I've fixed my last knife for someone else!

G

godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
795
Do you fine folks ever fix a knife for someone else that you didn't make? I have from time to time but not after today. Fixed one for a former knifemaker who quit the business and he picked it up recently.

He contacted me months ago, saying he had found a heat treated blade of his and would I mind finishing it for him since he does not make knives anymore and does not have the equipment. "Sure....be glad to" I said....wrong answer.

I have to integrate it into the stream of knives I am making for myself and I just could not get it finished quick enough to suit him I suppose. After a few phone calls from him to check on it I finally got her done after having to fit two sets of stabilized scales to it...the first one just didn't glue up right. He wanted some fancy embellishments to the finished product that cost me more $ as well. Trying to finish "his grind" with "my grind" was a trick too.

Upon picking it up he said it looked "pretty good" which was an understatement...his fit and finish back in the day was horrid....60/120 grit marks in the final polish, etc. The knife he picked up from me was as good as I could make it....it was very nice...no comparison to his work.

The coups de' grace was when he asked me to use his stencil to mark "his" knife as if he was the bladesmith. We won't even get into the amount he paid me to finish that knife. Suffice to say, it would have been a $200 knife if I had sold it.

I also had to finish up a friend's $10 German Bowie about 50+ years old today....as it had tremendous sentimental value to him, I relented and put my other work down for a day.

That's it....no more.....back to MY knives now. Sorry for the rant..I feel much better.
 
I get from Friends time to time requests to "freshen up" or repair knives. I do not charge for it but take it on only if there is a interesting story with the knife. A WW2 knife that was Grandfathers or a cool set of stag handle steak knives from England etc... Parts usually have to be made and matching patina is a trick.
The Most Unusual Story was a neighbor wanted to give his father the special Clam knife that he liked so much. Refitted with a Osage orange handle because the father liked the wood on the sons custom bow.:confused:
The Kicker was the Blade was Made in China:barf:
I would do it again and NO I did not etch my name on it:D
Making money is important but I enjoy the challenge and doing something friends can't:)
 
:) moment be bless with the joy of what we do . but often we need reminder to why we love what we do :)

i guess there will be people who see profit from using out sourcing . but the real core of craft is the maker who make it special not the label or brand on the product .

keep up the good work :)
 
I do an awful lot of restorations on automatics, and other knives. You wouldn't believe the "Rube Goldberg" fixes I have to contend with!
 
I often have folks wanting me to "fix" a knife that I did not make. My rules are simple as far as repairs go. If the knife has another maker's name on it, I won't touch it....it's up to the maker. In cases where I will repair/refurb, it is at a flat rate fee of $65 per hour, with a one hour minimum.
 
I have very little experience compared to most of you but I have fiddled around with so many of my knives I usually don't have a problem doing small repairs on friends' knives. Right now I am working on a Chefs knife that's older than me. I know someone else who has an old paring knife and she was about to throw it away because the handle is gone, or so I understand. I plan to take a look at it and see what I can do. I enjoy this stuff because it gets me more familiar with knives I wouldn't otherwise deal with.
 
Yeah....I put his mark (stencil) on it......just wanted to be done with it. Ed...I made enough to cover the cost of the two sets of stabilized blocks of handle material and about $10 for my labor! Basically lost money on it big time. If it had been a close friend, someone I was indebted to in some way, etc...it would have been different. My business dealings with this person have left me holding the bag on more than one occasion.
 
I would have made a stencil with his name on it.....but not without my name being there too....lol.

Oh, and if he's not a close friend and has given you the shaft on more than one occasion.....why not tell him to go jump in a lake!?
 
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