Carved dyed bone skinner

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
This is another one I just finished up.
Man I love the look and the feel of dyed bone but I hate the smell and finishing the pins gives me fits, but I think it's worth it.
All comments welcome.





 
I forgot to mention I first got on the Internet forums I seen a post that was titled hot cakes and I thought it was odd but I clicked on it and it was a post by Darrin Sanders of a bunch of knives that looked just like this and I thought to myself man I sure do like those and saved the photo to my phone....I see why he called them hot cakes :)
 
Looking good! Getting better at the leather too.

What number is this if you don't mind my asking?

Chris
 
Love it, Justin. I would never know that one was yours - a deviation from your norm. Great job on the sheath, too.

Wallace
 
Nice design and finish on the skinner Justin. I too love the dyed and stag look on bone.
This skinner looks right at home on the Winchester
 
Thank you all for the nice comments I'm pretty proud of this one.
Wallace I don't want to be a one trick pony, that's part of the reason I'm not taking orders anymore. I want to branch out to new designs, styles and materials.
Thanks Bruce, the bone and old 94 just seemed like a good fit.
 
Justin Presson said:
I don't want to be a one trick pony, that's part of the reason I'm not taking orders anymore. I want to branch......
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Awww...Man! I was just about to order one of those. :biggrin: Yeah I'm with you, sort of, so hijack alert.

I'm getting tired of making the same knife over and over and I too was thinking about cutting off orders. But, the more I think about it, the more I'm telling myself not to do that. If there is a demand for that design and you have plenty of people still asking for it, maybe we should exploit the opportunity and suffer through the boredom of the same knife over and over.

Shortly after making my first couple of knives, I started writing down every expense and every sale in a cheap ledger from WallyWorld. If I spent $2 on something, I wrote it down. Much to my amazement, in a very short period of time I had spent a couple thousand on this hobby. So, with every one of those blades you/I sell, the ones your tired of making, you're chipping away at recouping that initial investment. I've decided, I will make that pattern, the one I've made over and over, until my ledger balance is zero. I kept the first 5 for myself and I've sold 14 finished knives so far, and it looks like I'll have to make about 20 more of that "boring" pattern to get to zero.

I'm trying to just squeeze an "interesting" one in here and there to break up the monotony, but I'm going to ride that one out for a while. Sorry to tack this on your post, but I heard my own thoughts in your post. Awesome knife by the way!
 
Self Made Knives said:
Awww...Man! I was just about to order one of those. Yeah I'm with you, sort of, so hijack alert.

I'm getting tired of making the same knife over and over and I too was thinking about cutting off orders. But, the more I think about it, the more I'm telling myself not to do that. If there is a demand for that design and you have plenty of people still asking for it, maybe we should exploit the opportunity and suffer through the boredom of the same knife over and over.

Shortly after making my first couple of knives, I started writing down every expense and every sale in a cheap ledger from WallyWorld. If I spent $2 on something, I wrote it down. Much to my amazement, in a very short period of time I had spent a couple thousand on this hobby. So, with every one of those blades you/I sell, the ones your tired of making, you're chipping away at recouping that initial investment. I've decided, I will make that pattern, the one I've made over and over, until my ledger balance is zero. I kept the first 5 for myself and I've sold 14 finished knives so far, and it looks like I'll have to make about 20 more of that "boring" pattern to get to zero.

I'm trying to just squeeze an "interesting" one in here and there to break up the monotony, but I'm going to ride that one out for a while. Sorry to tack this on your post, but I heard my own thoughts in your post. Awesome knife by the way!
Click to expand...
I know what you mean and I go back and forth. My mind is made up about not taking orders for me, the stress of having people wait on you is not for me. I work a full time and have 2 kids now so my knife time like many is limited and I decided it's not fair to my family or the customer. The way I see it is if the demand is there they will sell as i get them done. I get asked do you have any available now I want to get one for my brother or dad whos birthday is in 2 weeks and so on. When I tell them no I have orders and I'm months out because I'm slow :) alot just say ok well if you have any extra let me know.

I'm not going to abandon the small caper I have been making but I just like the idea of making them up as I get time and offering them for sale once they are done. We are a society of I see it I want it now. If I was full time maker I would likely still take orders.
Who knows once I get the orders I have now done it might blow up in my face and I won't be able to sell another knife :)

Don't worry about hijacking thread this is good conversation.
 
It is a good conversation and I think I'll join in. I've gone to a hybrid of what you guys do. I do take orders and when I get one I stop everything I'm doing and build it. The cost to my customer for that "Premier" service is an extra $100 up front then they pay my regular price when it's finished. I make it a little more palatable to my customer by throwing in a "Deluxe" sheath which is a lot better than my regular ones. It accommodates the serious buyers and as much as I hate the pressure of an order it makes that stress a little more bearable. I'm just sayin . . .

Wallace
 
The main one I've got a waiting list for is my survival knife. I'm still selling them for $80 and I share pics on each one sell. That in turn usually gets me a couple more requests. I tell everyone, over and over, I am slow and there will be long wait. Most people are ok with waiting so far, and I try not let it pressure me. I don't ask for money upfront on these either, if someone doesn't respond when I get to them, their name gets deleted from my list. That's only happened once so far. I'm kind of considering that one design that I know I have a steady interest in my cash cow for now. That's what I was suggesting to Justin, if it's selling, just keep cranking them out.
 
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