When does it stop being a hobby?

Pat you have been bringing in the A game lately. So I got to ask are you when you are talking about with this subject. Are you bragging here or complaining?


Cause if you are bragging go for it big boy as the last ones I saw you made are worth bragging about.

And if you are complaining, I have to ask about what? Your work is excellent and if your not selling, well you got to put then out there to see before they start selling and if they are still not selling you have got to try the sighted customers!:eek::D:D:D

Seriously your work is great. Making it more than a hobby is viable for some but it takes getting your name established as in any bussiness. I am not sure that is not what your refering too, knowingly or unknowingly!:confused:
 
Ok, let's see:

Josh, that's a great offer my friend and I am once again amazed by the generosity displayed by great folks like you in this community. I must decline though since I've been on the receiving end of this generosity often and need to get on the giving end more.

Gables, thanks for the input. I know most of it is in my head. I'll try and ponder on what you said.

Rick, no kids here. If you mean going full time, that is not an option. I am too old and with 11 years at most until retirement and full freedom to work on knives, I just can't see myself doing it. :(

Dixie, not bragging (so not me) or complaining (well maybe a little) but mostly questioning. But your good words and humor does:D:thumbup: help.

Thanks again folks for humoring an old geezer. :o
 
Patrice Lemée;9723360 said:
Rick, no kids here. If you mean going full time, that is not an option. I am too old and with 11 years at most until retirement and full freedom to work on knives, I just can't see myself doing it. :(
Click to expand...

I wasn't hinting for you to go full-time... I was just pretty darn sure you knew what was best for YOU. You mentioned that you had to quit for the Summer and would be back in September... that falls right inline with kids and school... I just assumed.
 
Oh ok, sorry. It has more to do with vacation, heat, work around the house and outside activities with my better half. All things that greatly diminish when fall comes.
 
I hear where you are coming from Patrice, and truth be told I haven't been spending much time around here or in the shop for that matter. When I first started making knives I was on a hiatus from work and working part time, had an infant, and had a fair amount of free time on my hands. I then went to working full time, my kid is two and wants nothing more than to hang around with and play with his old man, and I'm currently in the process of buying a house. I know the frustration of wanting to get into the shop and spend several hours in there and really fee like you're actually accomplishing something. I always have plans on wanting to get in the shop and get some work done but my blocks of free time are limited to MAYBE an hour of time, I have quite a few unfinished projects sitting in there. Not only knives I'm working on but I also have a restoration project of a 7 day set of straight razors I want to finish. By the time I get in, set up, and start something like sanding I'm already clock watching to make sure I wrap up in time to focus my time back on things I HAVE to do instead of want to do. I keep hoping for a break in the hectic schedule, it's gotta come sometime right?
 
My wife would say it stops being a hobby when you AE bringing in more money from it than you are spending on it. She's an audit specialized accountant.
 
Yes Fletch, it will come I assure you. We might be both too old to do anything by then but it WILL come. ;)

Charlie Mike said:
My wife would say it stops being a hobby when you AE bringing in more money from it than you are spending on it.
Click to expand...

Well I guess it will NEVER stop being a hobby then. ;)
 
I'm not 100% sure I understand your question Patrice, but the only thing I have to add to the excellent points above is...

I have the same problem with often not having enough time to spend working on knives to feel like I accomplished anything of significance. If I have 2 hours free, I might spend 1/3 of that time just cleaning up and organizing and 1/3 setting up for what I want to do. That doesn't leave much actual work time. In the summer here in Phoenix, its much worse with the extreme heat and I'm all but shut down for a few months. I can't possibly work out there in the afternoon or early evening (it's got to be 115++ deg. F), and early morning is best but I have a sleeping wife and neighbors that I have to think about.

I try to make lots of lists of little things and/or 'batch' work that need to be done, and tackle those in my short windows of opportunity to work. This could be cutting pin stock, organizing handle materials, inventorying supplies, corresponding with people, setting up machines for some upcoming task, etc. That way, when I get a longer window to work with, I'm not wasting any of it doing these little tasks and I can focus on the more complicated operations.

Cheer up, summer will be over before you know it!
 
Pray it never stops being a hobby.

If you've never been in the situation of being forced to rely on your "hobby", as your primary source of income, then you've fortunately never experienced the bitterness associated with having no choice but to do the thing that you once did as you cared.

You mention retirement, so maybe you'll never have that experience, assuming you'll be relatively financially stable from said retirement, and maybe that's why it seems like the only full-time custom knifemakers that can afford to be full time are retired, but as someone who owns a business that was once his hobby (handmade professional outdoor equipment), nothing ruins the hobby more than not having the "option" of exercising it. At least for a while.

I've turned multiple obsessions into businesses because I loved doing whatever it was, only to find I didn't love it so much when I needed it too bad. Maybe it's just a flaw of my nature, but coming from a family of business owners, and being very involved in a fledgling industry, it seems to be a recurring theme.



I'm committed to never letting knifemaking become anything more than a "hobby", even if it does make money, it'll never be money I need. I'm keeping this one for myself.



Anyway, sorry for the tirade, and cheers!
 
Yes javand, I agree completely. And Paul, I am in the same boat with the setup/cleaning part being too much when you have only a couple of hours to work.

I guess in retrospect, I was just ranting more than asking a question. If there was a question in there it was probably "does anybody do this as a hobby (by hobby I mean of course all that you guys have said but more importantly, with limited amount of time spent on it) but while making more complicated/time consuming knives while still maintaining a sane family/social life?". I mean not a hobby that you spend something like 30 hours+ a week on....
Oh forget it. I've reread that 3 times and even I am confused.:grumpy::confused:

Again, I was just bummed out, please forgive my ranting. But thanks for all the advices/input. Some good stuff in there.
 
I have been extremely fortunate. I have always been able to go the way I want except for machine tools like a surface grinder or milling machine, and those I probably could have had should I have decided to buy.
My way that carries me is to make what I want when I want with a committment to myself to finish everything I start. This means I usually have a dozen or more different styled folders on the go at any one time. As well, I take orders only on work I know I will enjoy doing. Many tell me the prices of these are too low. So what if the pleasure comes through to me in the making and it does. Certainly you must be doing some interesting work. It has to be to you or as I just said don't do it. I don't understand the large amount of time needed for setting up but there seems to be your problem. Perhaps can you somehow leave the work and come back to it? Going to knives you don't want to make won't help.
So in a nut shell only do what you want to do - I believe you already are - and perhaps more thought on how to overcome the preparation problems. Frank
 
Well, I had a hobby turn job, turn business and then have now sold it and it is back to a hobby! I was raising lizards in my backyard for fun. Hoping to make a few bux and pay for the bills. I accidentally did really well. The first real year making more money than the day job. Kept the day job for the insurance. Besides lizards took an hour a day. Three years later I had a full blown job raising lizards and quit the sales job. Four years later opened a retail store selling lizards (and everything else reptilian). When reptiles became the full time job at the store I stopped keeping animals at home. Now it is no longer a hobby (for me). Fast forward ten years, sell the business to the partner and now my tortoises are a hobby again! Full cycle.

Patrice, from my perspective, it is no longer a hobby when you do it for the money and not for the fun. If you can make enough money in the still having fun phase AWESOME!

Advice given to me by a long time old timer friend. He said when the hobby becomes a job, get another hobby. You had it for a reason. Manny had grown cactus for fun, until he quit his job, then he turned the most beautiful bowls from burls and root balls. He would never consider selling a bowl, because then he'd need another hobby. True story. May your soul rest in peace Manny.
 
Hobby, job, career, work, fun, pass time... these words all have meanings that are relative to the person saying them. Who says you can't make a fun job out of a hobby that pays? If you use a chair as a stepping stool is it no longer a chair? Don't get hung up on labels. Does a job have to be a sole source of income? Can it jump back and forth from job to hobby? I play music. Mostly I jam with friends but when I get a gig it often pays better than most fulltime jobs. ($1600 for a 3pc Jazz band at a wedding... 3-4hrs tops!)

The mind is an amazingly trainable organ... the minute you redefine something, you begin to change your perception to reinforce that new definition. We do it all the time. Ever have someone tell you how bumpy a certain road is along your daily commute? You may not have noticed until then but everyday that road seems to get new potholes until you become the one complaining to others about it.

If you see an opportunity to make a few bucks, go for it. If you want to increase your skill level, seek training. If it is costing too much, save up or find another way. Whatever happens, happens.

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier.
Click to expand...

in other words...

Don't worry bout nuthin, cause nuthin's gonna be okay.



Rick
 
Rick Marchand said:
Hobby, job, career, work, fun, pass time... these words all have meanings that are relative to the person saying them. Who says you can't make a fun job out of a hobby that pays? If you use a chair as a stepping stool is it no longer a chair? Don't get hung up on labels. Does a job have to be a sole source of income? Can it jump back and forth from job to hobby? I play music. Mostly I jam with friends but when I get a gig it often pays better than most fulltime jobs. ($1600 for a 3pc Jazz band at a wedding... 3-4hrs tops!)
Click to expand...

NIce post Rick. NOw what about that steak?
 
For me it was a hobby that started to eat up too much family time , while I still enjoy it , I now put family first.

Had some matters that kept me out of the shop for about a year. Like you , I wanted to put out the best I could , only being able to get out there for an hour here or an hour there made things drag on , I was never able to actually get anything finished.

I decided to make a knife for a friend for his birthday , and one for a gift for an Eagle scout. That seemed to re-light my fire. Though I still spend about 10% of the time I used to in the shop.

Life happens , priorities change. I want to keep it a hobby , I enjoy my full time job way too much ( and the benefits that come with it ! ). Until retirement I am content to take what shop time I can get in , learning not to dwell on not having available shop time has helped me a great deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top