Knife Making Startup Costs....Need Input/Help

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if you're outsourcing everything else in the process what's the point of grinding the bevels yourself? Just have someone make all of the blanks too and focus on selling more knives.
 
and you can buy the complete grinder with wheels, motor, vfd etc from KMG for cheaper than the prices you have on there with everything purchased separately through different suppliers.

If you want to put it all together yourself you can get the VFD for $240 on several sites. You can get a motor for under $200. If you do it like that then you will actually save some money. Otherwise just buy the entire package from KMG.
 
Jason Fry said:
With a variable speed grinder and a grinding jig of some sort, you could actually pull it off, IMO, even with limited experience.

Pass on the stabilizing and buffing equipment. ptj industrial has cheaper motors than Wayne, although Wayne is a good fella, and electricmotorwholesale.com has cheaper VFD's than you found. You won't need a drill press vice. Use a clamp, vise grip, etc and save your money there. You will need a bench vise, likely. Etching machine, sure, but you'll need stencils also. I'd be REAL surprised if you could get 100 knives out of $400 in belts.

I still think you're in over your head and don't realize it, but you may surprise me.
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I want to do the stabilizing myself as that's the key to the large company wanting me to do such a large amount, (I'm using their materials for handles) I'll check out the websites you suggested about the motors and vfd's
 
phorizt said:
and you can buy the complete grinder with wheels, motor, vfd etc from KMG for cheaper than the prices you have on there with everything purchased separately through different suppliers.

If you want to put it all together yourself you can get the VFD for $240 on several sites. You can get a motor for under $200. If you do it like that then you will actually save some money. Otherwise just buy the entire package from KMG.
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The price of the KMG from what I see on the webite is around $1,900 shipped, the put together package I have done with additional arm and small wheel attachments will end up being less than that; am I missing something?
 
Do you feel comfortable posting your design?

I'll jump on the 'you're underestimating everything' bandwagon.
A batch of 50 to me is still ludicrous.
The difference in quality between blanks 4 or 8 and 50 is going to be massive.

I agree with the count, shiny sucks.
 
phorizt said:
if you're outsourcing everything else in the process what's the point of grinding the bevels yourself? Just have someone make all of the blanks too and focus on selling more knives.
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I would like to keep that part 'handmade'
 
FTO_dude said:
Do you feel comfortable posting your design?

I'll jump on the 'you're underestimating everything' bandwagon.
A batch of 50 to me is still ludicrous.
The difference in quality between blanks 4 or 8 and 50 is going to be massive.

I agree with the count, shiny sucks.
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I was going to use the buffer to get a satin finish, can I obtain a satin finish with a particularsanding belt?? Yea I'll post my design....
 
S35VN,good choice.They don't give that stuff away.I guess you could buy it in bulk and get the cost down.I did not see that cost in your calculation.I think you should plan on another $1000 for consumables.
 
gredpe3 said:
S35VN,good choice.They don't give that stuff away.I guess you could buy it in bulk and get the cost down.I did not see that cost in your calculation.I think you should plan on another $1000 for consumables.
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That's a totally different spreadsheet, the total on that spreadsheet is roughly $4,400, the steel for 50 knives is going to cost me $1,400
 
The grinding jig I am going to be using is a toss-up between the one Aaron Gough made and the Snoody mastermind jig, I redesigned both in CAD to fit my knife design precisely and implemented a stop for repeatable plunge lines on both sides of the blade
 
Good luck man

With S35vn and heat treat you are going to have probably $40 per blank.

That is a huge deal if your grind goes wrong

And in the beginning it will go wrong.

So just the steel probably will be $25 minimum before heat treat and if it takes 8 blades for the learning curve...do the math.
 
AVigil said:
Good luck man

With S35vn and heat treat you are going to have probably $40 per blank.

That is a huge deal if your grind goes wrong

And in the beginning it will go wrong.

So just the steel probably will be $25 minimum before heat treat and if it takes 8 blades for the learning curve...do the math.
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The first few pieces are going to be ground out of a cheaper material that the knife blank has been cut out of also, they are strictly going to be grinding blanks, no heat treating. 440c stainless will run me $13/ea from Texas Knife supply, I'll spend $100 to get my grinds precise....
 
Most guys, but not all, come into this with some kind of metal working experience. Personally speaking, even with skills that have been learned over years that can be easily translated to knifemaking, it has taken scores of knives before I was happy with my work. And I started off with jigs that I made myself also. After the first half dozen or so knives I left the jigs behind to learn free hand. The jigs will only take you so far in my opinion. I think you're getting in way over your head in this. I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
 
leifjl said:
Most guys, but not all, come into this with some kind of metal working experience. Personally speaking, even with skills that have been learned over years that can be easily translated to knifemaking, it has taken scores of knives before I was happy with my work. And I started off with jigs that I made myself also. After the first half dozen or so knives I left the jigs behind to learn free hand. The jigs will only take you so far in my opinion. I think you're getting in way over your head in this. I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
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I feel with my history of furniture making and basic welding skills I will be good, I have always perfected all my designs and measure/rethink all aspects of my projects 10+ times each, I never have had to trash a piece of a project nor the entire project, I have had very complicated furniture projects that were far more complicated and the designs that had a lot more features to account for than grinding a 2-3 degree angle on a piece of steel held with a jig, at a precise and repeatable angle,with carbide stops that prevent me from grinding beyond a certain point, using a router to cut the knife handles and making a sheath in a press form, if I'm missing something, let me know
 
madupree said:
I feel with my history of furniture making and basic welding skills I will be good, I have always perfected all my designs and measure/rethink all aspects of my projects 10+ times each, I never have had to trash a piece of a project nor the entire project, I have had very complicated furniture projects that were far more complicated and the designs that had a lot more features to account for than grinding a 2-3 degree angle on a piece of steel held with a jig, at a precise and repeatable angle,with carbide stops that prevent me from grinding beyond a certain point, using a router to cut the knife handles and making a sheath in a press form, if I'm missing something, let me know
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Yeah, that's what I thought too. How hard can it be? I'm another that thinks you're biting off more than you can chew, but I'm sure you'll learn a lot in the process. Good luck!
 
Hey I hope you pull it off.

But tell me. If a person who never made furniture before came and told you they have orders for 100 chest of drawers and bought all walnut, the saws, tape measure, routers, biscuit jointer and sand paper and finish and wanted your advice...what would you say?

I too did wood working for years. I even made $1500 hand planned split cane bamboo flyrods to a .001" of a degree accuracy and sold them all over the world. While they help in some foundation in craftsmanship....Knifemaking is a different animal. It is not harder, in fact it is easier but it is different enough to have a brand new learning curve.

You can do it for sure....but just might ruin knifemaking for you due to the volume and the pressure you will feel when you reach the 100th blade and look back at the first 25 blades and want to throw them away and not put your name on them because #100 will be far superior to number #25
 
AVigil said:
Hey I hope you pull it off.

But tell me. If a person who never made furniture before came and told you they have orders for 100 chest of drawers and bought all walnut, the saws, tape measure, routers, biscuit jointer and sand paper and finish and wanted your advice...what would you say?

I too did wood working for years. I even made $1500 hand planned split cane bamboo flyrods to a .001" of a degree accuracy and sold them all over the world. While they help in some foundation in craftsmanship....Knifemaking is a different animal. It is not harder, in fact it is easier but it is different enough to have a brand new learning curve.

You can do it for sure....but just might ruin knifemaking for you due to the volume and the pressure you will feel when you reach the 100th blade and look back at the first 25 blades and want to throw them away and not put your name on them because #100 will be far superior to number #25
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Well if it takes me 20-30 blanks to practice on then that's what it will take, it won't leave my shop unless it's perfect in my eyes
 
honestly I don't think it will be that much of a problem for you. You're starting out with better equipment than 99% of people start out with, you've got professional design work on the knife done and you're outsourcing a lot of the work to people who specialize in those trades so everything will be made to spec and fit together perfectly. Grinding bevels with a jig and putting it all together won't be that difficult.
 
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