1823 not a year, not a number… (aka $18,23)
This is the price that I pay for one (1!) specialty carbide drill bit that snapped yesterday.
I use it to ‘true’ the holes in my blades and it ran a little too hot as I forgot to apply some cutting oil. A bit so hard you can drill through hardened steel but at the same time so brittle.
This is what every custom knife maker would love to post on their Instagram feed to explain people why a custom knife is more expensive that a factory produced one – it is just one of many facets of the knife making process – but not one that’s cheap. Hand made, every step of the way.
(to support my brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends that make it ..!)
When leaving one of the largest malls in the United States I always chuckle as I’m thinking: “ Here is a destination mall filled to the brim with cheaply made foreign goods, and I can walk away feeling there is not a single thing they have there that I feel I need or want” (full disclosure there are one or two Rolex watches that have my attention but..)
*note and fun fact : Rolex is owned by the Hans Wilsdorf (the founder) foundation that could / should be praised for the reasons that there are watchmakers around to repair your valuable automatic or handwound watches. How do I know that ? I was invited years ago to join, and enjoy the three year education that is payed for and provided by Rolex – to ensure the aforementioned watch makers knowledge and presence is there – and after you graduate you are not bound by brand!
Please don’t get fooled by the following photo – this is not a new watch, but one I treated myself to when I moved to the US in 1999, to commemorate a milestone in my life… but as you can see a well maintained and cared for time piece is as I believe a custom knife is too; very suitable as a present to commemorate or celebrate special events.
(as everyday should be seen as a special event !)
– Here to help….! 😉
I can only speak for myself, but wish more people would have the same feeling. Every now and then I need to have a tangible ‘old school’, well made object with me – to ‘ground me’. To remind me that only two generations up my grandparents used to make things, by hand. Looking and striving for longevity in a design.
It calms me in a sense of slowing down time a little, as I am not in love with the quickly made for profit and designed in to obsolescence mindset.
To all that hung in to read my musings I salute you and will sign off today to get back to grinding (what could well be your custom knife)
Your knife maker,
Yours truly