Making Money?

Hey junk,

Go for it, a person has to go for some of his or her dreams if they work out or not. Just because a few of us are having a little trouble getting things to sell, doesn't mean you will. My business skills SUCK but I'm not giving up on this, thru this thread I have gotten some great ideas and incouragement on getting my product in the market place, and besides the area you live in has a lot to do with how people except your product. You might have just what all your neighbors and their neighbors are looking for. Drive and determination is what it takes in any business, you just have to be more outgoing when it comes to getting people to notice.See George I got what you were saying and I'm starting right now, ANY BODY WANT TO BUY A GREAT KNIFE--E-MAIL ME.:D

My finances at the time wouldn't let me upgrade my equipment by buying one of Robs grinders,so I purchased a Coote with a 10" wheel and the small wheel attachment,and I love it, but here in a month or 2 or3 I'm going to have me a Frink grinder. A Frink and a Coote will make for a great combo in my shop.

I love this forum, you guys are all great.;)

Bill
 
When you get right down to it, most of you guys are more artist than tool maker. You make art that is fully functional as a tool, but you're still making art. I'll tell you, some of the best knives I've ever dealt with are plain as Death Valley, but they weren't built for looks, they were built for purpose. The first things to go when the economy takes a dive is luxury, and art is a luxury, tools are not. If you live in an agricultural area, you can look at what kind of blades they need and sell them simple, high-quality blades that do the job well. A lot of restaraunts near you? Being a chef myself(not by choice, I have a dietary disorder), you'd be suprised what kind of blade needs they have. If you live near a military base, simple survival knives. Maybe you live in a woodland area. Thought about selling quality woodcutting tools? Axes are easy enough to get commercially, but maybe you can figure something out, axes are only one of many tools, so there's a lot of options. Basically if you wanna weather the hard times then find a need for your service, cause otherwise it'll be the last thing on people's minds. Hell, ya might even try some blacksmithing to get by, those of you who have forges anyway. Quality pry bars, custom metalwork, structural iron, etc. You have the talent and the equipment, might be worth a try. Those of you who do sheet metal work might wanna think about armor for reenactors as well. Forged one-piece helmets are quite a rarety, and fetch as much as double what the welded helms do. Most armorers don't have access to a forge, so one-piece helms are an impossibility for them.

Things to think about...
 
Bill, I have Rob's grinder and love it. I too was looking at the Coote but Rob's was much more versatile so I went that route. Rob's a heck of a nice guy also.

I am just starting out learning knife making and am having a great time. Unfortunately my grinding has been shut down since I dislocated my knee and I'm on crutches and in a brace for four weeks. Not fun!! I'm sorry to hear that so many are having trouble making ends meet. I think knifemaking is similar to gunsmithing. It's hard to make a living. People have no problem paying an auto mechanic $60 an hour but go into shock when they get the bill for fixing their gun. Go figure :rolleyes:

Shawn Swafford
 
I hope I have not painted such a bleak picture of makeing knives as a business venture that some of you are now bailing out. I still love making the even after 12 years but you need to beware that the craft can and does for some people overtake them and they can start to pay less attention to more important matters, such as; wives, kids, God, (in no particular order) mothers, homework, bill paying, their regular good paying job, ect. Most knifemakers think out of the artistic side of their brain and not the bill paying side. It takes a great deal of time to make a perfect knife and guess what "there are no perfect knives." This means we will never reach our goal. I still try to make each one better than the last and many times that requires extra time which relates to a higher retail price of course. The market seems to be a like a pyramid, the top has only one person and the bottom has everyone with money to spend for a custom knife. It gets very difficult to find the person at the top but the bottom people are right next door. You need to figure out how to make a knife that sells well and pays the bills. There is profit in each one unless you overspent on materials. We are pretty much paying ourselves a wage for the time we take on each one. Shop around for prices and dont scrimp on materials or you will have to sell it cheaper even though it took just as long to make. Get your procedures down so you are not spending unnecesary time. "Time is money." Knives make a great gift for men especially so dont be shy about showing them to wives and mothers, people you already know or at a gun or knife show. Dont pull a knife out on a stanger of course but shameless promotion seems to be neccesary to get your name out there. I donate about 4 knives per year to Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Tri-State Steel Headers Ass. Ect. They are sold at their annual banguets where my local customers attend. Donations are tax deductable.

Most makers are not businessmen, They are artists (starving artists it seems) The problem we have is making enough money to satisfy our wives. I can live very cheaply and be happy. But if I were really the head of the household We would convert our front room into the forging area.
 
Mike, this is a great thread, but it's something I've figured all along. Being a Knife maker is a tough way to make a living. It seems to me it's more of an avocation than a business for most. I do have a suggestion on how you can pay off your credit cards, write a book, "How to Make a Living as a Knife Maker". First I would find all the knife makers that actually will admit to making their living just making knives and find out exactly how they did it. That's assuming of course they would tell you, and didn't want an exceptional amount of money for the information. My guess would be that it's a pretty small list.

I've been in Sales for a very long time and there's something called the 80-20 Rule, which says that 20% of the people do 80% of the business. I'm going to guess that the same rule holds for custom knife makers, and custom knife sales.

I've noticed in this thread that their are several makers here that don't post a website for their work. IMO, that's a huge mistake. I don't know how many of you submit high quality pictures and articles about your work on a regular basis to the knife magazines, but if you haven't been written up in one of the magazines you shouldn't wonder too long on why you haven't been discovered. If you're not an expert on marketing yourself I would do everything possible to get my knives in the hands of the top purveyors in the country and find out what I needed to do to make my knives saleable. You need to find every way possible to let people know you're out there, and then hope your work stacks up to what's available, custoom and production. The bad news is the bar is being raised all the time. Only the best will survive.
 
The guys who really make money at this have differentiated themselves somehow. And like George says, are shameless self promoters.
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the knife should promote the maker,not the other way around.
if you have to say 'hey fellas,my knives kick ass' then youve got a problem. it should be obvious.
im not going to get into names here,but there are a lot of makers,thankfully, that DONT promote their knives. the knives promote themselves. one of them sold me my first custom folder this summer.
 
I agree that knives should promote themselves, but if your knives are not getting out to people, how will they promote themselves? You have to be able to get your knives noticed and any way that you do that is a form of promotion. Those that do it best, and make great knives, will be the ones that have the chance to have their knives promote themselves.

PhilL has a great point about how the bar has been lifted. I have seen the quality of knives going up and up, and if you want to be successful you will have to make darn good knives right of the bat and they will have to improve as time goes along. It is that steady improvement that shows customers that you are always trying to make better knives, and that you are not just sitting back thinking that what you are making is good enough.

I will also say again that I think that the steadily increasing number of new makers that join the ranks means that without increasing the number of people buying knives you just don't have enough customers to buy everything that is being made. For that reason a makers knives must stand out, or the maker himself must stand out in the minds of buying public (of course increasing the number of customers would help as well). If you sit back and hope that people will rush to buy your knives without them knowing about you and your knives, then you will be in deep trouble.

Those makers that do promote their knives on the forums are reaching the right people and if their knives stand out they have a good chance of getting their name out to more knife knuts. If you have local or nearby shows that don't cost a fortune to attend, then go to them. Find as many friends in the industry as you can, word of mouth is your best advertising, so get as many people as possible talking about the wonderful knives you make. Just make sure that your knives do stack up to the competition or the word of mouth will not be positive and that will be like a knife through the heart.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, "let your knives promote themselves" is far to simple a theory. If you don't somehow get people to notice your knives, you will never give them the chance to promote themslves.
 
There are a lot of good thoughts in this thread my compliments to all. I started making knives because I had to. I hate TV, don't sleep much and have always been interested in knives. I don't have the luxery of a 40 hour week, I don't even have a job, I just make knives, read about knives,write about knives and ranch. I do not get rich making knives, should you count all the time invested in knives, I probably don't make minimum wage, but there is nothing I would rather be doing. Your interest in knife making determins your direction. Do you look at it is a way of making a living or living a life. If living a life is where you are at, you are in great company, Thoreau sought to live a life and LIVED well. If you choose to stick for the long haul, you will make it. I know well the frustration the beginner feels. I just talked to a man who bought my first (what I call) real knife, I made many before that one that really don't count. He paid $75.00 for it, it took me two weeks to make. I still wish I had kept it, same with all I make. You got to love them all. There is but one rule in the world of knives, ENJOY THE VOYAGE.
 
damm near every one i know or deal with knows what i do for a living. i take my knives with me me to the local dog park, while the dog has fun i sit on the bench and do the finally hand sanding work on my knives. i just happen to have one or two that are buffed and waxed :D to show people a finished product when other dog owners say hi and ask what i am doing?
i hand them a card with my website if they inquire where do you sell them or do you have a brochure? i sell about a knife a week thur there i have got to know the animal control people that watch the park and they bring knives that need the tip reground or something and i just ask for $5 to cover abrasives and bring it back to them
with a nice sharp edge as well. they never give me any prob, about knives in the park when some militant leftest type go up to them and demand that i be thrown out. remenber i live in santa(soviet) monica ca, and we have some very intolorente anti everythinhg people here.:barf: as you can see we have a host of ideas on this thead. look around your commmuntiy.
 
That`s not what your wife said about not having a job.:D
I`m living a life so I guess I`m in good company:)
 
I am definately Living the Life.My wife says that Knives are all I eat/sleep/or talk about,24--7...I don't see no problem with that,as it is fun..
Bruce
 
first off don,t quit your day job!!!!!
this knifemakeing thing full time is a bear
u never stop paying dues
if i can get to krogers a the end of the week i,ve
i feel like i done good
if i can get to krogers at the end of the week and still have money left over i ,ve been out rolling old folks for there checks:)

full time knife maker
its a 24 hr a day job
pay is low
money for
2 kids
house
2 cars
insurance
dr bills
braceses
but theres lots of pluses tooooooo:)
harley
www.lonesomepineknives.com
 
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