What In The World Should I Charge?!

[tcmeyer]

It’s been a lot of years since I worked for the wages you gents are quoting. I’m just a hobbyist and I wouldn’t dare ask people to pay me what my time is worth to me. But thinking as a businessman, I think that you should think of this as a medium-to-highly-skilled craft and as such, it should call for wages more on the order of $25-$30 per/hour, plus overhead – so think closer to $40-$50, total.

If a customer wants you to restore a damaged knife to some usable condition, he has to realize that it’s going to take you however many hours and that you should be compensated for that. When he goes down to the Chevy dealer to replace an outside rear-view mirror on his Tahoe, they’re going to charge him $75 per hour and he doesn’t blink.

That said, if you are a relative newbie to knife-sharpening, or if you’re a hobbyist like me, charge what you think the customer will find reasonable. But if you are a pro like Josh with a shop full of the right equipment, and you’re trying to produce some income, you really should treat it more like a business.

Another thing that you should consider is the cost of managing a small-batch order. Some people call this a handling fee. For instance, a single knife may be a 40 minute job in your hands, but you’ve spent time talking to the customer and you’ll spend more time delivering the finished product to him, collecting the money, etc.. There’s no such thing as a ten-minute job.

And while I’m at it, I’ll also advise you to think about those very rare(?) jobs that go badly – where it turns out to need far more attention than you planned on, and those more catastrophic jobs that send you to the clinic and cost you a day’s income. Who’s going to pay for that?

I know that a lot of the jobs you take in are worth less than the fee you would charge the customer, but in short…Don’t sell yourselves too short.

[Steven N. Bolin]

This reminds me of my first large chipped blade . It was an old 12″ kitchen knife that a guy had tried to open a coconut with..1/2 chip dead center of the blade haha

Ha! Yeah, the owner of these knives was on break and hanging out behind his other place of employment, then, out of boredom, he started hacking at a stump… Blows my mind.

[Josh]

It’s been a lot of years since I worked for the wages you gents are quoting. I’m just a hobbyist and I wouldn’t dare ask people to pay me what my time is worth to me. But thinking as a businessman, I think that you should think of this as a medium-to-highly-skilled craft and as such, it should call for wages more on the order of $25-$30 per/hour, plus overhead – so think closer to $40-$50, total.

If a customer wants you to restore a damaged knife to some usable condition, he has to realize that it’s going to take you however many hours and that you should be compensated for that. When he goes down to the Chevy dealer to replace an outside rear-view mirror on his Tahoe, they’re going to charge him $75 per hour and he doesn’t blink.

That said, if you are a relative newbie to knife-sharpening, or if you’re a hobbyist like me, charge what you think the customer will find reasonable. But if you are a pro like Josh with a shop full of the right equipment, and you’re trying to produce some income, you really should treat it more like a business.

Another thing that you should consider is the cost of managing a small-batch order. Some people call this a handling fee. For instance, a single knife may be a 40 minute job in your hands, but you’ve spent time talking to the customer and you’ll spend more time delivering the finished product to him, collecting the money, etc.. There’s no such thing as a ten-minute job.

And while I’m at it, I’ll also advise you to think about those very rare(?) jobs that go badly – where it turns out to need far more attention than you planned on, and those more catastrophic jobs that send you to the clinic and cost you a day’s income. Who’s going to pay for that?

I know that a lot of the jobs you take in are worth less than the fee you would charge the customer, but in short…Don’t sell yourselves too short.

Wow man… there is so much good advise here it’s unbelievable. Tom, I can tell you’ve been around the block once or twice! lol

A few points on what you said. You are absolutely correct on everything. I shoot to be making $1/minute when I am working to be able to cover both my wages and overhead/shop expansion. Have I always or do I always make that? absolutely not!! In fact, I have one job right now that I have spend 3 hours on and will spend another hour on to make sure it is perfect even though i only quoted the guy $60 (losing my hat on this one!!!) There have been COUNTLESS times that I have spend WAY more time on a knife than i should have, and made minimum wage on several. But guess what? I try to learn with every knife I do and always improve my technique to do better and save time. Because both customer service/quality and time = money to me. I time myself all the time to see what i am making and see how I can improve. I have found that two areas that I REALLY lose money in are mirror finishes and doing any type of scales. for the latter, i now collaborate with Zamfir (Eric) and we are working on several projects together since he has a CNC mill/lathe and can do pretty much anything.

The most expensive knife i have had to replace was a $650 Hinderer Eklipse, which was recently. I re-ground it but didn’t get the swedge just like the owner was wanting so I offered to replace it if he sent it back to me. He was really cool and understanding and i just ended up sending him some cash at way below the market value. i was able to then sell it and recoup the cost of the work I had into it, but that was only by my customer’s graces.

As far as time goes I do spend a decent amount of time online on some of the forums i pay for, but to me, a lot of that is advertising. To save time, I have done a number of things:

1. i now have a google doc that both local and mail in customers fill out prior to sending in knives or dropping them off. When they enter this info it automatically enters it into a spreadsheet for me in Google drive. Then it is simply copy and paste for me into my master spreadsheet. =)

2. i utilize a drop off location at a local UPS store. This keeps me from having to meet up with my customers and talking to them in person and handling payments etc. works REALLY well. And i have the freedom, if i wanted, to set up only 2 days going by the UPS store (for both online and local orders) of being Tues. and Thurs. if i want.

anyway. Great post and ideas. Thanks!

[Mr.Wizard]

I used the contours of both knife edges to trace out potential new profiles.

Overkill?

No, that looks great!

You really need to thin the chipped one flat on a stone, not with the WEPS, if you want a good cross-section when you are done.

[JS]

I agree with Tom, don’t sell yourself short. In my honest opinion and not having a belt sander either, I would’ve passed on the job, frankly. But that’s just if it was me, and I hope it’s profitable for you. I’m afraid it’d take a really long time with the WEPS to straighten that out plus put a lot of wear on the stones. I’ve tried to get other people’s chips out before, and maybe since my stones are so broken in, but it took quite awhile. I’ve also told some people before that for what I’d charge to repair their knife, it’d be cheaper for them to buy a new one. That’s not being rude, but I know what my time is worth and some jobs aren’t worth the time and frustration if you don’t have the right equipment. I’m very interested to see how they turn out and how long it took you. Best of luck.

[Gib Curry]

With that much grinding on that much of the blade as defined by the scribe lines… Having over-heated and ruined edges before, I would be nervous about heat while grinding….

I’ve got a Ken Onion WorkSharp that would be up to the task (perhaps not on an industrial scale but for onesies or twosies) but, I would remain concerned about the blade’s temper….

Could some of you more experienced sharpeners share a few words on heat, please? How to avoid ruining temper?

~~~~
For Now,

Gib

Φ

"Everyday edge for the bevel headed"

"Things work out best for those who make the best out of the way things work out."

[Josh]

With that much grinding on that much of the blade as defined by the scribe lines… Having over-heated and ruined edges before, I would be nervous about heat while grinding….

I’ve got a Ken Onion WorkSharp that would be up to the task (perhaps not on an industrial scale but for onesies or twosies) but, I would remain concerned about the blade’s temper….

Could some of you more experienced sharpeners share a few words on heat, please? How to avoid ruining temper?

Well I have, within the past 4 months, converted my belt sander to be water cooled with Kool Mist units, and I also run it on low speed alway, so it never really gets hot at all. But if I didn’t have this set up my best advise is to use a coarse grit belt (36 grit) and make sure it is sharp and new. This will ensure that it cuts the coolest and most efficiently.

[Daniel maloon]

Ha! Yeah, the owner of these knives was on break and hanging out behind his other place of employment, then, out of boredom, he started hacking at a stump… Blows my mind.

Man people do the dumbest stuff when they’re bored haha. There should be a separate topic that we can post people’s YouTube videos to.

[Steven N. Bolin]

Here’s a quick video update if anyone’s interested.

Thanks!

Broken Tip Repair/Blade Thinning/Wicked Exdge: http://youtu.be/GEshIv-q7rs

[Mr.Wizard]

You did a fine job on that knife. The tip looks factory and the sides are nicely finished. 🙂

I look forward to seeing the other one. I expect it will take a lot of work without power tools to get it thin again, after reprofiling.

[Daniel maloon]

started hacking at a stump hahaha. I think it came out really nice.

[Josh]

yeah it did buddy! great work!

little tip: if you want a cheap decent belt sander get a 1×30 from harbor freight for ~$50 and later when you can afford it a kool mist unit (just throw some rags under it, doesn’t make that much of a mess) and you will have a water cooled belt sander! 😀

[Gib Curry]

Here’s a quick video update if anyone’s interested.

Thanks!

Nice work…. good to see you….

~~~~
For Now,

Gib

Φ

"Everyday edge for the bevel headed"

"Things work out best for those who make the best out of the way things work out."

[Steven N. Bolin]

yeah it did buddy! great work!

little tip: if you want a cheap decent belt sander get a 1×30 from harbor freight for ~$50 and later when you can afford it a kool mist unit (just throw some rags under it, doesn’t make that much of a mess) and you will have a water cooled belt sander! 😀

Ah, thanks man! Hearing such praise from you guys truly gives me motivation to keep at it.

I’ve been working on the chip for HOURS!… Now… off to Harbor Freight to see what’s up :pinch:

[Leo Barr]

Proper job all looks good.

[Author]

Posts