How long do you spend on a knife?

P

physh

Joined
May 12, 2007
Messages
85
From start to finish?

I'm still working on my first knife, and it's slow going. If I ever sell it, I doubt i'll be making 1 dollar an hour.
 
Why would you even think of selling your FIRST knife? When you are old and famous (like Scagel or Randell, or Loveless, or Lake or Walker ) it will be worth
B I L L I O N S of dollars.......................

Seriously, make a few for yourself and your friends and relatives before you think about selling them.

Syn
 
No I'm not selling the first one, but maybe the second to pay off some of the material and equipment costs.
 
I might sell my 12th :)

um, 10-50 hours right now depending oin how much new stuff I have to learn and what I'm doing (making my own mycarta? starting with a tool or new stock? did I have to heat 3 times to get a good quench? how many times did I completely fsck my finish before I did it right? Epoxy failure?)

And I'm guessing at that.
 
14 years, so far...
It might have truned out to be sooner, but dropped it while admiring the flawless mirror finish, tried to catch it with my foot, and ended up kicking it across the concrete floor...
I'm thinking a satin finish might be nice...
The first one is still waiting for me to redo it again.
40-50 hrs minimum for me, plus some procrastination time thrown in for good measure.
Don't be asking me to make you a knife with the expectation of ever seeing it done...
:D
 
Well, it took me 4 months with the tools I had on hand at the time. Now that I have more "niceities" (NOT necessities) I can get a blade ready for HT in 3 weeks if I have no errors or lapse of motivation (I.E. procrastination, beer, reloading).
 
Too long......The one that I am working on now is huge....a 12 x 2 x 3/8 forged W2 bowie and I am not to the point where I can forge one that big all in one sitting. This one will take 3-4..lol. I sold what I would guess was around my 90th attempt.....and sold 91 right after that. And ya know what? I got a commison to make 92 based on the other two.:D
 
My standard reply is 17 hours, but I'm really not going to tell you how long it takes because it has taken me 20 years to be able to finish a knife in the time that I do. In that time I have figured out what NOT to do and now I've gotten rid of ALMOST all of the bad habits. (I still wind up grinding my fingernails once in awhile)
Thanks,
Del
 
I'm working on my 2nd right now, and Iv'e put around 45 to 50 hours into it so far between welding up the billet, forging hte blade, grinding it down, hand sanding, etching etc. the blade is now done, and I need to do a handle.
 
When someone asks me how long it takes me to make a knife, I tell them, "As long as it takes to make people say 'WOW'"!

If they press me further, I say about 15 to 20 hours average. Some much more, some less.

Ickie
 
Depends on what I've got going on, from 15 hours to the current piece I'm working on that I started 8 months ago. Also complexity plays a big roll, the more complex, the longer it takes.
 
I usually spend about 24-30 hours on a knife. It depends how clean my filing turns out, how smoothly the polishing goes, etc...

Definitely hold on to your first, or give it as a gift. Giving your firsts as gifts is a great idea, because you'll want to do your best to impress your friends/family, and if something turns out wrong with it (maybe a handle scale pops off) it won't be something to mar your reputation.
 
There is an old thread on here that shows some one making a knife in one hour which is insane! But not imposible. With practice and good tools some things like grinding nice bevels will get easier. You will most likely find as you get better the time will fly by as you work. It seems to me that most knives I make I want to be better than the ones before. My knives get more coplicated and much better, and I notice less and less how long it takes.

I say keep the first as a referance point 10 knives later youll look at it and wonder why it looked so bad. At least thats what happend to me. I still have the first 12 or so. It took me that long to feel ok about giving them away.
Will
 
For me it takes about a week. not that I do a knife a week but if i did this full time I could make one in five 8 Hr days. It takes about 2 monthes or more start to finish right now.
 
i take about 20 hrs of actual work spread over about 50 hours in the garrage. thats for slab handles on a resonably small blade but with hand finish.

that 1 hour knife was jason cutter, search google its a good read.
Brett
 
It usually takes me the WHOLE TIME! I don't work in a rush and it's purely for my enjoyment so I get knives done when they are finished. Some knives are in progress going on 2 years, some 2 weeks.
 
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