stories from behind the table

Website query: I have a comment field in my Gallery on my site. Rarely used feature, but it's there.

Here's an excerpt (as written) from one VERY dissatisfied 'buyer':
Posted by Artie **** on 27/5/2010 (9:20 AM):
This website needs work;anytime a website loses money its time for a rewrite- Consider it because I would love to purchase a knife but have no darn idea how I am supposed to - Sorry Art ****

Posted by Jim Cooper on 28/6/2010 (7:10 PM):
Hi Artie, So sorry you did not understand that I DON'T sell knives. I only photograph them. Best of luck in your searches. :)
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Websites are difficult. We want to make them all-encompasing, and yet the public needs them as simple as it can be.

I had a query about pricing from a new knifemaker who contacted me last week. He could not figure out my schedule, although I was proud of how CLEAR I thought I had made it.

Turns out he's a Professor with a doctorate for Southern CT State University. So much for MY assessment of my 'so simple' clarity. :rolleyes: :grumpy: Lol!

Coop
 
A few years ago, I was set up at the Tulsa gun/knife show. I had a table full of knives from my collection. An old man came up, picked up a fixed blade(can't remember which one, though), held it up to his ear, thumped the blade with his finger, said "this one's no good" and then promptly threw the knife down on my table(clacking against other knives in the process). I was speechless and really couldn't move, I was so shocked. Seeing the look in my eyes, the old man leaned down and whispered to me, "I'm an Indian; we know these things". :rolleyes:
 
SharpByCoop said:
I had a query about pricing from a new knifemaker who contacted me last week. He could not figure out my schedule, although I was proud of how CLEAR I thought I had made it.

Turns out he's a Professor with a doctorate for Southern CT State University. So much for MY assessment of my 'so simple' clarity. :rolleyes: :grumpy: Lol!

Coop
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Coop, I just checked your pricing structure (again) and it is clear to me. This proofs that a doctorate sometimes isn't enough to understand basic things;):D:)

Marcel
 
When I was first starting I was selling 5160 swords and ugly camp knives etc... at gunshows and during a particularly slow show, my buddy that I was sharing a table with put a dollar bill on the table and put a $.75 sticker on it. People stopped and kept walking. We talked it up. Told everyone what a great deal it was. One kid almost bought it, but his dad smelled something fishy and they kept walking. Two hours later we could not sell that dollar bill for 75 cents.

We put it down to 50 cents and I would have sold it if I could have made change for a one. So, no sale. At three PM, my buddy put the dollar back into his wallet and decided that it was a pretty slow show.

I always am amazed at the folks that can "sell ice to Eskimos" but I have no illusions, because I'm the guy that can't sell a dollar for 50 cents.
 
Michael Rader said:
When I was first starting I was selling 5160 swords and ugly camp knives etc... at gunshows and during a particularly slow show, my buddy that I was sharing a table with put a dollar bill on the table and put a $.75 sticker on it. People stopped and kept walking. We talked it up. Told everyone what a great deal it was. One kid almost bought it, but his dad smelled something fishy and they kept walking. Two hours later we could not sell that dollar bill for 75 cents.

We put it down to 50 cents and I would have sold it if I could have made change for a one. So, no sale. At three PM, my buddy put the dollar back into his wallet and decided that it was a pretty slow show.

I always am amazed at the folks that can "sell ice to Eskimos" but I have no illusions, because I'm the guy that can't sell a dollar for 50 cents.
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That's FREAKIN hilarious :D:D. Nothing like a good laugh in the morning to start your day.
 
Many years ago I would set up a table at the local Flea Market selling factory made knives.

One gentleman, that was a regular, would stop and inspect the knives and if he saw one that appealed to him he would breathe heavily on the blade. He told me you could tell how well the blade was tempered by how long the condensation stayed on the blade.

I never did get the hang of that technique.

Take care

Charles
 
Charles Vestal said:
Many years ago I would set up a table at the local Flea Market selling factory made knives.

One gentleman, that was a regular, would stop and inspect the knives and if he saw one that appealed to him he would breathe heavily on the blade. He told me you could tell how well the blade was tempered by how long the condensation stayed on the blade.

I never did get the hang of that technique.

Take care

Charles
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He wasn't an old Indian, was he? ;):D
 
Michael Rader said:
When I was first starting I was selling 5160 swords and ugly camp knives etc... at gunshows and during a particularly slow show, my buddy that I was sharing a table with put a dollar bill on the table and put a $.75 sticker on it. People stopped and kept walking. We talked it up. Told everyone what a great deal it was. One kid almost bought it, but his dad smelled something fishy and they kept walking. Two hours later we could not sell that dollar bill for 75 cents.

We put it down to 50 cents and I would have sold it if I could have made change for a one. So, no sale. At three PM, my buddy put the dollar back into his wallet and decided that it was a pretty slow show.

I always am amazed at the folks that can "sell ice to Eskimos" but I have no illusions, because I'm the guy that can't sell a dollar for 50 cents.
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Good thing there's ACE!:D
 
This happens at every show I attend:

I will have between 40 and 60 knives on my tables...all different types.

Someone will walk up to me and say:

"Did you make all of these?"

I used to try and explain that I was a dealer.

Now I just say "Yes...and it didn't take that long either."
 
One of my favorite memories was overhearing a conversation between my Dad and Larry Harley. We were at my first knife show when I was 17. Larry had a hog head on his table advertising his hunts. My Dad asked how much for a hunting trip and was told the price and that it covered the hunting knife too. My Dad being the thrifty guy that he was, said "I have my own skinner, how much minus the knife and what caliber gun do you recommend?" Larry kinda chuckled and said "Sir, we kill the pigs with these knives." The look on my Dads face was priceless!
 
I wasn't behind a table at the time but rather, at a bluegrass jam session up in the holler somewhere near Knoxville, Tennessee. My best friend Bob is a Ph.D department head at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, while the other members of the band were country folk. Several worked in the slaughter-house, meat cutting business. All were hunters & farmers from the mountains.

My buddy really wanted me to show some of my knives to the boys. He showed them a couple and told them I was a Master Smith. They were NOT impressed. They proceed to tell me all about knives and how/why mine were worthless. And how they would always play pranks on the new guys at the plant. They'd take his best knives and place them in the direct moonlight overnight. Next morning the new guy couldn't fugure out why his knives wouldn't cut.

It's an old story that moonlight will dull blades, and they swore in no uncertain terms that it was true. They'd seen it hundreds of times. Simply common knowledge to anyone who knew anything at all about cutlery. Then they pointed out that, conversely, you could actually sharpen a blade by placing it under a pyramid-shaped structure overnight.

I thought they were pulling my leg, but later Bob assured me that they were dead serious. I had not challenged their claims in any fashion and was polite through it all. But one question haunts me. What happens if you put a knife under a pyamid...in direct moonlight? :eek: I'm not tryin' it!

Cheers,

TV


Terry Vandeventer
ABS MS
 
I was at Blade in '93, talking with ol' Charlie Dake, when a young man came to his table and literally picked up and fingered EVERY knife on the table.....:rolleyes:

Charlie never said a word and when the man started to walk off he threw a chamois, a rather large and heavy chamois, and wacked him hard right in the face! He told him in no uncertain terms that he was now going to wipe down and get the fingerprints off of EVERY knife he touched.

Never saying a word as Charlie glared at him, he dutifully wiped down all of the knives, folded the chamois very carefully and walked away, never looking back.

Charlie just smiled.... :D
 
While at Blade a couple years ago (getting my JS stamp) had a man walk up to the table and ask how much for the bent test knife. I told him it wasn't for sale. He said everything is for sale and would I sell it for $1,000,000. I told him if he had $1,000,000 the knife was his. I know it's shocking but the man didn't have the cash :eek: and I still have the knife hanging on my shop wall.
 
Shortly after I started making knives I did a few of the local gun/knife shows. At the time I was working on a construction project and asked the PM of the job I was working on if he would like to spend a few hours with me at the show and he did. This was also the period of time that I had started messing around making knives out of rebar. Just for the fun of it I had written out the instructions for making a knife out of rebar and had that on display. I had also mentioned I had several rebar knife kits for sale at a very reasonable cost. I had a pretty good time when I was asked about the kits and I'd show them a 6" piece of rebar and tell them that was the medium knife kit.

Later on that day this one fellow started looking at the knives I had on display. He'd picked up several and then the last knife he picked up he started smelling it. After he left Marv and I looked at each other and thought that was pretty strange. A few minutes later this same fellow came back and he'd had his brother with him. His brother went and picked up the same knife and he started smelling it. Marv and I about fell out of our chairs when that happened.
 
Michael Rader said:
When I was first starting I was selling 5160 swords and ugly camp knives etc... at gunshows and during a particularly slow show, my buddy that I was sharing a table with put a dollar bill on the table and put a $.75 sticker on it. People stopped and kept walking. We talked it up. Told everyone what a great deal it was. One kid almost bought it, but his dad smelled something fishy and they kept walking. Two hours later we could not sell that dollar bill for 75 cents.

We put it down to 50 cents and I would have sold it if I could have made change for a one. So, no sale. At three PM, my buddy put the dollar back into his wallet and decided that it was a pretty slow show.

I always am amazed at the folks that can "sell ice to Eskimos" but I have no illusions, because I'm the guy that can't sell a dollar for 50 cents.
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No worrys, I'll buy 100 of those bills for $0.50 each :D You just have to find the right customer.
 
Very funny. I learned a lot about people with that experience. Funny how something really dumb and crazy can really challenge everything you think you know.
 
That's an awesome story Michael :D

I see that I'm going to have to follow Danbo around for eternity to point out that he keeps stealing my Indian Metallurgist story whenever a thread like this comes up!!! :eek: :grumpy: :rolleyes: :p :)
 
Dawkind said:
I was at Blade in '93, talking with ol' Charlie Dake, when a young man came to his table and literally picked up and fingered EVERY knife on the table.....:rolleyes:

Charlie never said a word and when the man started to walk off he threw a chamois, a rather large and heavy chamois, and wacked him hard right in the face! He told him in no uncertain terms that he was now going to wipe down and get the fingerprints off of EVERY knife he touched.

Never saying a word as Charlie glared at him, he dutifully wiped down all of the knives, folded the chamois very carefully and walked away, never looking back.

Charlie just smiled.... :D
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i do a LOT of gun shows this happens at almost every one....i may start doing this LOL:thumbup:....seems to be a ton of stupid at the gun shows
 
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