Off Topic How many of you are full time makers?

Are you a full time maker?

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H

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Nov 7, 2012
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this is just personal curiosity...

I think I read this phrase in David Boye's "Step by step knifemaking"
It goes something like this, - it's one thing to make a knife or even 10 knives, but it's another thing to make a living as a knifemaker.

So to define full time-
you rely solely or primarily on knifemaking as your income and means of living, (primarily meaning you do this at least 4-5 days per week). It means you pay attention to your sales, costs, equipment purchases etc etc.

you can't be retired and have a pension, I'm saying you wake up and you know you have to make something and sell it to pay for that roof over your head and food on your table.

I won't get into the issue of if you have a spouse with a good job and health insurance, let's leave that out of this :)

It's fine if you have some side income or additional job one or two days a week, but to be full time for my definition, you need the knifemaking to be your primary job and rely on it to survive or thrive,

and yes I am a fulltime maker myself.

thanks for taking the poll and filling my curiosity... now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to get in the shop so I can make a living :D
 
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Can I ask a personal question about this H? How do you feel your stress is being full time, do you find it to be bad sometimes (if ever) or do you find yourself being creative and enjoying it more than a traditional job?
 
Hmm... I consider myself a full time knife maker, although I have been doing mods (that include every aspect of knife making) since I went full time into this about 5 years ago.

But I am currently transitioning out of mods (custom scales, reblades, regrinds, coatings, etc) and into actual making this year.

So far I have 36 fixed blades and 20 folders almost complete, among other various projects. It's challenging keeping everything in rotation though, but I'm thankful I can fill in the gaps with mod worked for the time being at least :)
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Hmm... I consider myself a full time knife maker, although I have been doing mods (that include every aspect of knife making) since I went full time into this about 5 years ago.

But I am currently transitioning out of mods (custom scales, reblades, regrinds, coatings, etc) and into actual making this year.

So far I have 36 fixed blades and 20 folders almost complete, among other various projects. It's challenging keeping everything in rotation though, but I'm thankful I can fill in the gaps with mod worked for the time being at least :)
Click to expand...

so in love with your regrinds. Can’t wait to see what you produce.
 
I think being full time while keeping creative control would be extremely tough. Once you have a few designs that work and they are a hit, it becomes a matter of production / manufacturing vs. artistic expression. I try to make a few custom pieces each month to keep growing my skills. This can be something really different than what I normally do or it could be something similar - as long as it's up to me and there's no deadline I'm good with it. The key is to keep the creative juices flowing while also making money.
 
ten-six said:
Since the spirit of this thread is (so far) genuine...when did you make these? This year? This month?

I've made 9 blades in 3 years... So much to learn.
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They are still in progress lol

As others have stated... There are a lot of calculations to make before one can go full time and be successful at it. I had the benefit of making income from mods/sharpening and making this transition over the period of 2-3 years which is huge. I'm still in the transition :)

On the folders it is my first batch so I had a TON to learn in regards to manufacturing and folder design... Ended up having to re-make all the lock side liners due to a design flaw (that was an expensive mistake lol). I'm still waiting on lockbar inserts to get back from ht, other than that it's on me to finish the remaining 19 out. Here's one I recently finished with a ti insert instead

i-dS2x6PT-X2.jpg


And this batch is put at ht now. Like I said... Keeping things in cycle can be challenging

i-4J82ghq-L.jpg


But I also want to start making some one offs like this most recent front flipper build... Problem is that it takes almost a week of work doing everything from scratch so you can imagine why customs are so expensive... Very time consuming

i-kKC2sss-XL.jpg
 
DustinY said:
Can I ask a personal question about this H? How do you feel your stress is being full time, do you find it to be bad sometimes (if ever) or do you find yourself being creative and enjoying it more than a traditional job?
Click to expand...

this question can have a lengthy answer, but I'll just say that while I have my freedom, it's not always very relaxed.

razor-edge-knives said:
So far I have 36 fixed blades and 20 folders almost complete,
Click to expand...

that's alot of inventory and production, good on you for managing all that

Thanks for all the votes so far, it sort of confirmed what I had been feeling.
 
Full time for a couple years now. Hoping to transition to part time by this year. :)
 
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