You've made a huge impression in my knife making, as a matter of fact, I made use of one of your sehmented scale build videos. I like the "stepwise process" rather than the "all at once" glue up. I was able to really dial in the fit up doing it that way. I did make mistakes, but was able to fix those faults, which cemented the learning experience into the happy hippocampus (long term memory). Thank you!
I'm getting into making knives as a business. My plan is to first figure out how much it takes to make a knife. This is the bare minimum I'll charge. Of course that's not going to turn a profit so I was thinking of charging double the minimum wage per hour it takes to make a knife on top of the price of materials. If that proves to be too much maybe I'll have that price until I get more renown.
Matt your videos by far have helped me in my knife making adventure so far i thank you very much your content is worth every penny i plan to support your channel as a patreon the way i see it my way of paying you back for all your knowledge you have shared Mark
Well I would greatly appreciate it!! I’m trying to help out as much as I can with the time I have! Maybe if enough people jump on board I can set more time aside to put out more content! Thank you!
It was a solid explanation. Balancing out your throughput of production vs the sales is important so that you have enough work. If you can't keep them on the shelf, charge more. If you can't sell them, charge less. After that, balance out your day job rates vs what you end up charging hourly for making knives and see if it's a side hustle or your new career. I doubt I'll replace my day job. But it'll certainly pay more than zero once I start producing. Thanks for the inspiration.
A very good friend of mine who is a Navajo silversmith once told me concerning this subject that it basically boils down to three things: Materials; Labor and Added Costs. Hope this helps a little.
I'm brand new to knife making but economically speaking- Materials + labor + overhead costs like someone else mentioned will get you started (if it's actually worth that). Labor cost is kinda arbitrary, based off experience. Then adjust your price it till your production capacity matches demand. If you can't keep up your not charging enough. If you have excess production capacity then drop the price. OR you can try to increase production capacity too match demand but that is harder in the hand made knife world unless you do water jet blanks or something to save time or hire more people.
Respectfully that was a bit rambling without much content. Some solid examples of amount of time,material cost,disposables and capital depreciation would be very helpful. But thank you for the effort and the videos on knifemaking. It is appreciated. Also your TH-cam videos may be your best marketing tool,so it’s free plus you even make a little cash on the side. Sorry if my comments were a little harsh but I spent my time watching it.
I've been making knives for about 18 months niw. I don't have any fancy tools like you pros which also limits me on the kind of knives I can make. You can't make a full bevel blade using a 1x30 Harbor Freight $60 belt sander for example. I've still turned out some very nice knives but it takes me about 30 hours labor to make one. I also do Leatherwork so every knife has a sheath which takes another 8-10 hours labor. People I show them to always say I should sell them but I can't bring myself to try to sell them if I only make $2 per hour for my labor. I see tons of nice custom made knives for sale online for $150-250. To me those are give away prices and I just believe it's not worth selling mine at those prices. If my labor is worth 20/hour and I add materials I should get $600-800 for most of my knives. I don't believe I could get that without name/brand recognition. To make knives like you do I'd need to invest another $7000-8000 in tools etc. If I can't make a reasonable profit rather than lose money starting out, then where would the money for further investments in tools come from? Maybe if I went to some blade show I could sell a few at fair prices? IDK, but for now it's a fun hobby in my retirement and I doubt it will ever be more than a hobby. Meanwhile, I've made over 40 knives....and I'm still making more. I'm happy you seem to be making a living doing something you enjoy.
It's about time I told you months ago to start a patreon. As soon as this video is over I'm going to sign up. I'm going to have to start selling knives even though that's not why I started making knives. I have made some really nice ones but my sheath skills are worse than my grinding skills. I got to do something with these things especially since I spent all my money at blade show
hey man 4K subs is rad... i'v been making vids for like 7 years and have like 250 subs haha. Love the channel! I have learned so much from you this last year. Thanks for your time and help!
Well I really appreciate that! That’s why I started this Patreon account so people who appreciate what I’m doing can donate a little to help me continue! Thank you for watching!!
hey man, you could possibly look at doing a similar thing to the main man himself denis tyrell, he puts up his templates on his patreon for paying members and also gives them exclusive purchase access to some of his work, just a thought. I’ll be hopping onto your patreon for sure, all this value and information for about a coffee a month is something i’m willing to do any day. keep up the great work!
@@gentrycustomknives8008 marketing. We all want to sell more knives. But also Organization. What does your week look like? How do you plan for what needs to get done?
I'm a hobbyist. I make knives with hobbyist tools in my spare time. I have steadfastly refused to make a custom knife for profit. I finally gave in to a co-worker and agreed to sell him a knife. There's no way I can sell it and charge enough to cover my time. I have about $75 in materials, $60 of which is for the custom leather sheath because I pay a leather guy to do those. If I get $100 for it, I'll make about $1 an hour because I screwed up the scales and had to burn them off and start over. That's not a complaint, just stating the reality. I enjoy making them and I enjoy giving them as gifts to nephews and friends. Everybody keeps telling me I'm selling myself short, but I just don't think I can ask for more than $100.
Congratulations on the growth of the channel bruv I'm way small in subs compared to you but I've learnt more from your channel thape most of the bigger channels! I appreciate you and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with everyone! Stay awesome! Cheers, Jerbs #22ADAY 👍🏼🇺🇸🔥🔪🔥🇨🇦👍🏼
I know you Midwest guys know about as much about oyster knives as I do ice fishing but I have a friend that is about to drive me crazy to make some. I know they need to be stainless but what kind and do I need to heat treat them? They don't need to hold an edge and I think if they are hard the tip will break off. Any help will be great because I can't find any good info. Thanks a lot
I’d go with 440c stainless and yes they need to be heat treated. You should just leave the edges thick to allow for more prying with out anything breaking
No one cares how much time and effort an artisan puts into their work it all comes down to money and the buyers perceived value of the item. Start on the low end of the market value for a particular type item if they sell well raise your price on an occasional piece to test the market. You must approach pricing your work as you do considering a purchase for yourself of another's work.
Earn you financial support using the value of the information you present in the video. By putting it at the front, it shows the financial support is uppermost - not that the video is worthy of it.
![กี่หมื่นฟ้า | Your Sky Series EP.1 [1/4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vLGjxFL6U_I/mqdefault.jpg)
Value?!? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve rewatched your videos! Thanks so much!!
We I really appreciate that! Glad I can help out!
You've made a huge impression in my knife making, as a matter of fact, I made use of one of your sehmented scale build videos. I like the "stepwise process" rather than the "all at once" glue up. I was able to really dial in the fit up doing it that way. I did make mistakes, but was able to fix those faults, which cemented the learning experience into the happy hippocampus (long term memory). Thank you!
Well I’m glad my videos helped out with that! Thank you!
I'm getting into making knives as a business.
My plan is to first figure out how much it takes to make a knife. This is the bare minimum I'll charge. Of course that's not going to turn a profit so I was thinking of charging double the minimum wage per hour it takes to make a knife on top of the price of materials. If that proves to be too much maybe I'll have that price until I get more renown.
Matt your videos by far have helped me in my knife making adventure so far i thank you very much your content is worth every penny i plan to support your channel as a patreon the way i see it my way of paying you back for all your knowledge you have shared Mark
Well I would greatly appreciate it!! I’m trying to help out as much as I can with the time I have! Maybe if enough people jump on board I can set more time aside to put out more content! Thank you!
I think your vids are terrific and your personality comes across as a person I'd like to know.
well I really appreciate that!! 👊👊😀😀
It was a solid explanation. Balancing out your throughput of production vs the sales is important so that you have enough work. If you can't keep them on the shelf, charge more. If you can't sell them, charge less. After that, balance out your day job rates vs what you end up charging hourly for making knives and see if it's a side hustle or your new career.
I doubt I'll replace my day job. But it'll certainly pay more than zero once I start producing.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you
A very good friend of mine who is a Navajo silversmith once told me concerning this subject that it basically boils down to three things: Materials; Labor and Added Costs. Hope this helps a little.
Good idea!
I'm brand new to knife making but economically speaking- Materials + labor + overhead costs like someone else mentioned will get you started (if it's actually worth that). Labor cost is kinda arbitrary, based off experience. Then adjust your price it till your production capacity matches demand. If you can't keep up your not charging enough. If you have excess production capacity then drop the price. OR you can try to increase production capacity too match demand but that is harder in the hand made knife world unless you do water jet blanks or something to save time or hire more people.
Exactly!
Respectfully that was a bit rambling without much content. Some solid examples of amount of time,material cost,disposables and capital depreciation would be very helpful. But thank you for the effort and the videos on knifemaking. It is appreciated. Also your TH-cam videos may be your best marketing tool,so it’s free plus you even make a little cash on the side. Sorry if my comments were a little harsh but I spent my time watching it.
I've been making knives for about 18 months niw. I don't have any fancy tools like you pros which also limits me on the kind of knives I can make. You can't make a full bevel blade using a 1x30 Harbor Freight $60 belt sander for example. I've still turned out some very nice knives but it takes me about 30 hours labor to make one. I also do Leatherwork so every knife has a sheath which takes another 8-10 hours labor. People I show them to always say I should sell them but I can't bring myself to try to sell them if I only make $2 per hour for my labor. I see tons of nice custom made knives for sale online for $150-250. To me those are give away prices and I just believe it's not worth selling mine at those prices. If my labor is worth 20/hour and I add materials I should get $600-800 for most of my knives. I don't believe I could get that without name/brand recognition. To make knives like you do I'd need to invest another $7000-8000 in tools etc. If I can't make a reasonable profit rather than lose money starting out, then where would the money for further investments in tools come from? Maybe if I went to some blade show I could sell a few at fair prices? IDK, but for now it's a fun hobby in my retirement and I doubt it will ever be more than a hobby. Meanwhile, I've made over 40 knives....and I'm still making more. I'm happy you seem to be making a living doing something you enjoy.
I’d say spend a little money on tooling to make your hobby more efficient to hopefully be able to get that price down some and make a few extra bucks!
It's about time I told you months ago to start a patreon. As soon as this video is over I'm going to sign up. I'm going to have to start selling knives even though that's not why I started making knives. I have made some really nice ones but my sheath skills are worse than my grinding skills. I got to do something with these things especially since I spent all my money at blade show
Well man I can not thank you enough! Feel free to get ahold of me if you want some kydex made for your knives!
@@gentrycustomknives8008 no problem I'm glad to help you do great videos. I seen your video on kydex and I just haven't gotten around to trying it
I definitely find value in your videos. When I get into a position to support your Patreon I most certainly will!
I would really appreciate that! Thank you!
hey man 4K subs is rad... i'v been making vids for like 7 years and have like 250 subs haha. Love the channel! I have learned so much from you this last year. Thanks for your time and help!
Well I really appreciate that! It’s been a fun process!
it’s sad that you dont make much on youtube Because you are talented knife maker on youtube and you don’t get much recognition
Well I really appreciate that! That’s why I started this Patreon account so people who appreciate what I’m doing can donate a little to help me continue! Thank you for watching!!
hey man, you could possibly look at doing a similar thing to the main man himself denis tyrell, he puts up his templates on his patreon for paying members and also gives them exclusive purchase access to some of his work, just a thought. I’ll be hopping onto your patreon for sure, all this value and information for about a coffee a month is something i’m willing to do any day. keep up the great work!
Now that’s a cool idea! I’m going to look into that! Also thank you for getting in on the Patreon it really means a lot!
Great video. That would be a great idea. Would love a few templates of your blades!
-mike
StuberMetal&knifeworks
Yes please! More business side videos! Thank you!
Do you have any specific questions you’d like me to cover?
@@gentrycustomknives8008 marketing. We all want to sell more knives. But also Organization. What does your week look like? How do you plan for what needs to get done?
@@ed.sol.crafts awesome question! I’ll cover this soon! Thanks!
I'm a hobbyist. I make knives with hobbyist tools in my spare time. I have steadfastly refused to make a custom knife for profit. I finally gave in to a co-worker and agreed to sell him a knife. There's no way I can sell it and charge enough to cover my time. I have about $75 in materials, $60 of which is for the custom leather sheath because I pay a leather guy to do those. If I get $100 for it, I'll make about $1 an hour because I screwed up the scales and had to burn them off and start over. That's not a complaint, just stating the reality. I enjoy making them and I enjoy giving them as gifts to nephews and friends. Everybody keeps telling me I'm selling myself short, but I just don't think I can ask for more than $100.
And that is ok! Whatever makes you happy man!👊 thanks for watching
Thanks for sharing.. 👍👍👍
👊👊👊
Great insights Matt! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks buddy!
Good morning, so if I wanted you to build me one of your knives, how do I do that? Do you have a website or where do I go to look at my options?
Yes go to my website and send me an email! Gentrycustomknives.com
Thank you! I’m gonna shoot you an email after I look over the website. Thanks again!
Congratulations on the growth of the channel bruv I'm way small in subs compared to you but I've learnt more from your channel thape most of the bigger channels! I appreciate you and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with everyone! Stay awesome! Cheers, Jerbs #22ADAY 👍🏼🇺🇸🔥🔪🔥🇨🇦👍🏼
Well I really appreciate that man! 👊👊
@@gentrycustomknives8008 100% stay blessed brother! 👍🏼🇺🇸🔪🇨🇦👍🏼
I know you Midwest guys know about as much about oyster knives as I do ice fishing but I have a friend that is about to drive me crazy to make some. I know they need to be stainless but what kind and do I need to heat treat them? They don't need to hold an edge and I think if they are hard the tip will break off. Any help will be great because I can't find any good info. Thanks a lot
I’d go with 440c stainless and yes they need to be heat treated. You should just leave the edges thick to allow for more prying with out anything breaking
Good video man. 👌
Thanks a lot man!
Great job thanks
Thanks don!
No one cares how much time and effort an artisan puts into their work it all comes down to money and the buyers perceived value of the item. Start on the low end of the market value for a particular type item if they sell well raise your price on an occasional piece to test the market. You must approach pricing your work as you do considering a purchase for yourself of another's work.
Luckily there is still people out there that appreciates what we do! Or else I’d be out of a job
Skip to 5:30 that's when he actually starts getting to the point. Kind of
Thanks
Joined
what rubbish. 5 minutes in and nothing about how you cost your knives. - giving up!
Lol thanks for the support
I’m 67 YO. Life is too precious to be wasted on wiffle-waffle. Keep to the point and don’t divert with these “bug firsts…” - it amounts to click-bait
@@ianb4801 so me asking for support from my subscribers is wasting your time? What about my time? 🤔
Put your begging bowl at the end
Earn you financial support using the value of the information you present in the video. By putting it at the front, it shows the financial support is uppermost - not that the video is worthy of it.