My really big day

J

jkf96a

Well-Known Member
One of my professors used to say "lest a man toot his own horn, it shall not be tooted." A lot of really big knife things happened to me today, so much that I just have to tell some folks about it who will understand. This morning I took an order for a 6 knife set, 3 in 154CM and 3 in stainless Damascus, for nearly $2000. That'll be more knife money than I've ever had at one time. Another guy called after that and ordered a knife as well, bringing the total so far to 2275. When I got home, I had an envelope in the mail. Inside the envelope was the copy of Knives 2015 that I had ordered from Amazon. Some of you may know already, but I have a knife on the cover. It truly melts my brain that I could buy a book off of Amazon and see my work on the cover. I'm just a guy who makes knives in his garage. Later this evening I got a confirmation email on another deal. I have a man and his son coming to my house in two weeks for a weekend build-along/ knifemaking seminar. In two half days, I'm going to try and help these guys a knife built for each of them. I've never done a true "class" like this before, although I've helped some folks out along the way lots of times. That's another money deal, bringing today's total (granted all birds "in the bush" not quite "in the hand" just yet) to $2675. Quite a blessed day to be a knifemaker. It's got to be a blessing, because I'm certainly not good enough to pull it all off on my own. Thanks for sharing in my rejoicing.
 
Macintosh computers started in a garage. Sounds like you are off the ground. Go for it! BTW Congrats on the orders!
 
Jason,
Congrats on the cover picture and the healthy orders. Hard work and persistence have paid off for you!
 
jkf96a said:
Some of you may know already, but I have a knife on the cover. It truly melts my brain that I could buy a book off of Amazon and see my work on the cover..
Click to expand...

So toot your horn some more, let us in on the pic and the story behind it!
 
Thanks, Steven. The one on the bottom right is mine, the other two being Keeslar and Best. The story is actually a good one. I submitted some pictures for the book as requested. Joe Kertzman emailed me and asked me if he could shoot one of them for the cover shot, but I had sold that knife at a knife show at least 8 months prior. All I remembered was that the guy's name was Paul and that he knew Gene Baskett. I called Gene and he knew immediately who I was talking about and gave me his number. I called Paul, and he graciously sent the knife back to me. It was utterly destroyed beyond repair. I'd swear he had been running it in the dishwasher several times a week for the last 6 months. I did the best I could to patch it back up for Paul, but there was no way Kertzman could use it. I emailed Joe and told him the story, and offered him a picture of another knife of the same model. He said that the substitute knife would work, so I mailed it to him. I have a picture of it sitting on my window sill just before I mailed it out. When it arrived in Wisconsin from Texas, the handle material had cracked by the thong hole on the mark side. It wasn't cracked in the picture from before I mailed. Joe said that they could photoshop it, which was quite a relief. As it ends up, they left the thong hole out of the picture. When I got the knife back from Joe, I took the handles off and replaced them with other wood and sold the knife. The knife as it exists in the picture is no more.

Here's the window sill shot. It's the one in the middle.
100_6200.jpg
 
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Great job Jason I think I speak for us all that that's one hell of a knife day Ha Ha pun tended, you deserve it grind on brother.
 
'When it rains...it pours.'

Congrats Jason.
Strange how everything comes at once, like we're always being tested.


Rudy
 
Jason, that one is sweeeet knife. He put in the dishwasher with a wooden handle, I put right in my sales sheet that is one thing that automatically voids any warranty. It is a custom knife for goodness sake! I don't even put my cheap steak knives with wooden handles in the dishwasher. The heated water, strong dishwasher detergent and the heat of the drying cycle is the worst thing you could do to any knife with a wooden handle.

Some people just don't get it! I bet your face was like :what!: what in the world did you do to this knife, when he sent it back to you, and you first saw it!

Trials an tribulations of being a knife maker! Congrats on the recognition!
 
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Congrats Jason, it may be a blessing but it's also skill, drive and motivation. doing what you like and getting it done. sometimes I wonder what my co-workers at my regular job do when we get off, I head to my shop and usually spend my weekends there { till hunting season Ha Ha }
I never heard of anybody becoming successful sitting in a lazy boy with a bag of cheetoes. strange anology I know, I just made that up, but it's a good one.
you deserve bragging rights, you earned them.

I deny knowledge of any ads that pop up on this post..............
 
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Way-to-go Jason! That is a great looking knife and what a cool story. It is nice to see you getting recognition.

Kevin
 
Great Job Jason! Love that knife! Don't mind you tooting your own horn at all. Just gives me hope that maybe someday I'll be able to recoup a portion of the thousands I've spent in this hobby! LOL! Nicely done and well deserved!
 
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