CLOSED, PRE-ORDER, DEK1, DEK2, DEK3

ronnie hood said:
If the guys at CPK don’t mind, then Sure.
In hindsight I should have got another uf2
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I only have one UF2, that is mine. Email me and we can work it out.
Edit: I mean that only one UF2 is mine. The other UF2 is my grandson's knife.
 
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ronnie hood said:
First part passed, is 18 months still achievable?
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Yeah I think so. All of the DEK1 and DEK2 are machined (3V and MC) and 3V is in heat treat now. We're on the schedule with Mori to have the control memory upgraded on our GV503 to accommodate the longer programs on the DEK3 (the material has been decked) rather than drip feeding it on the regular machines (which have K20s on them). Most of the scales are milled. Sheaths are in production. I'm not particularly worried about it.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Yeah I think so. All of the DEK1 and DEK2 are machined (3V and MC) and 3V is in heat treat now. We're on the schedule with Mori to have the control memory upgraded on our GV503 to accommodate the longer programs on the DEK3 (the material has been decked) rather than drip feeding it on the regular machines (which have K20s on them). Most of the scales are milled. Sheaths are in production. I'm not particularly worried about it.
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Sure hope you make a few extra of those DEK3’s in magnacut. I missed the boat on that one…
 
I've been thinking about getting away from the pre-order system.




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It would be simpler to make what I want, when I want and sell what I want on whatever schedule works best for us. There really is no good business reason to do pre-orders and they make our business less adaptable due to the scheduling obligations that are necessary. It made a lot of sense when we were smaller and we had all these restrictions in our manufacturing process where our inventory was limited, sales were very brisk and there was advantages for everybody to take orders and scale things up.

The problem with pre-order is, once I have your money you are reasonably entitled to schedules and updates. I don't want to be in that position anymore. It's not fair to you guys and it's not how I want to operate. I think it's time to change our model and do things like the SDFK where we simply make product and sell it on Fridays. Easy peasy.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I've been thinking about getting away from the pre-order system.




View attachment 1963115




It would be simpler to make what I want, when I want and sell what I want on whatever schedule works best for us. There really is no good business reason to do pre-orders and they make our business less adaptable due to the scheduling obligations that are necessary. It made a lot of sense when we were smaller and we had all these restrictions in our manufacturing process where our inventory was limited, sales were very brisk and there was advantages for everybody to take orders and scale things up.

The problem with pre-order is, once I have your money you are reasonably intitled to schedules and updates. I don't want to be in that position anymore. It's not fair to you guys and it's not how I want to operate. I think it's time to change our model and do things like the SDFK where we simply make product and sell it on Fridays. Easy peasy.
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That’s understandable but honestly the pre orders are literally the only way for me to buy a knife new from you guys. I’ve tried the Friday sells before multiple times and have never been fast enough. I honestly don’t mind waiting, I’ve bought multiple knives from different manufacturers on a pre order. Waiting for a NFA item is the worst.

If you moved to Friday sells only would you have a large quantity? Or some large but a lot of small batches?
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I've been thinking about getting away from the pre-order system.




View attachment 1963115




It would be simpler to make what I want, when I want and sell what I want on whatever schedule works best for us. There really is no good business reason to do pre-orders and they make our business less adaptable due to the scheduling obligations that are necessary. It made a lot of sense when we were smaller and we had all these restrictions in our manufacturing process where our inventory was limited, sales were very brisk and there was advantages for everybody to take orders and scale things up.

The problem with pre-order is, once I have your money you are reasonably entitled to schedules and updates. I don't want to be in that position anymore. It's not fair to you guys and it's not how I want to operate. I think it's time to change our model and do things like the SDFK where we simply make product and sell it on Fridays. Easy peasy.
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I couldn't blame you, but man are they exciting!
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I've been thinking about getting away from the pre-order system.




View attachment 1963115




It would be simpler to make what I want, when I want and sell what I want on whatever schedule works best for us. There really is no good business reason to do pre-orders and they make our business less adaptable due to the scheduling obligations that are necessary. It made a lot of sense when we were smaller and we had all these restrictions in our manufacturing process where our inventory was limited, sales were very brisk and there was advantages for everybody to take orders and scale things up.

The problem with pre-order is, once I have your money you are reasonably entitled to schedules and updates. I don't want to be in that position anymore. It's not fair to you guys and it's not how I want to operate. I think it's time to change our model and do things like the SDFK where we simply make product and sell it on Fridays. Easy peasy.
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As you wish!
If it isn't fun for you, it's not sustainable.
And, I don't want knives imbued with resentment!
Try it, see how it goes.
You can always change back.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I've been thinking about getting away from the pre-order system.




View attachment 1963115




It would be simpler to make what I want, when I want and sell what I want on whatever schedule works best for us. There really is no good business reason to do pre-orders and they make our business less adaptable due to the scheduling obligations that are necessary. It made a lot of sense when we were smaller and we had all these restrictions in our manufacturing process where our inventory was limited, sales were very brisk and there was advantages for everybody to take orders and scale things up.

The problem with pre-order is, once I have your money you are reasonably entitled to schedules and updates. I don't want to be in that position anymore. It's not fair to you guys and it's not how I want to operate. I think it's time to change our model and do things like the SDFK where we simply make product and sell it on Fridays. Easy peasy.
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I like the pre-order system mainly because most of the time I suck on Friday sales.
 
This business should be fun for both parties(or as much fun as it can be). Maybe like Chris A Chris A and nandok nandok suggested, large volume Friday sales is the way to go and can always change back to the pre order style if it doesn't work out?
Or what about a pre- order with an abbreviated timeline/ waitlist? Like let's say you have gauged interest for a particular model, for example, the EDC 4, and you plan to make 300 of them. When maybe 100 of them are ready, open up the pre- order/ Friday sale and ?450 people post that they want one. Sell the first hundred immediately, let the next 200 on the list know that in a few days or weeks their knife will be ready. And if you are still interested and have the time, make another 150 to fulfill demand.
This will be less fun for the people who are fast on the keypad , less heartburn for folks who are finding it difficult to score on the Friday sales and less wait times.
I am sure that there is a multitude of pitfalls with the above suggested method.
 
000Robert said:
I don't know much about the business side, but maybe the problem is too many pre-orders going at the same time?
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Maybe this? There's three preorders active right now, that's definitely a lot of forward planning.

Although who knows, if you guys were to take all the steel and time that goes into preorders and just make more knives and sell on Fridays, maybe that would work.

Sustainability is more important, I think, you definitely don't want to get sick of making knives or have it be not fun.
 
If we want Nathan to keep doing pre-orders, the best thing we could do after the pre-order is initiated, is to leave him alone. If he says they’ll be done in 18 months, then we don’t ask about them during those 18 months. If he has something meaningful to share, he will.

He has stated before he wants to be in the business of making knives, and responding to people individually before those 18 months are up takes him away from making knives, and isn’t an efficient use of his time.

We know he doesn’t like pre-orders. And keeping them extremely simple (as much as possible), is the only way.
He only offers pre-orders because he’s a nice guy. He only offers all the custom options because he’s a nice guy. He doesn’t need to do either of these things to continue the success and growth of his business.

This is not targeted at anyone, and am just putting this out into the void as something to consider if we want Nathan to continue offering pre-orders.
 
xxwarderxx said:
If we want Nathan to keep doing pre-orders, the best thing we could do after the pre-order is initiated, is to leave him alone. If he says they’ll be done in 18 months, then we don’t ask about them during those 18 months. If he has something meaningful to share, he will.

He has stated before he wants to be in the business of making knives, and responding to people individually before those 18 months are up takes him away from making knives, and isn’t an efficient use of his time.

We know he doesn’t like pre-orders. And keeping them extremely simple (as much as possible), is the only way.
He only offers pre-orders because he’s a nice guy. He only offers all the custom options because he’s a nice guy. He doesn’t need to do either of these things to continue the success and growth of his business.

This is not targeted at anyone, and am just putting this out into the void as something to consider if we want Nathan to continue offering pre-orders.
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^^^^This guy gets it.

It amazes me how quickly guys will start asking for a progress report, or pictures, or, worse yet, will these be shipping soon? Even more frustrating is it often isn’t new guys but established members that have been here, been through the process and know the routine, or should. Thirsty, too thirsty.

Since I am pissing on cornflakes this morning, another issue is the second one pre-order is opened up, guys start asking about the next pre-order. I mean we just did the Jo swamping pre-order of pre-orders for the Shiv2 and guys immediately started asking when the pre-order for the EDC1.5, the MC/LC, the SID and whatever else they wanted was gonna open. Again, not newbies for the most part, but established guys, dare I say, 🐓s even. That’s pretty bad guys.
 
xxwarderxx said:
If we want Nathan to keep doing pre-orders, the best thing we could do after the pre-order is initiated, is to leave him alone. If he says they’ll be done in 18 months, then we don’t ask about them during those 18 months. If he has something meaningful to share, he will.

He has stated before he wants to be in the business of making knives, and responding to people individually before those 18 months are up takes him away from making knives, and isn’t an efficient use of his time.

We know he doesn’t like pre-orders. And keeping them extremely simple (as much as possible), is the only way.
He only offers pre-orders because he’s a nice guy. He only offers all the custom options because he’s a nice guy. He doesn’t need to do either of these things to continue the success and growth of his business.

This is not targeted at anyone, and am just putting this out into the void as something to consider if we want Nathan to continue offering pre-orders.
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I’ve used the word “thirsty” as well to describe the constant pecking about updates because it bothers me seeing it almost every day. I haven’t been around long though and don’t know everyone here on a personal level like some do so I’ve kept my mouth shut about it mostly.

It seems to play out that a knife model is in the process of coming out and immediately the upcoming model is being asked about lol. By the time I get any of the knives from a current offering, a lot of people have already moved on to talking about the next thing 😂
 
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