On Blogging, or Why I haven't written

03/30/2013
On Blogging.

My intent when I started this blog was to talk about knife making, knives, and the stuff surrounding the making of knives. What I've found is that I have much less to say than I thought I did. Right now I'm STILL working on my ABS MS knives. I don't have anything, of the quality I want, done.

It's really, really hard!

  I am still making knives, and, in some ways, I'm a much better (or at least faster) maker than I was even just a couple of years ago. I've got a line of waterjet EDC's that people seem to like. They are not as much fun for me as a full forged piece, OTOH, I can get them done and off the bench pretty fast. This means that I can sell them for about half of what my bottom end forged pieces go for. Heck, I'm even carrying one myself.

It's the getting done part that I struggle with right now. I get so twisted up in the details of the high end pieces that they tend to sit on the bench for a long time (looooong time).

Right now the Eugene show is on the near horizon, April 12-14. I'm trying to get some new stuff done for that show, a couple more EDC's (they should get handles today) a kitchen set (this is what I hope is the first of a series of waterjet kitchen knives). The set will have a 9 inch chef, an 8 inch general slicer, and a paring knife, all with the same stabilized Box Elder burl for handles. The set will be priced at $700, which is pretty good for a set of (substantially) hand made knives. There is also a bread knife, a narrow meat slicer, and cleaver that are not part of the set, but would go very well with them.

I also hope to have one new damascus piece, it's going to end up like a sgian-dubh/pukko crossover, and some cool little friction folders with textured copper handles. These friction folders are another thing that I can make and get off the bench pretty fast, though even these are starting to get some fancy elements. I'm thinking of versions with bone or ivory slabs, textured silver handles, damascus blades. I'm sure that will lead me to slip joints and there goes the whole simple/fast thing, sigh.

So what does all of this mean? Partly, I'm still trying to find a niche. I have made some inroads into the blackpowder/rendezvous reenactors community, unfortunately, like the Renfaire/SCA folks, they are reluctant to spend the kind of $ that my best work commands. I do have to say that the most recent blackpowder show was a huge success for me. I'm hoping that it's a good sign.

I'd like to think that having $100-$150 pieces on the table will bring in the beginning collector, and the impulse buyer. The truth is, I have no idea what causes a random stranger to spot one piece out of 400 tables of knives and decide to buy that one. I just have to hope that something on my table is what he's looking for.

Thanks for looking,

Geoff