- Joined
- Oct 18, 2001
- Messages
- 20,978
Ok.....here's how my week went:
Monday - day off after the Blade Show to work on the house
Tuesday - morning off...still working on the new house...made it into the shop, sold a bunch of stuff.
Wednesday - stood in one place for 5 hours getting packages ready for shipping....
...worked on Dingos (K9 Knives)
Thursday - didn't get to the shop until 2 PM...:foot:...house stuff...washer, dryer...hitting the hardware stores for supplies and so on. Nobody told me buying a house was so much work!!! Spent more time on the Dingos
Friday - Dingos all day...had to fix the sandblast cabinet several times...
...but got it working fine. We finished the first K9 Dingo today...the rest will roll out Monday/Tuesday.
Weekend - Start hammerin out details on the Order Tracker
Next week:
Monday - will order steel for the Kit Knives, more bushcraft knives (3V), nessmuks in 1/8" 3V , and miscellaneous orders. Everything going to the waterjet guy. Will spend the bulk of the day working on Dingos. Have a Dr. appt to remove an ingrown toenail. ....but plan on shipping the rest of what sold this week (payments still incoming)...and spending more time finishing up order details on the Order Tracker.
Tuesday - Dingo madness continues...and hopefully comes closer to being finished.
Wednesday - playin' it by ear...we'll see what happens.
Thursday/Friday - in the shop for Koster Knives now...
I have 3 more work days after that and then I am going to Philmont for 12 days (plus travel...more like 2 weeks). Hopefully I return in one piece.
After that....a little birdy told me it would probably be a good time to initiate the production of a certain pair of 5" bladed knives...but, I dunno...we'll see what happens.
Thanks to all you guys for your support....those who came to the Blade Show...those who call in to chat...that who email just for fun (and not just as reminders...though it is definitely a tricky way to remind me of your knife order
)....thanks to those who have been patient with me while I learn this craft....and thanks for keeping my forum a positive place to hang out and chat. :thumbup:
I am now FULL-TIME into knifemaking.
There are going to be some changes in how things operate for me....some will be minor unnoticeable changes...others will be monumental. All of them will be for the better.
I plan on restructuring my pricing. My old pricing models are out of date and no longer provide accurate results. That does NOT mean prices will go up. Just means that certain processes....certain materials...certain knives....are easier, cheaper, more efficient and more productive for me. Those items will become standard features. Everything else will be a premium.
Take cocobolo for instance. In the past, I have put it at the bottom of the materials list (cost-wise). Per knife handle, it is truly a cost-effective material. BUT.....to get it into my work process is increasingly less efficient.
For example:
micarta comes in sheets of uniform thickness. I simply cut out both sides of the handle slabs...and they are ready to drill, profile, counterbore, finish the fronts and glue-up.
cocobolo on the other hand...is best (for me) if purchased in larger pieces. This requires cutting it down first with a ripsaw blade on the bandsaw, then cutting slabs. The slabs then have to be flattened on the inside surfaces and then the outsides made parallel, and the thickness uniform and matching. Otherwise, when I drill the handles....I get crooked holes.
So, to get cocobolo to the same state as what micarta comes in naturally...takes more work. It is now no longer a cost-effective material.
Certain micarta colors are more expensive than others...and I rarely stock them (I always have natural, green and black canvas micarta on hand...rarely/never have brown, red...or any of the linen/paper micartas).
So, even though micarta is micarta...for me, one of them is inexpensive (can buy in large sizes since I know I'll end up using all of it) and the other is a premium (have to get a piece just for one order).
Additionally, I have become more proficient with the tools I have on hand...and have outgrown a few as well. Better machines mean better quality and higher production. Helps keep sales prices down, but overhead goes up in its place.
Don't worry, though guys....it's like a game for me....finding the "value sweet spots" in knifemaking. Like using 1/8" oversize 3V in smaller knives. That was a home-run hit for me. I can buy it in large sheets and cut out multiple patterns. Yes, it's 5 times as expensive. But 5 times 2 is still only 10 dollars instead of 2 for a blade...meaning only a small increase in the materials costs...but HUGE gains in performance.
I do have a few more ideas up my sleeve yet....we'll see how things pan out over the summer.
It must be past my bedtime...I fell asleep proofreading the above while at my computer.
Either that...or it's just terribly boring...you let me know, ok?

'Night..!
Dan
Monday - day off after the Blade Show to work on the house
Tuesday - morning off...still working on the new house...made it into the shop, sold a bunch of stuff.

Wednesday - stood in one place for 5 hours getting packages ready for shipping....

Thursday - didn't get to the shop until 2 PM...:foot:...house stuff...washer, dryer...hitting the hardware stores for supplies and so on. Nobody told me buying a house was so much work!!! Spent more time on the Dingos
Friday - Dingos all day...had to fix the sandblast cabinet several times...

Weekend - Start hammerin out details on the Order Tracker
Next week:
Monday - will order steel for the Kit Knives, more bushcraft knives (3V), nessmuks in 1/8" 3V , and miscellaneous orders. Everything going to the waterjet guy. Will spend the bulk of the day working on Dingos. Have a Dr. appt to remove an ingrown toenail. ....but plan on shipping the rest of what sold this week (payments still incoming)...and spending more time finishing up order details on the Order Tracker.
Tuesday - Dingo madness continues...and hopefully comes closer to being finished.
Wednesday - playin' it by ear...we'll see what happens.
Thursday/Friday - in the shop for Koster Knives now...

I have 3 more work days after that and then I am going to Philmont for 12 days (plus travel...more like 2 weeks). Hopefully I return in one piece.

After that....a little birdy told me it would probably be a good time to initiate the production of a certain pair of 5" bladed knives...but, I dunno...we'll see what happens.

Thanks to all you guys for your support....those who came to the Blade Show...those who call in to chat...that who email just for fun (and not just as reminders...though it is definitely a tricky way to remind me of your knife order

I am now FULL-TIME into knifemaking.
There are going to be some changes in how things operate for me....some will be minor unnoticeable changes...others will be monumental. All of them will be for the better.
I plan on restructuring my pricing. My old pricing models are out of date and no longer provide accurate results. That does NOT mean prices will go up. Just means that certain processes....certain materials...certain knives....are easier, cheaper, more efficient and more productive for me. Those items will become standard features. Everything else will be a premium.
Take cocobolo for instance. In the past, I have put it at the bottom of the materials list (cost-wise). Per knife handle, it is truly a cost-effective material. BUT.....to get it into my work process is increasingly less efficient.
For example:
micarta comes in sheets of uniform thickness. I simply cut out both sides of the handle slabs...and they are ready to drill, profile, counterbore, finish the fronts and glue-up.
cocobolo on the other hand...is best (for me) if purchased in larger pieces. This requires cutting it down first with a ripsaw blade on the bandsaw, then cutting slabs. The slabs then have to be flattened on the inside surfaces and then the outsides made parallel, and the thickness uniform and matching. Otherwise, when I drill the handles....I get crooked holes.
So, to get cocobolo to the same state as what micarta comes in naturally...takes more work. It is now no longer a cost-effective material.
Certain micarta colors are more expensive than others...and I rarely stock them (I always have natural, green and black canvas micarta on hand...rarely/never have brown, red...or any of the linen/paper micartas).
So, even though micarta is micarta...for me, one of them is inexpensive (can buy in large sizes since I know I'll end up using all of it) and the other is a premium (have to get a piece just for one order).
Additionally, I have become more proficient with the tools I have on hand...and have outgrown a few as well. Better machines mean better quality and higher production. Helps keep sales prices down, but overhead goes up in its place.
Don't worry, though guys....it's like a game for me....finding the "value sweet spots" in knifemaking. Like using 1/8" oversize 3V in smaller knives. That was a home-run hit for me. I can buy it in large sheets and cut out multiple patterns. Yes, it's 5 times as expensive. But 5 times 2 is still only 10 dollars instead of 2 for a blade...meaning only a small increase in the materials costs...but HUGE gains in performance.
I do have a few more ideas up my sleeve yet....we'll see how things pan out over the summer.
It must be past my bedtime...I fell asleep proofreading the above while at my computer.
Either that...or it's just terribly boring...you let me know, ok?

'Night..!
Dan