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Old 05-19-2008, 06:51 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Acworth, GA and/or Hanging Dog, NC
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Good stuff there Chiger. Very practical approach to the business end of the game.
It's always good to be able to make what you want and be able to sell it for what you can be satisfied with as "profit". We have a tendancy to undersell because we don't look at all the hidden cost/expense. My wife is pushing me to fully retire from my consulting job and make a go with the knives solo. She's been studying up on all the small business details and is moving forward with establishing an LLC, website, etc. Think she's kind of excited about running a small business per say and that will take a lot of the "paper work" load off my plate. If this Blade Show goes as well as the last two, it's pretty much a done deal (I'm still finishing up requests from last year).

I'm sure you didn't intend the statement "By the way, it doesn't matter how well the blade is made...fit and finish sells and resales a knife!", to read quite the way it does (I have seen some of your work). While I do agree with the statement for the most part, I strongly believe that if a knife is not well made (the best one can do), business will suffer later. A "bad" knife comment has a much longer life than a "good" knife comment. No one goes shopping for a bad knife.
To qualify that further, I have had to accept the fact that most people that buy my knives will never use them although each one is constructed for function first. I do hope my fighters, warclubs and big bowies never get used as intended, but I do want them to handle the job if necessary. I do lean toward "nicing" them up for the same reason you stated - they sell better.
Please know I am not challenging you, just clarifying for the general forum browser. As my Granddaddy always said "Don't waste good paint on bad wood! The chickens will never know, but you will."


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