- Joined
- Apr 9, 2017
- Messages
- 2
I am new to knife making but after my first few knives at a friends house I got hooked on it. Like most people on this site I enjoy designing, building, and making stuff. That is what drove me on during the late nights working problems and finishing my homework while at Washington State University in their Mechanical Engineering program. I have a great career so far designing products for companies, as well as, traveling the world to visit customers and vendors. But after a few quick lessons in knife making I became obsessed with the knife making process and how much I could apply engineering principles in a practical way. When it came time to start looking to purchase equipment I decided that I would try to design and build my own grinder.
Over the course of a few months designing in the afternoon after work I developed my first prototype design. You can check out the design at:
(I will be the first to admit I am not great at taking videos but hope to get better).
Since my knife making experience is pretty limited I took my prototype unit to a well respected blade smith master and got some great feedback on the current design as well as some features I could improve the design with.
With my feedback in-hand back to the design I went. After about another 1/2 month of design work my 2nd design is ready and I think we have made some real progress on a entry to intermediate level knife maker could really enjoy. I have posted several videos of the revised design at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Sf7TDxRqvdZIW4dix1K1A
Now that I have a design that I think has some good potential I have started the process of creating a business on the side to produce these machines. Leveraging my contacts thru my experience in manufacturing I found that I could bring this to the market at a competitive price point. Some of you may be asking why am I going thru all the trouble of starting a business while working a full time engineering job. To that I would have to say that my career has gone from a more design related focus to an Engineering manager type role. While I have lofty goals of being a CEO or VP of Engineering the only way to get there, I believe is thru hard work. Starting my side business is a way for me to design and market products I have an interest in, learn more about business, and have fun getting some experience in the whole product making process. It has not been easy so far but I have learned a lot of important things from designing to marketing to building trust with your potential customers.
I think there is a lot I can learn from the community and I look forward to working you to bring the best knife grinder on the market thru continuous design improvement by aligning, acting, and adjusting.
If you want to know more I will try to keep up on the comments. You can also contact me thru the information on the YouTube link above.
Over the course of a few months designing in the afternoon after work I developed my first prototype design. You can check out the design at:
(I will be the first to admit I am not great at taking videos but hope to get better).
Since my knife making experience is pretty limited I took my prototype unit to a well respected blade smith master and got some great feedback on the current design as well as some features I could improve the design with.
With my feedback in-hand back to the design I went. After about another 1/2 month of design work my 2nd design is ready and I think we have made some real progress on a entry to intermediate level knife maker could really enjoy. I have posted several videos of the revised design at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Sf7TDxRqvdZIW4dix1K1A
Now that I have a design that I think has some good potential I have started the process of creating a business on the side to produce these machines. Leveraging my contacts thru my experience in manufacturing I found that I could bring this to the market at a competitive price point. Some of you may be asking why am I going thru all the trouble of starting a business while working a full time engineering job. To that I would have to say that my career has gone from a more design related focus to an Engineering manager type role. While I have lofty goals of being a CEO or VP of Engineering the only way to get there, I believe is thru hard work. Starting my side business is a way for me to design and market products I have an interest in, learn more about business, and have fun getting some experience in the whole product making process. It has not been easy so far but I have learned a lot of important things from designing to marketing to building trust with your potential customers.
I think there is a lot I can learn from the community and I look forward to working you to bring the best knife grinder on the market thru continuous design improvement by aligning, acting, and adjusting.
If you want to know more I will try to keep up on the comments. You can also contact me thru the information on the YouTube link above.
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