What do you want from the makers ?

[pitdog]

I have been saddened to see recent posts in our makers forums where they have said how how much they are struggling with orders to the point where they might have to quit making knives for living !
These makers are not upcoming makers that are still wet behind the ears, they are some of the best we have, Andy ( Fiddleback Knives ) Scott ( Gossman Knives) and John ( JK Knives) to name but a few !
One of them recently said this when asked about his small knives "I like the smaller ones, but I can`t do too many of them a month. After the material costs, belt costs, handle costs, leather costs, and shipping, my profit is $12! That does not include labor costs, so I basically make about $4 per hour."
$12 profit....that's crazy eh but what to do ? If the prices go up then the orders might stop completely !!!
So ( and I hope the makers don't mind me asking here ) I just wondered what all your thoughts were as to what you'd like to see from the great makers on this forum.Are there some designs that you'd like to see that they are not doing ? Are there some secret marketing techniques that you feel would get them more business ? Or do you just have any general ideas that will enable them to keep producing the awesome knives that we love to see on this forum ?

Ideas please !

 

[myright]

This is a great topic, Pit.

I try to buy off the makers here as much as I possibly can (which isn't much lately). I think one of the biggest issues right now isn't about us not wanting to purchase off of a particular maker but that of there being less money to go around in general.

I've got some ideas in mind and some knives I want to buy but I have to wait until probably next year or so to pick up the ones that I really want.

In my case there isn't a lack of knives that I want to purchase, just a lack of money in which to purchase them.

 

[Thalestin]

Id love to be able to help support our knife makers as well. I have a couple customs on order but money is really tight right now. I lost my job but really want to honor my orders so im going to sell off some of my collection. Sadly I have to sell some knives I really love. But it will be worth it. The knife makers on this forum are really great guys and Id like to support them more if i could

 

[dipbait]

For the first time in 31 years I am unemployed. Now I am going to take some of the money I saved and start a business. I cant justify buying a custom knife at this time.

 

[cmdionne]

There's definitely some things I'd like to see from the makers, but being able to buy it would be another story. There's already great things that the makers are doing that I would love to buy, just can't swing the purchases right now.

One thing I would be all for though would be a raffles of knives. I'd throw in 5 bucks for a chance to win a knife off a maker, and hopefully enough people would enter that the maker would still make money off the deal. Anyone one else think this idea might work?

 

[tholiver]

One idea might be to sell blade blanks or kits.
There are a lot of hobbyists out there like myself who enjoy selecting our own handle materials and putting them on ourselves and customizing them.
I've put handles on a few knives in the past three years, mostly because of the availability of Camillus blanks on ebay and in the for sale forum.
Also there are companies like Enzo that sell the blanks by themselves.

A custom maker could clearly mark the blanks as the makers "kit" line to differentiate them from the top of the line full-on customs.

 

[Bushman5]

can't spend what I dont have! food/shelter/bills comes first. Sounds harsh but thats life. I won't go into just how little i have lived on in the last three months..........add in the fact i have ZERO savings = no new toys for now.

 

[SilverFoxKnows]

Blade blanks, trade knife style. It would lower material costs allowing for more expensive steel or larger blades. Maybe a different etch for the blanks so it's easy to tell which were finished by the maker and which were finished by the buyer.

Frank

 

[udtjim]

There is certainly nothing wrong with what the guys are making. Money is tight all over. I buy more knives than I should but things slowed down where my wife works and she will be lucky to make 90 percent of what she made last year. We are lucky that her layoff lasted only a few days. She got some overtime then which kinda saved the day. We just got the news that the retirement pay will be frozen for two years, that will hurt too.

I sure hope the Makers can make it through this tough spell, I will continue to do what I can to feed my addiction to blades.

I am drawing up a design now for another new hunting knife. This year, thanks to a forum member here, I get to try out a Dozier K-2.

BTW, Pit, You do a great job of supporting the knife makers here. In many ways.

 

[Benjamin Liu]

IMO it has nothing to do with what the makers are or are not making. It has to do with the nature of knives and how much money people have to spend.

A good custom should last a lifetime. Even a mid-range production should last for years. As long as someone who is using knives has one for each task and maybe a backup (edc, hunting, chopping, woodcraft, etc.) there will be no need to buy another. Most people into knives already have much more than they need.

In the last few years I haven't bought many knives. This past year I did not buy a single one. For a period of 5 years I spent on average over $1000.00 per year on knives. Later I had less money and more expenses. From reading posts on different forums, many others have the same issue or worse. I've read posts by people selling their customs and semi-customs, not for money to buy more, but because they are broke.

IMO the way to make money is to expand the market and reach the people who have lots of money and no good knives. I knew a guy who drove a Mercedes yet carried a $3.00 Cold Steel Voyager knock-off.

 

[cmdionne]

IMO the way to make money is to expand the market and reach the people who have lots of money and no good knives. I knew a guy who drove a Mercedes yet carried a $3.00 Cold Steel Voyager knock-off.

This is probably the best answer to help the struggling knifemakers here on BF. I know some of our WSS members have been talking up Stomper's knives over on another "higher road" forum if you will, perhaps we should all start branching out and showing off our great custom knives elsewhere on the interwebs.

I think it's probably safe to say that most of us are probably buying all the knives we can manage to (as we are regulars on a knife website). So that means we need new blood, and knives can be a bit of a lower cost replacement for people who like to collect more expensive things. (I'm mainly thinking of gun collectors).

 

[Senang]

If you wish to advertise to the members of BFC you will need to upgrade to a knifemaker membership.

Ken C.
Super Mod.

 

[jds1]

BTW, Pit, You do a great job of supporting the knife makers here. In many ways.

I'll go along with that. :thumbup:

Jeff

 

[North]

Senang,

Sorry, but that to me sounds more like an advertisment for your knives than an answer to the first post.

Bill

 

[DPKnives]

I must say as a maker things are down. I know a lot of the others must have the same problem, and from what I have heard about small business is that most are lucky to survive more then 6 months. Last year in about 10 months I sold 120 knives, this so for the whole year to date I have sold 50. I still count my blessings knowing I am still selling even though a lot less. I have been supported by fellow forum members since I started selling, and knowing what is happening with the economy I am proud to say you guys still keep buying knives. I am trying to keep prices down so that I can help out others while the money is tight. I know one thing I dont want to see anyone else give up making knives, but I know how it is. I hope these guys can find a way to hang in there and keep plugging away. Doug

This is in no way an advertisement, I just wanted to state what I am seeing.

 

[dawsonbob]

As George the first said, "It's the economy, stupid." I think it really is the economy. Many people, myself included, are having a tough time making ends meet right now. I was self employed for over thirty years, but this year — for the first time ever — business dropped off to nothing. Not just slowed down, but stopped. There was nothing: nada, zilch, nothing coming in. Fortunately, I'm old enough to have filed for Social Security, which sucks, but is better than starving (not by much, though). For many of us it's not that we don't want to buy new knives — we do — but that we can't.

Just last week one of our great makers here brought out a new knife that made me drool, but there is no way I can get one — and he's not asking all that much for it. But for the price, even as low as it is for a custom, it's out of reach for many of us. Cheap as it is, I could get three Condor's with a Becker thrown in.

I really would love to support the custom makers, but I simply can't. What can they do to bring in more business? I don't really know, but some of the earlier poster have made good points about increasing their market. There simply aren't enough people on Blade Forums (who still have money) to keep the makers going.

 

[bikermikearchery]

Wow!!! There are makers making $4.00 an hour!!!!

 

[MRpink]

Unless you're Jerry Busse or have a company like his, it's really tough to make a living from knife making. It takes a lot of time, and the profit is low. It's got to be something you love to do and passionate about, otherwise you're better off doing something else.

 

[Senang]

Bill , I cant make veryone happy...With success the good product will advertise itself...I do not need to advertise, my clients and customers are doing that for me...As for makers....I am doing well because of my product...Thus, Bill, thank you for your kind comment and have a nice day, hope you sell many knives with good product...Well, back to the shop to make blades for many customers I go...Hey DPknives, just keep your head up...The economy will change soon...You will sell more...Hard work and American ingeniuty always pays off...Hope I spelled everything correctly.....Jeff

 

[JK Knives]

My business is also slow, but I still am getting orders, for that I am thankfull. I lost my job of 37 years about a year and a half ago, but had managed to have some money saved up to hold me for a while. I have placed an ad in a magazine, but so far it`s not doing too much, just getting some inquireries, no actual orders. My wife works part time, but gets enough hours to get us health insurance. Most of my sales are low dollar knives, but that`s certainly better than nothing. Three things I tell myself constantly, I`m lucky to be able to do what I love, I`ve got some great customers and friends here on BF, and I`m the luckiest SOB on the earth for having a wife like I do who puts up with me! All I will say is I plan on hanging on as long as I can, and thanks pitdog, for always trying to help us makers. :thumbup: