OK, this is for the knifemakers on the forum that sell part time or full time. What made you start selling? How did you do it? What worked or didn't work? The newbies want to know, so tell us your story!

I just started making a few kits this past year and I took it to work to show some of my coworker's and some of my patients and some commented that it looks really professional and they said could you make me one too?

The rest is history.

started messing with kits...sold a couple at my shooting range, and business expanded from there......wound up at a flea market seeing what the average selling price was and talked to a guy that was selling a BUNCH of factory knives. he decided that he liked my filework and embellishments and started giving me work every week. we decided on $6 and $8 an inch for different designs of filework, and MOP, tiger coral etc. for embellishing.
this is what i do full time, and in the next year i plan to start grinding out blades and selling those, and learning how to make sheaths. in the next five years i would like to be proficient standing in front of a forge.....but those are long term goals. my main goal right now is getting a fairly cheap grinder and getting some time in on that while still making money with the kits and filework.

I had never thought about selling knives when I started out. I was just something "cool" and useful. I had made about 6-8 knives and given most of them away to family and friends. At the time I had a little 8x12' shop with EVERYTHING inside of it. One of my friends had shown his knife to someone, and told them where I lived. The individual stopped by one afternoon when I was in the shop. I was working on a 3 1/2" bladed, wire damascus hunter. After the introductions and chatting while I worked, the individual blurted out..... "I'll give you $45 for that knife your working on." I was a bit stunned, and said "What?" He repeated what he had said, and I pondered it for about 1/10th of a second. At that time $45 represented enough money to buy enough guard and handle material for about 1/2 dozen knives! I took his offer, and that's how I started selling knives.

The best memory comes from my first custom knife show that I attended about a year later. I had taken a camp knife, put stag scales on it, and ground the bark off. I then put every color of leather dye I had on it, wiped it off, and let it dry, then lightly sanded it. It was an awful looking thing. Anyway, while at the show, a gentleman and his wife approached my table. I stood up, shaking and stammering to introduce myself. I had $125 marked on that camp knife (which I thought was pretty high at that time). The gentleman picked up the knife, showed it to his wife, and looked at the $125 price tag......I nearly fainted when he threw two $100 bills on the table and stated "Thats a $200 knife if I ever saw one." Thats when things got serious for me and knifemaking. It still took a couple more years before knifemaking started to pay for itself, but after that situation I had so much enthusiasm that there was no turning back. It is always an up and down way to make a living, and it requires a lot of self discipline, but it sure is a lot of fun. (the military retirement doesn't hurt either) :)

I'm a newbie myself. I put a knife (the 15th I'd made) on ebay, got a great list of watchers and a few enquries. The knife was bid on after 3 days and sold for $175 7 days later (only one bid). It was awesome that someone spent $$$ on something that I had worked so hard at.
To any other newbies out there be patient, strive for excellence & never ever quit! You will be rewarded.

good advice.

Hay Armory414,,,i'm a part time maker,,i fell into a great bunch of guys here in Arizona at the collertors club,,every year they put on a show in Mesa(just east of Phoenix) and in Tucson,,,
A well known knife maker lets me hang out in his shop and visit when i drop off blades to be hardened,,i get to ask a millon newbie questions and watch a pro at work,,
I sell knives at those shows to get enough money to make more,,and i sell to my nabors and friends and the folks they send my way.
Skip

I made my first knife in the spring of 1981 from a broken mill file. When it was finished I stood looking at it and had this chill run from the top of my head to my toes, and I knew right then I had to make knives for a living! That first knife was made just because I thought it would be fun, but from then on my goal was to make them for sale. I made some for family and friends, but I never lost sight of the goal.

My first custom order was from a project engineer I worked with later in 1981. It was a drop point hunter flat ground from 440c with a brass guard and walnut scales. He paid a whole $35 for it. He wasn't really a hunter, but he did carry it with him on Army National Guard drills. Ran into him a couple of years ago and we caught up. He's a general in the Guard now and he still has the knife.

My first show was a local gun show here in Wichita Falls, Texas in August 1982. I shared a table with my friend Bob Hajovski. Some of you may remember "Bob-Sky" knives. Sold three or four knives, all under $100, and the promoter of the show got the local TV news team covering his show over to my table. Man, I was on CLOUD 9! I was more determined than ever to become a full time maker.

What works? Skill, doing something different from the rest of the herd, and being friendly and honest with the public. Obviously you can have little skill and sell some of your knives, as there are makers who do that. Usually there is some form of bovine scat to help the sales! However, there's no substitute for good knifemaking skill. Doing some different can be a challenge but it needs to be done. Let me pick on my friend Ed Caffrey. Yes, he's a Mastersmith, but his knives don't look like all the other MS knives. Ed has a distinct look to his work and has chosen not to do what so many of the other ABS makers do. I'll also pick on Ed about the last point. When Ed was here in 96 for the Guard he set up at a local gun show. I got to see him in action. There was an enthusiasism for his work, but it was honest and without that bovine scat I mentioned. He was also friendly to the public, including the tire kickers who obviously had no intention of buying a knife. These are the things I try to do myself. There are LOTS of makers now. If you are not working to improve your skills, if you are just making knives like 296 other makers, and if you're rude, buyers will just walk to the next table with their money.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

David

David,

Thanks for the story and the advice. It was good to hear how you and others got started in the business.

Nathan