bike4fun919 OpbunchKnives
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- May 5, 2014
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- 856
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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!
- Thread starter WillSwift
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2023
- Messages
- 5
Been learning to build folders by trial and error, plenty of error. My third one is shaping up, gonna inlay a classic silver bullet on this Remington 1303
RC Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2025
- Messages
- 14
that's not small number of knives there
Cliff Carter Knives
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- May 30, 2011
- Messages
- 704
This one went out this morning! Onto the next batch…
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
- Messages
- 37,726
Had a great show in Harrisonburg. Met a few of you chaps there. I think this was my 27th year at this show. It takes 6 tables to hold all my stuff. Saw a lot of my old customers who come year after year to buy wood, ivory, knives, and cool stuff. I brought along my new line of Chestnut/clove shop and home candles, blade/handle/axe wax, and leather balm.
I had a dealer/purveyor come to my tables before the show opened and bought all 20 of my throwing axes and 16 of my lower and mid-price custom knives for $3.5K. That certainly made a good start. The rest of the show was pretty much non-stop. Thankfully, Judy is getting the hang of things and helped a lot by showing things to potential customers while I was with other customers finishing a sale.
As I was starting to pack up, the purveyor came over again and asked what I would take for all my remaining custom knives and my cigar cutter (some of you may remember that all burl wood and ivory Lemat replica with 3 cigar cutters built in). I gave him a great price. Then he stared changing the quantities and items over and over again to confuse me. I stopped him and told him I don't play games, and I knew what he was trying to do. I gave him a final take-it-or leave it price that was insanely good (for him) for all the knives left on the table and the cigar cutter. He got greedy and tried a counteroffer $1000 below my final offer. I politely said, "we're done" and started dropping the knives in their cases to pack up. He came over a few minutes later and started negotiating again ... I just looked at him and said, "I made you a fantastic low offer to start with that you could have make a lot of money on. You started playing games. I made a one-time final offer and made it clear it was take-it-or-leave-it. You didn't take it ... See you next year." It was a lot of money to turn down, but I can't stand being played.
Anyway, here are some shots of the tables. They were starting to get pretty depleted by the time I took these. The bin with the pipe briar blocks was packed full at the start. Most all the bins were half empty by closing time.
I had a dealer/purveyor come to my tables before the show opened and bought all 20 of my throwing axes and 16 of my lower and mid-price custom knives for $3.5K. That certainly made a good start. The rest of the show was pretty much non-stop. Thankfully, Judy is getting the hang of things and helped a lot by showing things to potential customers while I was with other customers finishing a sale.
As I was starting to pack up, the purveyor came over again and asked what I would take for all my remaining custom knives and my cigar cutter (some of you may remember that all burl wood and ivory Lemat replica with 3 cigar cutters built in). I gave him a great price. Then he stared changing the quantities and items over and over again to confuse me. I stopped him and told him I don't play games, and I knew what he was trying to do. I gave him a final take-it-or leave it price that was insanely good (for him) for all the knives left on the table and the cigar cutter. He got greedy and tried a counteroffer $1000 below my final offer. I politely said, "we're done" and started dropping the knives in their cases to pack up. He came over a few minutes later and started negotiating again ... I just looked at him and said, "I made you a fantastic low offer to start with that you could have make a lot of money on. You started playing games. I made a one-time final offer and made it clear it was take-it-or-leave-it. You didn't take it ... See you next year." It was a lot of money to turn down, but I can't stand being played.
Anyway, here are some shots of the tables. They were starting to get pretty depleted by the time I took these. The bin with the pipe briar blocks was packed full at the start. Most all the bins were half empty by closing time.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
- Messages
- 16,183
So I did my first "show" yesterday! I got a table at a local Sportsman Tag Sale. Brought some left over fishing stuff, archery stuff and of course a lot of knives and strops! Only sold 1 strop, but gave out a bunch of business cards and sharpened a guys knife for him as well, using just my strop. He asked if I sharpen knives, I told him yes. He asked if I could sharpen it for him (it wasn't super dull, but needed some TLC, micro chips, rough rolled edge, etc), so I grabbed my 40 micron/1 micron strop and in about a minute, had it cutting paper cleanly. I think he was surprised! I had my Sharpal 325-1200 diamond under the table if I needed it, but soft cheap pocket knives come back quick!
I figured I would set up like it was a show, so I got a table cover, did my logo on it, t shirts for me and my wife to wear, table signs with contact info, payment info, warning about sharp knives, a box of bandaids stashed behind the sign, etc.
At a real knife show, I wouldn't bother bringing the lures and stuff and would be able to spread out more on the table. I had some of my kitchen knives and some of my knives and my wife's knives as samples, but probably would just try to have only things for sale, or more samples of handle material instead. I had a bunch of different handle materials, blanks, etc, but most of those stayed in the box due to lack of room. I set up a slideshow for my laptop, just didn't use it because of the room issue as well.
The 4" Damascus Clip Point and 3" Nitro V EDC with Black/Green handles were the 2 popular knives that people picked up a lot. People were looking at the billet of ladder damascus and the partially forged out billet as well, so it may be good to have in progress pieces to draw attention? I used those at the edge of the table in case people bumped into the table as a little buffer from the sharp blades.
People were surprised at the variety of steels I used; one guy said it was too many and to just focus on 1 or 2 steels. I told him I usually use Nitro V, Magnacut and the Damascus as my main steels, but I could work with any steel that a customer wanted. Another guy commented that it was neat to see the different steels and talk to someone who knew about them, so a couple that stopped by were into knives and had some idea of what they were looking at! One asked if I did leather sheaths; I am glad I have a class for that scheduled this summer! Another guy has a neighbor who makes knives, but struggles with getting them heat treated, so I told him to give a card to the neighbor and reach out to me and if I couldn't do it, I knew places he could go to for small or large batch help. So it was a productive day, even though I just covered the table costs. Got to practice setting up/taking down/packing up a display, got stuff prepped for the next show I want to do (shirts, table covering, business cards, table displays with info, etc) and got to meet and talk to people!
And I learned "Sportsman Tag Sale" seemed to mean "old freshwater fishing equipment older than the people trying to sell them". LOL. There were about 20 tables inside and I would say 15 were just fishing lures, weights, freshwater jigs, or 30+ year old rods/reels. Some of the guys had a mix, some fishing stuff, some cheap used pocket knives, old scopes, old stocks or magazines, books/magazines, fly tying stuff, duck carvings, etc. One guy had a bunch of ammo and that went quickly, others were commenting they are leaving with more stuff than they brought! LOL. The kids at the event all liked my 8" Flying Gaff Head that was on the table, so having some items to make people notice you is a good thing!
One thing I want to do is to make or get some knife stands so the knives aren't flat on the table, but more upright and easier to see. If I get the desktop router and laser, I can cut and make my own stands. May have a buddy 3d print some up for me.
The other thing is getting some visual draw. That Gaff Head was a hit and the Damascus billet and bar on the table were as well, so maybe some things to draw people's attention! I may do up some kitchen knives and make a vertical stand for them so they are more visible above the table top as people walk by, or get some tiered shelves so the knives are elevated a bit more and more visible.
I figured I would set up like it was a show, so I got a table cover, did my logo on it, t shirts for me and my wife to wear, table signs with contact info, payment info, warning about sharp knives, a box of bandaids stashed behind the sign, etc.
At a real knife show, I wouldn't bother bringing the lures and stuff and would be able to spread out more on the table. I had some of my kitchen knives and some of my knives and my wife's knives as samples, but probably would just try to have only things for sale, or more samples of handle material instead. I had a bunch of different handle materials, blanks, etc, but most of those stayed in the box due to lack of room. I set up a slideshow for my laptop, just didn't use it because of the room issue as well.
The 4" Damascus Clip Point and 3" Nitro V EDC with Black/Green handles were the 2 popular knives that people picked up a lot. People were looking at the billet of ladder damascus and the partially forged out billet as well, so it may be good to have in progress pieces to draw attention? I used those at the edge of the table in case people bumped into the table as a little buffer from the sharp blades.
People were surprised at the variety of steels I used; one guy said it was too many and to just focus on 1 or 2 steels. I told him I usually use Nitro V, Magnacut and the Damascus as my main steels, but I could work with any steel that a customer wanted. Another guy commented that it was neat to see the different steels and talk to someone who knew about them, so a couple that stopped by were into knives and had some idea of what they were looking at! One asked if I did leather sheaths; I am glad I have a class for that scheduled this summer! Another guy has a neighbor who makes knives, but struggles with getting them heat treated, so I told him to give a card to the neighbor and reach out to me and if I couldn't do it, I knew places he could go to for small or large batch help. So it was a productive day, even though I just covered the table costs. Got to practice setting up/taking down/packing up a display, got stuff prepped for the next show I want to do (shirts, table covering, business cards, table displays with info, etc) and got to meet and talk to people!
And I learned "Sportsman Tag Sale" seemed to mean "old freshwater fishing equipment older than the people trying to sell them". LOL. There were about 20 tables inside and I would say 15 were just fishing lures, weights, freshwater jigs, or 30+ year old rods/reels. Some of the guys had a mix, some fishing stuff, some cheap used pocket knives, old scopes, old stocks or magazines, books/magazines, fly tying stuff, duck carvings, etc. One guy had a bunch of ammo and that went quickly, others were commenting they are leaving with more stuff than they brought! LOL. The kids at the event all liked my 8" Flying Gaff Head that was on the table, so having some items to make people notice you is a good thing!
One thing I want to do is to make or get some knife stands so the knives aren't flat on the table, but more upright and easier to see. If I get the desktop router and laser, I can cut and make my own stands. May have a buddy 3d print some up for me.
The other thing is getting some visual draw. That Gaff Head was a hit and the Damascus billet and bar on the table were as well, so maybe some things to draw people's attention! I may do up some kitchen knives and make a vertical stand for them so they are more visible above the table top as people walk by, or get some tiered shelves so the knives are elevated a bit more and more visible.
Bill DeShivs
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2000
- Messages
- 12,554
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
- Messages
- 16,183
Bill DeShivs
do I see a mosquito catcher in pic number 2?
Bill DeShivs
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2000
- Messages
- 12,554
I guess it can be used as such. It's a dust collector with a dirty filter.
RC Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2025
- Messages
- 14
Love this knife, looks very practical!
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 16,350
Here are my first inlays on a (mostly) finished knife.
I finished the build on my Rolling Mill. Works great, took a 1/4x2x6”billet to .130 and 12” long in about 45 minutes. Have some belt slip issues to sort out though. Have about $1000 in parts and steel all told. I built in adjusting bolts for fine tuning and was able to roll out a piece of .025 copper sheet to .010 even across the whole piece.
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fitzo
Gold Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2001
- Messages
- 6,648
They do have to learn to roll their eyes a lot at the crap their knifemaker husbands pull so they don't pull their hair out.
So here's a big "Huzzah!" to those ladies that put up with our sh!t and love us regardless.
