Knifemaking and Balance

J

Jason Fry

Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
3,224
There are so many trade-offs in life. Lower taxes, or more services. More time, less money. Hang with your buddies, or with your family. Thin W2kitchen knife at 63 for slicing, or fat edge 4140 hatchet. Each time you move toward something, you move away from something else. Each time you choose a purpose, some other purposes get left behind. Knifemaking is no different.

I'm stuck in what my nerd friends would call a "post-reinforcement pause." I just finished a two and a half year journey. It's left me momentarily not knowing what to do next. The "next big thing" in my knife world can't be completed until September 2017, and is only going to take 6 months at most.

In the mean time, I've taken on a fat load of orders for simple, boring knives for Christmas. I'll spend the next 10 weeks or so making the same few knives over and over.

I was talking with my brother the other day, and we concluded that it would take us several years just to build all the crazy ideas we already had in our heads. The trade-off... easy knives, easy money vs. interesting knives that are challenging but tough to sell.

Maybe I'll set my sights on some snazzy knives for a show in April. Or, maybe I'll focus on volume, selling as many of the fast-moving boring knives as I can. Or maybe I'll get a head start on the 2017 project. Or, maybe I'll go fishing. Balance....
 
Ive enjoyed setting apart some time to experiment with new things just to break up the boredom of the "boring" stuff. Sometimes, even when you want to keep to a deadline you gotta just veer off a bit and go where inspiration leads. Balance and Sanity are equally important to a business (life) even though they may not be reflected in the bottom line. I like your thought process... and fishing is always nice.
 
Making good knives is hard work-very hard.
I would hate to have to only make knives for a living! It's only part of my work, so I don't get bored doing the same thing.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Making good knives is hard work-very hard.
I would hate to have to only make knives for a living! It's only part of my work, so I don't get bored doing the same thing.
Click to expand...

Amen, Bill! Throw pressure to survive or feed the kids in on top of things and it would be a whole other ballgame.
 
I'm relatively new to this (started Dec. 2014) and am glad that it's not my bread and butter. I just started into liner locks and am thinking that this is what I was meant to do. Then I start to question myself and think that maybe it's just the fact that it's a challenge that makes it exciting. I'm still mulling it over, but will be enjoying the process while it lasts.
 
I don't make knives to sell (yet), but many many years ago I made jewelry for a living and a good friend gave me advice. I was constantly frustrated that my easy and inexpensive products were selling like crazy. It wasn't exciting stuff to make, basically assembly line work, doing the same task to a hundred pieces at a time. My friend told me to always have at least one "masterpiece" project. The easy sell, sort of mass-produced stuff is tedium and doesn't flex your brain at all. So to save that creativity, throw some time at some of those "crazy ideas" while waiting for the epoxy to dry on the simple boring knives for Christmas.
 
aarongb said:
throw some time at some of those "crazy ideas" while waiting for the epoxy to dry on the simple boring knives
Click to expand...

This is how I have stayed interested for the last 8 years. Here's one of my recent show batches... $140 EDC's, $200-350 hunters, and a friggin' MOP frame handle dagger :)

IMG_1295-e1433969350230.jpg


Next on the "WTH Not?" list... A stainless keyhole integral. Can't leave all the good designs to the forging guys :)

An interesting article on the conscious use of asymmetry in an artistic profession...

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2...t-photography/
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, interesting philosophical article applied to a similar field of fun/work.
 
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You Fry brothers do super work ! If you need to go with the rush and sell lots then you will be forever be overcome with with "what am I doing this for?" If it is not your means to a livelihood then where is the need? Many years ago I did get out to a couple of big shows. I can remember a couple of members being there with extra ordinary knives. But the only would have a few on there table. Maybe 3 or 4. Their asking prices were large but they did sell out in a lot of cases.It can be fun making knives that are less demanding in their making. Why make dozens? they are not going to rush you to being a maker recognized by known collectors. Look at your picture above you will easily see what ones are the most impressive. How about those and perhaps another that you really want to "try"?
I love the knives from both of you !
Frank
 
I just got out of Taxidermy it started out like this as s hobby.
I competed in shows and did well...
10 years later I suffered from burn out.
What started as fun turned to work.
I didn't do it to pay bills... It was my mad money.

I'm taking this knife building as a hobby only.
If I sell I sell if I don't I don't.
I love the puzzle within the metal.
 
Its hard not to get burned out, no matter what the endeavor. I built cabinets for 20 years along with other construction. At the end of this I sold every wood working tool I could find in the shop. Sold everything down to the power nailers .
I've tried for the last 16 years not to do the same with knife making, its a juggling act for sure. Like Bill, knife making is just part of our shop production which keeps me sane.
Fred
 
I've never found balance.
One thing I find true is what was told to me when I started in '96 by Jerry Rados, "Knife making is a life time of buying tools - and then you die."
 
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