Question for makers- At home or travel?

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Just wondering what you makers feel about your knives traveling after they leave your hands. Do you like it better if they stay with the person who commissioned them, or do you like it when they get into the hands of as many different people as possible (secondary market)? does your feeling change if they are not being used and go into the hands of somebody that will use them? Or vice versa?

(Something that I have been wondering for a while but keep forgetting to ask).

Thanks

 

[Frank Barron]

When you create a knife, your making a piece of future history. If I buy a knife, I rarely sell it again. I may trade it. You cannot control what a customer does with the knife, and the best advertising is a well made knife resold for more than you charged for it.

 

[Will Leavitt]

If you're knives are in demand then most likely they're going to wind up on the secondary market because your customer wants something new from you or they can't turn down the offer.

If you were comfortable with the knife leaving your shop there shouldn't be any worries about it travelling beyond the original owner. That's why I don't sell "seconds."

If the original owner sells it because he was unhappy that's a different thing.

 

[STR]

Years ago when my wife and I were just dating and before the M word was discussed she bought me a new shirt. I thought it was my shirt so I wore it rock climbing and of course tore a whole in it. Not bad but it was poked through you know. She got so angry at me. All pissed off because I did this to a shirt, not my shirt but a shirt she gave me. That was not so bad but she then started laying down these rules on me that if she got it for me I could not take it here or there and finally when I got a pair of new Nike basketball shoes and she told me I couldn't wear them outside I waited and gifted all of them back to her for her birthday as a gag before giving her her real gift. My point was made. If they are mine, they are mine. If she can't give without attachment or trade without attachment or sell without attachment she should not give, trade or sell the items in question.

I think all makers get some attachment to a knife they make as they see it come to life and go together. I know I do anyway and I think we put a part of ourselves in them, but once its gone and in someone elses hands I let it go. Its their property now, not mine. Do with it as you please because its yours and you bought that right or it was given to you when it was transferred to you.

I once had a maker cuss me after he saw what I did to modify the handles on a folder I got from him. Nothing permanent mind you just something less likely to upset me if I scratched it which I knew I would. The wood he chose was stunning and I really liked it but I personally wanted to be able to preserve those so when I carried it I simply removed four screws and installed the green canvas ones. I never understood that mentality where someone gets upset with someone for what they do with their own property. I guess I could get a letter from Ford any day now to complain about the new wheels I put on m Lincoln.

Seriously, sometimes its hard and I realize that but we have to realize that what we sold is no longer ours to control.

STR

 

[Dan Zawacki]

Not being anything even resembling a full time professional, I have only released a couple of knives to what I would term "customers". However, I don't think I would mind either way, if a custometr wanted to sell, trade, or keep their knife. So long as the decision was not driven by displeasure with the knife. If a "customer" sold a knife because he had little further use for it, or needed the cash, that's one thing, and as long as the knife is getting used it's cool. On the other hand, if a customer sold the knife because he wanted to "trade up" to something better, or was unhappy with it at all, that would really bug me, and twist in my gut for a long time.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Nobody else has an opinion of what happens to their knives once they leave- or is it a matter of not wanting to get into a contentious issue where customers may read about it later?

 

[J.D.]

I like to see my knives used, but if a customer wants to put it in a cabinet, and look at it from now on that is fine. If he or she , sells or trades it, as long as it is not because they are unhappy with it, that is also fine, that means more people will see them and maybe want another one. If a customer is unhappy with one of my knives, I would like to know about it so I could have a chance to make them happy. I hope each time a customer sells one of my knives, that a part of them hates to see it go, that would mean that they had been happy with the knife and thats what is important to me.
Dale

 

[go mike]

This is a good thread! Thanks for asking!

 

[Mike Carter Custom Knives]

I make both users and collector knives. For a user, I like to see them used and hopefully get feedback on how they performed in various uses. There are a lot of reasons people buy, sell, and trade knives. It doesn't bother me that a knife of mine gets passed around unless someone was unhappy with it.

The same hold true for the collector knives. I just recently had an example where a customer ordered a custom knife. He was happy with it but decided he wanted something else so he sold the first one for a nice profit and spent the money with me on a new custom order. That was a nice win-win as far I am concerned.

As a collector, I don't think it is necessarily a reflection on the maker if I sell or trade his knives. Tastes change. Sometimes I sell to fund buying new knives. Sometimes the fun is in the hunt and once you score that quest has ended. Once you have time to admire your find and show it off to your friends you might hunger for the hunt again.