Tell us your success story

SHOKR

SHOKR

Well-Known Member
Hey guys
I've been thinking that success stories of well established knifemakers (or any knifemaker for that matter) could be a great drive for beginners as well as struggling ones
I know i need them!

So please if you ever had hard time with knifemaking or a related field, late start, got over a disability, or anything you feel was an accomplishment, do share with us, it would help others in times of need

Thanks
 
Oh man, where do I start?
I had a metal shop teacher in 10th grade that started us by making twisted railroad spike knives as a graded project. The most diligent of us were invited after hours to more advanced forging and blacksmithing instruction. After I left school I made kit knives briefly to supplement my income.
Ten years later, after leaving a string of jobs that left me at the whim of a business owner I broke out on my own, put all my finances on the line and started making knives again, from scratch this time, in a corner of my basement. Three years after that, I'm full time at it and wish I would have started sooner. I have learned a lot, ground my knuckles and buffed my fingerprints off, and am slowly growing my portfolio and skill with every knife. I view my knifemaking as a life path that is much more rewarding, and ultimately more financially secure, than pulling a paycheck out in the oil patch. My first knife that was actually completed was made out of medium carbon scrap chainsaw bar with oak handle scales, oil hardened and roughly finished, and the latest is S30V. It's exciting thinking of what the next 3 years will bring. And, a small edit to this - I definitely have not succeeded yet, and I don't know what point I must reach to say that. But I am continuing to learn, and I suppose that's the majority of my drive.
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thank you Frank for sharing
i wish you the best

and i guess while there is no definite great success, the small success make a lot of difference!
 
Ahmad,

Do you know how to eat an elephant ???? One bite at a time.

While there are some amazing success stories in our business I think it's important to look at how we measure our own success to stay motivated in the face of adversity.

To one day reach our common goal of "success" in the big picture we must first overcome every problem standing in the way of that goal. To me this means to identify a single problem we're having and overcome that one issue to continue moving forward, one small step at a time.

Take for example fitting up guards. Typically it will take a maker some experimentation and trial and error to reach a proffessional level with this task. There will be many failures on the road to success. Measuring one's self by the failures is foolhardy and detrimental to reaching the goal.

For myself fitting guards is a success story. It been a struggle to get here but I'm now on very sound footing with this task.

I think if we took a close look at makers who've reached success we'ld find two common themes reoccuring-

1. That maker has been making for YEARS prior to this percieved success. These folks have long had the skills to make a professional knife but maybe recently have come up with something HOT with mass appeal that has fuelled their popularity in the marketplace.

2. The other type will still have multiple years under their belt already. But, this type of maker literally eats, breathes and LIVES knifemaking 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Nothing will stop this maker from eventual success because of their determination to keep going. These guys eat steel dust and fart out finished knives on an incredibly regular basis improving their skills along the way.

I personally don't have the years to be a # 1 maker and don't have the time to be a #2 type, LOL.

I do however revel in each small success and continue to self asses and recognize how far I've come since the start of my knifemaking journey.

Just my opinion on this subject so take that for what it's worth

-Josh
 
Josh, those are words to live by my friend. Very well said!

Even though I haven't finished a knife yet, I have trashed some steel and look at every piece as a success because they kept getting better and better. People that see the glass half empty would most likely consider these failures. Not me, I'm one step closer to my success, what ever that may be. Only time will tell.

Now it's time for my steel dust breakfast so I can finally fart out a finished knife! :biggrin:

Thanks for the motivational words Josh.
 
im with you on every word Josh, except the elephant, i could use its ivory tho ;)

by success stories i mean any overcoming of obstacles and such, be it small or big

thing is there are times when one feels down (at least i do. and i am a very positive person in my opinion. i take every single negative thing and turn it to positive, but sometimes im overwhelmed) and 'success' stories help give a boost!
i believe every maker today has a success story, even a little one!

Steven, you'll get there, as long as you have the drive and spirit. also a place like Knife Dogs helps A LOT!!! ;)
 
Knife making is what is referred to as a "Labor Intensive" occupation or avocation for that matter.

The most important thing to do for me was to develop my own yardstick of success so to speak. I have written previously about been disabled & having chronic pain, two major back surgeries, four eye surgeries and many other annoyances I don't care to list or bore anyone with.

You can really count the amount of makers that have made a Success of it on one hand if you wish to look at reviews, awards, sheepskins, notoriety and of course MONEY made at this endeavor. I learned to look inward to gauge my success instead of looking at what everyone else was doing.

I use to sell new & used cars at a dealership in a previous life and we had a saying that sums things up well. Some days are magic! And some days are tragic!

Another important point for me was to find my own road in knife making. in the late 90,s I met and learned from the late Mr. Bob Loveless, Many then and now were making copy's of his knives and doing well selling them too. I made one 4" Drop point hunter off of one of his Micarta profiles that he let us newbies copy at his shop.
After the first one was finished and sold I decided that I was going to pursue making my own designs in culinary because I just didn't get much of a feeling of satisfaction coping Bob's knives.

I am doing what I love for a living and that counts for so much! I've made more in other occupations but this has been the most rewarding.

What ever sales or reviews etc I had yesterday? Are just that! Yesterday's news.
The trick is for me, to keep my nose to the grind stone and focus on what I can do TODAY to improve my designs, knife making & sales.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Since you mention related fields, I believe my story qualifies.

We manufacture a product that I invented and patented. We do this in our small shop here in S/E Ohio. Nothing fancy in the shop; our main machine is a mid 80's
"J" head Bridgeport running a modern three axis cnc control system. I call it our antique with an upgrade.

I'm a gadget guy that loves machinery; I'm always looking for a better way to do most anything mechanical. I've had hundreds of what I thought were original ideas pass through my head in my 69 years. Many of them seemed like sound ideas, but nothing ever came of them, they just slipped from memory and were gone. I'd read that only 1 patented invention in a 100 ever gets produced and only a small percentage of those are a success, so how could an idea that was floating around in my head be of any value. It never seemed feasible to me; the odds were to great.
When I first attempted to make knives in 1999 I found I could not grind blades, period. No matter how hard I tried there was no success for me.
I stopped what I was doing and looked for another way. An idea came to mind.
Using scraps and pieces that where laying around the shop I put together my first Bubble Jig; a piece of angle cut wood a refrigerator magnet and a bubble that I extracted from a busted level. For the clamp, I used a cotter pin that came from the CSX RxR bridge crew. A friend had bought a bucket full by the shop wondering if knives could be made from them. I played around with the idea for a few days finally making a crude jig; setting down to the grinder I amazed myself, I could grind a blade and the grinds were actually even.

For several years, I shared this idea on the forums explaining how anyone could make one of these grinding fixtures for a few dollars. I helped many people make one for their grinding set up.

This idea was one that did not pass from my memory to be lost; I kept at it, invested 10,000 dollars that I didn't have, taught myself how to machine and how to weld and to retail, learned what it takes to stay in business and how to succeed.

The design that we manufacture today, came out of these early attempts. These days I have limited time to make knives, the Bubble Jig business keeps us busy. The satisfaction for me, in manufacturing my invention, comes from knowing that I have helped many new makers achieve success in grinding as well as knowing I have beaten the odds as an inventor.
So if I were to offer advice it would be to believe in yourself and don't give up on your ideas.

Fred
 
I have overcome Quite a bit to get to where I am now. I started in 1999, learning from George Trout. One of the best! Doing It as a hobby part time business. Orders were good. Then in early 2003 I had Kim Breed do a test on one of my models for Blade Magazine. I got over 100 orders from that!! Then in nov. 2003 A big setback. My son Steven went to Iraq and did not come home. That put the skids to our lives. I couldnt even go to my shop for a long time. Started gaining weight and just about lost my mind. But with GOD I overcame everything but the weight. Gotta work on that. I kept up with a good amount of orders. Back close to normal. Just enjoying going to work and making knives in my spare time. Then DHL bought out my workplace and put on a good show for awhile. Eventually failing badly and putting us all out of work. WOW this stinks! How am I going to feed my family and not lose the house! Then the TV show 60 Minutes came to town. Put my ugly mug on Tv. The floodgates opened. GOD said dont worry fatboy, I'll take care of you. And he has! I have been on numerous TV shows and magazines and newspapers! And I hope it makes people look at all custom makers, not just me. So I have overcome a bit. But life is good and I give GOD and a strong knife community credit.
GOD BLESS!!!
O'Machearley
 
Now if you are very into the knife making you will appreciate my simple but truthfull answer, And that is even with a couple of moves and me getting older I have been making knives for 40 years now. I still have screw ups that natural materials may cause or ones that my carelessness has created. I have never quit except for the time required to set up my shop after a move. On this move we decided to go live with one of my daughters and her husband, and avoid a down sizing thing that would have shut me down. My son in law made sure when the house was bought, there was going to be a work shop area for me. I've been retired for15 years from the job I had I had in "my first life." this has been a marvelouse run for me !!! As well with a lot of help from my great wife, that first job and some money return with my part time knife making, we are in a comfortable financial position for me to continue or quit at any time. Sure makes it possible for me to do most only what work I want to do. Frank
 
Josh Dabney said:
Ahmad,

1. That maker has been making for YEARS prior to this percieved success. These folks have long had the skills to make a professional knife but maybe recently have come up with something HOT with mass appeal that has fuelled their popularity in the marketplace.

2. The other type will still have multiple years under their belt already. But, this type of maker literally eats, breathes and LIVES knifemaking 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Nothing will stop this maker from eventual success because of their determination to keep going. These guys eat steel dust and fart out finished knives on an incredibly regular basis improving their skills along the way.


-Josh
Click to expand...

Josh, We haven't met yet, but please let me know if you see any finished knives appear in a trail behind me?

Thanks.
Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
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