Does anyone take pictures throughout a build for the customer?

G

Grayzer86

Joined
Jan 15, 2012
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I had never really thought about doing this before as i was just making knives and giving them away or donating them. The reason why i ask is because I had a guy ask me last night if i could take a pic at each major step for him to have with the knife, as it is a design we worked out together. I have no problem doing this for him and think its a neat idea, i was just curious if this is something that any of you do regularly without being asked. Im sure lots of customers would not care about the process, but do you take pictures throughout the process for your own records even?
 
I do it regularly but not always religiously. If I remember to do it then I will. If the recipient really wants them or if I want to document it for whatever reason then I will be better about it. Some people like to see the process of making knives even if its not theirs.
Chris
 
I do it on orders. The pictures provide a record of the customers knife that the customer can keep on a cd or hard drive. Plus if the knife is stolen, they have pictures. With e-mail and digital cameras it is very easy.
Brion
 
I do it especially on difficult builds where there are many steps.

Also many people communicate better through pictures so supplying them can help support the discourse with your customer.

Taking pics gives you the opportunity to share your work with the online community in the form of WIP'S
 
My picture taking gives very poor results. I have often nsent out scans to help answer a request. Most copllectors seem to appreciate you doing this very much. I will not do it on a regular basis, but if it helps then, sure, I will send out what I can do. Frank
 
I do. I have a page on my Website called "The Bench" where all current knives I am working on are updated as the knife progresses! Customers seem to like it.
 
If you can manage it well, seems like a great idea. In the Custom & Handmade Knives forum (often thought of as the "collectors" forum by many of the folks there) I've even seen customers posting the photos and narrative they receive from the maker of their knife. It is appreciated by many folks. It adds more value to the whole process of custom made and probably has helped advance the career's of makers sometimes too. Seems like a win win (as long as you can manage it well).
 
sometimes, if I've made someone wait a long time.
 
Robert Carter said:
I've done this on the last 5 or 6 orders for customers. If they want it I say give it to them.
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As a customer it was nice getting the updates as Mr. Carter made my knives. Seeing it all come together was exciting and kept me on edge until they arrived. It made me feel like I was more involved in the proccess and not " just a buyer".
 
I take pics along the way if Im doing a WIP, but normally I dont. one problem I have noticed is if you take pics and send them to the customer they inevitably change their mind on some aspect of the knife and want you to change it while in the middle of working on it:)
 
I take pictures of all the progress steps on making my knives... but not for customers (I don't sell). Mostly for the sake of sharing with friends and recipients.
 
I do with many knives, but not all of them. Most customers really enjoy and appreciate it... some really couldn't care less about the process, they just want the finished product.

I've gotta disagree a little with my friend Brion though! :foot: ;) While it isn't very hard to do this from a technical standpoint, it can add a tremendous amount of time to a knife.

Even just doing it sort of half ass, you have to set up for each pic, take the pics, edit the pics, attach them to an email, and describe what each pic is. For me, this can easily add 5 hours or more to the knife. If it's like the thread in my sig line, it made a 7-10 day knife take a month to complete. :eek: :o But that was way beyond the normal tag along I would do. :)
 
shunsui said:
Just a bump because the last two posts seem timely now.
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no kidding on the bump...

I take pictures for myself because I love photography and because I want to document my progress as a maker - not necessarily on any one knife, but on a whole. I have a digital scrapbook with notes to keep track of all of my knives, good and bad. I cringe at some of the stuff I look back on, remembering how good I thought it was in the moment. Actually, it was good, because it was the best I could do at the time. I must have over 1000 images of knife progress or tools I or others have made. That's a big number considering I have not been at this very long.

I also take pictures because I enjoy posting and pictures go a long way in that regard. It does add time for sure. I'm pretty quick with a camera these days as well as post-processing. I have a quick-release mount on my tri-pod and camera, and often pause work for a few quick shots. I'm no pro, and definitely not talking about show quality images, but rather ones that are more than adequate for posts and documentation. Glamor shots do take a whole lot of set up and work.

Others have stated some good reasons for photo-documenting one's work. I think it is a good idea, even if it is just for your own purposes. Once the knives are gone - they're gone.

EA
 
More often then not I will post "shop update" or "customer update" videos to my youtube channel. Like Nick Wheeler says though, I can be a huge time suck.
Anymore, I try not to get too caught up in editing and "re-takes", but sometimes you get interupted or tangled up in something, and before you know it, a 5 minute update video can turn into 50 minutes.
 
I can see why professionals wouldn't be interested in doing it. I never thought of it as a "time suck" because I don't value my hobby time the same way professionals value their work time. To be sure, I wouldn't use my work time as unproductively as I do my hobby time.

Which I think gives us some insights into why we see the WIPs we do on this forum. Those of us willing to invest the time aren't likely to be among the top tier, most of the time. When top tier makers do post a WIP there ought to be a special place for them, or a way to keep them accessible.
 
I have been doing this with every knife. Not only does it allow me to show a customer the progress of his/her knife, it also allows me to see my progress, andi look back through them to see if there is anything i could change next time to make it better.
 
RyanW said:
I do. I have a page on my Website called "The Bench" where all current knives I am working on are updated as the knife progresses! Customers seem to like it.
Click to expand...

That would be very cool to have if I ordered a knife. Sort of like a tracking Number on the knife progress. ;) Great idea.
 
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