I'm thinking about doing this full time

ok well i was jokin g as i have no plan of ever getting a "real" job so long as i can make $$$ making knives
 
Nathan which ever way you go good luck to you. I know a decision like this is extremelly hard! I have been there and done that!


Tai Goo said:
Knifemaking is glamorous!

bill_moran1_f.jpg
Click to expand...

Well, Tia I have always wondered what you look like without the makeup you have on in your avatar! You look so much more distinguished without the tribal makup, but don't get me wrong the tribal makeup is a good look too! :eek::D:D:D

Sorry Tia I couldn't resist that one! :)
 
You are so right, Tai. I was accused once of "just being in it for the glory!" HAHAHA!!!!!!

I'm afraid "make $$$ making knives", is more like "make $ making knives" these days. (There's no "cents" symbol.)

There has been an explosion in "full-time" knife makers in the past two or three years as hobbyists have lost jobs. At the same time, the pie shrank as knife collectors lost jobs, equity in houses, half their 401Ks, etc.
 
I think the "explosion" is due to people with $20-30k from their severance package casting about, seeing custom knives and thinking "look at THOSE guys, it can't be that hard." Their designs tell on them, level of fit and finish tell on them, their dedication to the craft shows, never having "paid their dues" shows. You see them surge in and out, they move from forum to forum like a school of bait fish until the realization that the custom buyers won't buy their crap any longer. I wish they had the guts to come back here to sell their gear.
 
How much vacation time do you have left? Can you take it a few days at a time instead of a week here and a week there? If you can get it a day or two at a time, how about taking mondays or mon and tuesdays off. Tell your boss you have something personnel going on at home and it would help to try to work it out if you had an extra day or two off. It would be kind of like working part time and give you some extra shop time.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I appreciate the heartfelt good will, thank you. I feel like I owe a better explanation.

I thought this thread would be viewed as an April fools joke, I didn't expect anyone to take it seriously.

And that was the joke. Because I actually am serious. ha ha. inside joke.

I've been working at a contract engineering company since 2003, but with work winding down (the real work mostly wrapped up around the new year), and my wife gainfully employed for the first time since our first child was born, and with my own side work picking up (despite my efforts to slow it down), it's beginning to look like a change may be in my future. One of the big problems with being a little shop is what to do in the down times. I seriously think that high end cutlery would be a legitimate facet to my work. So I really am thinking about being a full time hack machinist and knifemaker.

David, your suggestion about going part time at my full time job makes a lot of sense to me. Both for their needs and my own. It is the obvious correct answer for everybody involved. But I haven't figured out a way to broach this subject with the owner. He's kind of a unusual fellow and he might cut off his nose to spite his face if he felt he was wronged, so I haven't figured out how to approach this.

Regardless, I apologize for yet another crappy april fools joke. However, you have to admit the fact I wasn't joking was the joke was somewhat clever.
Click to expand...
Do both. I think there are hard times coming. You might need the 9 to 5
good luck
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
In retrospect, this actually worked out okay...
Click to expand...
;Glad to see you post an update to the thread. When the thread popped in and I read your first post about going full time, my thought was "Hey, Nathan has been full time for a long time". Then I saw the date of 2011, then read all the April fools comments. From what I can see your full time has worked out good for you.

BTW, the link to your subforum is broken - at least for me.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I appreciate the heartfelt good will, thank you. I feel like I owe a better explanation.

I thought this thread would be viewed as an April fools joke, I didn't expect anyone to take it seriously.

And that was the joke. Because I actually am serious. ha ha. inside joke.

I've been working at a contract engineering company since 2003, but with work winding down (the real work mostly wrapped up around the new year), and my wife gainfully employed for the first time since our first child was born, and with my own side work picking up (despite my efforts to slow it down), it's beginning to look like a change may be in my future. One of the big problems with being a little shop is what to do in the down times. I seriously think that high end cutlery would be a legitimate facet to my work. So I really am thinking about being a full time hack machinist and knifemaker.

David, your suggestion about going part time at my full time job makes a lot of sense to me. Both for their needs and my own. It is the obvious correct answer for everybody involved. But I haven't figured out a way to broach this subject with the owner. He's kind of a unusual fellow and he might cut off his nose to spite his face if he felt he was wronged, so I haven't figured out how to approach this.

Regardless, I apologize for yet another crappy april fools joke. However, you have to admit the fact I wasn't joking was the joke was somewhat clever.
Click to expand...
If that really is the case, then yeah - really good joke-within-a-joke.

If i might, i think the reason a lot of people dont make a real go of it is because of 1) unrealistic expectations of profit, 2) not understanding how to control cost of materials and cost of manufacture, 3) striving for "perfection" when you dont need to (diminishing returns - see point #2), and 4) not identifying and not effectively reaching out to that market.

Horsewright gets this ... if you really are serious about this, it might be worth reaching out to him to talk about he got his business to settle down to something that works for him...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top