What might happen if?.....

Might be easier to find an already existing program that would accept an infrequent segment on the topic of knives as we've discussed here.
Baby steps, ya' know?
That way we wouldn't have to be concerned about creating an entire program, sponsors, etc.
See if the viewing public would have any interest in an on-going segment.
If the "public" of an already existing program show an interest in something, they WILL! show more of it.
 
Interesting how MANY times this idea has been compared to "American Choppers"? Actually, the early episodes with Jessie James fabricating bikes and actually displaying impressive skills were excellent.

When it evolved to the Teutuls, and then to the soap opera family dramatics, it was a joke! It had NOTHING to do with the VAST majority of the motorcycle riding population.

Hopefully nothing like that will happen in the Knife community!

If done in the right way, it could be great for Custom Knives I think.

Peter
 
peterinct said:
Interesting how MANY times this idea has been compared to "American Choppers"? Actually, the early episodes with Jessie James fabricating bikes and actually displaying impressive skills were excellent.

If done in the right way, it could be great for Custom Knives I think.

Peter
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What it would do, from my observations, is CHANGE the entire community, in some way, both in short term and in long term....What I had hoped to do(and think was successful) is to get people to wrap their minds around the concept that should something like this happen, which is probably a foregone conclusion over the next decade....next it will be doll collections, and spoons, when it DOES happen HOW it will change our community, and how we can best manage those changes?.....THAT is a total mystery.....one poster said, "it isn't like you can put it back in the bottle". Amen to that!

Can you imagine a show featuring Harvey Dean, Wolfgang Loerchner, Nick Wheeler, Owen Wood? Each has a fascinatingly different background, and different approach to knives and 15 minutes per maker to show THEM and their knives...that would kick ass...it would be very expensive and time consuming to produce, and none of us would know the results....One thing for sure, it would be impossible to portray these guys as drama queens!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Perhaps we could "back" into it with nicely produced web programming? See how it works there then move forward from there?

I'm not sure about network programming but I know it was horribly difficult to get stations to run our (Army Public Affairs) news packages, we usually sent A & B roll and info packets so they could produce their own stuff. I do know some Nat Geo, Discovery and History channel guys but they're grunt labor camera jockeys and field producers not shot callers.
 
Kohai999 said:
Can you imagine a show featuring Harvey Dean, Wolfgang Loerchner, Nick Wheeler, Owen Wood? Each has a fascinatingly different background, and different approach to knives and 15 minutes per maker to show THEM and their knives...that would kick ass...it would be very expensive and time consuming to produce, and none of us would know the results....One thing for sure, it would be impossible to portray these guys as drama queens!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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That group and MANY others could make a FANTASTIC video! I would love to see it myself. From my experience, many knifemakers have VERY diversified and interesting backrounds.

Peter
 
Just an innocent question. Have the local stations ever covered the Blade show? Local ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC affiliate?

I for one would like to see a weekly one hour show, maybe with a few shows devoted to manufacturers (maybe a show on Tony and Reese Bose, with a few minutes devoted to Tony's collaborations with Case; or a show devoted to Spyderco, and a few minutes devoted to their collaborations with makers.)

I don't have cable, but how many shows are devoted to custom gunsmiths? I think those of us in the knife community would go nuts over a show devoted to knives, but I don't think it would blow the doors off Hollywood, or lead to any adverse effects on the knife community.
 
If I got a BIG, FAT check for going on TV and acting like a giant jack ass---- swearing at everybody and occasionally punching women and children in the face all the while frantically getting knives built--- then I would break my arm signing the dotted line. ;) :) :D
 
NickWheeler said:
If I got a BIG, FAT check for going on TV and acting like a giant jack ass---- swearing at everybody and occasionally punching women and children in the face all the while frantically getting knives built--- then I would break my arm signing the dotted line. ;) :) :D
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You might not get such a big check Nick. The cost of having to do all of that time lapse photgraphy would be quite high.:D
 
NickWheeler said:
If I got a BIG, FAT check for going on TV and acting like a giant jack ass---- swearing at everybody and occasionally punching women and children in the face all the while frantically getting knives built--- then I would break my arm signing the dotted line. ;) :) :D
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Why all extraneous nonsense Nick? You could do well simply demonstrating your skills included in the WIP!

Peter
 
Well the bare bones of it is that most people simply wouldn't care about how a knife is made (or anything for that matter)... Most people want to see the drama. Kind of like 80something% of NASCAR viewers don't watch for the race itself so much as to see a crash.

Now I know most of the folks HERE would like to see an actual WIP type documentary.... But 9 out of 10 NON-knife people that I show a knife to say something like, "Oh that's interesting." And have lost interest in about 15 seconds (if they ever had any).

I'm not being Debbie Downer, just realistic. I LOVE watching things being built!!! Whether they're casting, forging, forming, machining, welding, wood-working, carving...etc. But if most people felt that way they would focus right in on how those motorcycle guys do things like TIG weld parts, machine accessories, FILL ALL THE CAVITIES AND FLAWS IN THEIR HALF-ASS WORKMANSHIP before the paint guys can shoot the bike (there I said it! LOL).... rather than two big guys constantly screaming the F-word at each other, tearing up their cars, homes, and families, etc. ;) :)

9 out of 10 morons are far more interested in Jessie James cheating on Sandra Bullock (what a dip shit, seriously!!!) than how Jessie James actually builds something.



In contrast to all this, I do have a couple cousins that want me to be the Bob Ross of knifemaking. If I could grow the whafro and act disturbingly happy/friendly while building a knife I would so do it. ;) :D
 
I have just finished my third book in a series where each volume
is dedicated in detail to one custom knifemaker, representing a particular
modern custom knifemaking discipline.

Each volume is far more detailed than a well planned and produced
feature in a good TV series on this art. Each book is an original 8-month
production but how many of the people interested in modern custom
knives have seen one of them? How many actually have a copy?

This brings me to the issue of a TV documentary series which can
actually show much less than any one of these books, I think that it will
probably not have the effect that everyone here imagines it will, and will
regretfully not bring many newcomers to this art.

BUT, a nice 1-hour documentary displaying exciting highlights of
various knifemaking techniques and showing the best parts of some
major custom knife collections, might actually be interesting enough
to hold the attention of the general public and may probably do a
great deal more for introducing custom knives favorably to the world
outside our community...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
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Hi STeven,

Good idea...but in the end will be very limiting except for those featured in the show.

How about this for an idea. Instead of having a TV show or special featuring 1- 35 makers. The knife maker organizations produce CD's for their membership (or any other maker for $10) on how to:

1) Price your knives

2) Market your knives

3) Sell your knives.

4) Run a knife business. 1 Page business plan and tax planning (as sub topics)

5) Organize your shop/Business to meet the deadlines you gave your customers.

6) Understanding what the CLIENT wants.

Value pricing, proven marketing techniques (for all the makers), and the business aspects of custom knives. Will help every maker involved. By pricing their knives correctly over a period of time will allow the majority of custom knives to actually hold their value. You want to created demand...sell something that can be resold for what you paid or maybe even more!

That more than anything will bring collectors and investors into custom knives.
 
Good ideas Les! That would be a new vantage on knife video, genre- "schema".
 
Kohai999 said:
Lorien posted this in another thread.

One of the reasons that Kevin Jones and Jerry Fisk started moving forward with the concept of the CKCA is to expand the knowledge of custom knives with more accessibility to people who might be interested but know about them.

Let's say that a videographer with access to History Channel or Discovery got a prime-time spot, and produced a top-notch program showing the community in the best light.

From my experience, there would be a short-term insanity in the community. Some makers previously unknown would skyrocket in popularity, and everyone would want their work.....making it unaffordable, as we know the term. Other makers would become insufferable egomaniacs.

A huge passel of folks would inundate shows, and many old-timers used to things being a certain way, would stop going.

I see positives for makers, and see long-term positives for the community, but a whole lot of short-term negatives.

What do you think?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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I think this is spot-on. :thumbup:

Kohai999 said:
I AM 1/2 way willing to gamble that a good, well-produced show about knife folk might be good for the community, but that is ONLY because I already have most of the knives that I want, and as it gets harder for me to procure what I want next, I'll stop trying.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Are you calling yourself the community, or just saying that "good for the community" means what's "good for STeven???" :p
 
BTW, for what little my opinion is worth, I would guess that there would be a bigger impact on the public profile of knife making and knife collecting if it was featured in a segment on a more mainstream network show like 60 Minutes that reaches a mass maintream audience, than an entire hour long show on a fringe, niche, network like Discovery Channel. Of course one could test this theory by asking Bob Kramer what happened when he was featured on the CBS Sunday Morning a couple of years ago.
 
The Virginian said:
Are you calling yourself the community, or just saying that "good for the community" means what's "good for STeven???" :p
Click to expand...

I realize that you are poking a bit for fun, but my track record shows that I often sacrifice what may be in my own best interest to better the community.

I have seen firsthand, and maybe you have as well, what happens when someone with more money than anyone else currently involved in the community enters.....it skews just about everything. One of the only things separating Michael Walker from Ken Onion is the continued interest of the extremely well heeled to drive the prices of Walker knives into the stratosphere. A Michael Walker Zipper Bladelock is now about $60,000 and 10 years ago it was about $7,000. Substitute your favorite maker in there, and you can see why I might not be interested in helping those looking for the next "it" investment to find our happy little world.

But since I DO have much of what I plan on keeping.........;)

As an aside, everyone participating in this thread has pretty much been around long enough to see the value of BladeForums and would benefit themselves and BladeForums to become a paying member.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Good points Steven. Custom knives are still a cottage industry. Widespread publicity could have dramatic and volatile effects. One of the successes as a small segment of the population, usually the ave. Joe can "have a shot" at what he's looking for. A big show such as Blade still has good possibilities for what you search for.

On the other hand, knives are not politically correct. I see this as a detriment to broad exposure and appeal. It is more likely any feature on a singular knifemaker would have to be coupled with "old world craft", or as an "new art" than for the actual "knife" of it. Knives are too often associated with crime- fear. This, as i see it, is the "wet blanket" over the idea (for many). It is the public perception (fear), not the beauty or craft of it.

Lastly, there are too many knives from China that look like custom knives. Why would anyone spends hundreds of dollars on a knife when they can go to Walmart and buy something similar for cheap? More hunters use factory knives than custom knives. ..Who buys custom knives? There is no easily identified demographic for a "knife collector". Does there need to be?.. I dont know.

Just jawin'..
 
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