Nos 78-81 - Variations on a Theme

ddavelarsen

ddavelarsen

Joined
Dec 7, 2000
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A place in Arizona requested some ideas for inexpensive knives they could mark up drastically so one night I made some half-interested sketches and sent them off. Behold, in a few days they wrote back saying, We want this one and this one and this one and this one... :eek: So a few weeks later I got to work and here's what I came up with.

They're made from 1/8" O1 rather than my normal 3/16" stock, scotchbrite finish and simple handles with no bolsters (one exception). They wanted natural handle materials so these are from top, Bloodwood, Ebony, Australian Beefwood and Buffalo Horn. Had I wanted to keep the time down more I'd have used fewer pins but these look okay and it didn't take all that much longer to drill all those holes. ;) The bolsters on the fourth knife are 416 SS. The longest knife is 8 1/4", the shortest 6". The blades are about 4" long. The handle on the first one especially wouldn't be too great for using all day; talk about hot spots! You live and learn for sure.

I'd never ground a recurve and I was really sweating the first two, but it was much easier than I expected it to be. I won't be so afraid to try it next time. :D

These went pretty fast and I think I priced the job about right, which was gratifying. If I had it to do over again I'd make the handles about half an inch longer and make the ricassos smaller but other than that the first run at new profiles came out about like I planned. I admit I enjoyed making something I hadn't done before, it's been too long! Thanks for cracking the whip Brian, I might still be sitting on these if it weren't for you. :D

I still have to make sheaths for them, sharpen and put a final finish on them but for all practical purposes this is what they'll get. Thanks for looking and I appreciate your recommendations.

BF7881.jpg
 
Dave

Once again, I am humbled. I gotta stop looking at your knives, im starting to get a complex.

Michael
 
Michael, you crack me up! :D I'm just shaking my head. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the nice words guys. This was really kind of an experiment, I'd never tried to make "cheap" knives before, just did what I thought was right. That ended up taking more time and since my time must be worth something that affected my prices. This was a totally different approach.

What I really want to do, is make those knives that are burning a hole in my brain wanting to get out...but never have time because I just can't get caught up.

Dan Gray said:
is this going to be an on going thing?
Click to expand...
I hope so Dan, this is their second order. I like that! What's really nice about it is these are the only knives they have, the rest of the place is filled with "fine art" type stuff. And the women who work there are cute! Too bad I'm married and Arizona is so far away. :D Or maybe that's a good thing.
 
Very nice! And, not to be the thrower of cold water here, but while you end up making minimum wage, or more likely below that, the store in Sedona, or Jerome will be making 200-400% profit minimum.

Long after the person forgets where he got the knife, your name will be on it, and if, and when he/she finds that the knife they paid several hundred dollars for is only worth..........XXX, they're going to blame you.

This happened to me with some jewelry store in Jerome selling some of my palm skinners to tourists for $450.00. One of those guys called me and asked what I charge for them, I told him $125.00, or maybe it was $100.00 then.

He, and his friends were highly pissed about that, and they blamed me for this. I told them I have no control over what stores price their merchandise, as it wasn't consignment, but they didn't seem to grasp that theory.

I quit selling through non knife related stores about then.

I've heard of this happening to other makers too, so this isn't an isolated incident.
But good luck to you regardless.
 
Very nice-looking blades!! Those top two are very nice designs. :)
 
oh yeah! I really like the bottom one. The pin placement adds so much! Very nice designs Dave :D
 
I don't know about the buisness end of selling through non-knife stores, but thouse are nice. I realy like the bottom one. The pins add a nice touch and they all have pleasing lines.
 
Very nice Dave! I like them all, but the bottom one is my favorite. Keep up the good work!
Ed
 
Those are very cool Dave. I really like the one on the top the best. Very sweet. You know me I have to be different.
;)
 
Wow thanks guys. :D I appreciate your kind words!

I think as far as putting them in a non-knife store goes, exposing our craft to more people can only be a good thing. I've been thinking about what Mike said that someone down the road might blame me for the store's higher prices, and I guess what it comes down to is that I don't have much patience for willfully ignorant people. I've never blamed anyone for any money I spent, won't accept that from anyone else.

I about have the sheaths done for these and then off they go. I'll be glad to start the next project!
 
Brian that bottom one might become part of my regular line up, I like it too. ;) Who'd have thought I'd ever think 1/8" stock was "okay" for a handmade knife?!
 
why didnt you like it? Its stronger than you think!
I have found I have been using alot of 5/32" latley.
I think I will start using it for knives 4" and over as a starting thickness and see what the design calls for :D
 
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