My latest Chef's knife!!

Joined
Sep 29, 2015
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229
This is my latest chef’s knife made out of 1095 which was quenched to 66 Rockwell and then tempered back to 60.5 Rockwell. It takes a really great edge and is hair shaving sharp.


The dark handle material is desert Ironwood and the lighter wood is Cuamaru (Brazilian Teak) sanded up to 2000 grit in progressive steps and then coated Tung Oil.


Being recently retired I was going to try and sell a few knives online on this site starting with this one but I like it so much I think I will keep this one and also I want to check out its performance. I hope it’s okay to ask this here because I do have a membership that allows me to use the Knifemaker for sale area but I was wondering if anybody thinks this thing would be worth $200 because I would really have to charge that much to make it worth my while; I guess I am a slow knife maker, LOL. Any opinions appreciated.

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i m earning turkish money so its my half price nearly in a month . i know its priceless for you but it worth 100$ . after seen 6 pieces wusthof kitchen set with the blok 400$..
 
A well designed, clean ground knife with good egos and fit in the handle is worth $200.. the issue is attracting some one with the $200 who wants the k ife more than the $200 they have in their pocket.

Only you can decide what you need to get out of a knife to make the work/time/materials worth your time. But then at least one buyer needs to agree.

Just starting out and trying to establish a reputation it can be difficult to sell at a price point you want.

A custom/handmade knife of good quality is not comparable to production mass produced knives.

I get irritated when some one says "but I can get X production knife for less"

Of course you can. It is a mass produced knife. Stamped out, and ground out mostly by machine.
 
A well designed, clean ground knife with good egos and fit in the handle is worth $200.. the issue is attracting some one with the $200 who wants the k ife more than the $200 they have in their pocket.

Only you can decide what you need to get out of a knife to make the work/time/materials worth your time. But then at least one buyer needs to agree.

Just starting out and trying to establish a reputation it can be difficult to sell at a price point you want.

A custom/handmade knife of good quality is not comparable to production mass produced knives.

I get irritated when some one says "but I can get X production knife for less"

Of course you can. It is a mass produced knife. Stamped out, and ground out mostly by machine.


Thanks for the reply Bigfattyt. I posted this in Sept and since then I have sold a few chef knives in the $200.00 plus range so things are working out pretty good.
 
Only you can decide what you need to get out of a knife to make the work/time/materials worth your time. But then at least one buyer needs to agree.

This is the best (and IMO the only) answer to this type of question. If I may give an example as to why this question irritates me mildly:

One of my best friends is a blacksmith who retired from Boeing a few years ago. We were making a custom gate for a client, one who's bought 3-4 prior gates from him, and one day he said that the gate would look really neat if he forged out a bird for one of the branches. I thought he should do it, but his response was, "then I'd only be making $5/hr for this gate. I was making $50/hr at Boeing." He wanted to do it, but was so worried about "how much he should make" that I tried to convince him to do it, and if he wanted to make $50, then go back to work for Boeing.

If you enjoy what you're doing, and you'd be doing it anyway, outside of paying for materials, why should one worry?

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant. Have a great holiday season.
 
This is the best (and IMO the only) answer to this type of question. If I may give an example as to why this question irritates me mildly:

One of my best friends is a blacksmith who retired from Boeing a few years ago. We were making a custom gate for a client, one who's bought 3-4 prior gates from him, and one day he said that the gate would look really neat if he forged out a bird for one of the branches. I thought he should do it, but his response was, "then I'd only be making $5/hr for this gate. I was making $50/hr at Boeing." He wanted to do it, but was so worried about "how much he should make" that I tried to convince him to do it, and if he wanted to make $50, then go back to work for Boeing.

If you enjoy what you're doing, and you'd be doing it anyway, outside of paying for materials, why should one worry?

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant. Have a great holiday season.

Thank you Weo; I really enjoy a good rant, LOL. But seriously I appreciate your input even though I don’t really agree with you but that’s what forums are all about.


I wish I lived in the ideal utopia that you do where money doesn’t matter but in my world money makes life a lot more pleasant. I very much enjoy making knives and feel I would always make knives even if I had never made any money at it because I only started selling them in the last year since I retired and I have been at it many years. So I am not in it just for the money but to pretend it isn’t more worthwhile doing something that makes you $50 an hour as opposed to five dollars an hour in my mind is pretty naïve even though knifemaking I am making closer to five than fifity.


Before I retired this year my total pay package as a millwright was well over $50 an hour and now I have a decent pension and my house is paid for and I have savings so I could sit on my lazy ass and do nothing but I prefer to keep busy but I would much rather keep busy at something that puts more cash in my pocket than something that doesn’t because who doesn't like extra money. So yes now that I am selling my chefs knives in the 200+ dollar range I am enjoying it more than when I wasn’t selling them! And to me selling a quality knife at a decent price feels like I have produced something of quality that is desired and it is very gratifying. So would I make knives if I couldn't sell them, yes; now that I can sell them and make some money is it more gratifying and will I spend more time making them, yes.


I don’t know if I am disagreeing with you or just ranting too but that’s how I feel and thanks for the input and happy seasons to you too.
 
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I agree, and perhaps I was just nitpcking...(who, me???) But, to clarify where my brain went (but I do have a seizure disorder...I wonder if I can blame this character flaw on my short circuit??) that knife looks to be in the $200-$250+ range, and depending on if you forged it or not, it probably took you anywhere from 5-10+ hours, so your looking at the difference between $20-$25/hr. Which everyone has to decide for themselves how much to worry about this spread.

Have a great 2019 all!
 
The knives ive sold for a penny far outnumber the knives ive actually made a decent profit on. They have far greater meaning and worth than the $200 knives ive made. Mostly because they were for people i knew personally with like minds that trusted me to keep traditional to our shared lineages. Sometimes less is more.
 
I agree, and perhaps I was just nitpcking...(who, me???) But, to clarify where my brain went (but I do have a seizure disorder...I wonder if I can blame this character flaw on my short circuit??) that knife looks to be in the $200-$250+ range, and depending on if you forged it or not, it probably took you anywhere from 5-10+ hours, so your looking at the difference between $20-$25/hr. Which everyone has to decide for themselves how much to worry about this spread.

Have a great 2019 all!

No offence meant and none taken my friend. I wish I could make a nice chef's knife in 5-10 hours, lol... They each take me from 15 to 20 hours so I am pretty much making minimum wage in the $200 dollar range. If I wasn't retired with a pension and very few bills I could never afford to sell them even at that. I honestly don't understand how people can sell some knives on here for so cheap. Have a great 2019 too!
 
The knives ive sold for a penny far outnumber the knives ive actually made a decent profit on. They have far greater meaning and worth than the $200 knives ive made. Mostly because they were for people i knew personally with like minds that trusted me to keep traditional to our shared lineages. Sometimes less is more.

I totally agree, O' Dubhthaigh; I have given quite a few knives to family and loved ones and that is, "priceless".
 
And btw, thats a hell of a good lookin chefs knife. I recently started experimenting with kitchen knives because im tired of my wife bringing home $400 sets of junk. So far the knives ive cut out of miter saw blades out perform the mass produced over priced kitchen supply store stuff. You can probably tell from my attitude that shes dropped more than her share of money on junk. Most of what i do is pattern welded traditional artifact based celtic style knives and edged weapons and tools. The other part is fur trade era stuff. Cant forget the random farm tools lol.
 
And btw, thats a hell of a good lookin chefs knife. I recently started experimenting with kitchen knives because im tired of my wife bringing home $400 sets of junk. So far the knives ive cut out of miter saw blades out perform the mass produced over priced kitchen supply store stuff. You can probably tell from my attitude that shes dropped more than her share of money on junk. Most of what i do is pattern welded traditional artifact based celtic style knives and edged weapons and tools. The other part is fur trade era stuff. Cant forget the random farm tools lol.

Thank you for the comment about my knife. I can certainly understand experimenting with making kitchen knives if your wife is bringing home $400 sets of junk but I think dropping money on junk, unfortunately, is kind of a wifely past time, LOL.

The things you are doing seems very interesting with the Celtic knives and edged weapons and farm tools. Sounds like you have your hands full!
 
My granddaughter is wanting to take culinary an Will be doing a chef knife for her. When I first started making knifes I would keep up with the hours an try to price them accordingly. But learned real quick that could not be done,an had to price them about what other young makers were getting.now 30years later,my skill level has gotten better I can charge a fair price. It was a hard lesson to learn. Ok sorry for the rant. I like the knife, is that a distal taper?
 
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My granddaughter is wanting to take culinary an Will be doing a chef knife for her. When I first started making knifes I would keep up with the hours an try to price them accordingly. But learned real quick that could not be done,an had to price them about what other young makers were getting.now 30years later,my skill level has gotten better I can charge a fair price. It was a hard lesson to learn. Ok sorry for the rant. I like the knife, is that a distal taper?

I am sure your granddaughter will cherish her chef knife from you for the rest of her life. Well, hopefully in 30 years I will be able to get a fair price for my knives too unfortunately, I will be 89 years old, LOL.

This is actually a fairly old thread and since originally posting it I have been getting a fair price for my knives and selling all that I make so things have worked out pretty well since I started the threat. Being retired and having a pension I find I can get what I need to make selling them worthwhile. I would hate to have to make a real living at it though, LOL.

No, that is not a distal taper. Really appreciated the input and I would not consider that a rant at all.
 
My granddaughter is wanting to take culinary an Will be doing a chef knife for her. When I first started making knifes I would keep up with the hours an try to price them accordingly. But learned real quick that could not be done,an had to price them about what other young makers were getting.now 30years later,my skill level has gotten better I can charge a fair price. It was a hard lesson to learn. Ok sorry for the rant. I like the knife, is that a distal taper?
Yeah she spends. Thank god she makes a ridiculous amount of money so i can concentrate on bein the pretty one.
 
I'm surprised this subject isn't talked about more often to be honest. Maybe it is and I'm just not aware.

It's a buyers market when it comes to custom knives for sure. When the vast majority of knifemakers out there today are part time, or just do it as a hobby, they can get away with selling them well below their (monetary) value. Everyone and their brother is making knives it seems. I blame Forged in Fire, haha. And I get that for many the satisfaction alone is enough.

I mean it's a good thing that the industry is getting more recognition, but at the same time it's much more competitive. When you're competing as a full timer trying to make a living on knives against guys that outnumber you, who sell for a fraction of the cost, I can see how frustrating it can be for those full timers who're taking the hit. I didn't fully realize this until I went from being a hobbiest to a full time maker, haha. And I completely understand that it's ultimately choice. I'm not trying to play the victim here at all. Just my observations.

I've worked in industries where you have lowballers come in, and it essentially creates a race to the bottom type scenario. Only benefiting those that are buying. But I can see the benefits to this as well. I'd like to believe that competition raises the bar in regards to overall standards. Unfortunately this isn't always the case from what I can tell. And I'm not suggesting that there's this cutthroat competition going on. It seems to be quite the opposite for the most part. Which was part of the attraction for me, the community. Those that will go out of their way to help you out.

Anyway, these are only my observations as I said. And recently becoming a full timer, it's something I've thought about. It is what it is, and you either make it work somehow or you don't. For me, I saved enough from my former job to give myself a window of time to either make it or break it at this crazy notion of being a full-time maker. At 10+ hours a day at my former job, it didn't give me nearly enough time to do what I truly enjoy.

And the short answer to your question. Yep, I'm in the same boat brother. LOl. I'm constantly struggling on figuring out what I should price them at.
 
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Hey,thanks, it's not that old to me. I have been away from the forum for a very long time,i guess life happens. Have a lot of early pics. that I would like to post maybe soon.

Hopefully, I am lucky enough to still be making knives at that age. Welcome back to the forum and I look forward to seeing posts of your knives someday.
 
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