Your Advise Please -

R

rlinger

Joined
Mar 29, 2002
Messages
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I have for a good while wondered about changing the identification on my knives. I am, for some reason or other, self conscious of my name being on the knives I make and also have wondered if something more easy to remember might be better - especially now that I have turned full time. Never could quite come up with something until this morning as I was remembering the best trade name I thought I had ever been familiar with: :TeKtronix. I come pretty much from an electronics background and I was wondering about something like "Tektrek" as a mark for my knives. After all I do try to be technical in their making and not all but most are made for carry and use. So I am asking you fellow maker's first impression. Is it too squirely or does it seem okay at first glance?

Thanks.

RL
 
I'd go with R.C. Linger . I just went to your homepage and viewed your knives. I like the look of your mark. Name and steel. Simple and to the point.
The names that I associated with when I read your proposed name was two corporations....microtech and tek-lock. While both companies are fine in their own right you are not a corporation nor do I think you really want to come off as one. Great quality,great looking dependable users are your niche...not a faceless company.

just my late night opinion.
 
My quick $0.02 worth: I like the idea of a craftsman putting their name on their product. It's sort of a sign of their commitment to getting it right (which you do!!!).

Also, a person's name personalizes the product much more than a company/corporate name. With a person I can have a dynamic friendship, with a company I become just another number/customer in the database. In a person-to-person relationship two people connect. In the person-to-company relationship, one of the people is hidden (hiding?) behind the company name/structure.

As for the Tektrek name, IMHO it's phonetically a bit too close to the Entrek Knives name to sound totally distinct. But when I hear/read "Roger Linger knife" I have an image of your knives I've seen and the personality you project here on the forums.

Bottom line: my vote is to continue identifying your blades with your name.

HTH
 
Roger, I think it sounds too much like a knife company trying to project an image of a knife that's pretending to be as good as yours....

Stick with your name, you work hard enough on them, and they should be marked.
 
I know exactly how you feel Roger. The best I could do was come up with an image to go along with my name....the feather.

I think you having your name shows its handmade and not a "company" putting out handmade pieces.
What if you simply added a true logo type icon to the name? or just had the logo on the blade and the makers name on the tang someplace?

Keep your name my friend!!
 
I'm with these guys Roger. You name on your work is a sort of certification of your confidence in your craftsmanship. I generally think that using one's name is preferable in the aftermarket too. Think about someone handling one of your knives a couple of generations from now; are they going to feel a closer connection to "Roger Linger" or to "Tektrek" etched on the blade? Maybe it's just the antique browser in me, but I get a special thrill when I come across some artifact that's been signed with someone's name or mark rather than a trade name. Worth all of 2c. ;)
 
I vote that you keep the name Rodger. It doesn't matter what your name is (unless it's Frost)
The reputation follows the maker, the name follows the maker, you are the maker.

Besides, your name is kind of catchy.
Think of it this way...SKIL is a stupid word. I's like SKILL, just spelled wrong. The word SKIL has become the name of all handheld circular saws.
 
I say keep your name on it. It identifies it as your work for future buyers. And it just seems to me if you've got enough pride in your work to sell it you should have enough pride in it to want your name on it :)
 
I also think you should keep your name. It's more personal that way since you are the sole maker of the knives.
Scott
 
Back in the mid '80s, a fellow named D'Holder happened to live in the same little town as I did, Farmington, New Mexico. I would visit him occasionally and we'd talk- knives. Dee gave me a great piece of advice about being a knifemaker. He said to use my name, because the name is all we really have, and it is what becomes distinct and recognizable in this business. He told me it would take at least ten years to start seeing name recognition, and that I would have to keep "putting my name out there" to keep interest going.

Dee was right. Every major maker is known by his name, and usually his name alone. The minute he deviates he becomes an impersonal company, perhaps in the buyers mind a factory, and the personal, hands-on craftsmanship disappears from the buyers mind.

That wouldn't matter much if the buyer is a recreational user. But knifemakers generally want to progress to collector status as their work improves, and collectors recognize names.

Think of all the greatest makers and you remember their simple names: WWCronk, Loveless, Scagel, Cooper. And the modern makers: Appleton, Bartrug, Casteel,Elishewitz, Fisk, Hibben, Kios, Loerchner, Schwarzer, Slobodian, Warenski. There are many, many more, all known by their names. Yes, there are some deviations of makers marks, but not much stray from their name.

Get your name out there.

I proudly put my name on each and every piece, so my clients know just who I am: Jay Fisher, the mark on my blades is JaFisher, the letters formed into a butterfly. The name is the basis.

;) There can be only one! ;)
 
Hey Roger!
Do this. I've seen your knives and they are pretty good looking. Put WILKINS on them. :D

(Keep your name, bubba.)

Craig
 
Aye, Roger, keep putting your name on them.

If you are self-conscious about it, that's a good thing! It'll keep you on your toes to always do your best.
 
Whats more easy to remember than your name?
Oh you mean for other people.
I like the name cause thats who you are and what you are trying to build up with a good reputation.
My $.02
TJ Smith
:)
 
Aye, Your name!
I often recommend to new makers(if they ask), to use their initials, and last name, and if they can get the stencil maker to do it small enough, their city, and state abbreviation.

I can't tell you how many times over the last few years, that I've seen someone on one of the knife related forums trying to identify the maker of a knife they bought somewhere, from initials, or some mark.

They are rarely successful.:(
 
Roger-

100%, go with your last name. First initial added in is fine too.

When I was getting stencils made (the 1st time) and licensing my business, I was coming up with stuff like "Blue Ridge Knives" and "Stinger Knives." My dad asked, "Who the hell are those names?" Uh....I dunno'....

There were some knives I'd seen made in the 70's that had the makers' initials in a neat, stylized font. It looked rather fetching. But who in the heck was it?

I look at a knife very much as functional art. Even a very basic, plain user. And art is signed by the maker/artist.

Sign your name to it with pride.

On the flip side of the coin. I wouldn't recommend putting much else on there. You mark the steel, and I think that's just fine. But often you'll see guys etching their full name, address, steel, year, and some kind of picture. I think the knife should be the focus, not the crap they etched on the blade.

Just my $0.02. And it's not worth much :)

Or do like Craig said, mark them Wilkins and send him royalties! MuHuHAHAHA!!! ;)

-Nick-
 
Definitely use your own name. Show your customers that you have enough confidence in your work to put your name on it. A personal favorite for me is the last name. Like Nick mentioned, you can put so much stuff on there that it becomes distracting.
 
Use your last name. Among all the benefits mentionned previously, it means that a collector can be reasonably certain to e able to identify your work, even at different stages of your career.

Contrary to Nick, I like to see at least a year on the blade. Steel type wouldn't bother me either.
 
Mike Hull said:
Aye, Your name!
I can't tell you how many times over the last few years, that I've seen someone on one of the knife related forums trying to identify the maker of a knife they bought somewhere, from initials, or some mark.

They are rarely successful.:(
Click to expand...
This brings up a project idea I've toyed with for some time. Not hijacking your thread Roger! Honest! :D Anyway, there was a time when a lot of makers used a touchmark rather than etched their name et al. This limited the amount of info you could get across, obviously, unless you had a really short name. Of course, there were far fewer makers back then and it wasn't so hard to keep track of them all. Not true anymore! I wonder if it would be feasible, and what legal implications there might be, of starting documentation of maker's marks? I'd think there would be a lot of value in this (particularly since I'm in the traditionalist camp with just a mark on my own blades... ;) ).
 
"Linger" is short enough to remember and slips off the tongue easily, i too think you should stick with your first (and perhaps middle) name initial(s) and full surname. Has a nice ring to it - Linger. Just make sure you use uppercase L and the put rest of it in lowercase so it doesn't look like "linger" (or "LINGER") :D
 
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