think both paths are acceptable, the keep your nose to the grindstone with a "real" job, and the enjoying life for a few years finding exactly what you want to do. Good luck. Keep us posted, I would like to know what you decide to do.
 
Welding would be much better for you. Don't blow your twenties and then be that guy in the trades who wishes he could retire but he can't.

Save your money, don't have to buy the new truck or shit for your girlfriend just because you are making good money as a welder.

Make money, invest in something like Vanguard total stock market or wellington fund.
 
Ox1 said:
i really apreccite the advice. im 16 and i dont like a whole lot of stuff. metal working, longboarding, and playing the harmonica are abt the only things i REALLY enjoy, none of which make a lot of money. (accept for maybe harmonica). i have several friends who are welders, and apparently that pays pretty well. id just rather do something (or three somethings) for a living that i love rather than have 1 job, sitting behind a desk or running a corner store. i do realize that eventually money will become more important to me than that, but id rather try and have it not work out than not try at all and wonder what could have been
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Don't take this the wrong way, this is my advice from the bottom of my heart: go to college. After that, life will give you a million different opportunities to change careers, if you want to.
 
gammarad said:
Don't take this the wrong way, this is my advice from the bottom of my heart: go to college. After that, life will give you a million different opportunities to change careers, if you want to.
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That used to be the case.
I once asked the head of the engineering department at Purdue University if I wouldn't be better off going to trade school for less than half the price. He said "Honestly? If you want a guaranteed job, I'd go to trade school; Everybody is going to college. Fewer and fewer are going into the trades. You'll always need plumbers, or welders, or electricians." He was right. In hindsight, I wish I would have left right there and joined the IBEW. The job market was absolutely flooded with engineers when I graduated. It took me nearly a year to find a job out of college, and for every interview I could get, there were dozens of other applicants.
I have a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology from a very well regarded university, and I'm currently babysitting boilers in the basement of a hospital.
With a stay atd home wife (who happens to have a Masters degree btw), and 4 kids, I can't afford to take a 10+ dollar per hour pay cut while I go through an apprenticeship somewhere. I'd much rather be an electrician, a millwright, or a machinist. Everybody told me I'd make more money with a degree. They were wrong. That piece of paper qualified me for each of my job interviews, I suppose, but I've yet to really have a job that has anything to do with said degree.

To the OP, it's good that you're already thinking about these things at only 16. I didn't pick a degree until 1 week before registration closed at Purdue. If I had it all to do over, I'd have made some drastically different choices.
 
Everyone here has given good advice, IMO. Even though some of it is contradictory, none or it is wrong. We each have our own path to follow.
Drew Riley said:
To the OP, it's good that you're already thinking about these things at only 16. I didn't pick a degree until 1 week before registration closed at Purdue....
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...and I changed majors 3 1/2 years into my architecture degree.
One thing that would help guide your choices is to decide where you want to be financially, in 20 years. But that might be hard at 16.
I've got acquaintances who have great pension plans, good retirement investments and some are happy, and some hate every day they have to go to work. I also have acquaintances who barely make ends meet and will probably have to work the rest of their life, and some are miserable and some are as happy as can be. Be honest with yourself and others and you won't go wrong.
 
Maelstrom78 said:
Welding would be much better for you. Don't blow your twenties and then be that guy in the trades who wishes he could retire but he can't.

Save your money, don't have to buy the new truck or shit for your girlfriend just because you are making good money as a welder.

Make money, invest in something like Vanguard total stock market or wellington fund.
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Plus one for this, except instead of the stock market- buy realestate that you can rent out that pays for itself.
 
thnx. ive though abt it for the last several hours, and i think ill try to get either an apprenticship or try to get into a trade school for welding, and just do knife making on the side, that way i can make money, work with metal, AND make knives. i appreciate the advice.
 
Ox1 said:
try to get into a trade school for welding
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A benefit to this is that you might be able to use school resources to build your own jigs, tools, etc. that you find you need as school projects.
 
As someone who went to school for engineering at a top program, and dropped out 70% of the way to pursue a passion in an industry with notoriously low pay and extreme hours that everyone told me I was moronic for entering, all I can say if you love what you do and are really good at it money can often take care of itself.

The second part of it is important. Love it enough that you HAVE be great at it and you have a chance. I left college at 21 with some goals everyone laughed at and by 24 was near the top of my industry. But when I made the decision I knew I could be stuck making $28k a year forever and that money wasn’t my motivating factor, being the best was. Everyone’s “needs” financially are different and quality of life and happiness are extremely important, at least in my life.
 
Ox1 said:
i really apreccite the advice. im 16 and i dont like a whole lot of stuff. metal working, longboarding, and playing the harmonica are abt the only things i REALLY enjoy, none of which make a lot of money. (accept for maybe harmonica). i have several friends who are welders, and apparently that pays pretty well. id just rather do something (or three somethings) for a living that i love rather than have 1 job, sitting behind a desk or running a corner store. i do realize that eventually money will become more important to me than that, but id rather try and have it not work out than not try at all and wonder what could have been
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First up, make sure you love your job. I know a lot of people who are miserable 40+hrs a week because they hate their job and they are going to be that way for years until they retire. At 24 (in 1987) I was working as a lineman making $63 000 a year which was pretty good money then. But the job was boring (same thing at every pole), the weather was miserable in the winter in Alberta, and there was no future moves to be made in the industry. There was a guy on the crew that had been doing there for 24 years! I looked around and decided I wanted a job that was dynamic, challenging, involved people, and had daily change and decision making. Wound up going to university and became a teacher. Worked part time making about 20K a year while at school and then started teaching at $37K a year. It was a total of 9 years before I was making 60K. BUT I loved the job. Going to work to teach was a daily blast and well worth the money I didn't make. Over my 24 year teaching career the district asked me to become a principal numerous times and I turned them down. I knew I wasn't going to enjoy that job and the extra $$ wasn't worth being unhappy. I finally became a principal 3 years ago when I had the opportunity to do it at an Outdoor School which is completely different than regular schools. I enjoy being admin at this school. I will do it a few more years and retire and go play.

Similar to a lot of these guys I would suggest that you keep your doors open. If university is an option, go for it. If trades are more your thing, go for it. But head for something you like. Get involved in knife making on the side and see where that goes too. Who knows, maybe you find a niche like Greenberg did or you are good at marketing and it all takes off. You are young and have tons of time to make decisions on careers. Do knife making as a hobby to begin with.
 
Either way, whether you want do knife making a career or not, start now! Get making!
The experience can only help you! Making a GOOD knife will reach you many, many things. Attention to detail, the value of hard work, perseverance, probably first aid too! Your gonna get cut, burned, stabbed, and have slivers of metal jammed into your skin.
All of it will make you a better person. And most importantly, it'll teach you whether or not you like it enough that you can become one of the best, and therefore able to do it as a living.
Check out Kyle Royer on YouTube. He's a younger guy, making some of the most amazing pieces of blade art out there.
Alec Steele is another one, more of a blacksmith than a bladesmith, but just turned 21 and has a business selling stuff and doing smithing on YouTube.
There are young guys out there doing it, but boy you gotta be into it for real. Willing to suffer for it, and realize that it will take time to build your brand/business.
Bottom line: get to making, get to learning! Figure the rest out as you go!
 
I'd recommend checking out Otto Kemppainen on Instagram. The guy is 21 and has made some of the most beautiful Kauhava style puukkos out there.
 
You might also check out the Young Makers Podcast with Kensea Aaron. I believe he just turned 15, and he's putting out some pretty nice stuff. He also features other younger makers on his podcast.
 
I
weo said:
Everyone here has given good advice, IMO. Even though some of it is contradictory, none or it is wrong. We each have our own path to follow.

...and I changed majors 3 1/2 years into my architecture degree.
One thing that would help guide your choices is to decide where you want to be financially, in 20 years. But that might be hard at 16.
I've got acquaintances who have great pension plans, good retirement investments and some are happy, and some hate every day they have to go to work. I also have acquaintances who barely make ends meet and will probably have to work the rest of their life, and some are miserable and some are as happy as can be. Be honest with yourself and others and you won't go wrong.
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I made a complete academic u-turn after 3 years at university. It is the best choice I ever made.
The rest you write is also very true.
 
Great post. Thanks everyone. We all struggle to validate our art. I am a semi retired retirement planner. I look at everything from the perspective of the future. Please don't disregard the value of creating something of value, with your name on it, that can last for generations. Your great great grandchildren may never meet you but they can hold something that you made. As long s you don't do a crappy job of it. Knock yourself out striving for excellence.
 
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