Getting back in The Game

T

Travis Fry

Well-Known Member
Many of you who were around since the beginning of KD have probably wondered, at some point, whether I died. Or lost all my fingers. Or was imprisoned.

Thankfully none of those things happened. I moved from the Houston area back home to the Austin area. I changed jobs twice. I remodeled a house and part of a barn. Built a killer wood shop and kitchen cabinets and a really great garden. Got another dog. Learned how to cure meat. And I FINALLY got my grinder out of storage and up and running again.

I eased back in by taking a handle replacement job. Then a partial trade with another craftsman for a fully handmade fountain pen. It turns out that my re-emergence (not exactly coincidentally) coincides with an article in Blade featuring my brother and myself, but whatever the reasons, I've got 3 knives about done, my first in almost 3 years. Thankfully it appears that, for me anyway, knifemaking is not a degenerating skill--I've still got it, at least as much as I ever had it.

However, the knife world has changed a lot in that time, so I'm soliciting the knowledge of the collective for advice. Here's my thinking so far about next steps:
  • Revamp my website to contain all of my current stuff and examples of past stuff I'm still interested in making
  • Reconnect with my email list (400+) and give them the option to opt out or stay in. They haven't heard from me in a long time, but some might still be interested.
  • Reduce my prices for now by 20-25% over what I was getting back when I was better known until it seems like I can push them up
  • Push hard to get some product completed to try to regain momentum
I might do a show in October. I'll try to be more of a presence on the forums, and of course keep up on Instagram, but:
  • Are there new online venues or trends that have become useful in the last few years for generating buzz and sales?
  • Are there certain memberships/sites worth paying for that are new? Are there any non-new ones that used to be worth the $ but aren't?
  • There's a LOT more competition out there--should this affect my pricing and strategies?
  • Is there anything I'm missing, or is it still essentially the same game but with more players?
Also:
  • Are there new fora or information resources out there that I need to be aware of?
  • Any new "it" steels I need to know about?
  • Any new a-holes to avoid?
  • What about suppliers? I mean, BossDog gets my business when he has what I need, but there's always those other times...

I'm sure I'll figure out most of this stuff over time, but am interested in feedback.

Thanks!

Travis Fry
 
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Welcome back! Life grabs ahold of us and runs away sometimes, I know that feeling. The things you suggested doing sound good to me, except for the lowering your prices. If you make a quality knife...sell it for what you think it's worth. There is a ton of overpriced junk out there with 60 grit grinds that just looks lazy to me.

As for suppliers everyone has their go-tos. For stabilzed wood...little Woody's on Facebook or Rob's wild wood on Instagram. A couple of memebers here have some good stuff occasionally as well. Gene kimmi and Jess Hoffman.

Steel I use new jersey steel Baron for most of what I need.

For most other things I just buy them from whoever has what I want in stock. bossdog, jantz, masecraft, alpha knife supply, Culpeper, high temp tools to name most of them. Hope this helps!
 
My son keeps hitting me up to make an insta-gram account. I hear a lot of makers do well there. Etsy was good to me on the blacksmith side of things but it is overrun with makers now.
 
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