Why aren't more of you guys selling in the kitchen knife forum here?

I can tell you what my perception is, that keeps me away from selling on forums, which are worth about $0.02 to y'all-
First, that the main interest here is ABS knives, followed by tactical, followed by super flashy woods and finishes, including Damascus. I'm heavily into stock removal chefs' and utility knives for daily use now, because that's what my local business is built on.
Second, I put so much effort into working with chefs to fine tune every detail of my knives that I prefer to have the customer pick them up and feel the balance, and talk them through the entire structure- you can do that on a forum, though it is a good place for word of mouth.
Third, I sell everything I can make locally, through my network of chefs and cooking enthusiasts.
That said, I'd rather skip some of those Saturday markets and sell online, if I were to find an appreciative market.
Good topic, thanks for bringing it up, Nathan!

Forgot to mention, great looking product there, Nathan, that's a LOT of knife for the money.
 
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The may be because they are willing to buy the "cheaper" Japanese stuff. Yeah, it better than the typical German stuff, but it is still a "cottage industry" production product. Much of what we Yanks make, particularly the metal pounders, could be considered "honyaki" blades. How are those priced from Japan?
timos- said:
Ive been working with some pro chefs and home enthusiasts along with hands on studying of many of the top selling Japanese kitchen blades for the past 2 years. It is very hard/ impossible to compete with the Japanese smiths. Ive used some very fine performing knives in high quality steels that can be purchased for half of what most custom makers get and all the kitchen knife enthusiasts know this.
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You appear to have an advantage over some of us in that you live in a market where such things are appreciated by users. Where I live, my only hope is to play on the idea that when you ask people with some money what style they like, the real answer is "expensive" :D
elementfe said:
I can tell you what my perception is, that keeps me away from selling on forums, which are worth about $0.02 to y'all-
First, that the main interest here is ABS knives, followed by tactical, followed by super flashy woods and finishes, including Damascus. I'm heavily into stock removal chefs' and utility knives for daily use now, because that's what my local business is built on.
Second, I put so much effort into working with chefs to fine tune every detail of my knives that I prefer to have the customer pick them up and feel the balance, and talk them through the entire structure- you can do that on a forum, though it is a good place for word of mouth.
Third, I sell everything I can make locally, through my network of chefs and cooking enthusiasts.
That said, I'd rather skip some of those Saturday markets and sell online, if I were to find an appreciative market.
Good topic, thanks for bringing it up, Nathan!
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jdm61 said:
You appear to have an advantage over some of us in that you live in a market where such things are appreciated by users. Where I live, my only hope is to play on the idea that when you ask people with some money what style they like, the real answer is "expensive" :D
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There's always an up side and a down side- this part of the world is packed with world class knife makers, some of whom make very, very fine kitchen knives. Fortunately for me, most of them aim for the very top of the heap, and I'm happy for now making daily users for regular folks.
My gateway drug is a very simple utility knife that I make by the many dozens and sold for the first couple years for $45. You have to sell a lot of those to make the bills, but...if that's what works, that's what you do, I guess, til your name gets out.
 
Kosa I recognize that tumbleweed. Ya should of stopped in and said howdy.
 
jdm61 said:
The may be because they are willing to buy the "cheaper" Japanese stuff. Yeah, it better than the typical German stuff, but it is still a "cottage industry" production product. Much of what we Yanks make, particularly the metal pounders, could be considered "honyaki" blades. How are those priced from Japan?
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That is a good point. Japanese Honyaki blades are very expensive, especially the mizu-honyaki that are differentially hardened; the good ol' hamon blades. What I find though, these blades are considered more high maintenance "status symbol" fit for the home cook who likes high end stuff. You can spend 200$ for one of the high demand stainless clad, carbon steel core J knives that will perform as well as any of these honyaki. The san mai construction with Japanese knives plays a very important role, both in lower maintenance for end user and lower production costs for the maker. San mai has only very recently been available commercially over here. It will be interesting to see more makers in the states using it.
 
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See, I think its the japanese knives that are the reason this forum should be more active. If you are in the little knowledge valley of knives, meaning you want something nicer than a standard bed bath and beyond knife, you do some research. And then you fall into the pit of "EVERYTHING JAPANESE IS BEST!"

But on this forum, you have an educated audience who is first and foremost interested in performance. You dont need to convince anyone that AEB-L is a great preforming steel, or warn everyone about keeping their carbon steel dry. Its a streamlined place where people who want knives go! And I have seen success at all levels. I say Salem sell a knife for I think it was 1000 or 750 dollars, And I have seen knives go for 120. Makers have access to a HUGE breadth of educated customers right here.
 
I haven't been on there that much simply because I haven't been making many. Might have one more there by the end of the week though.
 
That's what makes Japanese knives so good...the Deferential Heat Treatment.
Respect for the master, honoring traditions, losing the ego in the pursuit of excellence...I'm starting to understand.:rolleyes:
 
We sold several times in there and sold everything we posted in short order..I personally thing "good" kitchen knives are harder to grind and make than a standard outdoors knife..We still make kitchen knives but its mostly on a customer by customer basis now..May start to do more since now we have a good grinder..It could be a pain grinding a 10" blade .098 thick down to a needle sharp distal taper on that ol' Coote but I know our new Esteem would do better..
 
Kentucky said:
We sold several times in there and sold everything we posted in short order..I personally thing "good" kitchen knives are harder to grind and make than a standard outdoors knife..We still make kitchen knives but its mostly on a customer by customer basis now..May start to do more since now we have a good grinder..It could be a pain grinding a 10" blade .098 thick down to a needle sharp distal taper on that ol' Coote but I know our new Esteem would do better..
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YES!! chef knives are very tricky to do WELL. I grind my chef knives as thin as possible and it's not easy.
 
Kentucky said:
We sold several times in there and sold everything we posted in short order..I personally thing "good" kitchen knives are harder to grind and make than a standard outdoors knife..We still make kitchen knives but its mostly on a customer by customer basis now..May start to do more since now we have a good grinder..It could be a pain grinding a 10" blade .098 thick down to a needle sharp distal taper on that ol' Coote but I know our new Esteem would do better..
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doesn't get any easier on a KMG so you may be hosed. :D
 
and here is were i get the your a "donkey" . as the food movment was just startign to really gain force the bowie and hunter market got beat all to hell. even the greatest mastersmiths started finding the waiting list getting short and in a smart move for them they started buildig other knives. many gave a shot at kitchen knives seeing the kind of mark up that a "simple" thin knife could offer and alot got things not al that great and the ones that were doing it right saw it took more time due to blade flex.
i have been making tools a few years now but im no chef i hoever spent over 10 years gettign feedback (and not stopping there ) on what custom kitchen knife makers are lookig for (and that shifts back and forth from laser thin to thicker to cut food stiction) these are guys that use a knife for anywhere between 1hour a day (home cook) to 8-10 hour sous chef. if you dont get it right they let you know. its not an easy market to be in sorry for the rambling
 
^^^ What Butch says.
Until you have more than a few working cooks using your knives day in and day out, you're making something that looks like a cooking knife, not the real thing...and like the man says, it's not the same from year to year or cook to cook- you either find the people who like your type of knife, or make the knives that the people around you will buy and use.
That's where it gets to be a job, which is a good thing and a bad thing, depending.
I like kitchen knives because they're not so much about being wildly artistically expressive (though those sell too) but about fine tuning them like a performance bike. Every detail is the way it is for a reason.
 
jdm61 said:
doesn't get any easier on a KMG so you may be hosed. :D
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didn't think it would..they are not easy to knives to make right..We have a petty,nakiri,parer and a little Ko-deba in our kitchen..All but the ko-deba are made from .098 aeb-l..Im actually pretty proud of the way they all cut but they were not enjoyable to make honestly..When your use to hogging steel off hammers and axes grinding a petty down to a laser tip and .005 edge is tedious at best:grumpy: Ill say its rewarding to have a knife that cuts like that though..The ko-deba was a project to clean small fish with. Its made from 1/4" O1 though..Works real well but I didn't get the urasuki right:mad: Ive been meaning to fix it but haven't done it yet..still cleans fish and squirrel real good though:thumbup:
 
I might start! They are the kind that I enjoy making the most. Even though the thin blades love to warp on you when you are grinding and you find yourself chasing that one dang spot forever before you realize the blade had cupped and you have to manually straighten it first. And you burn your fingers off all of the time grinding on really thin metal. And you have to either wet grind or be constantly spraying your disk/belt to not ruin the temper on that tiny tip post HT. And you realize that when you show your knife off to someone who cooks that kitchen knives are very personal to someone as far as shape and geometry of not only the blade but the entire blade handle and bolster. Next for me is to have something made for my Esteem that I can make the urasuki with.
 
"chasing that one dang spot" is where Freds bubble jig comes in handy. If you cheat the bubble ever so slightly it won't mess up your grind.And I mean ever so slightly.And go slow.
 
Water cooling of some type on your grinder helps too
 
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