What if nobody buys your knives?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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Sometimes in life, the road you are travelling on can lead to nowhere.

I was just thinking about this matter when the question pops into my head: what if nobody is interested in a knifemaker's knives?

It is not an impossible situation although it is improbable.

Let's say if the maker doesn't make enough to pay his rent, what happens next?

I suppose under normal circumstances, a knifemaker will only venture into the profession full time if he feels confident enough that he could earn a decent living.

There may a few who plunge headlong into it and come up empty-handed.
What's the next course of action then?

Is there any association out there which extends a helping hand to the financially strapped knifemaker?

Or, does he just quit and move to another profession?
 
not that i know of! this is good old capitalism here at work. if no one buys his knives its time to do something else.
 
It used to happen a lot to me. Basically you create a market for your blades by making a lot of your relatives and friends happy. If you don't have any relatives, then you can find a friend to make happy :). My first knives were diffinetly "give a ways".
Most business's are started as a part time enterprise and grow with demand. Some people see knife making as a way to make a lot of money with little work because they don't understand the time and experience needed to produce the knife that seems to cost a lot of money. Until such time as the maker can make a knife that is "better" than Wally world, then they may mot sell very many. I have met some very good knife makers that have only been making knives for a short time and with good friends and help, have done very good.
Knifemaking is something like bass fishing. You can catch a few bass, then go out and buy a $25,000 dollar boat and a $30,000 dollar Suburban to pull it and then work your bottom off to catch fish. After a few years of experience of bass fishing, you may start to make some money. In the meant time, you have had a lot of fun and enjoyed your life. That to me is what counts the most.
If you don't have any knives to make for some one, make them for yourself or children.
 
Lower your prices! True you might not make rent for a while, but that's why so many start out making knives part time. Factor your experience (years at the trade) into your price. If you're just starting out, even if you are talented enough to make knives as good as those doing it for a decade, you still have to build a reputation, so if people won't buy at your asking price, keep lowering it until they do.

When you've got a waiting list a couple of months long at that price point and someone calls and says "Look, I'll pay twice that if you put my knife at the head of the queue", you'll know your rep is established and you can begin to raise your price ;)
 
Rhino got it right--either change your designs, or your price structure, or marketing approach or--find another profession.:rolleyes:
 
I would not think that making knives would be a profession for the easily discouraged. If your knives are good, and if you are having trouble selling them you are going to have to figure out a way to get your name known. Getting to be known by the people that will purchase your product is a part of the knife business that many makers could probably benefit from getting better at.

If you are attending some shows, have a web site and are a member of a few knife forums and are still not able to sell any knives, maybe you should ask yourself and others why.

Keeping another profession until you start making enough money of your knives to pay the bills would be a good idea in my opinion. Unless of course you are single and don't like to eat.
 
I make knives because I love to. Forget about making money for a while; I have paid money for the privelege of instruction with a master smith. Like any skilled professional, a knife maker should expect to pay out a lot of time and money before bringing much in. Go ask any doctor or engineer or pilot, or any professional how many tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours they spent learning and studying before getting paid to do their jobs. Like any calling, a good knifemaker would make knives because they are in him/her and need to be made, regardless of money.

John
 
There are more aspects than just making knives.A maker must convinve the public to buy them.There are many ways,knife shows,internet,knife magazine advertizements,etc.A maker can make the best knives in the world but if people don't know about them he's going to go broke.I think Les can add a lot to this.
 
Lobby the government and demand subsidies funded by the taxpayer...

...not! ;)
 
When I got my first job upon graduation from college, it was with the Army. I was paid a certain salary while attending the Infantry Officer Basic Course. Then after I became a Rifle Platoon Leader I got a raise, etc.

It's the same with most of us who stay at a the same profession for any length.

I think most makers will agree when they first started making money was not at the top of the list. They understood that for several years there would be a learning curve. Quite frankly most of them would be lucky to get the expenses they have back out of the knife and about half of miniumum wage per hour.

At a couple of sales and marketing seminars I have done for makers. I hold up a Coke can. I cover the words Coca-Cola on the can. To a person every one in the room can tell me what the product is contained in the can. Coca-Cola is known world wide. It has cost them countless Billions of dollars in advertising to get to this point. Even still they spend around 25 Million a year to make sure you don't forget them.

Just because a knife does not sell, doesn't mean it is poorly executed or a bad knife. It may simply mean that the custom knife world does not know who you are.

Makers need to develop a network team in order to get their product infront of potential buyers.

A team is comprised of the maker and those who can help get the word out on their knives. Example's of team members would be:

Satisfied Customers

Knife magagzine writers, advertising personel and editors.

Material Suppliers

An ISP and web master.

Custom Knife Dealers

Show promoters

Other makers.

It will be up to each maker to determine what is necessary for their team. Reminds me of the old Mission Impossible TV Show. Where each week Mr. Phelps would pick his mission dependent team from a file of several choices. Of course it was almost always the same people.

Obviously it can take years to become noticed. Custom knife making is no different from any other business. In that there are always pro's and con's of owning your own business. I think there are less than 100 makers who have no other source of income besides what they get from custom knives.

I only know of a couple of dealers who own their business and have no other source of income. Myself and Jay Sadow at Arizona Custom Knives come to mind.

I was a part-time custom knife dealer for 8 years before I went full time. Lots of 60-80 weeks during those first few years.

Just understand that meerly attending shows, running an ad or having a web site is enough. You have to use all three of those and explore as many other avenues as you can to introduce yourself to the custom knife buying market.
 
Make enough money making knives to pay the rent???... is that possible??? ;-)
 
Thank you Golok, for a sincere and honest question. I have a feeling some may have wondered the same but been afraid to ask. Its not a silly question. Bottom line is the same for any creative craftsperson or artist. If you cant make a living, you have to get a paying job doing something else until you can, and work spare time at the more meaningful work. In the meantime, if you are not selling, you give knives away, re-do them, destroy them, store them under the bed, etc. It is very frustrating to function in a vacuum with out the interaction and feedback of an active clientel, but you have to keep trying to get out there and contact the market. You can try to produce a product purely to meet the latest market fad chasing sales, first this and then that, now something else, but in the long run your developement as a craftsman and artist will suffer. Most fine artists face the same dilemma. Im not talking about commercial graphic designers, or producers of puppy and kittie schlock. The truth is, even if you are a decent maker, and do everything "right," the market is not infinitely expandable to absorb the supply of makers and knives. A lot of cheery advice, freely given, will give you that impression. If you really find making knives rewarding and satisfying emotionally, and can stick with it for the long run, and maintain your developement,with out becoming cynical and burned out, you can reasonably look forward to at least some modest recognition. KEEP THE FAITH BABY! ;)
 
I should get something off my chest on this subject - Some good knife makers make lousy salesman or business managers.

I may not be in knife collecting for long, but I've been a consumer since childhood. Some of the same rules apply - check out Les' comments earlier in this thread.

Several well-known knifemakers did not earn my dollar due to several areas:

Did not adequately answer questions on emails. Made it cumbersome by way of answering one out of three questions, making additional emails necessary, that shouldn't have been.

Dropping the ball. For whatever reason, simply stopped responding. So, the money stays in my pocket and goes to another knifemaker.

Not enough photos / details. Asked one maker what his folders looked like when folded, so as to see the thumbstud location in helping me decide. The person responded that he didn't have any pictures of the folder folded. Didn't buy from him.

Most knifemakers do not show enough materials and finishes in the event someone wants to order something unique.

Maybe these makers are so successful, they forgot what it's like making one knife at a time. Or forgot what it's like to satisfy one customer at a time.

Anyway, other knifemakers were very responsive and accomodating, so I own knives from them. They worked for and deserved my dollar. And now they have a repeat customer.

A key thing that a knifemaker should know is that it's not only how nice their stuff is. They should show that they enjoy trying to get something right for a new customer and show a good attitude. I have found in my business that these new customers become steady customers, which is the cornerstone of any business.
 
You are so right Boink, so right. Makers need to respond quickly and in a friendly manner to ALL inquiries and questions. A few seconds of time spent for a reply e-mail, even if just to say," thanks for your interest,It will be few days before I can get you a photo, but I will send one" is time very well spent. Dont leave people hanging, wondering if you got their message, etc. On a related note, I got an e-mail a couple of days ago from a gentleman in OK that had bought a knife from me a couple of weeks ago at a show. He was nice enough to take the time to let me know how very pleased he was with his purchase. That makes a BIG difference to me, and any maker. I suspect that if I hadnt taken the time to have a REAL conversation with him at the show, explaining the heat treating, what I thought was important, how I expected the blade to perform, etc, He might not have bought the knife.
 
"A key thing that a knifemaker should know is that it's not only how nice their stuff is. They should show that they enjoy trying to get something right for a new customer and show a good attitude. I have found in my business that these new customers become steady customers, which is the cornerstone of any business."

You pegged it there Boink!!!
 
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