But I think those makers would rather just make what they do, Without doing commissions.....and risking disappointing a customer, and getting a negative review? I'd love more makers opinion on this.
For most of us, knifemaking is a hobby or sideline, even if a potentially profitable one. As such, there are several factors at play in the decision to not take commissions.
First, for me anyway, when I took orders knifemaking felt like work, which was counter to it's purpose and place as a hobby. I didn't like making knives when I
had to do it, especially when I was a year behind and didn't have a lot of spare time. Second, as mentioned, with knifemaking as a sideline in an otherwise pretty busy life, many of us don't get to make
nearly as many knives as we'd like in the best of times. If I'm using my limited knife time to work on stuff I don't like, that's even less time I get to spend making stuff I do. That's not a worthwhile tradeoff for me.
To mitigate this problem I quit taking new orders.
However, I always tell folks that if they want a knife of mine, if they have a good idea, they should definitely let me know. If it's something I want to make, an idea I like, etc., I might make it, or at least make something like it. I'll give them first dibs, but won't commit to a deadline, and if they don't like it they don't have to buy it. So, I'm still making what I like. I realize this might lose me some potential sales, but for me, being happy with what I'm making is more important than the money I get from it.
I've also started spending a much larger proportion of my knife time working on knives that I'd prefer to be defined by. I make a really nice hunter, for example, but daggers and historically or literarily influenced knives are
WAY cooler, and that's what I want to be known for. This is true even if, practically speaking, I make more hunting knives in sheer volume (they're MUCH easier and faster, and sometimes you need to buy belts). My long term success as a knifemaker of (hopeful, eventual) global renown is going to be rooted in finding or converting customers that like what I make, that think the same things are cool, that push me to learn new skills, and that can appreciate or even influence my style. I can't disappoint customers unless I start making knives I don't care about. In short, while I need customers to make this whole thing work, but I'm doing this for me, not them. In exchange, they get the best I can do.
That's just my $.02, and I realize that I may not be normal in this (add it to the list...).
