Gentlemen, I hate to say it, but, this situation has occurred before with makers everywhere and will occur again. It is just growing pains. In 99% of the cases there is no malice or evil intent to it at all.
The majority of knifemakers (and photographers) start off operating a one man business. They strive to create a product that people want. To them it is much more personal than just a knife. What they are striving for is acceptance of their product and thenselves. In most cases it is a long road and often a struggle just to get by. During that growing time they normally will jump at any chance to promote their product and often set goals for themselves that are a bit unrealistic. Yes, if EVERYTHING goes perfect, maybe they can meet the promise they made. But how many times does everything go just the way we plan? Infact, most of the time, life just seems to heap one problem on another.
The biggest problem is that all the efforts to defeat failure does not teach us how the handle success.
I know this maker well and consider him a close friend. But I am not going to make excuses for him. I'm just going to state what I have seen happen here and with many more makers. After long efforts, a maker finally gets to be "known" and demand for his knives grows. In this case, the boy had developed a good standing in the industry in his home area but had not expected what was about to happen. Customers like Roy and others started to show his work to a new market and created a demand like he had never seen before. Instead of having a few orders, he went to having dozens. About that time is when a problem normally pops up. As here, all too often it is an illness. Most makers don't realise this but they are making themselves sick! They wear themselves down trying to increase their pace to meet demand. There are times when the stress of success is harder than the stress of failure. In that state it is often too easy for a sickness to catch up with you.
Now the correct thing to do is not that easy. Yes, you should contact everyone and explain that there will be a delay. BUT, you don't know how to say it. After all, you have been saying "I can" for years. Then, we all have a habit of thinking we are over an illness a lot guicker than we really are. On top of that, most peope don't want to say something that they know will upset someone else. It is just human nature.
I can say that I think this happens to about all of us at one time or another. It is a learning curve. Hopefully everything will improve in a short period of time and a lesson of "success" will be learned.
Roger, you have been a gentleman about the situation and I assure you it has been noticed.
The majority of knifemakers (and photographers) start off operating a one man business. They strive to create a product that people want. To them it is much more personal than just a knife. What they are striving for is acceptance of their product and thenselves. In most cases it is a long road and often a struggle just to get by. During that growing time they normally will jump at any chance to promote their product and often set goals for themselves that are a bit unrealistic. Yes, if EVERYTHING goes perfect, maybe they can meet the promise they made. But how many times does everything go just the way we plan? Infact, most of the time, life just seems to heap one problem on another.
The biggest problem is that all the efforts to defeat failure does not teach us how the handle success.
I know this maker well and consider him a close friend. But I am not going to make excuses for him. I'm just going to state what I have seen happen here and with many more makers. After long efforts, a maker finally gets to be "known" and demand for his knives grows. In this case, the boy had developed a good standing in the industry in his home area but had not expected what was about to happen. Customers like Roy and others started to show his work to a new market and created a demand like he had never seen before. Instead of having a few orders, he went to having dozens. About that time is when a problem normally pops up. As here, all too often it is an illness. Most makers don't realise this but they are making themselves sick! They wear themselves down trying to increase their pace to meet demand. There are times when the stress of success is harder than the stress of failure. In that state it is often too easy for a sickness to catch up with you.
Now the correct thing to do is not that easy. Yes, you should contact everyone and explain that there will be a delay. BUT, you don't know how to say it. After all, you have been saying "I can" for years. Then, we all have a habit of thinking we are over an illness a lot guicker than we really are. On top of that, most peope don't want to say something that they know will upset someone else. It is just human nature.
I can say that I think this happens to about all of us at one time or another. It is a learning curve. Hopefully everything will improve in a short period of time and a lesson of "success" will be learned.
Roger, you have been a gentleman about the situation and I assure you it has been noticed.
