What's the hardest part?

Archive ... when asked by CKD members ...

It's all hard, and it's all easy, I guess.The hardest part, for me, is to START grinding on a knife. I often have some kind of block when it comes to the point of jumping into grinding, be it pre, or post-heat treat. I don't love the thought of the noise, dust and heat, BUT......once I sit down and get with it, it is really enjoyable and I like the work. Maybe it's the fact that I'm carving/shaping, with the grinding wheel, something out of a hunk of steel, I don't know.


Maybe you're asking which "part" of making a knife is the hardest? Probably getting the polish to an acceptable point. (Our good friend Tom was right, it appears.) I hate it when I buff a blade and then find a 50X scratch and have t go back to 400X to get it out, then on through the whole process again. But, hey! That's life in the kife shop, right?

SRJ

All the hand work gets to be a pain but the worst part is setting the price for each piece and trying to sell them.You can rarely base it on the amount of actual time spent.You can't depend on fancy materials to insure a nice price either.The overall quality is what sells it.The price is the toughest part for me.How many dollars for my many hours?Anyone else out there that has that problem?

I'm with geno...I also have a hard time pricing. Being that i do almost all of my selling on ebay right now, I often have to put a low price on the knife hoping that it will get bidded up.

stan mcfall

If you would have asked this question a few months ago I would have said soldering (clean solder joint w/ little cleanup) but I think I've finally figured that one out. I'll have to go with Geno on this one also. Pricing is a hard one, especially when it's on some new project. If I priced it according to my time spent there would be some major sticker shock going on.
Before I started making knives I wondered why they were so high priced, now that I've been doing it a while I wonder how some knifemakers can sell so cheap.
Jon

If you want to have fun soldering, get a heat gun. It is so much nicer than a torch.

Pricing is always an issue. However, a lower price, on a new knife that took a long time to develop, might be better than putting a price on it so high that you are the only one that ever sees it! As you continue to make that knife, with those new (to you) techniques, it'll become easier and quicker to do and the time/price roblem will lessen to some degree. I've always felt that a knife "out there" in the collector's posession will do me more good than having that same knife in my drawer/safe, where no one sees it.

That's why the CKD Available Knives area is so GREAT. Thousands can see the knife with very little cost to the maker.

My biggest problem is that I constantly want to rush things. I have so little time to work on knives, I push it when I do have time.

I am in an unusual position, as well. I still have a long way to go in the skills department, yet there is a steady demand for my knives. I do the absolute best on every knife, but sometimes I make mistakes I can't correct and I feel like I am letting my customer down by not giving them something close to perfection. I think it is one of the knifemaker's burden's to eternally see all your flaws in your knife, when the majority of the folks buying it do not see anything but a great knife. I guess we all have that perfect knife in our head, but we have a hard time telling our hands how to make that knife.

Steve, I'm going to try the heat gun idea! I never like soldering.

Other than that I'm going to jump in with the rest of you on pricing. One maker once told me if I could average $15 to $20 an hour for my time I put into a knife I would be in pretty good shape. I have never yet timed myself so I still have no idea.

I have one memory I hold on to. That was the day I sold my first bowie. Not knowing how to price it I simply asked the customer what he thought. He dropped 5 100 dollar bills on my desk and asked if that was enough!!! IT WAS!!

I guess the hardest part for me is the final finish. Inevitably, something doesn't come out as well as I would like.
I greatly enjoy most other parts, especially grinding.
Pricing has been a hard area as well, although I don't worry too much about it. I make knives because I enjoy it, and as long as sales are paying for my source of enjoyment, I am happy. I recently raised prices as some customers felt they were "taking advantage of me". Without their encouragement, I would have been reluctant to raise them.

No part of knifemaking is difficult when things are going right. I have made knives that almost went together by them self. Every thing fit, the finish just popped out and the guard soldered the first time and, on and on. Then just when you think you are great at this craft you get the one that nothing goes right. The blade doesn't grind just right. It warped in heat treating. The s/s foil gets a hale and scales up the warped blade. After correcting these problems the solder wont flow takes 2 hours to get a good solder joint this can go on and on. Even the simplest task can be nerve splitting when things go wrong. Like Steve said "that's life in the knife shop"

Here's the hardest part for me. I have about 10 hours invested in a knife that is already sold (but not paid for- I don't normally take deposits either), and it was due for delivery on March 15. Yesterday, I laid out the filework the customer requested on the spine, and was putting small notches in the spine for file "starter grooves." The Dremel cutoff wheel caught and ran down one side of the blade, leaving a gash far too deep to grind out. I had to write to the customer and tell him I am starting all over.

I am at a point where I will probably not take any more custom orders for this very reason. If I had been making the knife on spec, I would toss it aside with an "Oh, well." But someone whose business and friendship I value is now faced with an extended delay. I hate it. I am under the gun now to make that knife, and I don't do well under that kind of pressure.

So... I think in the future I will make what I want to make, when I want to make it, and offer it for sale. Period.

Don,

I am in a similar situation right now with one of my customers. The worst part is that it has happened twice. The only two knives I have ever made that ended up with impurities in the steel have been for the same customer. The blades weren't even of the same type of steel. I sent the blades to another maker we both know and trust for verification. That type of pressure certainly takes away the enjoyment of making knives during that period of time, especially since I don't rely on knifemaking for financial support.
I also feel as though taking custom orders is holding me back from moving on to bigger and better things in knifemaking. Part of the reason is that I only make approximately 25 knives per year. I certainly don't fault customers from wanting 'something like that one' (I should like it, I made it afterall), but I intend to stop taking 'custom' orders for the time being while I find my niche.

Brett

I to have made that mistake,and one of the things I done to keep this from happening again was to get me a brand new set of pads for my vise and setting the blade all the way down to where 1/8" of the spine is sticking.Now if the dremel takes off all it will take with is a little of the vise.Then I put the pads away so they will stay clean for next time.
Just my 2 cents and how I do it.

It is always the customer orders you mess up, not your spec knives

I am at that crossroads, as well. I am so astounded that so many folks are coming to me for knives, but I continue to get custom orders that I find take a lot of extra time. I feel like I am letting them down when I make what they want, but it doesn't come out quite as I expect it should, or as clean as one of my standard patterns.

I am beginning to believe that true custom orders should come from friends/customers that you have known for a long time, who have bought your knives for many years, and who you have developed a certain synergy with so when they come to you with a design, you both know it will suit both your tastes, since you now think with a like mind.

I have definitely not been making knives long enough to establish those kind of relationships and I have hard enough time as it is making my patterns.

At this point, custom orders have become an aggravation instead of a challenge because I know my skills are not up to the level of a maker with years of experience who can easily adapt themselves to new things.

I want to make what I make extremely well rather than make something I am not used to yet poorly. The hard part is communicating that to the customer so they are not offended and still desire to share your skills. I love getting special requests, because you feel someone is putting their trust and their money on you. On the other hand, I have yet to build a stick tang knife, fit a guard, grind a blade to a high polish instead of satin finishing, build any kind of a folder, make a knife clean enough that I would send it off for engraving, or accomplish many other tasks that I love about knives so much.

I constantly chastise myself for rushing because that is not the kind of knifemaker I want to be. I would rather be at a point where I build 10 jaw-dropping knives a year (even if they are simple drop point hunters with micarta handles) then pump out 50-plus average knives a year.