- Joined
- Aug 30, 2007
- Messages
- 5,483
Well, first of all, hi everybody. It has been a minute.
As many of you may know, I (very unceremoniously) left knifemaking many years ago. I had a lot of reasons for leaving. Several involved my own physical health, but those weren't the only, or the main reasons. I also had a lot of equipment that was just not working well. I was trying to force it to work, and it just wasn't, and some of that stuff was too expensive to replace at the time. Everything I was trying to make was getting screwed up. I was completely burnt out, and every time something got messed up, it would be a catastrophic thing, like a whole batch of knives would get ruined, because the oven didn't do the heat treat correctly, and cost me hundreds of dollars. At the same time, I had all kinds of orders and repairs that were getting messed up and pushed back. It was just a time bomb combination of stuff. (I'll leave out all the craziness that was going on in the professional side of the knife community that was also a huge reason for me getting out. I didn't want to end up as collateral damage.)
One day, a buddy offered me a job, I took it, and that was the end of knifemaking. I needed a steady paycheck, and needed to get away from knives. In the meantime, I tried to settle up with anyone with whom I had any money or a knife involved. My equipment wasn't working, so some people I just had to send money to, but I did whatever I could to get everybody sorted out. I no doubt lost customers over that, and I apologize, but sometimes there's just jack s*** you can do. The hole is too deep, and your back doesn't work.
Right now there are 3 outstanding "orders" that are still happening, but those are special knives for special people. They know who they are. I love you Kyle and Dan. The other person isn't on Bladeforums.
There were a few things that I tried to avoid from the very beginning, that I knew would ruin knifemaking. They were taking money up front, taking orders in any way, and making the same thing over and over again. I ended up doing all of those, like a lot of knifemakers do, and just like I thought, it completely ruined my business and how I felt about knifemaking. Plus, I pigeonholed myself into a style and a budget. I hated nothing more than making the same thing over and over again. I hated making "batches" of knives. Most of all, I hated having to always keep a budget in mind, and design everything with the mentality of "this has to sell quick, so it has to be super affordable." I did all of that to myself.
The last "batch" of knives I made was kind of a last hurrah, and I was hoping it would rekindle something and make me want to keep going. I called Lee Tigner and said, "I have these knives I want to make, that are totally different from everything I normally do, but it would cost me too much to make them, if I don't know whether or not they'll sell." He said, "I'm in. Make whatever you want." That was great. They sold out fast as hell. Unfortunately, the fire was just dead. That last batch was awesome, but it didn't rekindle anything. Right after that is when my buddy offered me a job, and I jumped on it.
Another thing I always had trouble with was sheaths. My favorite is when the knife and sheath are both art, that fit together. They don't necessarily have to be the exact same idea, but I want the sheath to knock my eyes out just as much as the knife. I have the ability to make pretty cool leather sheaths. I spend almost as much time making a cool leather sheath, with all kinds of tooling and stuff, as I do making a knife. If you happen to follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you've seen my recent leather sheaths. I could have been doing that the whole time. Unfortunately, I was always trying to hit a budget, because everything had to be so affordable that it would instantly sell. That meant kydex, or simple, mass produced leather sheaths. Nothing wrong with either one of those, but I don't own a single grail knife that's sitting in a kydex or simple leather sheath. My grails are in hand tooled leather works of art. That's what I wanted to make.
It took me a long time to want to make a knife again. Over the past several years, I had gotten a lot of requests to make knives, and almost always turned them down. Last year, I fixed my equipment and started making knives again. The stuff that I make now is just whatever I want to make. It's all one-off stuff, with sick leather sheaths. I have a couple of blade blanks left from the old days that'll get finished out, but other than that, it's all new stuff from here on out.
There are no orders. Don't email me asking to get on a list. There isn't one. In very special circumstances, like you wanna spend over $1000 on a knife for yourself or a loved one, and don't want to make any decisions other than size and colors, then we can figure it out. Other than that, I just post pictures on Instagram and Facebook, and now I will here too. If there's something you wanna buy, hit me up. (All within the rules of Bladeforums of course.)
As many of you may know, I (very unceremoniously) left knifemaking many years ago. I had a lot of reasons for leaving. Several involved my own physical health, but those weren't the only, or the main reasons. I also had a lot of equipment that was just not working well. I was trying to force it to work, and it just wasn't, and some of that stuff was too expensive to replace at the time. Everything I was trying to make was getting screwed up. I was completely burnt out, and every time something got messed up, it would be a catastrophic thing, like a whole batch of knives would get ruined, because the oven didn't do the heat treat correctly, and cost me hundreds of dollars. At the same time, I had all kinds of orders and repairs that were getting messed up and pushed back. It was just a time bomb combination of stuff. (I'll leave out all the craziness that was going on in the professional side of the knife community that was also a huge reason for me getting out. I didn't want to end up as collateral damage.)
One day, a buddy offered me a job, I took it, and that was the end of knifemaking. I needed a steady paycheck, and needed to get away from knives. In the meantime, I tried to settle up with anyone with whom I had any money or a knife involved. My equipment wasn't working, so some people I just had to send money to, but I did whatever I could to get everybody sorted out. I no doubt lost customers over that, and I apologize, but sometimes there's just jack s*** you can do. The hole is too deep, and your back doesn't work.
Right now there are 3 outstanding "orders" that are still happening, but those are special knives for special people. They know who they are. I love you Kyle and Dan. The other person isn't on Bladeforums.
There were a few things that I tried to avoid from the very beginning, that I knew would ruin knifemaking. They were taking money up front, taking orders in any way, and making the same thing over and over again. I ended up doing all of those, like a lot of knifemakers do, and just like I thought, it completely ruined my business and how I felt about knifemaking. Plus, I pigeonholed myself into a style and a budget. I hated nothing more than making the same thing over and over again. I hated making "batches" of knives. Most of all, I hated having to always keep a budget in mind, and design everything with the mentality of "this has to sell quick, so it has to be super affordable." I did all of that to myself.
The last "batch" of knives I made was kind of a last hurrah, and I was hoping it would rekindle something and make me want to keep going. I called Lee Tigner and said, "I have these knives I want to make, that are totally different from everything I normally do, but it would cost me too much to make them, if I don't know whether or not they'll sell." He said, "I'm in. Make whatever you want." That was great. They sold out fast as hell. Unfortunately, the fire was just dead. That last batch was awesome, but it didn't rekindle anything. Right after that is when my buddy offered me a job, and I jumped on it.
Another thing I always had trouble with was sheaths. My favorite is when the knife and sheath are both art, that fit together. They don't necessarily have to be the exact same idea, but I want the sheath to knock my eyes out just as much as the knife. I have the ability to make pretty cool leather sheaths. I spend almost as much time making a cool leather sheath, with all kinds of tooling and stuff, as I do making a knife. If you happen to follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you've seen my recent leather sheaths. I could have been doing that the whole time. Unfortunately, I was always trying to hit a budget, because everything had to be so affordable that it would instantly sell. That meant kydex, or simple, mass produced leather sheaths. Nothing wrong with either one of those, but I don't own a single grail knife that's sitting in a kydex or simple leather sheath. My grails are in hand tooled leather works of art. That's what I wanted to make.
It took me a long time to want to make a knife again. Over the past several years, I had gotten a lot of requests to make knives, and almost always turned them down. Last year, I fixed my equipment and started making knives again. The stuff that I make now is just whatever I want to make. It's all one-off stuff, with sick leather sheaths. I have a couple of blade blanks left from the old days that'll get finished out, but other than that, it's all new stuff from here on out.
There are no orders. Don't email me asking to get on a list. There isn't one. In very special circumstances, like you wanna spend over $1000 on a knife for yourself or a loved one, and don't want to make any decisions other than size and colors, then we can figure it out. Other than that, I just post pictures on Instagram and Facebook, and now I will here too. If there's something you wanna buy, hit me up. (All within the rules of Bladeforums of course.)