An interesting video of a female knifemaker

Just so I don't get grouped in with the "sour grapes cant sell my knives crowd" and to be honest I'm not sure who that is, I don't sell my knives, I've given quite a few away but no money has exchanged hands

My only problem with ms miller is she has clearly skipped the most important part of making a custom knife, The heat treat and geometry, something that most here would adamantly agree is the core of a custom knife, every thing else is embellishment and window dressing

I feel that after three years of selling knives she would have had that part handled
 
Last edited:
Bill F, that was almost too long to read buddy ;) but very well said. You get it!

James.................... LMAO :D

I mean absolutely no disrespect to anyone and I'm not even taken any of the seriously. :p
 
AVigil said:
Good for her.

A wink and a smile from a pretty face can and will bring in more money. A lot of expensive lousy beer has been sold due to a smile.
Click to expand...

Amen to that Brother!

I also see jealously and criticism as quite a complement myself. My knives start at $200.00 and go up to about $1000.00 so if this little lady can do this with her file knives, more power to her!

You go get 'em Girl!:thumbup:
 
billf said:
BTW - I think we should all cool off a little and remember that we are NOT discussing each other....

as luck would have it, I am watching HGTV with my wife and "Ellen's design challenge" or something like that in on

if you want to see what I meant about "trendy" stuff - just tune in now. Oh, and they have a female blacksmith on too!!!

not as cute as Ms Miller, but.....

Bill
Click to expand...
Bill, odd that you mention that show. Tim McClellan on that show is my cousin.
 
John Katt said:
When I first looked at this thread I was OK with what she was doing, as I said in my first post to this thread, but then I got a closer look at her work website/video and I realized she jumped ahead strictly by using smoke and mirror's and Hollywood movie magic, along with some tight fitting clothes and a little cleavage

Then I thought about all the knives in the for sale area and the guys doing their very best to produce a quality product and having troubles getting 100 bucks, I feel like there is something wrong at a very basic level with this situation, at the very least there is a level of degradation here being cast on the knife makers community, If this is the new norm, then when I do decide to sell my first knife I will hire a topless model and plaster that stuff all over the Internet

I know that was over the top, but I seem to be developing a sore spot around my tail pipe area, its all so simple, produce a sub-standard product that you can quickly make in numbers, then advertise the crap out of it add a little sex, and then sell it to an unsuspecting crowd of sheeple

On a side note this is kinda what happened to me and the housing market in the late eighties.... Mc Mansions
Click to expand...

John,
So you are getting a little butt hurt because she is a better marketer and sales person than you? Really. I deal with the polar opposite crowd quite a bit where I live. First, they can find charming that they are dealing with a red neck looking knife maker. Two, Before people buy anything from you. They buy you! and third, While these folks may not be a bunch of smelly hunter looking for a skinner. They are not stupid and usually have Vellum on their walls in engineering, sciences etc and are not push overs or easy to pull the wool over as you have said.

Well heeled folk like the artistic idea of what they buy and they have the bucks to say yea or nay depending on how you present yourself and your product.

I see no harm & No Foul by this fine lady.
 
Hey Don

Tim is very talented - love that campaign desk he did !

I guess he got all the talent in the family, huh?......:p

Bill
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
John,
So you are getting a little butt hurt because she is a better marketer and sales person than you? Really.
Click to expand...

Laurence, I think I have made my self clear, perhaps you missed my last post, my only problem is the fact she is skipping the heat treat process and passing herself off as a custom knife maker while selling a sub-standard product

So to reiterate, I don't sell knives, And for the foreseeable future that wont change, clearly her marketing skills are up to par, now all she needs to do is address the quality of her blades, after that the sore spot on my derriere should diminish significantly ;0)

Be easy with the straw man tact
 
I think what she is doing is great! The quote that this reminds me of is "A rising tide raises all boats" The more people that learn about our craft the better it is for all makers, period.

I have not seen a single naysayer in this tread that had a defensible argument that does not just boil down to "I dont like it and that is my opinion". Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but that does not mean it matters.

I dont understand the negativity related to her final product. I got into this trying to make a simple stock removal three inch blade hunter. Now I have tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours invested trying to make the product(pattern welded chef knives) that I want to make. It is completely irrelevant that some knives will be "better" than mine and my knife will be "better" than some other makers. It is also irrelevant that I may make more or less money than others. The point is that it is MY product, my story, journey ect. If someone likes it great, they may become a customer, if they dont I hope they have the common decency not to bash my product because "I dont like it and that is my opinion"

If someone comes on here and says "What do you think about my knives?" by all means let them know your opinion but that is not what this thread is about.
 
One simple takeaway for all of us: Know your market.
If you think all knife buyers are men, or a certain income level, or care about all the things that YOU care about, you're missing a lot of opportunities.
Buyers also want a story, and they want a little piece of someone who is doing something "cool."

For instance, I stopped bringing damascus to our local farmers' market because I had a steady stream of men who either asked endless questions, or wanted to tell me how much they know about cutlery. The people who actually buy damascus are buying them for gifts- mostly women, and they don't want to know that much about it.
That's not everyone, that's just THIS market.
I was missing sales of plainer knives because people wanted to jaw about fancy ones.

Tell you what- I can sell every railroad spike or rasp/file knife I make. Too bad they're not that interesting to make :)
 
NickWheeler said:
At the risk of being labeled another villain, my gut reaction to all this is pretty darn close to John Katt's.

I can't help but wonder if a big fatty 50 year old dude with a beard came in here posting knives exactly like that and asked, "What do y'all think of my work?!?" It would not get favorable responses.

But I realized I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. I could make about 37 of those rasp knives in the time it takes me to make one fighter the way I do things. So 1 fighter brings me $1300, or 37($450)= $16,650.

Yep...was definitely looking at this stuff from the wrong angle. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry Nick, but I've met you and you're just not that pretty. And your adams apple, goddamn. I'm afraid you're going to have to do it the hard way. :D


edit: You too Don. Doubly so.
 
John Katt said:
Laurence, I think I have made my self clear, perhaps you missed my last post, my only problem is the fact she is skipping the heat treat process and passing herself off as a custom knife maker while selling a sub-standard product

So to reiterate, I don't sell knives, And for the foreseeable future that wont change, clearly her marketing skills are up to par, now all she needs to do is address the quality of her blades, after that the sore spot on my derriere should diminish significantly ;0)

Be easy with the straw man tact
Click to expand...

She may or may not be making a suitable product. I haven't handled or used one.

I deal with the West coast version of her NY market and many of my customers are tickled to buy some of my customs from a red neck looking knife maker in the middle of Obama & Lumber sexual country. LOL

I recently shaved my Gotee because there are two many of them combing the streets with their Starbucks Latte in hand. Like this guy. Hipster.jpeg

So, I build for the market around me and make the best knives I possible can. And I consider myself a high end knife maker Like James Terrio mentioned and I didn't ask for anyones permission on what I call myself and what to sell my knives for and how to market them.

I had a few other maker wanna bees scoffed at my Rhino Chop design which I sell several of each month and has be come my best seller with lots of repeats to give as gifts to friends and family


Last, Ladies & Gentleman. Just cause the video says she demands that price and has that much backlog of 6-8 weeks could be true and could be a little marketing hype because it builds her reputation.
 
Don Hanson III said:
Nathan, what'd I do? ;)

Oh wait, I am a 50 year old fat dude with a beard & I did do it the hard way. :eek:
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad. Me and Nick are going to look like hell when we're 50 and it really ain't that far off. And I can't speak for him, but I plan to be pretty fat by then too.

If we were smart, Jo would make the knives here. She's probably the better machinist and she's a lot better looking.
 
Here you go, "Jo the Machinist" :

jo_the_machinist.jpg~original


We're doubling our prices...
 
Her whole business is based on "perceived value" by her customers. The folks we
deal with have different standards.

John Katt, I've not held or seen any of your knives so I have no comment as to their
quality or usefulness. I certainly wasn't part of your "new anal orifice crowd". I expect
you have great pride in your work, and I compliment you on that.

The fact that she may get a higher price for her knives than I charge for mine doesn't
bother me one whit. She has her market, I have mine, as do most of the makers here.

The fact that some people don't feel she has "paid her dues" really has no bearing on
the issue. There's a whole bunch of folks who buy her work and don't care if she's paid
her dues by your standards. Would I pay $450 for one of her knives? No. But that's
not important. Her customers do.

I'd love to have knives made by some of the makers here, but alas, my teacher's retirement
just won't go that far.:eek:;) Hell, I can't even afford one of mine.

Bill

P.S. I'm almost 70, overweight and grey. If I put on a bikini my market would disappear immediately.:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top