As of early 2012 I quit stocking the stuff to drill and thread anything. I never much enjoyed modification as much as I did the prybars and clips I was doing for factory knives. This sits better with me than voiding the warranty on anything although I'm certainly guilty of that in the past.
When I started getting so busy that it was cutting into other jobs and causing long ass delays to get anything done I had to make some serious changes. It boiled down to the wiser use of time and it was counter productive to take on these odd jobs because in the time it takes me to drill and thread, and especially when a job goes south which can happen with mods and then make a custom clip to fit that spot I could make three of the regular clip requests at $90 for the same time I would be hard pressed to get $45 for if I took on one of these other jobs. Then there are the guys that get miffed because a specialty clip is $45 not $30 but understand I don't just punch these things out. They have to be first designed to go where they go, then cut out by band saw on a sheet of ti, and well, you get the message. In short the less hassle jobs like the standard factory clips and keep it simple prybars never give me any issues. Worse case scenario I have to put up with the post office never delivering one or it taking forever. Anyway, and not to be sounding like a cranky old fart but I just said good bye to the headache of doing a job for someone only to be cut down and chewed on for wanting $45 for it after they ordered it. Even though this info is plainly posted on my blog and forums. So, some time back along with all other jobs I used to do including making folders, I just changed up how I do things at the new year and so far I'm quite happy with how its going other than the occasional disappointing news I have to convey to someone like yourself.
99% of all I get asked to do is clips and prybars and they pay my bills so that was why I just stick with jobs for the predrilled factory holes so I just focus there now but thanks for asking. Honestly I would do it if I still had the taps and stuff to do that line of work but I gave it all to a fellow knife maker friend who wanted it for making his own threads in his own stuff. I hope that covers it well for you and that there are no hard feelings about my decisions for how I decided to focus my work. Thanks again for stopping by.
STR
