Hobby turned business...

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ZERT8208

Joined
Apr 8, 2015
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Hi, Im new to this forum and relatively new to knife making. I have a question for you makers. So I started making knives as a hobby and really enjoy doing it. I soon had a couple of people ask me to makes them knives and so I did. Now I find myself with orders out the a$$ and a 12 week waiting period. Since I only do this in my free time, I only get to put a few hours a week into them. I would like to turn this into a small business. So I guess my question is, Is it normal to have a long lead time? Should I not accept orders and just make the pieces I want and sell them once they are done? How do you guys handle this? Thank you for your input.
 
Orders are a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they represent a more secure source of money, as the sales are already expected. On the other hand, they limit you to making what the customer wants, not what you want.

Several things I did diligently while I was taking orders. One, NEVER take a deposit up front. If you need to buy ivory or stainless damascus or whatever and need a deposit, don't take it when they get on "the list," take it when you are ready to actually start the knife. Two, develop a system to keep track of orders. Nothing good about forgetting you have a knife due next week. Three, quote everything long for delivery. If I think I can reasonably finish your knife in three months based on what I have on the table, I'm telling you four months. Four, communicate. Send an email when you're ready to start the knife. Send an email if there are any delays. Send in-progress shots if you like.

I finally closed my books after 7 years, not because I didn't like orders, but because I needed to focus on a couple of upcoming shows. With my limited time, I only had time to do orders or do interesting knives, not both.
 
Thank you for the reply. You basically verified the approaches I was leaning towards. I have a list of customer requests and gave them a reasonable lead time. Informed them that I would notify them when I was starting their project and at that time I would collect a deposit to lock in their order. Pretty much all of my customers are ok with the wait times so far. I do feel like I should have a cut off point where I shouldnt take any more orders though. I think Im just paranoid because I have never been in a situation where I have to tell them "oh, you want a knife? Ok, it should be done in about 8 months" haha. The one down fall, like you stated, is that I dont have time to come up with anything new.
 
Most folks who intend to keep enjoying this eventually quit taking orders. Taking orders makes it work when it's supposed to be fun. It might be a good thing to do from a marketing perspective, especially at first, but if your goal is to enjoy the hobby, I'd avoid taking orders unless it's something you want to make. To keep it interesting, I have a spreadsheet of stuff people have asked for, complete with their contact info. If I ever feel like making something on the list, they get first dibs at it. If not, no biggie. I've never made any promises other than to let them know if I ever make it, so there's no disappointment. Otherwise, develop and keep a mailing list.
 
I stopped taking order and started enjoying knife making a lot more. I would discuss what type of knife they would like and say that when I get time I will make the knife, if they like it and still want it they can purchase for x$$. This way I could work on other knives and was not tied to the same knife (typically what they wanted) over and over again and keep in touch with clients.
 
ZERT8208 said:
Should I not accept orders and just make the pieces I want and sell them once they are done? How do you guys handle this?
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If you are making knives primarily for your own enjoyment, then I would suggest not taking orders and simply making whatever you want.
 
For the love of everything holy, don't take orders. It sucks the enjoyment out of it. Come up with a new design that you want to try? Sorry, you can't do it until your orders are caught up. Want to kill the joy in this? Make the same knife 30 times. Unless you want it to be a business that is, then make them until they don't sell, then make something else.
 
If you only have several hours a week to work on your hobby, then keep it a hobby and don't continue to take orders. After all, you want it to remain enjoyable and rewarding. Put your emphasis into continual improvement and gaining increased recognition and satisfaction for your work.

I am similarly busy and when I have orders to fulfill, I feel like I always have a cloud hanging over me with a due date which inevitably ends up coming and passing before I deliver. It's unneeded stress even if it is a knife design I enjoy making. Therefore, do as I say and not as I do sometimes.

If you do take orders, make sure that they are exactly what you want to be working on and that you accept orders as an exception rather than the norm.

Jason mentioned something very important: Do not take pre-payment.

Also, do not make knives that do not fit your "style" or are unusual enough that you don't think you can sell it easily to someone else. I will not accept down payments and only make knives that I can sell should the buyer back out of the deal. The lack of down payment removes a bit of the stress, although the commitment is still lingering there.

This is from my perspective. Some others embrace moving rapidly into a full blown business model in knife making and do well.

Mike L.
 
Let me first say that I do not have a full-time job. I am retired military and have a wonderful, hard working, supportive wife. I don't need to sell knives to put food on the table so my circumstances are different than many. I take orders and enjoy it. I do not try to pack as many knives into a week as possible though. I account for the knives I will make for shows and the time I will put into developing new ideas and I build that into my books. I've delivered every knife early because I'm realistic about when I can get to it and how long it will take. People love to have input on a custom knife; it makes it personal, it makes it...custom. Now, I've certainly put some materials on knives that I would not have chosen but, the clients loved it and I didn't feel it detracted from my body of work. Honestly, if your fit and finish is impeccable and your design is decent, almost any material will look good when complete.

Bob
 
Brian.Evans said:
For the love of everything holy, don't take orders. It sucks the enjoyment out of it. Come up with a new design that you want to try? Sorry, you can't do it until your orders are caught up. Want to kill the joy in this? Make the same knife 30 times. Unless you want it to be a business that is, then make them until they don't sell, then make something else.
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That is exactly how I feel, I took orders and it was no fun. I'm still new so I have alot I want to try and I felt so limited because I had to get orders done and couldn't try anything new. But to each his own.
 
Similar experience with taking orders... great to have people waiting to buy your knives, but once you get into that rabbit hole that's all you have time for. 90% of the knives I have made in the last 2 years have been an order and this really sucks the fun out of making a knife. In my opinion, most of the fun comes from making something interesting and there's nothing less interesting than pumping out the same piece time and again.
 
One way I maintained orders for 7 years with out having the life sucked out of me.... I build in batches, and each batch has at least one or two knives that aren't orders. I work this into my order schedule. That way I can stay fresh by working on what I want to work on, in between making what they want. It really wasn't oppressive most of the time, except in the run-up to Christmas.
 
Great info guys and yes I fully agree with telling the customer the wait time will be longer than it will really take you. That way they are happy when they receive their knife "early" and then you won't be stressed when something goes wrong and you need more time to finish the blade or have to wait for materials to arrive.
 
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