Just wondering what folks think the biggest business mistake that knife makers make?

Thanks in advance
R/S

Quiting their real job.:D :D :D :D

Taking deposits for orders, then spending it before the knife is delivered.

There is a growing list of custom makers that have done this, have gotten in trouble with their customers when they can't deliver, and with the speed of communication on the Internet, have been slammed into disrepute by those customers and other naysayers.

Les,

First Les, let me thank you and the rest of the great Armed Services members around for your service. Now that is a dedicated knife maker that makes and carries his own knife in a combat zone! I don't know where this country keeps getting you guys, but I'm d**n glad we got you!

Now to your question about mistakes, which I suspect you have posted just to help others. Looking at your web site I figure you've already got this stuff figured out, but here goes.

1. Never spend money for bigger, better, faster that wasn't made from actually selling knives made on the equipment you have know. (Hobbies are money pits, business is business. If the business can't sustain itself, how can it sustain you.)

2. See Moon's post above. (At least until you make enough money on your worst months to pay the bills.)

3. Never, ever, ever take a deposit to build a knife. (Unless it's from kin folk and you want to make sure you get paid something!) ;~) I guess this applies to Armory's post above. There ARE legit reasons for failing to deliver a knife you took money for, but there is NO legit reason for not refunding the money to it's rightful owner by the due date. Being overly ambitions, enthusiastic, optimistic...what ever...with other peoples money is a character flaw and NOT a business strategy. It's called robbing Peter to pay Paul. Not good! If someone wants to slam a maker for over booking, fit/finish or whatever then so be it. People like that can always find a reason to hate something. Don't give them an excuse.

4. Never, ever, ever make a knife you would not want to keep...cause you may have to sell it to someone else. The reason someone ask you to build a knife is because they like your style. If you are cordial and patient enough you can guide the buyer toward a knife you and they would be proud to make and own.

5. Never, ever, ever ship a knife until you get paid and the check clears! (You said business mistakes...Not hobby mistakes.) Try taking that new TV out of the store without paying for it and see what happens. There are some, but very few exceptions to this rule.

6. Never, ever, ever be optimistic about delivery dates. If you think it will take 4 weeks to deliver a knife. Double it. Tell the buyer 6-8 weeks just to make sure. If it takes 8 weeks for some unforeseen reason, they can't make you out to be a lair. If you get it to them in 4 weeks they will think you pushed their work up front and go all warm and fuzzy inside.

Those are just a few of the things I could think of off the top of my head. I'll bet there are a bunch more.

I also bet there are a bunch of makers out there that are just chomping at the bit to tear me apart over the list as well. So what are you waiting for. Let's hear it.

chiger,

Those sound good to me, chiger.

Here is one I've heard attributed to Bob Loveless.

If attending a knife show, consider ALL the expenses for the entire trip. You know that your table is going to cost your knife business. But so will the hotel, the plane trip, and the fancy dinners. As Loveless was supposed to have said about a knifemaker at a show who ate expensive dinners out with his wife--"He may have sold some knives, but he's going broke and doesn't even know it."

Sound advice Mr. Stricker.

A lot of small business owners tend to let the little nickel and dime things drop through the cracks when figuring overhead. Nickels and dimes make dollars. You don't want to eat up all the profits like in your knife show example.

Makers shouldn't forget to add things like unrecoverable materials drops into their overhead. 20 or 40 or however many a dollars a month in waste is cost that should be reflected in the cost of the knives just like the electric bill or grinding wheels.

chiger,

Chiger,

Following along those lines, I will add this. If you are not wealthy, and especially if you plan to make knifemaking a business, even part time, keep track of all those little costs, and keep those costs separate as much as you can from your family's expenses.

Especially when you get started, realize you like knifemaking, and realize that you can make a little money at it, there is the temptation to start buying tools, equipment, and supplies. You have to ask yourself, where is that money coming from?

If you know it is only going to be a hobby, then make yourself happy with that and accept that it will be an expensive hobby. It will not pay for itself--and so you and your family need to decide (like any other hobby) what is an acceptable amount to spend on it. If your are lucky, you will make a few bucks back once in a while, and that is nice. You have to be exceptional to make the hobby pay for itself, and you will be the exception, and not the rule, if you manage to make a living at it full time.

The biggest business mistake a maker can make, is to not realize and accept what their selling potential really is in the custom knife marketplace.

Excellent replies all, I thank you all for your time! Please keep them coming!

Chiger, I am have recently separated form the Marines (took away too much knife time!) and just haven't got everything updated to reflect my new status, thank you for the kind words none the less. For the record I am not asking just to stimulate discussion, while that is great, I ask because I have not figured it all out and the more I learn the more I find that I don't even know all the questions much less have all the answers....

I have found in my reading that, as we all know, the vast majority of small buisnesses fail very early one. The flower shop does not fail because their flowers suck and the muffler shop doesn't fail because their pipes fall off (those 2 examples are just generalizations, I am sure that sometimes it's just that simple...) they usual seam to fail to handle the business end of their business.... Quality knives are only half the battle.

It is my intention to work on the quality of my work as I also work on my understanding of business. I will be putting my GI Bill to play in that regard soon. Until then I will just be soliciting the free advice offered here.

Keep them coming gents, see you at Blade! :)

Thanks!
Les

Les,

I'll steal some of the info from Wayne Goddard (from his Wonder of Knifemaking book) about "Pitfalls for the Knifemaker" I'll copy the quick and dirty, you might want to look up the book for more discussion.

1) An unrealistic shop rate. . . the knifemaker working alone is head janitor, maintenance, foreman, bookeeper, delivery person, (my additions--public relations and marketing, customer service), and in his spare time makes knives. THE VALUE OF A KNIFE MADE IN ONE DAY WILL HAVE TO EQUAL THE HOURLY RATE YOU EXPECT, PLUS PAY ALL EXPENSES NECESSARY TO KEEP THE BUSINESS GOING (emphasis mine).

2) Do not take things in trade for knives that have to be made in the future.

3) Don't try to work beyond your skill level.

4) Don't take deposits unless you are very careful.

5) Do not promise out more work than can be actually done. (My note: This seems to happen to a lot of knifemakers, especially when they get their first big article in a knife publication. The collectors line up, a 2 or 3 year waiting list develops, then many of those collectors move on to the next new featured knifemaker before their knife gets around to being made. See the comment about not taking deposits.)

6) Lack of business training. Put as much thought into building a business as you do into building knives.

maybe under pricing their knives at first and then over pricing them later...

Good one Tracy!

Communicate with the customer. A customer will forgive you for being late, but not for your silence. (I've chewed on a really outstanding knifemaker for that.) Be clear in explaining pricing, payments, delivery dates, customizing, etc.

If you go to shows, communicate with customers and potential customers. I can't tell you how irritating it is to walk up to a table and have the seller reading a newspaper or staring off into space instead of talking to his customers. If you're not there to sell knives, then save the cost of the table.

Protect your reputation. Really good knifemakers have had knives that went bad - sometimes for reasons beyond their control or understanding. The ones with great reputations made good on the deal, fixing or replacing the knife. It is FAR harder to get new customers than it is to keep existing customers. Lose your reputation and you might as well fold the tent.

IF A DEAL SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. Nobody in {name the 3rd world country} really wants to buy 20 of your most expensive blades.

The definition of quality is delivering exactly what your customer wants in an agreed upon time frame. That's all. If you don't know what your customer really wants, how can you possibly deliver that? By the same token, you can polish and preen to museum quality, (spending huge amounts of time and materials), but if the customer wanted something to cut open hay bales, you've wasted your time.

BE PROFESSIONAL! Let me give an example: I bought (stole!) a knife in one of our Worthy Cause auctions. It arrived, well packed and protected, with a sheath and a storage pouch, and there was a very nice certificate with a description of it's construction and guarantee by the maker. The extra effort didn't cost him much, but it really made his knife stand out by his professionalism. Another example: look at the guys who hire Coop or one of the other pro photographers to shoot their high-end knives. It really adds to the value.

The closer your customer is to you - friend, family, neighbor - the more you need to make sure everything is in writing. Gaps in understanding will be filled with misunderstanding. Better to decide not to make the deal rather than spend your life in a feud.

You CANNOT compete with Pakistan. They can produce low-end, cheap knives by the metric ton. If you plan to get paid, your work has to have premium quality and not a copy of something I can buy at WalMart.

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash - or at least something to that effect. The vast majority of people are honest, law-abiding citizens. That holds true even in parts of the world where you might not expect it. But there is always a handful of slime balls and they can make your life miserable. Make sure ALL the cards are on the table at all times. If not, it's better to pull the plug on the deal and wait until another comes along.

You're gonna make a great sale - but it might not be today, or tomorrow, or next month. (I stole this from a pro poker player who said it about poker hands.) Don't let yourself get discouraged and always plan for lean times. That's just business.

Les,

I read your about page. I knew you were out of the service. That does not negate my gratitude for your service. Besides, I think the saying is, "Once a Marine always a Marine!" You, and your wife for that matter, did your part...what ever it was, it was needed.

Back to the post. All the guys make great points. Two points really stand out to me. Mainly cause I struggle with them. Pricing and communication.

For pricing I try to break things down into their simplest terms. I love to make knives period! What is the least amount per hour I can take for doing something I love and make it work? $5, $8, $20 an hour? What ever that is, then you have to figure a way to make knives in an amount of time and with the amount of overhead you have for an amount of money that makes that work.

When I started I actually decided on a few designs that were poplar and broke the whole thing down into steps. I made a sheet listing the steps for each. Then I made those knives and timed each step accurately. No fudging. Then I decided on a price per hour and multiplied that times the hours and added the averaged overhead to get the price for each. I know it seems a long way to go, but I just had to be sure so I could sleep at night. And I gives you a good base line for the higher price stuff where you add file work or unusual handle details.

The other thing is communication. As you can tell by my post, I have a tendency to get wordy. So I have to try and gauge the customer and make sure when I'm bugging them. It seems that the men and women that have bought my 'stock designs' as I call them (knives I can make for the novice collector and avid sportsman relatively quickly out of modest materials and just good fit and finish) are usually buying them as gifts or to skin an elk and don't really want to know much more than the how and when.

On the other hand, the folks who I have made one of a kind customs for are hungry as all get out for every detail. Give it to them! Take the time to shoot them an email updating your progress. Maybe include a quick low res pic of the blade or raw handle materials. All but the most jaded collectors are glutens for that stuff. Always include a personally signed build sheet or authentication for every knife.

But I always try to hold back one or two extras I've added. Just to surprise 'um. Gives them a warm and fuzzy about the whole experience. And in the end, you have to be happy with the price and they have to get a warm an fuzzy about the knife.

The truth is, you will probably work a long time before you get what your work is worth or where your work is worth what you want. So, get what you need and enjoy the journey until you become one of the 5 or 10 smiths that get a 100 times what it's worth. I've looked at your knives and I think you have ability or I and I suspect these other guys wouldn't be wasting their time encouraging you.

chiger,

I find the per hour pricing interesting. To me a knife is worth what it is worth, regardless of how long it takes to make it. I have been looking at it like to make a profit, I need to make a knife worth 'x' amount in 'y' hours to be profitable and the knife is not going to be profitable untill I refine my skills and the process to that level.

Is that cart before the horse?


Chiger, Thanks man. :)

I tried the $/hr route for a very short time. Made me cry big croc tears!
I'm going to make a knife the way I want and work at it until I get it there. If I wasn't so inept and forgetful I could probably turn a nice profit. My advantage/disadvantage (point of view thing) is I'm semi-retired and work a very satisfying part time consulting job (the one I wish I'd had all my life). My forge and shop time is my artistic pressure relief that pays for itself. I like making money, but I'm not driven by that.......it's just what I have to do.
You'd have thought I'd have learned while trying out the Bass fishing game. It was very profitable when I was on - but very expensive when I wasn't. Fish got smart and I got dumb (before I got smarter and walked away). Now fishing is a enjoyable pleasure again.
In the end, I find my Grand Muddy was right. Indian wisdom - We are who the Great One made us, if we use what He gave us well, we will be what He planned for us to be.

I think most of the makers do this out of an inner passion. You could probably give anyone of us $1M and we make knives until it ran out ...... then go out get a loan to keep going! You got to love it or it's just hard work.

A couple thoughts here regarding pricing/shop rates.

First, from Wayne Goddard. (Not that I think that he is THE authority on any of this, but he's one of the few makers that has been in a position to actually put some of his comments regarding business in print.) Anyway, he suggested that the price of a knife should be based on YOUR SHOP RATE x 4 X HOURS TO MAKE THE KNIFE. So, at $20/hr., a knife that takes 8 hours to make should bring you $640. That's a bit much, in my opinion, unless you are one of the current hot makers or have established yourself as one of the top knifemakers.

Then, a suggestion from the late Bob Engnath: the price of a knife should be enough to enable you to make 3 more like it. I think Bob's opinion was if you started breaking things down to an hourly rate, you'd realize how little you were making, especially when you start considering all the other business-related tasks that need to be done (which means the knives aren't being made).

Finally, something remembered from an economics class in college: The market determines what price it will bear for a particular product. Whether or not the production costs are above or below that price determines whether the business will thrive or fail. So, if you follow Wayne Goddard's advice and make a $640 knife, but potential customers aren't going to pay more than $150, then you are going to realize real fast that your business isn't so hot.

I'm enjoying this discussion, guys, and learning a lot. I think this is the most traffic this sub-forum has seen in a while. . .

One other thought, and I say this from the perspective of having been full-time for two years: It's great to get a market niche and to be in demand for a product, but beware of burnout! :flame:

I got good at pipe hawks, and got quite a waiting list built up for 'em, selling them at a decent price for the quality. After turning out 3 or 4 of 'em a month for two years, I couldn't stand the sight of them. And I still had 36 left to go...:eek:

I did get them done, but after that was over I didn't make another one for two more years. Of course, in that time I moved, got a full-time job, and went shopless for a year. Now my making is back in the realm of a serious hobby rather than a business venture, and I am happy with that. You should never get to the point where you feel like you HAVE to do it. The work will suffer for it.

It may be that I'm just not cut out to be a full-time maker yet, and I know my business sense is very poor. The point of all this is, you need to make sure you're physically and psychologically up for it for the long haul before you make a go at full-timing it. I'm not there yet.

Les,

Carl is kind of right. You may be stunned to see what the actual dollars per hour works out to. But that is where the 'I love to make knives' part comes in. If you can afford to take what you can get and not what you need, your probably better off not knowing. Just go at it like a hobby and maybe it will work out.

I'm not suggesting you log every light bulb and keep up with how much your water bill has gone up since you started running your shop on a running bases. Although that stuff is overhead, you just need to do a cost analysis once to establish a baseline. I had to know I was in the ball park.

To run a business concern in a field as competitive as knife making requires you understand and control every little detail to the best of your ability. The big companies have multi-million dollar computer programs and systems to help them control and model their businesses. We do not. So we have to be creative and do it the old fashioned way.

You already understand that X amount divided by Y hours equals Z profits per hour. What I do is turn that equation around to get a price. I multiply Y hours times Z profits per hour I require to get X amount I need to charge. The question is how much profit and how many hours.

If all you make is one knife a week and it cost you a $100 in fuel, electricity, steel, sandpaper, grinding disk, quench oil, quench clay, handle materials, broken drill bits...well you get the point, how much do you have to sell the knife for to make a living?

Oh, and the hours spent heating up the forge, sweeping the shop and lubricating the power hammer go into the averaged overhead figure with light bulbs and fuel cost not the knife production hours since that stuff has to happen whether you make 1 knife or 10. That's how business models work.

And I guess I should explain averaged overhead. That's the cost of everything it takes to maintain your shop for a given period divided by the total number of hours you're in the shop. NOT just the hours you are beating steel or sanding handles. You can do it for a week or a month or a year. A month is probably best to get a good average because fuel and electric bills usually occur monthly, but if you know how how much per day you can do it by adding all expenses for a day and divide that by the number of hours you were in the shop. Averaged overhead is a semi-fixed amount that goes on to the per hour expense of producing every knife you build right up front.

If you establish the price of a certain knife based on a baseline of man hours at your current level, when you get faster the profit margin goes up, minus cost of living of course. Man, it's a vicious circle. So that's why I said the LEAST $/Hr you can accept at this moment in you career. This stuff is tedious as H**l. It's not the real hard part with starting a business.

Let's face it. Everybody and their bird dog makes knives. Some are way better than you and some are not nearly as good as you. You have to find your niche and fill it. There is even a whole industry out there of production facilities who make a living selling knife blades and kits to hobbyist who want to be knife makers. They've filled a demand.

Whether it's your butterfly knives or tactical style for your Marines to carry overseas. Identify a demand and fill it as cheaply as you can. Provide a superior product at reasonable prices and the world will beat a path to your door. I think that's what the old saying is. It's that or something about a mouse trap.

By the way, it doesn't matter how well the blade is made...fit and finish sells and resales a knife! So always make sure that fit and finish are at least GOOD for the whole knife and not just on the blade. Even on your low end stuff. I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone buy 2 or 3 of my low end 'stock designs' as gifts and end up calling me back to replace the ones they decided to keep in their collections. Fit and finish are all important.

Anyway, find a niche and start selling as many knives as you can. The more you sell the more you will sell. If all goes well, sooner or later you'll be selling more of the kinds of knives you want to make than the kind you have to sale to make a living. Don't be afraid to step off in a direction you didn't see coming. The point is to make a living at something you love. And keep in mind that you are not trying to compete with Buck for pricing or those 5 or 10 super makers with super prices. Find what you know and build that. That's where your power is.


chiger,

Good stuff there Chiger. Very practical approach to the business end of the game.
It's always good to be able to make what you want and be able to sell it for what you can be satisfied with as "profit". We have a tendancy to undersell because we don't look at all the hidden cost/expense. My wife is pushing me to fully retire from my consulting job and make a go with the knives solo. She's been studying up on all the small business details and is moving forward with establishing an LLC, website, etc. Think she's kind of excited about running a small business per say and that will take a lot of the "paper work" load off my plate. If this Blade Show goes as well as the last two, it's pretty much a done deal (I'm still finishing up requests from last year).

I'm sure you didn't intend the statement "By the way, it doesn't matter how well the blade is made...fit and finish sells and resales a knife!", to read quite the way it does (I have seen some of your work). While I do agree with the statement for the most part, I strongly believe that if a knife is not well made (the best one can do), business will suffer later. A "bad" knife comment has a much longer life than a "good" knife comment. No one goes shopping for a bad knife.
To qualify that further, I have had to accept the fact that most people that buy my knives will never use them although each one is constructed for function first. I do hope my fighters, warclubs and big bowies never get used as intended, but I do want them to handle the job if necessary. I do lean toward "nicing" them up for the same reason you stated - they sell better.
Please know I am not challenging you, just clarifying for the general forum browser. As my Granddaddy always said "Don't waste good paint on bad wood! The chickens will never know, but you will."

Above all, be flexible.
I never liked being identified as being a ....(fill in the blank) If you want to be independent, be open to all sorts of related work. Neighbor needsa 12 tentpegs, pound 'em out. Another neighbor needs a sycle bar sharpened, go to it. Good day at the flea market? sell what ya find.
I keep a pile of blacksmith related equipment here, someone nees a vise, blower, anvil, etc, that extra $50-100 can pay abill. The results of helping new guys get eqippped is big time returns in a lot of cases.

Les, now that you've moved to Corpus, you promised to come down to Brownsville for a visit.

Also, look up a fellow maker there in Corpus named Jeff Vesley.

I have a complete machine shop that has been paid for by making knives, but if I tried to charge an hourly rate no one could afford to buy my knives. The knife is only worth what a willing buyer is willing to pay. His willingness to pay depends on his perception of the knife itself and his judgement of your skills and personal values.

Like most makers over the long haul, I've grown tired of taking orders for knives. I've always done this for my personal enjoyment and satisfaction only. The price I get isn't a factor at all.

I have always asked for a 10% deposit from buyers I don't know, just to keep us both honest. If it's somebody I know and/or trust, I don't want a deposit. Now if the knife is so unique it wouldn't be sellable to anyone else in case the buyer might default, I refuse the order.

I have never been late on a delivery, mostly because I give myself enough time to get the order done, and maybe do something for myself during that time frame. You need a few knives on hand for shows and walk-ins.

I guess it would be accurate to say that for me knifemaking isn't a business. It's just what I do. And I like what I do. I also like my boss.:gossip: :)

Some great thoughts in here, thank you all! I am glad to see a little action down here in this forum, I always thought that it would bee great to see more discussions about this sorta thing.

Don, I am in Anniston, Al right now for work. That is a bit more than a day trip, even for Texas standards, but I aint forgot ya or or offer. I will see you later this year!

The biggest pain I see is all the things you have to do for the business that dont involve shop time. That is a lot of hats to have and still only get 24 hours in a day....

Please know I am not challenging you, just clarifying for the general forum browser. As my Granddaddy always said "Don't waste good paint on bad wood! The chickens will never know, but you will."

LOL! :lol Carl, not feeling challenged at all.

It's a valid point. If someone were to put the two different post together...about seeing his knives on page 1 and fit and finish on page 2...well just didn't dawn on me. I guess I should have stoked Les a little about those d**n cool butterfly knives just to head that thought off.

The point I was making about fit and finish was pointed at the ideal of coming up with a design that was quick and easy and knocking out a bunch to sell to the masses. It certianly wasn't pointed at Les's knives. Just at a business model that might include inexpensive knives.

I think too many makers make the mistake of thinking that just because they make a great blade to sell it for $150 it doesn't have to look as finished as a $1500 knife. The average buyer, non collector, doesn't know 5150 from 1016. All they care is does it rust, is it sharp and does it look good. That was my point, which is kind of the same as your good paint on bad wood point I think.

I don't know if you've seen the pics of Les's butterfly knifes, but I and a heck of a lot of other makers would be hard pressed to produce anything close those things. And I am certain I couldn't do it efficiently enough to make a living. If Les can...he is the man.

Les is a comer, up and coming for all those city folk out there. ;~) I HOPE Les nor anyone else interpreted my post the way Carl pointed out. They are strictly aimed at hypothetical business models.

Oh, and Les. I'm sure your wife is burning up the internet for info on LLC. You might have her compare the liability clauses in LLC against a Sole Proprietorship if you guys are doing it without a lawyer. Depending on your situation, it may fit better and you can still protect your personal assets if your careful.

chiger,

I'm running along with Don. I just don't know how it's possible to make a reasonable living without a great deal of background and proven success that can be so very slow in coming.Many of those that are trying to be full time makers have there wives out there with full time jobs. Nothing wrong with this at all, and even a great thing that the wives are so supportive, but they aren't making it on their own . When will they? Probably never for all except a very, very, few. Here again great for those who get there if they are really there. It's so important to get the dollars coming in, in the amount necessary to provide a reasonable living or the pressure to have to make will only provide another reason for not being there. Failure is not easily handled by most. The life stresses it creates can destroy great companion and marrage associations pretty darn quickly.
Like Don, I do this because I want to, not because I have to. I still have a most strong sense of competition. I've found that possibly the biggest error makers fail to recognize is that in the real world their knives are not worth the values in dollars that they place on them. Excuses are made and there isn't any adjustment downward made. Back somewhere someone bought one of these and was pleased the price was so low. Didn't that fellow at the table say it was a bargain but just wasn't what he wanted? But, when you aren't making sales what is the problem? Are you are not reaching those who would buy, and you can't afford the cost of going to the show; you are not able to complete sales though you have the knives out there or you can't make them fast enough but raising the prices will slow the sales? Hey you are not getting enough money for a hobby maker let alone to concider full time employment, no matter how many hours you are willing to work a day. Let someone else take over the financial side of the knifemaking including the paying for all supplies, shipping expensives, and shop costs. You will soon know what's left over to live on. A friend maker once told me, "makers are romantics and dreamers, reality is not something they want to deal with" Frank

Chiger - You would have to try a lot harder than that to hurt my feelings than that. I din't even think of it like that so all is well. As a matter of fact, you keep going on like that and it will be hard to get my head outta the door in the morning.... :) Don't sell yourself short on the Balisongs, they are not as bad as people make them out to be, just a little extra work....

Frank - I have seen reality a plenty, and it sucks! ;) I'm pickin up what you are puttin down though...

Man Frank! You're one heck of a buzz kill!
Just kidding of course, very practical observations that are important to this thread. You targeted issues a lot of us don't want to acknowledge or accept because they make us uncomfortable and go against the "dream".
Question of the day - "What is real?"
>Definitely not folks in the political arena, but still they have a most definite impact on how reality plays out!<
Now there's a negative thought!

Question of the day - "What is real?"
>Definitely not folks in the political arena, but still they have a most definite impact on how reality plays out!<
Now there's a negative thought!

Dang, Carl. Now who's the buzz kill? I was trying to forget! ;~)

Nah, you're absolutely right. The economy, mostly driven by the political season right now has had a great effect on luxury purchases like knives.

Most all makers, that will admit it, say they have suffered a drop in sales over the past several months. That's another factor a new business owner has to take into account. Political climates in this country effect the economy world wide.

It may not be based in reality, but the politics of destruction have a greater effect on luxury purchases than any other sector of business.

chiger,

Amen, Brother Chiger!
The most scary thing going on right now is all three of the vying Presidential candidates at some time in their political past have voted in favor of making us knifemakers outlaws!

Another case 'n point - Here in GA, I can carry my concealed handgun into a public resturant legally but will go to jail if I pull out my custom 5" damascus steakknife to cut my steak!

Another case 'n point - Here in GA, I can carry my concealed handgun into a public resturant legally but will go to jail if I pull out my custom 5" damascus steakknife to cut my steak!


LMAOff! Your killin' me. Wait a minute. When I quit laughing I'll finish...

Ok. Carl, you sir are man after my own heart. I want a man sized steak and a man sized knife! That is why we need to be involved in the political process. If we don't protect the constitution, the special interest will pay or bully politicians into usurping it.

I don't think a lot of knife makers understand the effect politics has on their hobby/business. Think about it. I'll bet there are knives in every home on the planet. Knives are the most primal, basic and useful tool on the planet. And yet knives and the people who produce them are taken for grated. If knife makers around this country ever banded together they would become one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the world.

I know I'm kind of sounding a little "Dr. Evil-ish," but your point about GA laws is important to knife owners and makers. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and right now I don't think we're squeaking enough.

Ok, soap box away. But your point is very valid. The most insincere people in this world can have the most profound effect on our business.

chiger,