How long do you spend on a knife?

I don't ever want to know. It takes too long without me knowing how long. I do know that for me to mill the saw teeth on one WSK takes me a bare minimum of 4 hours if I take no break time at all and I do nothing without taking a little break time. Well, there is one thing but that thing never took long enough to need or want a break.:)

rlinger
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Time to make a knife? Cripes, do you know how long it's taking me to find the stuff I need to get ready to start making a knife?
 
It's tough to pin down a time because of the different steps involved in making the knife. The only thing I've timed is profiling and grinding to get ready for heat treat. I can profile and grind an 8" camp knife in 2hrs. My little PSK knife takes 8 minutes to grind and 10 minutes to profile.
Scott
 
As everybody has said, it varies a lot based on what you're doing. I don't count damascus making time into knife making time since I see them as two seperate activities. I seem to be getting a bit faster now thatI've learned how to grind as well as a good hidden tang handle method (thanks to J. Neilson for both). Previously 20-40 hours per knife. I'd say I'm about 15-20 now and still see lots of space for improvements in efficiency. I just got a mini-mill which should speed things up a LOT since I won't spend 4 or 5 hours filing a guard slot. I hope to be down to 5-10 hours in the future. Of course, i get so little shop time that it still takes me months to finish a knife...

Now, making damascus...THAT can take a LONG time depending on what I'm doing. I'm working out faster methods (which aren't always intuitive....the biggest time save so far has been "wait for it to be properly heated before drawing"...seems odd that more time spent standing around waiting makes it go faster, but it does.). I hope to have a press built in the next year or so. That will definitely speed things up and allow me to do some really cool stuff.

It's not all about more tools (despite what I said above!). It's about paying attention to your processes and finding where you can save time while IMPROVING quality. The best way to do this is to visit with a professional maker and watch, listen, and learn. One day spent in a respected maker's shop has literally saved me months of time...and I'm going back for another visit! :)

-d
 
average is 5-6 hrs. (labor time)

smaller stuff - 2.5-3.5 hrs

That includes everything...from cutting it out on the bandsaw to heat-treat to etching my logo, making the sheath and sharpening.

The WSK I make takes the longest....8-9 hrs. average (but it used to take 14).


But I do things differently than most...I purposely look for ways to cut time to save money and keep prices low. Like doing things in batches. Leaving a forged finish on the flats. Removing things from the process that are time-consuming, or finding a more efficient/productive way to do it.

I've also changed the way I make handles to better fit the machinery I have access to...and have expanded my machinery to better fit the handle-making process. Post-glue-up used to take 3 hrs minimum per knife. Now takes 20-45 minutes for a completely finished handle. ;)



It may drive customers nuts to hear the above time-frame...but even though I can theoretically knock out 2-3 a day...there are many other things involved. Like taking pictures, packing up for shipping, ordering materials, answering emails, posting on the forums, managing inventory, cleaning up, waiting for heat-treat, waiting for glued-up knives to dry/set, etc. I probably only get 5-6 hrs of good solid dedicated time in each day.


And lest I seem offish and snobish....anybody is welcome to come into the shop, anytime. We've got a process down....and there are few secrets. Always glad to help out, answer questions, show demos, etc. I have had a number of newbie-makers come through...and some knowledgable ones too...it's all good. :thumbup:
 
I'm a little different, I count my damascus making time into the knife making time, but I mostly make the damascus with what I want for that particular knife in mind. As for time, I don't ever set a time or even worry about how long it takes. I just start and when its finished , its finished. Time tables scare me, if you need to schedule down to a few hours, it becomes to stressful, and stress kills. So why add the unneeded pressure with time schedules, do the best you can, however long it takes and then move on. Your customers will thank you for it. :)

Bill
 
My hands on time runs pretty close to what Dan and Scott described. A large MSC model takes me about 6 hrs of hands-on time, a little longer if its a recurve. My Little Pricks about 4 hrs give or take.

Dan's right about the misc. time eating stuff too. Ordering materials, paying the bills, taking pics, editing and posting them, and answering many, many emails every day all adds up to a considerable percentage of my time. That's part of the business though, as is cleanup and equipment repair and maintenance.

I've had a few family members and friend's teenagers come through my shop and make a knife for themselves. I love helping them out. They all say the same thing: WOW! I didn't know making a knife was so much work!
 
I'm working on my first one also. Still have alot of questions as to what to do next. I've been working on this for about 40 hours working time I guess. I saw the post on the one hour knife yesterday, that is insane, turned out pretty good too. I have a blade that is much smaller than I started with and a tang that is very short (about 1 1/2"), a bolster I made a little too small, but that took a long time and frustration to make so I am not going to redo it, and a handle that I made a bit too big of a hole in and hope the poxy will hold. This knife has taught me alot. I may give it to my dad. This post makes me feel much better, thought I was taking a very abnormal amount of time on this one. I think my knifes in the future will go much better than this, I am learning what to do in what order. I got hooked on making knives, or should I say knife, starting on my first one. It is addicting.
 
Time wise I put in 4-8 hours on a typical hunter using knife. Fancy knives can run from 20 hours to many more. I often work on a set of 3 knives at a time. I may start and finish them all at once, but often I work between knife orders and projects. Some blades may be worked on and set aside, and take months to finish up.
 
I'm about 200 hours into my first slip joint folder. I'm trying to do it all with hand tools. Surprise surprise I can't get the walk and talk right...Still there's something nice and soothing about working by hand.
 
Bufford said:
Time wise I put in 4-8 hours on a typical hunter using knife. Fancy knives can run from 20 hours to many more. I often work on a set of 3 knives at a time. I may start and finish them all at once, but often I work between knife orders and projects. Some blades may be worked on and set aside, and take months to finish up.
Click to expand...

I'm so happy to read this post! I'm not the only one that puts a knife aside and lets it just sit. I have a little plastic tool box full of blade blanks, at different stages of construction. I might have a general idea when I started it, but get brain freeze and can't figure out the best way to finish it out. Instead of just settling and putting it together any old easy way just to say I finished it, I'll put it in the FKBB (Futures Knife Blank Box). Every time I get stuck on a knife and put it into the box, I purposely pull all of them out and look at them to see if I'm inspired by any of them. Also, everytime I finish a knife, before starting another one from scratch, I'll open up the box and look at them all, and see if one of them finally intrigues me enough to make some progress on it. Some of them are just profiled. Some of them are profiled and ground. Some of them are profiled, ground and have some or all of the pin holes drilled. Some of them are rough forged. Some of them even have the front bolsters attached.

I never seem to make much of a dent in the box. It just keeps getting more and more knife shaped objects in it. It doesn't matter though, since I can always get a bigger box.

Ickie
 
This is a depressing thread! Damn im slow:
2 years planning in my head
3 months buying materials (rivet, scale wood, steel etc)
1 month buying/ making equipment to make knives
3 months cutting profile/ cutting bevel (split between odd weekends where I have access to my folks garage with my tools)
still to see how long its going to take me from hereon out! (first knife)

I think in total actual working time to do two knives concurrently from piece of unannealed steel to rough ground and bevelled blanks and one set of scales done: about 15 hrs

jmar if you come back and read this post.. could you email me sometime? I would like to be in touch with someone else doing their first knife. squelchx@hotmail.com
 
dont begin trying to calculate your hourly rate. It will make you depressed. You make knives because you love it, and if you can sell some of them, then that is just icing on the cake.

I normally say between 15 and 20 hours when asked.
 
6 hours for a forge finished bolo (no polish).
40 hours for a nice Bowie.
First folder 200+ tick-tick-tick.
And then I have a Katana that I started 20 years ago.
 
Only have a few under my belt but each one is taking LONGER then the last. Of course the fit and finish is better on each one and doing all the work from 120 grit by hand adds up. The latest has over 20 hours in it so far and still has work to be done.
 
you all want to count heat treatign too about 8 hours of kiln time ooo ooo and cryo over night ( i can sleep the cryo tho)

i try not to think about the time and just finish the knives as they get done (i have a handfull of blades jsut waitign on things to finish (like me wantign to get back to them a bolstered hunter is a big one )
 
I don't want to know how much time is involved. Every minute I am fortunate enough to spend in the shop is precious time indeed.
Its the search for perfection that I enjoy and where my customers reap the benefits.

Fred
 
I make little 2" frontier friction folders that take 2-2 1/2 hrs each. Compared to the survival knife I just finished that I spent six months on.

I agree with Fred, in any activity you enjoy time is not an issue.
 
About 16 hours if spread over 2 to three days. Labor of love so that is why time flys in the shop.
 
B . Buxton said:
I'm a little different, I count my damascus making time into the knife making time, but I mostly make the damascus with what I want for that particular knife in mind. As for time, I don't ever set a time or even worry about how long it takes. I just start and when its finished , its finished. Time tables scare me, if you need to schedule down to a few hours, it becomes to stressful, and stress kills. So why add the unneeded pressure with time schedules, do the best you can, however long it takes and then move on. Your customers will thank you for it. :)

Bill
Click to expand...

I don't think I could have put it any better than that! Well said Bill.

Thanks Deker!
 
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