I think it can be done.
However It seems to me that bladesmiths/knifemakers, even the really good ones, can charge way less for their work than people in other professions can, compared to the amount of work they have to put in. Not only that, but keep in mind that knifemaking is a dangerous profession, especially when you consider long term effects (dust, chemicals, hard physical work)...I am willing to bet that this circumstance is almost never incorporated into the price of a custom knife (whether or not you think that point about risk and price is valid, I think it's worth considering for yourself).
Making a knife that cuts is relatively easy and a great hobby to get into. Making a really good knife that fulfills certain quality standards set by the great makers in the custom knife scene is really difficult and involves a lot of different skills and each of those skills is also quite difficult to master. And even if you can make a great knife it still needs to sell, which to certain degree also involves creating your own style to distinguish yourself from other makers.
I also think that it is difficult because we live in societies where manual labor is not as valued financially anymore. What I mean by that is, the trend is more and more automatisation in most industries to produce goods cheaper and more efficiently. So people may value and admire the work and skill of a bladesmith, but they won't pay for it, or not as easily.
Which brings me to my next point: making a great knife is not enough. You could make the greatest knife in the world in regards to quality, design etc. but if your can't advertise your work properly, people probably won't pay you for what it's worth, or at least not as easily. For a bladesmith this means that, in my opinion, you not only have to advertise your product but yourself aswell. You have to create a narrative that makes not only your knives themselves, but the fact that the knife came from YOUR hand desireable. This way you can create a narrative for your customers, as to how much work you have to put in for a knife and why it is therefore worth the amount you want for it. I don't mean that in a way to trick your customers with big words or by simply lying to them like most modern advertising does in one form or the other, but most people simply do not know how much work knifemakers put into their product and with how much love and care they do it most of the time. The problem of course is that good marketing is expensive.
Now this is all easier said than done and the pressure from the bigger industrial companies is rather huge. Even though I think the "normal" knife market and the custom knife market are not easily comparable. However I think every knifemaker has at least at some point heard a comment like: "why should I pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for a knife if I can have a 20$ dollar mora that also cuts stuff?" Now I think that thats not a fair comparison, but thats not the point.
After all my rambling you could say: "Well, the market is just that way and I have to adjust my prices accordingly, or I won't sell anything" ...and I agree, at least in part. I think we should still strive to get people to appreciate more how much work is put into making customs and therefore accept a higher pricetag and not accept the status quo. We live in societies where most products don't last as long anymore and we therefore collect more and more garbage. So advertising the true value of a product that is crafted with love and care and will probably last you a lifetime is not only justified, but also sensible, at least in my opinion.
But I am just some dude, who has posted some of the work he has done on here. So what do I know?
