Smallshop
KNIFE MAKER
This is a good thread. I'm learning a bunch and seeing that there are still opportunities for new guys. The post Tracy just wrote is a shot in the arm to some of us new guys.
When I started my shop 13 yrs ago machining was in a slump. I quickly realized that my days of daydreaming about hobbies were over.
I had to make all my creative pursuits geared towards profit as well as fun just to survive. Things aren't really different now. For me I can't think of knife making as only a hobby. If I want to be able to spend some time at it there also has to be a financial upside. I think for anyone making a nice knife, the highest compliment is to hear, "Can I buy one of those?"
If it is truly beautiful, others will want it. I would think anyone making knives would want someone to be using/enjoying them. So either as gifts or business items it seems to be an art that needs to be shared.
Whether or not you actually make a profit selling it is a whole nother deal.....Some of the prices of some of the knives I see are so low that I am amazed that such high quality can be made at such a reasonable price.
I have wondered if many makers sell at break even (or less) to subsidize their addiction to knifemaking? Or perhaps they have gotten so efficient at the art that they are indeed making money?
Either way, they are indeed creating art.
When I started my shop 13 yrs ago machining was in a slump. I quickly realized that my days of daydreaming about hobbies were over.
I had to make all my creative pursuits geared towards profit as well as fun just to survive. Things aren't really different now. For me I can't think of knife making as only a hobby. If I want to be able to spend some time at it there also has to be a financial upside. I think for anyone making a nice knife, the highest compliment is to hear, "Can I buy one of those?"
If it is truly beautiful, others will want it. I would think anyone making knives would want someone to be using/enjoying them. So either as gifts or business items it seems to be an art that needs to be shared.
Whether or not you actually make a profit selling it is a whole nother deal.....Some of the prices of some of the knives I see are so low that I am amazed that such high quality can be made at such a reasonable price.
I have wondered if many makers sell at break even (or less) to subsidize their addiction to knifemaking? Or perhaps they have gotten so efficient at the art that they are indeed making money?
Either way, they are indeed creating art.