Knife making

F

Frontiersman101

Joined
Aug 2, 2010
Messages
192
For you guys that do this for a living, do you love it? Is it a good career? How did you get started? Are there hands on shools? Any info will help. Thanks
 
I'm not a pro, but the ABS has Bladesmithing schools available to attend! From Intro to Bladesmithing to Damascus!

Steve
--------
Potomac Forge
 
Frontiersman101 said:
For you guys that do this for a living, do you love it? Is it a good career? How did you get started? Are there hands on shools? Any info will help. Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, I love it. Certain aspects are a pain and I wish I didn't have to do them, but overall I love it. For myself, I believe it's what I was meant to do. I even took a career aptitude test that first year because my ex thought it would prove I should do something else. The evaluator found out I was making knives, asked some questions, then pronounced that it was the perfect job for me if I could pay my bills.

Yes, it's a good career, and I would add that I make a good living. However, I don't make a lot of money, and in general it's a more difficult way to make a living that working in an office or factory. Shoot, the double Social Security is a killer! I don't necessarily equate a load of money with success and a good living. I've been full time for 21 years and it has allowed me to participate in the upbringing of my kids in a way other fathers usually can't. I have a couple of great daughters in no small part because I was around a lot. I even learned to appreciate school food!

Got started because I became a bit obsessed with just making a knife. Some want to build one that's better than what they can buy from a factory, but I'm one of those right brain artsy types and I felt compelled to make one. It was the same in 2001 when I began making pens. I HAD to do it! So I found a broken file at work and started working it into a knife.

Along with the ABS school, there are other things like hammer-ins. I would also suggest spending time at a maker's shop and paying him or her for that time. I believe you will get more from an individual maker than from a school with many students at one time. The ABS school is going to be good if you want to forge your blades, but if you intend to be a stock remover then I don't know how much good is will do.

That's it in a nutshell. The reality is more complicated.

David
 
Thanks for the info. I do intend to forge my blades, but we will see down the road. There is a class that starts in October I am going to take. It is one day a week for eight weeks. If I like it, I will check further into the schools.

BTW dbl-edge, you have some beautiful blades!
 
This year is my 30th year of trying to learn how to make a knife. If you want to do it full time, my thoughts is that as well as sign up the ABS class you also need to sigh up at your local college for bookeeping classes a business class and a marketing class. You can take the college classes while trying to learn how to.
Good luck at it.
 
I'm not a knifemaker, however have seen enough to know that Jerry gave good advice, in that success is often determined by how much attention is paid to the business side.
 
Frontiersman101 said:
For you guys that do this for a living, do you love it? Is it a good career? How did you get started? Are there hands on shools? Any info will help. Thanks
Click to expand...

Good Luck..
You can make lots of Money in this business but you have to Hustle 24/7
Knifemaking Money comes like a freight train down here in Texas.
It takes lots of Hustlin....
[youtube]mvPZbUHNpMk[/youtube]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top