Is knife making worth it?

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javand said:
Is it worth getting into? It can be very rewarding on a personal level, as a hobby or obsession. As others mentioned however, if you're eyeballing it as a "career" that you expect to be profitable, look elsewhere.

It can become profitable to varying degrees, once you have experience, equipment, and of course, *talent*. It's not a "trade" you take up like welding or nursing because it's a smart career choice. It's more akin to being an artist. Yes, some few do very well at it, most starve.

Everybody I know that is *only* a full-time knifemaker is either a) retired, b) independantly welthy, c) supported by their spouse, or d) seriously struggling to keep the bills paid.

I don't know a single person that only makes custom knives for a living that doesn't fall into those categories. If they paid for all their equipment, house, and debts from a previous job, they're retired in my book.

You can certainly suplement an income with knifemaking if you're talented, and there are some few that make a good living at it, but its the exception to the rule.
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I do it full time and I'm NOT - a - b - c - or d?
Still have a house payment, no spouse, truck & Harley payment and still save some and I'm not struggling.
I've done it a long time and have strong work ethics I guess? I know I won't get rich though unless I win the lotto?:D

Knife making? You better love doing it.........:thumbup::D

TA
 
T.A.DAVISON said:
I do it full time and I'm NOT - a - b - c - or d?
Still have a house payment, no spouse, truck & Harley payment and still save some and I'm not struggling.
I've done it a long time and have strong work ethics I guess? I know I won't get rich though unless I win the lotto?:D

Knife making? You better love doing it.........:thumbup::D

TA
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I am with you, man. I had help from a goverment self-employment program during my first year but after that, I was on my own. I just met with our Tax Accountant and it looks like I made too much this year... I've got to pay over $2500:grumpy: I personally know at least a dozen or so makers who do it full time and are living comfortably. Sometimes, you need to surround yourself with people who think the way you do(or want to) in order to reach your goals. When everyone around you is bringing you down, it is time to break free and try a different crowd.
 
T.A.DAVISON said:
I do it full time and I'm NOT - a - b - c - or d?
Still have a house payment, no spouse, truck & Harley payment and still save some and I'm not struggling.
I've done it a long time and have strong work ethics I guess? I know I won't get rich though unless I win the lotto?:D

Knife making? You better love doing it.........:thumbup::D

TA
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Same here man! Except no payments... When we need another truck, car for the wife, power hammer, boat, etc, I work harder, save our $ and just buy it. :D
 
Rick Marchand said:
I am with you, man. I had help from a goverment self-employment program during my first year but after that, I was on my own. I just met with our Tax Accountant and it looks like I made too much this year... I've got to pay over $2500:grumpy: I personally know at least a dozen or so makers who do it full time and are living comfortably. Sometimes, you need to surround yourself with people who think the way you do(or want to) in order to reach your goals. When everyone around you is bringing you down, it is time to break free and try a different crowd.
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You should have spent $ on new toys, erm - I mean "equipment."
 
A lot of this comes down to the old saying, "Say you can or say you can't- either way you'll be proven right"
 
Frederick1 said:
Hello Every One !!!
If you are thinking of competing with production companies with production quality blades that can't be distinguished from every other cookie-cutter knife flooding the market today, then you might have a hard go at it.I worked at a maccine shop and got all my materials from there. My first knife was practically free in materials
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Hi Frederick1... Welcome to the forums! Take a minute and fill out your profile(location). I sense that English isn't your first language.(I hope I am not wrong and you aren't just a relative of Butch's... inside joke)

Getting free material helps keep the cost down, for sure!
 
Frederick1 said:
Hello Every One !!!
If you are thinking of competing with production companies with production quality blades that can't be distinguished from every other cookie-cutter knife flooding the market today, then you might have a hard go at it.I worked at a maccine shop and got all my materials from there. My first knife was practically free in materials
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Competing with production company's is not what custom, handmade knives is about...
 
Knifemaking paid for seeing the Trailer Park Boys show last night, and a trip backstage to meet the guys. Not the biggest celebrities, but to me and my girl, they are like royalty. Went out and had an awesome dinner afterwards.

If I hadn't sold a blade, that would have been hard for me to swing this month. Made a dream come true for us because of this.

Just chalking up another instance of pure win for the self employed knifemaker.
 
This thread has been like a private window inside the knife maker's world - that motivates/drives folks to make knives, the good, the bad, why you started, why you continue to do this, etc.

Great thread - thanks much to all of you who shared so far :thumbup:

Will
 
I am a full time shop rat. Knife maker, machine operator, inventor, welder, fabricator a gadget guy. I wear half a dozen hats, knife maker is just one of them. The goal for me was the shop and I have that, life is good. Its paid for.
I'm down with the hot dog stand if you are looking for investors. :)
 
I think knife making is "worth it" even if you never make a dime.

The people you meet and the things you learn have their own value.

Knife making is just like anything else; how successful you are depends on you.
 
Fellhoelter said:
Tell me you got to hang with Bubbles !
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Cool pic, Rick. For some reason I thought you were taller. Apparently not.

In any case, TPB rewls, y'all!
 
Oh yeah. I got to hang out with the boys after the show. I ended up talking to Julian the most though. That guy is a BEAST. My girlfriend gravitated more towards Ricky and Bubbles. They're all very cool guys. I was expecting some major ball busting (thats ok cause I can give it right back) but they were the nicest guys ever, and didn't pick on us too hard. All hugs and handshakes.
 
Very cool, Josh!!

And yes.....Rick, you are now on my shit list! :D

Also, since I have yet to post in this thread............*EDIT* Ooops, wait a second. I did already post in this thread :eek: Nevermind.
 
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While Angi and I were doing our "5 miles of hills" walk last night, I remembered something kind'a funny and sort'a relevant to this thread.

I was a fairly book-smart kid. Was always the only boy in the advanced level classes at our school, was good at math, and loved to draw. It was just sort of a "given" that I was going to be an Architect or an Engineer. Even though I grew up in a tiny town, and was always outside getting dirty doing stuff like bucking hay bales, shoveling out barns, fishing, hunting.... whatever, as long as it was outside- I was NOT the sit at a desk type.

I had started making knives, mostly to prove to myself and my family that I could, around age 12. Then my Dad started hunting with black powder around the time I was 14. A couple years down the line, he went to a black powder gun show in Enumclaw, WA. He met this mountain of a man that had these "amazing, beautiful, custom, HAND-MADE knives on his table." Dad grabbed his business card for me... but being a 16 year old kid with a new pick-up, a new four-wheeler, and a girlfriend (I worked my ass off to get all of those BTW ;) :) )... I wasn't in a rush to call this fella.

About a year passed and I got a wild hair to call him. The story of meeting this guy, and his personality could be a thread all its own... ;)



BUT--- After only spending about an hour with this guy, the first custom knife maker I had ever actually met--- I went home and told my parents I wanted to be a knife maker... As my job, not just a hobby.



What's kind'a crazy-awesome, looking back on it, is the fact that my parents just listened and were supportive. Here I was all groomed to go off to college for a fancy Engineering degree--- and I come home to tell them I'm gonna be a full time knife maker. :rolleyes: :eek: :D

What's really crazy- is I did go off to school to get that fancy degree..... yet here I am 34, (exactly twice the age of when I first met that fella) and I have an AMAZING woman and daughter in my life, still have a completely supportive and amazing family, a very nice home and shop in a great little town just like the one I grew up in, two dogs that I have wanted since I was 15, I have made friends all over the world, and traveled to some pretty cool places----- And I am a knife maker.


So is IT worth it??? Hell yea, it is. :D

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