Do customers choices ever bug you??

David W Babcock

David W Babcock

Black Metal Forge
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
80
Finished this nice buffet style carving knife, sports a nice Hamon, customer wants a plastic red acrylic type handle.? It would look so much better with nice wood or other materials come to mind, but he wants a cheapo handle as it’s red!

just bugs me I guess...would much rather use a nice piece of Sonoma desert ironwood, or black African...even inlay a bit of red for him but no go... does this stuff bug anyone else?
upload_2019-11-8_3-59-54.jpeg
 
If I make knife for someone for money I will make it as he wish .Why I should care about his taste ?
 
As a maker you call the shots as to how you make
If you don't want to take custom orders then don't just make and put up for sale then
 
As suggested above. Give them an alternative material like red g10 (which I absolutely love!!!) And explain to them that the material is much more durable, scratch resistant, drop resistant, heat resistant, and the kife will look much nicer for longer!


I don't make knives for customers, but I do get puzzled at choices for handles that others choose, or that makers build knives with.
 
Last edited:
LOL (yes, i am being intentionally challenging here...). In another current thread, several people commented that “you should make what your customers want, NOT what you want”. How do we resolve that with the contrary statements coming out here?

(edit: if you worry about your “reputation” or perception of your products quality in the eyes of other customers, you need not put your mark on it. Many companies make/market products with different levels of quality - example: toyota’s lexus versus corolla)
 
You are right that companies will have different branding for different quality levels. In the knife world we have ZT & Kershaw both a Kai company but we all know the ZT will be made to a higher standard than Kershaw. That is why they have different branding because one allows for lower quality standards keeping overall reputation intact. The fact is in this instance it seems the maker has put the more premium features and work into the blade already typically you couldn't get that in the lower tiered branding so this work has already kinda locked itself into a higher tier that might eliminate the combinations with certain lower quality materials on the remainder of the build.
 
PirateSeulb said:
If their taste/choices compromise the quality and integrity of your product you might care about their request.
Click to expand...
Of course , but here it s not that case .Acrylic is used for knife handles so here it is about taste , he want red handle .........
 
usually i ask "what type of look do you want? a red handle? OK, let me look around and see what I can find that would be suitable for a knife handle." Ive always had problems with a customer being too specific , or sending me a block of their own stash. Its up to you to determine if its a good material choice or not. You are probably the one who will be contacted if/when it breaks. As for Red , that could still be really cool look.
 
PirateSeulb said:
You are right that companies will have different branding for different quality levels. In the knife world we have ZT & Kershaw both a Kai company but we all know the ZT will be made to a higher standard than Kershaw. That is why they have different branding because one allows for lower quality standards keeping overall reputation intact. The fact is in this instance it seems the maker has put the more premium features and work into the blade already typically you couldn't get that in the lower tiered branding so this work has already kinda locked itself into a higher tier that might eliminate the combinations with certain lower quality materials on the remainder of the build.
Click to expand...
I am not sure i agree with the logic here. Just dont put your mark on it if even one element is lower quality. So what if other elements are higher quality (as long as tne customer pays appropriate price). I might be wrong, but what i think ihear in this statement is Pride speaking, not a Business choice....
 
timos- said:
usually i ask "what type of look do you want? a red handle? OK, let me look around and see what I can find that would be suitable for a knife handle." Ive always had problems with a customer being too specific , or sending me a block of their own stash. Its up to you to determine if its a good material choice or not. You are probably the one who will be contacted if/when it breaks. As for Red , that could still be really cool look.
Click to expand...
If you as maker are concerned about the poor performance of a choice insisted on by a customer, you are free to tell them you can not be responsible for later failures of the product (and to put that in writing)
 
I don't do a lot of custom work, mostly I make what I want and put it up for sale.

But when I do, I tell the customer that the custom work will have to be within my style and designs. If that's not acceptable I respectfully decline the request. This means the customer will chose a type/pattern and whether it should be stainless or not. And sometimes color preferences are discussed, but mostly they leave these decisions to me.
 
Last edited:
My wife is part Echota and we went to a local pow wow. There was a knifemaker set up there and he had a slightly awkward act going where his "apprentice" was hammering on blades while he was talking to people. Of course with the forged in fire on TV everyone he was talking to seemingly knew something about knifemaking and had to throw around some slang to sound educated. Honestly, it was quite pathetic and I wanted to walk away, but it was like a bad train wreck I just had to watch. The "apprentice" was beating the piss out of a blade and it had a funky curve going on and deep hammer marks.

I finally got through the line to get to where I could look at the knives. They were terrible! Imagine the knives people post on this forum where they are "going for an old rustic look" but to everyone here it looks like a prison shank. I mean some of the blockiest handles you ever seen. A straight bevel line was not to be found. Large swathes of scale on sides of blades. The blades never saw a grit higher than 220.

He had the knives set up on two tables. One table was better looking than the other, but all were bad. There was about a dozen knives on each table. He claimed one table was his work and the other table was his apprentices work. I truly feel they were all his work, the apprentice was his son who never made a knife in his life, and the knives were split across two tables in a subtle "branding" technique where the "apprentice" knives were just his first knives and the "masters" knives were his latest work where he improved a smidge.

Not really sure how this applies to this thread, but I guess the "branding" thing people mentioned and having a low-quality and a high-quality brand made me think of this.
 
I question them all the time but I think most times, they just don't know enough. If a customer has a weird request for their knife, we discuss what they want and why. If I feel I can make the compromise, I will, otherwise I will give my opinion on why they shouldn't do that particular thing and what I would do instead. If I really feel that they will not compromise and whatever they are choosing is really not something I want to put my name on, I wont do it. Why would I make something that I wouldn't stand behind?
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Cushing, The previous thread you referred to was about knife shapes and types, not about substandard materials. IMHO, there is no good reason to use substandard materials in making a knife.
Click to expand...

Stacy - agreed that the previous thread was about shapes/styles ... but it was also about fit and finish. I am not sure that, at its root, the question here is all that different. If a potential customer were to come to you and ask for something that you considered substandard material usage, but offered you, say, $3,000 for the job ... would you turn it down??? (not realistic in itself ... but the line will be drawn somewhere...). Dont take me too literally here - I am just trying to raise awareness of preconceptions and assumptions. (I am being polite, and asking questions, not pointing fingers ... but it if upsets people too much, I will stop).

Randy3000 said:
e had the knives set up on two tables. One table was better looking than the other, but all were bad. ... I guess the "branding" thing people mentioned and having a low-quality and a high-quality brand made me think of this
Click to expand...
Agreed! But I think there is a difference between trying to market "Bad, and Awful", versus, say, "Good, Better, Best" In fact, quite a while ago a company (Sears I think??) quite successfully did exactly that in offering three different alternatives (at different price points) for related products. I am not saying anything here about making "awful" ... but would you be willing to make "good" and sell it for the money (but not put your makers mark on it)?? Where do you draw the line?

tattooedfreak said:
If I really feel that they will not compromise and whatever they are choosing is really not something I want to put my name on, I wont do it.
Click to expand...
Definitely a viable choice to make. My comment before about "pride" versus "business" might be better (or more accurately) stated as "Craft" versus "business" ... where "craft" will always drive to the highest quality and mark it as your branded work (at the risk of losing some income from "lesser" product, whereas "business" will be willing to make compromises (and potentially gain more income, but at the loss of the prestige of always producing the finest work). Again - you are always free not to put your mark on that lesser work. I am only recommending that you make a conscious choice about what tack you take (and why)....
 
Cushing H. said:
I am not sure i agree with the logic here. Just dont put your mark on it if even one element is lower quality. So what if other elements are higher quality (as long as tne customer pays appropriate price). I might be wrong, but what i think ihear in this statement is Pride speaking, not a Business choice....
Click to expand...
So what is quality here ? Micarta is more then ten times durable in any weather , mechanical or dry/wet grip test then Ironwood and any other wood and cost only fraction of price of Ironwood scale or block ? Me ? Nothing beats rubber for handle on working knife :D
 
Natlek said:
So what is quality here ? Micarta is more then ten times durable in any weather or mechanical test , dry/wet grip then Ironwood and any other wood and cost only fraction of price of Ironwood scale or block ? Me ? Nothing beats rubber for handle on working knife :D
Click to expand...
Ahhh - this actually is a good part of my professional experience (Six Sigma, Systems Engineering, usability engineering). At least in those fields, Quality is what the customer wants. Anything beyond that is considered reduced quality/added expense. In Project Management, these "additional" not-asked-for items actually have a designation: ... "gold plating"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top