He quit

A

akivory

Joined
Feb 5, 2001
Messages
808
I know of a very good knife maker that quit.I do not think he could handle the "busisness".As an artist I really do not blame him.Are there others like him out there.Have you ever been tempted to give it up?
Chuck
 
Once, when we lost a very dear and young family member. Then it was knives that brought me back to life. Other than that time, never!
 
Well, a while back Wayne Valochovic retired at the top of his game, and Tom Maringer stopped making knives and swords for personal reasons after he heard of someone getting killed with one. Also JJ McGovern from NJ retired.

Good thing for us you came back,Ed.
 
Knives have been the most enjoyable pursuit I have done.I have been very fortunate in my life to experience many things but nothing seems to hold my interest like this.I am sure that some of it is the challenge,but alot is the people I've met,the customer showing their knife off to friends and family and the personal satisfaction of knowing you made it.Though I have never been fortunate enough to meet Ed Fowler,I have read just about everything he has written,and he is the man.He gets me downright philosophical about knives.I doubt that I will ever be at his level of compentency,but it doesn't matter because I still enjoy it and if I never sold another one,I would still make them.Just my $.02,Dave:)
 
Every night I quit
and every morning I start up again

This is the very nature of the craft -- we do this because we are not able to do anything else, not be cause we can't do anything else.



Its tax time now and we all have come to terms with how much more the local muffler shop made than us.


Richard Furrer
Sturgeon Bay, WI
 
I quit for around two years after my mentor died. Had no desire to be around the tools or in the shop. Stopped reading about knives stopped looking at knives. Just could not care less. Only reason I was able to get back was that someone pointed out that Bob would have kicked my butt had he known that I had quit because of him.
 
Like any other professional that determines who you are and not what you do. I can only presume that when you have decided that knife making is a true love and is a very intergral part of who you ARE in life, making a decision to quit is like deciding to allow a part of you to die.

sometimes other factors force the decision to stop doing something you love so dearly. Whether it be injury, illness, the death of another close to you, a trip down "depression road" or a simple matter of economics. if you stop doing what makes you tick, it effects every day and everything from that point on for the rest of your life.

I do not have a clue what goes thru a knife makers mind as he/she sweats, bleeds, cries privately, laughs, smiles, and thinks in the privacy of their "world" working on a knife. But, I am willing to bet that when the product is done, and it has come out much better than planned, a very special warmth is felt deep within your heart. AND, when it just does not want to work, no matter how hard you try, the hands get thrown up digust, tools go flying [sometimes only as a figure of speech!] and the words "I QUIT, NO MORE" may get shouted and you just walk away. Some never turn back. But something brings the very best back, and you give it your all once again. It is a new day, and as you stand over that unfinished knife and pick up a tool to begin once again, you do so with the hope that today will be THE DAY......

Are you knife Makers any different than any other dedicated, hard working, compassionate human beings, 150% committed to what you do, how you do it?. Would you accept less than the very best you can do all the time, and if the stress of trying this hard gets too overwhelming and far too negative, do you not "feel it" in everything you do? Knife making is WHO you are and not WHAT you do for a living, right?

sure can get frustrating, but I bet you guys love it!!!! ;) ;) :p :)
 
Bob Loveless said, "I'll be a knifemaker until I can't be any more." That's the way I feel, too.
 
Most of the knife makers out there have little or no noteriety. Most "knife makers" probably start up for awhile and then quit.

They quit for any number of reasons. I would guess that lack of business knowledge rates right up there. Just as lack of business knowledge keeps many semi-known and even some well known makers from achieving all they could.

This same lack of business knowledge and business ethics have forced other makers out of the business. At least for a while any way.

I think for those of us who have been around for 10 years or more. The friends we have made and the enjoyment we receive from that is as much a part of custom knives as the knives are.

However, to do anything for 10 years, you gotta love it!
 
Hmm, I get frustrated sometimes. Perfectionism is a harsh taskmaster. It can be hard keeping up all the correspondence at times.

I did stop doing much knifework for a while because my dayjob was too intrusive. There was no energy left for knifemaking. What little I had was swallowed up by a couple of obnoxious customers that I let get to me. I left that day job, and reminded myself that the vast, vast majority of customers are great, and things are flying again.

I remember once reading about a long time maker who didn't take orders. He would only make knives for stock, and people could buy them if they wanted. His said something like "I've had to take orders all my life, I'm not going to do it anymore". I think that approach could help out those makers who run into problems. I keep my backlog list short for the same reason. I would find the weight of a 7 year backlog pretty crushing.

The beauty of this vocation is that there are different business models that work to differing degrees, and people can find their own way. Besides this is art after all (at some level anyway). If you want to make it manufacturing, work for Buck, or Kershaw, or Case.
 
Health issues and the like aside, I think people give up on something when the investment is not worth the return. Not too many sane people keep doing something that doesn't work. With knife making a good bit of the return has to be intellectual and emotional, because there are easier ways to make money.
 
Once I loved Makeing Knives and wouldnt go in the house even after it got Dark and I could barly see what I was doing and still do to a point but I also once Loved Driving Trucks but as I found I dont it for a Living for 10 years I didnt like it near as much as I once did .it's the same with Makeing knives when I broke my back and could no longer find or Buy a job I had to start Makeing full time to support my family ,Sometimes it's not fun anymore especialy if yor so busy makeing orders and Not being able to Create a New Design or develop somthing you really want to . but I have not quit yet and Probably will not unless I find a Better paying Job with as good of hours ,Tank:D
 
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