I think this whole thread points something out quite clearly... that is, most knife makers are craftsmen and not businessmen.
I work in a business where the general attitude is to "sell cheaper". This attitude hurts everyone. If the maker can't make a decent living (read, PROFIT on his products) then at some point the maker will be forced to produce inferior product (time and market constraints) or go out of business.
The whole point of developing a "NAME" is so that you can produce a product that demands a high price - it is the perceieved value that is important.
The best of all worlds is to have a strong moral conviction mixed with market savey. This hopefully will produce superior products that are fairly priced (based on market value). Any time a manufacturer "slacks off" on quality, it (sooner or later) catches up to them and they loose their "NAME" (and hence the ability to get the big dollars). What the maker does with this profit is up to them. They can sit back a live the good life or they can put it back into the business - develop new products etc.
What does bother me is HYPE. I don't like reading ad copy that so-and-so has THE sharpest/strongest/(insert whatever here) knife. Especially when most claims are not proven or can't be proven.
I'm very new to knife making and have aspirations of doing it full time in the (hopefully) near future.
The knife making industry still has lots of room for more talent to prosper without having to resort to huge marketing campaigns. With that said, I hope we all learn a little from this thread.
Darren
I work in a business where the general attitude is to "sell cheaper". This attitude hurts everyone. If the maker can't make a decent living (read, PROFIT on his products) then at some point the maker will be forced to produce inferior product (time and market constraints) or go out of business.
The whole point of developing a "NAME" is so that you can produce a product that demands a high price - it is the perceieved value that is important.
The best of all worlds is to have a strong moral conviction mixed with market savey. This hopefully will produce superior products that are fairly priced (based on market value). Any time a manufacturer "slacks off" on quality, it (sooner or later) catches up to them and they loose their "NAME" (and hence the ability to get the big dollars). What the maker does with this profit is up to them. They can sit back a live the good life or they can put it back into the business - develop new products etc.
What does bother me is HYPE. I don't like reading ad copy that so-and-so has THE sharpest/strongest/(insert whatever here) knife. Especially when most claims are not proven or can't be proven.
I'm very new to knife making and have aspirations of doing it full time in the (hopefully) near future.
The knife making industry still has lots of room for more talent to prosper without having to resort to huge marketing campaigns. With that said, I hope we all learn a little from this thread.
Darren
