Fixed blades

I did one show this past fall and a Sportsman Tag Sale last Spring, so I only have those 2 shows to go by so far! Only one knife sale, (and a couple strops), but it was one with a colorful sheath/neon green pins at the front of the table that sold at the knife show. So I can't say which sells more; the knife sold had Python Micarta handles (kinda dark), but toxic green pins and toxic green holstex sheath. I think the colors help draw people over and they end up looking at several usually and always comment about my handles, both the coloring and shaping. Most of my knives have something to make them pop visually, even if it's just a brighter or contrasting pin material, or some liners or something. I have a 2 day show coming up next weekend, so I will try to pay attention to that! I do a lot of knives people use hunting and about half are bright (toxic green, orange) and the other half are OD green or more natural colors (brown, green, black, tans, etc). I think people are starting to realize that they can get material in colors other than black, green and brown and factories are using more colorful handle material as well! Look at all of the Burl/Marbled G10, G10 pattered stuff, G Carta, etc. that is out there and people who do re handles to get different materials/colors, etc!

I had many comments from people about the "colorful" knives and table in general (I put out a bunch of anodized key chains at the front for people to take) and people liked the little stands to make it easier to see as they walked by. People said they saw my table when they were walking around and came over to look at the stuff more closely. My table was jam packed for the 6' of the table I had, around 30 knives. Next show, I will have around 40 knives. I ordered some vertical stair type stands to use and since I actually have multiples of 2 models (the FBBO and MBBO I posted yesterday), I am trying to do a stand with those so I can print out one info card for the front of the stand and have 6 knives in the same model in that stand to take up less room. It's a stand designed to display folders, but should work nicely for the smaller knives. Hoping to laser it out tonight and try it out!

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People liked the info cards with all of the information about the knife on them, too. So now I gotta make and print up at least 17 more for the new stuff!

Coming from someone with your stature and beautiful knives, I really appreciate the compliment about the handles!

One comment I get a lot is that people like the variety in handle sizes, too. Some are wider, some narrower, some thicker/chunkier, some slimmer. I really work on the contouring/rounding to make sure the handle feels comfortable, no matter the hand or handle size. People were handling knives and some were looking for slimmer handles, others for larger handles. I usually use 3/8" thick material and contour it down (coke bottle with a tapered front or flared front are my 2 main handle styles contouring wise), but for the MBBO and FBBO, they are slimmer overall and use 1/4" handle scales typically, and less contouring overall. I had some Bark Rivers and really liked some of their handles like the Bravo series (on the Survivor)and the Classic Utility Caper, so those were my inspirations profile wise and contouring on the Bravo. I had a Classic Drop Point Hunter and Wilderness Explorer with the Loveless style handles, but they were too short and skinny for my hands, which really bummed me out! The CDPH needed about another half inch handle length and thicker scales for my hands and the WE handle was longer and wider, but again, was a bit skinny for my tastes/hands. Handles are a pet peeve for me because my hands tend to go tingly after a while if a handle is too small or not comfortable, so I've always really paid attention to handles and did a lot of handles for Japanese kitchen knives over the years, where they are often using them for hours at a time, so I learned to make them as comfy as possible! I hesitated in doing smaller edc type knives (3" or under) because the handles would be smaller/slimmer, so it took a while for me to figure out the contouring/shaping of slim handles, but I am happy with them now; I had to change the butt end of the handle more to make it more rounded and tame down the contouring, but not the rounding!
 
Taz said:
I did one show this past fall and a Sportsman Tag Sale last Spring, so I only have those 2 shows to go by so far! Only one knife sale, (and a couple strops), but it was one with a colorful sheath/neon green pins at the front of the table that sold at the knife show. So I can't say which sells more; the knife sold had Python Micarta handles (kinda dark), but toxic green pins and toxic green holstex sheath. I think the colors help draw people over and they end up looking at several usually and always comment about my handles, both the coloring and shaping. Most of my knives have something to make them pop visually, even if it's just a brighter or contrasting pin material, or some liners or something. I have a 2 day show coming up next weekend, so I will try to pay attention to that! I do a lot of knives people use hunting and about half are bright (toxic green, orange) and the other half are OD green or more natural colors (brown, green, black, tans, etc). I think people are starting to realize that they can get material in colors other than black, green and brown and factories are using more colorful handle material as well! Look at all of the Burl/Marbled G10, G10 pattered stuff, G Carta, etc. that is out there and people who do re handles to get different materials/colors, etc!

I had many comments from people about the "colorful" knives and table in general (I put out a bunch of anodized key chains at the front for people to take) and people liked the little stands to make it easier to see as they walked by. People said they saw my table when they were walking around and came over to look at the stuff more closely. My table was jam packed for the 6' of the table I had, around 30 knives. Next show, I will have around 40 knives. I ordered some vertical stair type stands to use and since I actually have multiples of 2 models (the FBBO and MBBO I posted yesterday), I am trying to do a stand with those so I can print out one info card for the front of the stand and have 6 knives in the same model in that stand to take up less room. It's a stand designed to display folders, but should work nicely for the smaller knives. Hoping to laser it out tonight and try it out!

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People liked the info cards with all of the information about the knife on them, too. So now I gotta make and print up at least 17 more for the new stuff!

Coming from someone with your stature and beautiful knives, I really appreciate the compliment about the handles!

One comment I get a lot is that people like the variety in handle sizes, too. Some are wider, some narrower, some thicker/chunkier, some slimmer. I really work on the contouring/rounding to make sure the handle feels comfortable, no matter the hand or handle size. People were handling knives and some were looking for slimmer handles, others for larger handles. I usually use 3/8" thick material and contour it down (coke bottle with a tapered front or flared front are my 2 main handle styles contouring wise), but for the MBBO and FBBO, they are slimmer overall and use 1/4" handle scales typically, and less contouring overall. I had some Bark Rivers and really liked some of their handles like the Bravo series (on the Survivor)and the Classic Utility Caper, so those were my inspirations profile wise and contouring on the Bravo. I had a Classic Drop Point Hunter and Wilderness Explorer with the Loveless style handles, but they were too short and skinny for my hands, which really bummed me out! The CDPH needed about another half inch handle length and thicker scales for my hands and the WE handle was longer and wider, but again, was a bit skinny for my tastes/hands. Handles are a pet peeve for me because my hands tend to go tingly after a while if a handle is too small or not comfortable, so I've always really paid attention to handles and did a lot of handles for Japanese kitchen knives over the years, where they are often using them for hours at a time, so I learned to make them as comfy as possible! I hesitated in doing smaller edc type knives (3" or under) because the handles would be smaller/slimmer, so it took a while for me to figure out the contouring/shaping of slim handles, but I am happy with them now; I had to change the butt end of the handle more to make it more rounded and tame down the contouring, but not the rounding!
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I appreciate that detailed response. I think you're on the right track with variety.

I think we've seen a shift in buyer preferences towards brighter, more customized options....maybe not as overtaking traditional colors but moving it more to an even split.

It'd be an interesting thing to watch as you do more shows.
 
Yeah, I am hoping to start doing more shows! The NCCA show in Sturbridge Mass was my first real show this past November and I had a blast! I had put my 4 Damascus blades front and center on the table and noticed people were picking up the smaller stuff and brighter stuff, so I shifted some things around after the first hour or so to put smaller and brighter stuff at the front. Lesson learned!
 
You have some beautiful knives. Do you see more of a trend to tactical knives with micarta handles more so than wood and stag.
 
I think the Stag/Damascus stuff is more limited sales wise because of availability; good stag is hard to find and is often on pieces that are slower to produce and go for much higher amounts. So the market is smaller and less pieces available.

Tactical and non tactical stuff seems to sell if people know your brand and you have a good social media following. FB and Instagram restrict "weapon" accounts, so people do it as "art" or they use Social Media to post videos, WIP's, drop info when things will be available and sell on their actual website. FB has lots of BST groups and many makers have their own groups, so while they don't always "sell" on FB, people can see what they have, what's in the works and know when something is available to go to the website to grab it! YouTube is getting bigger with people posting videos of them making the items, too.

I am debating getting a goPro to film some footage, but honestly, standing at a grinder with dust flying around is kinda boring? It's not as flashy as making damascus, doing fancy fittings, sculpting wood handles, etc. I've been trying to post more consistently on social media these past few weeks to see if it pays off. I do this part time as a hobby, so I don't always have new content to post or as often as I want with my normal job taking up a lot of time.
 
Helle Alimenn... just another classic all-purpose puukko

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