My First Knife Sale!

DonL

Well-Known Member
After a year of hair pulling, bucket kickin', spit slinging, finger cutting, thumb burning, a few slips of the tongue and a ton of trial and error experiments grinding out 35-40 keeper blades, I made my first sale today!

I've horse traded, bartered and gifted all the others. People have stopped by and called before wanting to buy one, but I was never comfortable sending one out to a stranger. A few weeks ago, my neighbors dad asked if I'd make his grandson a knife. I said I would and would try to have several for them to choose from. Well low and behold they stopped by unannounced today while I was in the Garage. I had five knives made and some blanks on the bench waiting on one thing or the other.

Of course they liked the style of "this" knife but liked the handle on the knife over there...lol Fortunately they liked spalted maple so I said I had some they could choose from to use on one of the blanks. But when I returned, they'd found a blank I ground out a year ago and I'd just been messing around with it trying different things.

"This is the one we want with those handles"! Eeek! I tried to explain that this particular knife was one with uneven grinds. The mother said she couldn't see it and liked the filework on top. It was a new pattern that I tried last year and didn't like! Anyhow, I had told them that since they were my neighbors and that the Granddad had done work for us in the past and charge a more than fair price, I'd sell them one for $50 with the Sheath. He whips out a $100 bill and said to keep it because he knew it was worth more than that!

Now I'm thinking about doing another knife in that style with better grinds and filework. The problem is, they want it by Friday! So maybe I'll just make the sheath....
 
Congrats,

I can be hyper critical of my work to the point of insanity and I have had to learn to let the customer decide to a larger extent.

I know that you have pride and only want the best of your work out in the daylight. if the lady said she wants that one blank, Go ahead and put a nice handle on it for them.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Congrats! I remember my first sale. There are few better feelings you can have as a knife maker than an unexpected customer wanting to buy your work. Sure beats making a knife and sitting on it for 6 months trying to sell it... ;)

To me, having an unsolicited buyer see you work and say "I gotta have that" is just about the best validation a maker can have. Even more so when they feel like THEY are the one getting the great deal. ;)
 
Congrats! Ditto what Andrew said. I get happy feet every time someone buys one of my knives! My feet get happier when they send a buddy to buy one too. They get even happier when a couple comes and orders a set of three for their sons. Like Randy Haas says....God is good ...all the time!
 
Congratulations!

It all changes as soon as someone gets out their wallet.

It's a bigger responsibility than most people realize.
 
Amen, Sir.

Congratulations!

It all changes as soon as someone gets out their wallet.

It's a bigger responsibility than most people realize.

I'd certainly agree Bill!

I didn't like the knife they picked out. The grinds were uneven and the file-work was a vine pattern that I was practicing with and it didn't turn out good. I know how hard 9 year old boys can be on a knife. So I made another knife based on the same design and used 5/32nd 1095 with spalted maple scales. You can see in in the Custom Shop thread. I think it's 100% better than the blank they wanted and they were thrilled with it. By the time I got home (they live two houses down from me), she'd posted it to FB and I had some of their friends messaging me about making them one!
 
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