- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
- Messages
- 2,696
Hey Guys. With the recent influx of members and people with knife maker level here, I thought I would share some of my observations about knife makers.
For starters, I may seem like a strange person to have these comments. Shouldnt they be coming from Salem or Don or Bill or Larry? Why would you listen to a guy who is, by my own admission, NOT a knife maker?
Because I talk to a lot of knife makers, I watch their progress and I have a vested interest in as many makers as possible doing as well as possible.
Anyone who has spent more than about 100 dollars on my site, I have kept some degree of tabs on. I like to check in, to see their work, to see their sales, pricing and how they seem to be doing. And in about 3.5 years of this, since the big boom of knife makers that Forged in fire brought in I have some observations.
1. Having a style. The most successful knife makers are those whos knives I can identify at a glance. It doesnt have to be something ultra specific like Don's ultra active hamons or Salem's rose Damascus.
Robert Erickson is a great example. Look at his work. Each knife looks like it was made by the same person. Soft curves, generally some sort of contrasting bolster separated by a thin liner. I could pick out his knives quickly and easily. Not only does it make you practice something similar and thus improve, but it makes you have more repeat business. If your style has a degree of consistency, of matching detail customers have more incentive to buy more pieces from you. I have a feeling that this has a connection to the popularity of simple japanese knives. When selecting from knives that all share a very similar look and construction such as many of the mid tier imported japanese blades, they ALL match to some degree. Your style can be as simple as your pin arrangement, a little flare to the end of your handles, soft plunge lines or anything else.
Robert Erickson
If its ok with you, I will edit this to include some photos of your work showing what I mean.
2. Grow Organically. With the massive boom in knife makers we have seen recently, there is a wave of new tools, abrasives and handle materials being offered to makers. I have a feeling there will be a bust at some point as no industry can sustain this level of growth for long, but thats a topic for another day. My point is, some people want to drop a lot of cash right now and start taking orders.
If you are making knives for fun and you have the day job to pay for, by all means spend money on your hobby. Tools are fun, its great to have well made machines and they keep their value well. But DONT drop more money than you can on machines or material with the intention that you will pay it off later with sales.
A family friend is a successful entrepreneur and business consultant. I spoke to him about my business, Greenberg Woods. He thought I was on the right path. He told me about a trial program he had run with the U.S Goverment in the early 2000's, to find skilled and qualified people not eligible for loans and give them large, ultra low rate loans to start a business.
They all failed.
The businesses that succeed are the ones that grow organically. Dont spend money and then find the customers. Have the customers and expand to meet their demand. Its not just the physical talent of making knives, its the million little bits of running a business.
Do you know what your labor rates are? Are you losing money on extra features?
How long will you get out of a belt?
Is it more efficient for you to go through a lot of cheap A/O belts or to use fewer nice ceramic belts?
What are the chances you will make a mistake on a piece and have to start a process over again?
These are things that you can only find out with experience. You need to start small before you can go big.
I personally sold over 600 dollars of stabilized burls before i realized i was losing money on them. I learned how to grade woods to charge their real value, what my loss rate would be on 50 pounds of bloodwood burl and all the other things I was just guessing on in the beginning.
3. Learn to keep your customers. I'm sure everyone has heard the old saying, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. While I dont know about those exact numbers, I can tell you repeat customers are the best customers. If you need fast cash, these are the guys you offer knife you have ready made to for a good price. If you manage to source a stellar block of wood these are they guys you offer it to. I also find along with being your best clients, they are also your biggest supporters.
These are the people who tell all their friends about "Their guy" who makes the sick knives. They will be the ones to recommend your knives on instagram or if someone is looking for a custom piece. Things like quick updates, if you know them on instagram send photos during the construction of their knives, let them know about rare materials you may have sourced, ask them if they want a knife made with a new technique you are experimenting with.
For me, I send my best clients photos of burls or slabs im breaking down, I offer to pull stock or custom cut materials for them.
4. Under promise and over deliver. When it comes to project times, price estimates and performance, it can be easy to get carried away and quote people the best possible figures to try to entice them into putting down and requesting a knife. But delays happen and costs can rise. Customers are going to resent you if you tell them a piece will take 3 weeks, only to be told later it will take 5. Will they cancel their order? Maybe. Maybe not. But they will be annoyed.
If you quote 7 weeks, but tell them their knife is ready in 5, and by the way the wood company had a sale so you saved 20 bucks on your handle material, that is the kind of experience that earns you a customer for life. No one will be disappointed by getting better than what they were expecting.
5. Dont take money until the product is . Now I may get some flak for this one, especially for more established makers, so let me clarify. If you have a robust client base and a strong, regular flow of customers and you need to weed out looky loos, by all means have a reservation fee. But in the same vein as the above point of under promising and over delivering, if you ARE late, people are a lot less annoyed if they dont have money in it.
I welcome other peoples comments and advice. What do you think are important traits?
For starters, I may seem like a strange person to have these comments. Shouldnt they be coming from Salem or Don or Bill or Larry? Why would you listen to a guy who is, by my own admission, NOT a knife maker?
Because I talk to a lot of knife makers, I watch their progress and I have a vested interest in as many makers as possible doing as well as possible.
Anyone who has spent more than about 100 dollars on my site, I have kept some degree of tabs on. I like to check in, to see their work, to see their sales, pricing and how they seem to be doing. And in about 3.5 years of this, since the big boom of knife makers that Forged in fire brought in I have some observations.
1. Having a style. The most successful knife makers are those whos knives I can identify at a glance. It doesnt have to be something ultra specific like Don's ultra active hamons or Salem's rose Damascus.
Robert Erickson is a great example. Look at his work. Each knife looks like it was made by the same person. Soft curves, generally some sort of contrasting bolster separated by a thin liner. I could pick out his knives quickly and easily. Not only does it make you practice something similar and thus improve, but it makes you have more repeat business. If your style has a degree of consistency, of matching detail customers have more incentive to buy more pieces from you. I have a feeling that this has a connection to the popularity of simple japanese knives. When selecting from knives that all share a very similar look and construction such as many of the mid tier imported japanese blades, they ALL match to some degree. Your style can be as simple as your pin arrangement, a little flare to the end of your handles, soft plunge lines or anything else.
Robert Erickson
If its ok with you, I will edit this to include some photos of your work showing what I mean.2. Grow Organically. With the massive boom in knife makers we have seen recently, there is a wave of new tools, abrasives and handle materials being offered to makers. I have a feeling there will be a bust at some point as no industry can sustain this level of growth for long, but thats a topic for another day. My point is, some people want to drop a lot of cash right now and start taking orders.
If you are making knives for fun and you have the day job to pay for, by all means spend money on your hobby. Tools are fun, its great to have well made machines and they keep their value well. But DONT drop more money than you can on machines or material with the intention that you will pay it off later with sales.
A family friend is a successful entrepreneur and business consultant. I spoke to him about my business, Greenberg Woods. He thought I was on the right path. He told me about a trial program he had run with the U.S Goverment in the early 2000's, to find skilled and qualified people not eligible for loans and give them large, ultra low rate loans to start a business.
They all failed.
The businesses that succeed are the ones that grow organically. Dont spend money and then find the customers. Have the customers and expand to meet their demand. Its not just the physical talent of making knives, its the million little bits of running a business.
Do you know what your labor rates are? Are you losing money on extra features?
How long will you get out of a belt?
Is it more efficient for you to go through a lot of cheap A/O belts or to use fewer nice ceramic belts?
What are the chances you will make a mistake on a piece and have to start a process over again?
These are things that you can only find out with experience. You need to start small before you can go big.
I personally sold over 600 dollars of stabilized burls before i realized i was losing money on them. I learned how to grade woods to charge their real value, what my loss rate would be on 50 pounds of bloodwood burl and all the other things I was just guessing on in the beginning.
3. Learn to keep your customers. I'm sure everyone has heard the old saying, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. While I dont know about those exact numbers, I can tell you repeat customers are the best customers. If you need fast cash, these are the guys you offer knife you have ready made to for a good price. If you manage to source a stellar block of wood these are they guys you offer it to. I also find along with being your best clients, they are also your biggest supporters.
These are the people who tell all their friends about "Their guy" who makes the sick knives. They will be the ones to recommend your knives on instagram or if someone is looking for a custom piece. Things like quick updates, if you know them on instagram send photos during the construction of their knives, let them know about rare materials you may have sourced, ask them if they want a knife made with a new technique you are experimenting with.
For me, I send my best clients photos of burls or slabs im breaking down, I offer to pull stock or custom cut materials for them.
4. Under promise and over deliver. When it comes to project times, price estimates and performance, it can be easy to get carried away and quote people the best possible figures to try to entice them into putting down and requesting a knife. But delays happen and costs can rise. Customers are going to resent you if you tell them a piece will take 3 weeks, only to be told later it will take 5. Will they cancel their order? Maybe. Maybe not. But they will be annoyed.
If you quote 7 weeks, but tell them their knife is ready in 5, and by the way the wood company had a sale so you saved 20 bucks on your handle material, that is the kind of experience that earns you a customer for life. No one will be disappointed by getting better than what they were expecting.
5. Dont take money until the product is . Now I may get some flak for this one, especially for more established makers, so let me clarify. If you have a robust client base and a strong, regular flow of customers and you need to weed out looky loos, by all means have a reservation fee. But in the same vein as the above point of under promising and over delivering, if you ARE late, people are a lot less annoyed if they dont have money in it.
I welcome other peoples comments and advice. What do you think are important traits?
It's good to know that I can not hope to bye from you stellar block of wood 
