Competition among makers?

The only competition I have with other makers, is for handle material :p


My father would be my only mentor, he taught me the basics many years ago.
 
Erik Fritz said:
Well for me it was Bill Bagwell who came up to my shop and helped me build my first blade from forgeing to final fit and finish. He spent a week with me to get me started. Since then I have spent time with Wade Colter, Shane Taylor, Bill Burke and Most of the Montana guys. But i think a big nod of appreciation goes to Josh Smith for starting the Big Sky Conference. I can tell you that by doing this and the quality presenters that he has brought in has taken 5-10 years or more off my learning curve.
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Never would have thought Erik. Naturally would have figured your initial tutorial would have been with Wade, Shane or any one of the other fine Montana forgers.

Tom Krein said:
If we help the industry grow and become better, we all win.

I have always felt that what goes around comes around. None of it is rocket science...

With that said I compete fiercely with my fellow knifemakers, but in a slightly different way! I make every knife the best I can, with the best materials and hopefully a design that is usable and recognizable. I think most of us do this.

I guess I have a LOT of respect for most of my fellow makers. I can see what they have done and know what it took to do it. I think many knifemakers build higher than the customer would demand, partly because of pride in craftsmanship and peer approval.

Just my thoughts.... good post!

Tom
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Seems like knifemakers compete more with themselves to continue improving their skills and to learn everything they can. Then by sharing the whole industry rises to higher levels.

Don Hanson III said:
The only competition I have with other makers, is for handle material :p


My father would be my only mentor, he taught me the basics many years ago.
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Didn't know knifemaking had been in your family. :thumbup:
Jerry Fisk picked up the knifemaking bug from his grandfather who forged
hunting, kitchen knives and farm tools.
 
A question was asked "in which other professions people are willing to share what they know". I can say that in the engraving art/profession, there is an amazing fraternity that exists on the internet. The forums provided by the generosity of Steve Lindsay and Sam Alfano are a wealth of information and i'm sure there are many others like myself that are VERY grateful.

While there are many options of learning by paying for classes or private lessons, the knowledge and work shared on Igraver.com "The Engravers Cafe" hosted by Sam Alfano and the forum on LindsayEngraving.com are incredible.

Some of the best engravers in the world freely share information and post some of the finest engraving on the planet. That has led to some phenominal work posted by jewelers and knifemakers as well.

Many of the veteran engravers have mentioned how secretive and guarded techniques were in the past, but today information is shared readily.

Anyone that likes engraving should check it out!

Peter
 
Don Hanson III said:
The only competition I have with other makers, is for handle material :p
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So that is why I can never find the good stuff.:D

My dad was my inspiration. Although he never lived long enough to see my knives, he taught me that I could do anything if I got my mind right and worked at it hard enough. Good man. I miss him.

As for competition: "I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance." -Celine Dion

Robert
 
Can't say I have ever had a mentor , the extent of my learning came from : watching Eric Blair grind years ago , watching Trace Rinaldi profile and rough grind a blade , watching Neil Blackwood sharpen a knife , and lots of time on the phone ( or at shows ) with makers like Tom Krein , Neil , Uncle Kit Carson , Ken Onion , Mick Strider , Snody , Ken Erickson , Jerry Hossom , Mike Draper , as well as reading online and watching a couple DVD's.

And also doing the T &T routine , that is Torture & Toss.... torture the steel , until it looks like a knife , if it don't , toss it.
 
Robert Dark said:
As for competition: "I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance." -Celine Dion
Robert
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:barf::barf::barf:
sorry, that's the only reaction I can ever come up with to Celine Dion. I know I should be proud since she's Canadian, but...:barf::barf::barf:
 
It's and art, with a fair amount of science...

A successful student is the makers most profound gift to the art.

One who surpasses his teacher only makes the teacher proud.

This can be related to any craft, whether it be medicine, knifemaking, even stock trading. To have a "wunderkind" be your pupil, is the most profound compliment to the "professor". Been on both sides of the fence here.

Enough said.
 
From consumer side it would be nice to see some..
What comes to skills of making chef knives here is some guide lines.. www.spam*my*site.com

Giving you the benefit of a doubt for now, but my bet is that you are not here for legit reasons. (Gus)
 
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Keith Montgomery said:
I think he means competition in the way that industries like auto manufacturers compete, by offering discounted prices and perks to get you to buy their products.
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Thats the problem Keith... his post was to so ambiguous, who knows what the hell he means!

We are competing though. We don't all have the same prices/options/finish! Choose the finish, options and price you feel is a good value for your money and simply vote with your money!

Using the auto industry is an interesting analogy seeing as how all their competition made them go broke, have piss poor quality and have to be on the government dole.... I would submit that the reason they have to have all the incentives and price breaks is because no one wants their over priced crap in the first place. Maybe competition in this way is NOT a good thing....

Maybe if their quality was as good as lets say Ken Onion and the price was VERY reasonable like Ken Onion's then people would be lining up to buy a Chevy/Ford/Chrysler... maybe the big 3 need to take a look at how we compete and work!

Just some thoughts I had.... :D

Tom
 
For me, the "competition" is primarily with myself, although I do compete with other makers in the same way. Making a better knife, keeping the bang for the buck high and delivery times reasonable is how I compete-Both against myself and other makers.

Sharing among makers is a good thing, and I always enjoy helping new makers (like Mike Spangler) solve problems and improve their work. And, yes, there are some things that I won't share.
 
I'll share everything I know, but since I don't know anything no one will bother me. :)

As stated in many posts I believe there is competition among makers, but its more of a competition inside ourselves. We all try to improve our work and quality in order to get more notice over the other makers, after all, knife sales are needed to stay in business. But not any one maker can make a knife that will trip everyones trigger, so that leaves lots of room for us all.
Competition shouldn't be looked upon as a bad thing, because it helps us all try harder to produce the best we can. Its only when competition gets nasty with name calling and finger pointing trying to belittle others that is damaging to the organization and all involved. With that said, the knifemakers I've met are some of the nicest people I know, so I don't think nasty finger pointing and name calling will ever be an issue, I sure hope not anyway.

Bill
 
Lorien said:
:barf::barf::barf:
sorry, that's the only reaction I can ever come up with to Celine Dion. I know I should be proud since she's Canadian, but...:barf::barf::barf:
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Lorien, I'm not too enthused with her myself, but when I ran across that quote, I thought it pretty well summed up the way I look at knifemaking.

Robert
 
Knife makers are like golfers.

You can't control what your competitor does so don't worry about it.

Control what you have control over and shake your competitors hand in the end.
 
joshsmith said:
Knife makers are like golfers.

You can't control what your competitor does so don't worry about it.

Control what you have control over and shake your competitors hand in the end.
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That's probably the best summation of it that I've seen yet....

Sure we all want to do better than the other guy, but it's an industry where there's no clear cut winner.... In the end, what matters is that you and the customer are happy...

I've taught a lot of guys to make, and it never has come back to bite me, but it has helped me.... It can only help to have someone making knives (good ones) saying they were taught by you...

Simply put, this is a industry that requires a free flow of info, insight and constructive criticism...... Without those, it fails, and quickly...



MT
 
joshsmith said:
Knife makers are like golfers.

You can't control what your competitor does so don't worry about it.
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If you cut his fingers off with a bandsaw or "chop"saw....you could effectively take him out of the game....If I can find a volunteer at your hammerin, that would make a cool demo!:eek:

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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