"Raw Craft" Kramer auction

That is about right. An employees wage is about 1/3 of the charged rate. As a crude number.

So you figure a custom maker needs to treat it like a company and himself as an employee of that company to make sure it is all covered. Power, gas, insurance, cover for being sick. Cover for leave. Etc.

 

Well dang! Based on that math I'm hovering at $12/hr I might have to take a few things into consideration.

 

Don't feel bad. I'm not math expert, but I think I end up paying my employer for the work I do for them. :k

 

I was down to $6/hr last holiday season at the country club I was at...

Truly beautiful knives. I'm curious on what knives my kit will last long enough to be handed down or if they will end up being paring knives by then.

 

I've only handles one Kramer, a while back. The fit and finish were flawless. It functioned beautifully. If I knew then what I know now, I would have jumped on it. For the record Mareko, your fit and finish are fantastic and your knife is incredibly comfortable to work with.

 

Belie Dat!!!

 

SO, SO true across the board. I'm at 30-50hrs, depending on the knife, and I don't DO damascus. The part in bold is really why I think most of us do what we do though. I mean, the market for pocket knives, edc knives, and swords is HUGE right now...but here we are making kitchen knives instead lol. That alone says something.

Absolutely my friend! As we discussed on the Custom Knife Myth thread over on KKF, I'm not sure the 1/3 thing applies to us bladesmiths...but it's certainly not a high paying job like people seem to think.

 

@Mrmnms, Thank you for your wonderful compliment! If that Kramer was purchased between early '09 to late '11, there's a 90% that I constructed and sculpted and finished the handle on that knife. More over, if it was purchased between mid/late '10 to late '11, there's a 90% chance I forged the damascus for the blade too.

 

"His work is expensive, but it is also an incredible value and investment."
Only as long as there's a market for it.
Unless these things make it into the permanent collection of MOMA (or something like that), they don't have any intrinsic value to validate that statement.