New knifedesigner (starting from scratch) need advice

I

IceCreamNKnives

Joined
May 30, 2022
Messages
202
Hey all
I’ve been collecting knives my whole life. And my dream is to have my own knife company. Recently became partially disabled without disability so I had to stop remodeling and construction. Knife designs come pretty easy to me so I really want to pursue this. Im starting from the beginning.

I have a 100+ designs- blueprint drawings and specs. Out of all these- I have a couple knives I’d like to pursue.

Facts: I do not have a shop. Just an occasionally empty small garage with no knife making equipment. I don’t think I could do customs off the bat so I thought just making individual prototypes is what I could do and really want to do. (It’s more attainable at this moment). I’m looking to do folders at first (I also have fixed blade designs but I just want to focus on folders because there is more demand).

The goal is to produce a couple really good prototypes and then drum up some interest- and then - place an order with an OEM for said prototype.

Any advice is appreciated!
I’m completely new to this part of the knife world.

My questions:

1). What’s a complete list of knifemaking equipment I need to get to do folders? ( also needs to be on the cheaper end if possible and can fit in a small garage.)

2). The goal is making really awesome prototypes. Then try to OEM them or market them to an existing knife brand.

Not so much custom after custom. For now.

3). What’s your experience with OEMs? Please tell me everything. Assume I’m an idiot. How do I go about doing it? Do they take CAD files only? Or will they take blueprints and specs? Do they take the actual knife and reverse engineer it?

4). What questions am I Not asking? What more do I need to know? ( good bad and ugly.)

Thank you so much to any person that wants to help! I want to hear any and all advice. Including stuff that you wished you knew when you were beginner- I appreciate the help a ton thanks
 
Why would an OEM pick up the designs of an unknown maker over the hundreds of known makers?
If you wanted to pay them for a run of knives, a few of the manufacturers might talk to you, but they will want to make hundreds, if not thousands, of the same knife.

Having the best equipment in the world won't allow you to make knives without knifemaking experience. Making really awesome prototypes is harder than making a custom knife. Prototypes have to be designed for production, on production machinery.
You would have to have a very good design, easily reproduced, prototyped. CAD file and blueprints will help.

It seems you haven't thought this through very well. You have no experience making knives. What makes you think you can?

I'm not trying to be rude at all, but the knifemaking world is a tough place- and I DO have knives in production.
 
If you have a good/interesting design, then the way that I see to jump start this would be to partner with an experienced folder maker. Learning knife making is frustratingly slow for most of us and jumping into folders with a new set of tools would be very difficult. Of course finding and catching the interest of the right person will also likely be difficult.
 
Speaking from experience/// Do NOT publicize your designs unless you plan to see them pirated by some overseas knife company!
Used to take straight on side shots when I first started and then see my better designs getting stolen. Also posing as a buyer asking for straight side shots and dimensions...No No No
Would suggest contacting a reputable company or maker and run the thru TOPS knives as your design.
Might consider going to Blade or one of the bigger shows and network or show your designs in person. Makers will usually give you straight up opinions if your honest with them.
 
Last edited:
So is the general consensus that having a Knife company is not a good idea? There’s just no money at all in it?

Thanks for the comments everyone.
Sorry seems to be some confusion.

I’m Looking to start my own knife brand. This is what I know- the American OEMs are too full of orders to take me (that’s what they told me) so I’m going to have to do Chinese OEMs more than likely.

Chinese OEMs:
Rough numbers I heard was an order of 300 knives takes a 15 grand down payment. 300 is the lowest order number they’ll take. Not trying to re-invent the wheel but my business strategy is build the prototype (however way possible) — move the prototype to reviewers to garner enough interest- use that interest to get them to my website and place a pre order. Use that pre order money ( 15 grand) to place the full order with the OEM. Get the full order sent to my house- box them and ship them to my customers.

“Bill said:
Prototypes have to be designed for production, on production machinery.”

Ok makes sense. How did you do that? Did you have to buy all the production machinery before any of your knives started circulating? How did you originally pitch your knives to the OEM? ( yes I understand I have to pay for an order of 300+ I was planning on that).

Here’s the big questions:

1-Ok- should I just pay a custom maker to make my prototype? ( give him a cad file, throw him my sketches and specs).
Because some of these guys might have the more expensive production machinery needed for said prototype.

2- I need to just buy the most basic tools for folder knifemaking ?

3- The Goal is to do 300+ OEM orders. Of folding knives. I’ve got the design but no production machinery to make the prototype- what’s the smartest move to make to achieve this goal? How can I make this prototype fast and cheaply? But still maintain high quality?

My hunch is it could take 1-3 years to become proficienct at knifemaking ( just ok at it). But it sounds like even if I do that- that’s more the custom route- the Production folders will still be an issue. And how to properly make a production prototype still sounds like an issue. What should I do when that’s my goal?
 
Hankins said:
Speaking from experience/// Do NOT publicize your designs unless you plan to see them pirated by some overseas knife company!
Used to take straight on side shots when I first started and then see my better designs getting stolen. Also posing as a buyer asking for straight side shots and dimensions...No No No
Would suggest contacting a reputable company or maker and run the thru TOPS knives as your design.
Might consider going to Blade or one of the bigger shows and network or show your designs in person. Makers will usually give you straight up opinions if your honest with them.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your time. Can you elaborate more on your suggestion on how to do that? (About contacting reputable makers/ Tops).

I still need to have a prototype to show them right? I imagine so. I agree with you that blade and other shows would be good for networking and trying to get the knife picked up by an established company.

How should I go about making a prototype in the first place? Do you think it’s even possible to ‘hire out’ someone to make the prototype without ripping me off?
Thanks
 
pay a knife maker to make your custom prototype, then move on to whatever you think your next step should be. You'll learn a lot through that process alone

also, the knife world has been known to include unscrupulous characters who use the preorder method to criminally enrich themselves at the expense of their patrons. I would suggest avoiding becoming one of those characters, the stain never fades in this business. Even if you make mistakes, honest ones, that's other people's money and missteps can deal devastating blows
 
Use the custom search engine to look up past threads about this subject. It has come up many times. As far as aI know no one has made it work.

If a well-known maker has a design, he can license it to a big company. Ken onion and others do that. If an unknown designer who is not even a knifemaker has designs, they will not be interested at all.

The advice to have a well-known folder maker make the prototype is wise. Those folks will be able to tell you where you are right and wrong, plus the prototype will carry more cache when shown. Taking it to Blade is also good advice.

The major manufacturers have designers with years of experience and often degrees in the related fields. The manufacturers pay them to tweak old models and come up with new ones. They rarely buy someone else's design.

Last comment - designers who are not makers often design things that will not work. I can't tell you how many times I have used some tool or gadget and said, "I can tell you that the person who designed this never used one."
 
I am interested in what you have designed.

Put up a sketch of your knife ideas. The feed back from actual knifemakers would be valuable.
 
I have seen some makers using 3D printers with success in developing a design and having an example in hand to evaluate.

I'm not that high speed, I still use lexan or aluminum to test new designs.
 
navman said:
I have seen some makers using 3D printers with success in developing a design and having an example in hand to evaluate.

I'm not that high speed, I still use lexan or aluminum to test new designs.
Click to expand...

I come from a machining background, and I use Pop, and Beer cases, or other cardboard cut out. Glued, or taped up with masking tape.
 
maybe you could partner with someone like Darriel Caston...
btw, There are Chinese OEM producers that take small orders
you say you have a couple of knives you want to pursue? Are they folders?
What I would do if were you and money was not a problem, I would go and take a class with a folder maker and make your prototype design with the maker
 
IceCreamNKnives said:
Do you think it’s even possible to ‘hire out’ someone to make the prototype without ripping me off?
Click to expand...
I'm having an issue with this statement. What makes you think that a knife maker would 'rip you off'?
Just about every knife maker I've ever worked with over the past 15 years or so has conducted themselves with integrity.
 
BTW if you are worried of being ripped off do not ever make a knife.

If you ever do get your knife into production and it is successful, it probably will get knocked off by over sea companies.

Just ask Strider, Microtech, spyderco, Chris Reeves etc.
 
IceCreamNKnives said:
1). What’s a complete list of knifemaking equipment I need to get to do folders? ( also needs to be on the cheaper end if possible and can fit in a small garage.)
Click to expand...
Depending on where you live, if you want to eventually produce these yourself, you might want to look into maker spaces or shared shops. I'm not sure how prevalent they are, but I'm running the metal shop in one that has fully equipped metal shop, wood shop, forge, and all the knifemaking equipment.
Many of these types of spaces are on a monthly fee basis.

IceCreamNKnives said:
Im starting from the beginning.
Click to expand...
Then I'll humbly suggest that you plan on this being a 3-4+ year venture before you are able to get any income on a regular basis (and I said income, not profit☹️). There's a lot to learn, and if you want to make a living doing this, you have to be better (at making, marketing, selling, etc) than the many, many makers who are putting out affordable knives.
Good luck.

(and if you post your location in your profile, folks might be able to give you more specific guidance on who to turn to in your area)
 
Lorien said:
I'm having an issue with this statement. What makes you think that a knife maker would 'rip you off'?
Just about every knife maker I've ever worked with over the past 15 years or so has conducted themselves with integrity.
Click to expand...
If I can meet them in person I don’t think they’ll rip me off. But photos that get passed around, sent overseas, etc. could get ripped off. Especially just emailed to people who you don’t know - I actually do have a somewhat unique design so I think caution is needed . Please don’t take it like I’m insulting the knife community- I’m not. I love this community and I’m a part of it. Everyone’s great, your average knife collectors (and people that design and make knives) I don’t think would rip me off. But people that are more unscrupulous could. Here’s a good example but it’s not from the knife community. My friend designed an artistic “logo/emblem” - very unique- he was in the process of trying to put it on t-shirts and market it and copyright it ( or license it whatever term is used for ownership of that type of product). He sent a couple emails around to print shops, trying to get quotes and due diligence- and within a month or two his t shirt design started showing up on ebay and other similar websites. It looked like a Chinese factory had beaten him too it— I understand that this is not a knife but in theory this could happen — there’s a lot of factories that specialize in this and are encouraged to do this. I just want to play it safe so that I have a chance to roll out my design first. I get that this design will be ripped off eventually- but I want to make sure I get to make my version first before the clones.
Thanks for your interest and comment :) the more views and experiences I hear the better
 
IceCreamNKnives said:
So is the general consensus that having a Knife company is not a good idea? There’s just no money at all in it?

Thanks for the comments everyone.
Sorry seems to be some confusion.

I’m Looking to start my own knife brand. This is what I know- the American OEMs are too full of orders to take me (that’s what they told me) so I’m going to have to do Chinese OEMs more than likely.

Chinese OEMs:
Rough numbers I heard was an order of 300 knives takes a 15 grand down payment. 300 is the lowest order number they’ll take. Not trying to re-invent the wheel but my business strategy is build the prototype (however way possible) — move the prototype to reviewers to garner enough interest- use that interest to get them to my website and place a pre order. Use that pre order money ( 15 grand) to place the full order with the OEM. Get the full order sent to my house- box them and ship them to my customers.

“Bill said:
Prototypes have to be designed for production, on production machinery.”

Ok makes sense. How did you do that? Did you have to buy all the production machinery before any of your knives started circulating? How did you originally pitch your knives to the OEM? ( yes I understand I have to pay for an order of 300+ I was planning on that).

Here’s the big questions:

1-Ok- should I just pay a custom maker to make my prototype? ( give him a cad file, throw him my sketches and specs).
Because some of these guys might have the more expensive production machinery needed for said prototype.

2- I need to just buy the most basic tools for folder knifemaking ?

3- The Goal is to do 300+ OEM orders. Of folding knives. I’ve got the design but no production machinery to make the prototype- what’s the smartest move to make to achieve this goal? How can I make this prototype fast and cheaply? But still maintain high quality?

My hunch is it could take 1-3 years to become proficienct at knifemaking ( just ok at it). But it sounds like even if I do that- that’s more the custom route- the Production folders will still be an issue. And how to properly make a production prototype still sounds like an issue. What should I do when that’s my goal?
Click to expand...
One has to know the capabilities of the equipment the knives will be produced on, and the knife designed appropriately. The prototype does not actually have to be produced on that machinery.

I was in the right place, at the right time, and had the capability to do the design. The automatic knife from Italy was extremely popular, my skills were known, and I was asked to design a new knife.
I took an existing production knife, modified the design, specified the materials and submitted the design. This was in 2006 and they are still in production.

The design has been profusely counterfeited in China, and my trade name applied to many different counterfeits of other knives.
While I have not dealt with the Chinese, I know of quite a few others who have. Regardless of your agreement, your design will be sold out from under you. They have no business ethics, and there is no way to enforce any agreements, patents, or copyrights.
 
Lorien said:
pay a knife maker to make your custom prototype, then move on to whatever you think your next step should be. You'll learn a lot through that process alone

also, the knife world has been known to include unscrupulous characters who use the preorder method to criminally enrich themselves at the expense of their patrons. I would suggest avoiding becoming one of those characters, the stain never fades in this business. Even if you make mistakes, honest ones, that's other people's money and missteps can deal devastating blows
Click to expand...
I see a lot of people doing pre orders to pay for these knife shipments. I think it’s ok as long as you don’t steal peoples money or delay too long. And- the knife is as advertised. I think I get what you’re saying is : just don’t steal the money, be honest with your design and most importantly- try to be on time. Or do you think pre-orders are bad all around?

Thanks for comments !
 
There is a guy on Youtube called LeftyEDC. He mainly reviewed knives on YT, but started his own knife brand recently - Divo Knives - and now has several models for sale. He uses a Chinese OEM. I would go on his YT channel and ask him for help in getting started, and see what he says.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top