Kansas Custom Knifemaker's Association

S

sculver

Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
196
I would like to announce the formation the Kansas Custom Knifemaker’s Association. The group was formally organized at our first Board of Director’s meeting in January 2009.

Membership in the KCKA is open to anyone with an interest in handmade knives. Stock removal and forged knife makers are equally welcome as are collectors, purveyors and suppliers. We also welcome anyone who has never made a knife, but has an interest in doing so, or just learning what it takes to make a knife. In addition, we welcome anyone who has an interest in any of the crafts that are related to the skills used in knifemaking, such as leatherwork, engraving, blacksmithing and jewelry making.

Benefits for members include having their contact information and links to their web site added to the “Members” page of the KCKA web site. www.kansasknives.org They may also send photos of their work to our Web Master to have them added to the “Gallery” page.

We recently started accepting applications for membership. A printable application form can be found on the KCKA web site, to be sent in with membership dues payment. Membership is $30.00 annually.

We currently have members from three states and have made contact with over fifty makers who are interested in joining the KCKA.

Future events of the KCKA will include “Shop Tours”, where a member will host a knifemaking seminar at his or her shop. At these events, there will be members demonstrating and teaching techniques that they use in making knives. We will attempt to attract local media to these events to publicize our activities and inform the public of our existence and art form.
 
Excellent! I didn't know there were so many makers in Kansas, that's cool. I lived in Liberal for many years and still miss the wind sometimes. But not so often. ;) I've downloaded the application form and will forward to you soon. Thanks and good luck!
 
Hi Dave,

Thanks for joining our group. It will be great to have you as a member.

I and a couple of other Kansas makers had discussed forming a Kansas organization for the last few years. We each knew a couple of other Kansas makers, but none of us knew how many there actually were in the area. Last June, I started making contacts with all of the makers that we knew of and the news of our group has spread by word of mouth ever since. The response has been astounding. We have been amazed by the number of active makers in our area.

The “Members” page of our web site only lists the members who have sent in their dues in the short time since we started accepting applications for membership. But as I mentioned earlier in this post, we have made contact with over 50 individuals who have expressed their intention to join. We are receiving new applications daily.

Thanks again, Dave.
 
not all the members are from Kansas it appears. from Knives 2009 there are 20 makers listed in the section on Kansas. What I do find interesting as usual, makers offer knives available but don't put prices on the knives. Maybe the association can talk about this concept with their members.

oh, I have asked the webmasters for CKCA to add your Association site and we will also add 4 of those members to the list of knife makers. I'm hoping too that the list of knife makers can be sorted by name. It also would be nice if we would be able to add a "search" which would help users find a makers website.

BTW -- are any of the readers here needing this kind of info considering to join CKCA? Are CKCA members making use of this service? There are hundreds of links to makers sites there available to members of CKCA.
 
Last edited:
Hi Murray,

We do have a few makers from outside Kansas, and all are welcome to join. We have made attempts to contact all of the Kansas makers in Knives 2009. Most have indicated that they want to become members, a couple said that they were not interested, one was retired; and there were a few who never responded to us????

Concerning the lack of pricing for available knives, did you see this on web sites of some of the members? If members are posting knives for sale on their own sites without pricing, I will be happy to mention to them the merits of including that information.

The knives pictured on the KCKA site are just in the photo gallery; not necessarily available for sale. We are considering a page on the KCKA site for members to display knives that they have for sale and I feel that pricing should be included.
 
Steve it is lack of pricing of available knives on the makers website. I don't recall all but I did not see pricing for knives when looking at Dan Peterson as an example
 
Murray,

I really appreciate your pointing out what collectors would like for the makers to supply. I’ve read a lot of great posts on BladeForums about what the collectors wish makers would provide them. We makers really need to be more like Wal-Mart and try to enhance our customers shopping experience. :)

I’ll be sure to pass on your input to the KCKA members.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top