Hi guys I had a guy ask me to make a pull handle for a swinging door;he said he wanted something simple and gave me the dimensions.This is what icame up with,

The dimensions are 14inx3in

 

I asked 50$ for the handle,is that about right?

If it took you less than an hour, yes that is an ok price.

wellllll....I have 5 hours in it :o

$50 is a bit low but it isn't up to 5 hrs. worth of shop rate either. Bidding is probably oe of the toughest skills to develop. What makes it hard is #1, you need to charge enough to keep in the black or find another job. #2 You have to deliver enough value for the price or the market will se you look for another job. It can be a real balancing act and no gaurantees regardless. Some pretty huge companies have gone down on a bad bid.

 

For the door pull as it sits $50 is probably fair but you'll never break even let alone make wages at that rate, taking 5 hrs is the deal killer. It'd be really hard to charge more though, it's rather plain and over simple. Good utilitarian pull but nobody is going to want it in a showcase position.

 

Dress it up some and polish your game and you'll be doing fine. For instance. A reverse twist is hardly any more trouble or time than the too short simple twist you did. Do a cable twist and not only will the ladies like it's looks but it will feel good in their soft hands. Sure a cable twist is considerably more work but not 5 hours worth by far. Twist the whole length and you don't have to worry about uneven finial twists like you have now.

 

Regardless of a simple/ reverse or whatever twist, breaking the corner is a hit with the ladies, sharp edges and corners hurts their hand. Even what we'd consider slightly rounded corners like new sq stock. Weight think it isn't sharp but the ladies do. I've stopped doing pineapple twists on anything for the gals.

 

You might want to dress the back plate by breaking the edges with the hammer rather than grinding or filing. the hammer marks add a little "handmadeness" but hammer marking the face looks like a shop class project.

 

All in all not a bad door pull, you did just fine but will get better, lots.

 

Frosty the Lucky

thanks frosty, part of the reason I took 5 hours is becuz I took my time the other part becuz im not a fast smith yet.

thanks for the tips I will use them,I searched for a cable twist on google and didn't find anything;could you elaborate on the subject a little?

Greetings R,

 

Nice work.. I'm sure your customer will be happy.   Look up rope twist they are fun to do...  Keep up the great work..    I make quite a few handles .  The flick is one over the top made from square tube...

 

Jim

now THATS a nice lookin handle!!!Im guessin you used a swage for that but I could probly use a fullering chisel.... :D thanks for the ides keep em comin.

I'm trying somethig new. to me anyway. I just bought this new computer and am struggling through getting Windows8 figured out.

 

 You'd think XP was okay, seeing as it was pretty simple. But OH NOOOOO, wouldn't need ITs writing new systems if you stuck to what worked. Yeah yeah, I know. Buy a Mac. <sigh>

 

Now if I can figure out how to attach a pic IF I can FIND IT AGAIN!!!! ARGHHHHHH!

 

 

I have ALL my figers crossed but it looks like this may work. This is a triangle striker with a cable/rope twist.

 

I made this one by hand, incise the faces and break the edges, then twist. Rope swages are easy to make and use and the product is much more ropelike.

 

Frosty the Lucky

 

P.S. Here goes nothing, pressing the "Add Reply" button!

It worked!! Yay!

 

This piece shows a good point it took me a while to figure out. The transition on this one is sort of clumsy, it's really hard to get that last little bit where it narrows to twist. The answer I like is to make the twist THEN forge the transition right over the end of the twist. It makes a much smoother more together looking transition.

 

Frosty the Lucky

thanks fosty you are right , that would have looked better

Very good pull. I say your customer got exactly what was order.

You can't charge for your learning curve. If you feel like $50 is going rate for a pull like that, then practice until you can crank one out in an hour.

 

Very nice work, by the way.

 

Keep it up.

Well my shop is a hobby shop so right now im just happy to have an order :D .

Thanks for the compliments guys the guy loved the handle and wants another exactly like it :D

Very nice!! Practice makes perfect! Or should I say practice makes things easier!

Well my shop is a hobby shop so right now im just happy to have an order :D .

Thanks for the compliments guys the guy loved the handle and wants another exactly like it :D

There you go! It doesn't matter too much what I say if your customer is happy and wants more.

 

A paying job eh? So much for a hobby, you're a pro. now. <grin>

 

Frosty the Lucky

thanks paul  it sure does ....but im still slow lol

frosty can I make a sword now???

AW now the customer likes it & wants it @ the same price ?? depending on you !! now is the time to tell the customer

that it took 5 Hrs + & the price has to go up some cause of that time the second one will take less time

BUT still you have to pay the bills LOL well Welcome to the madness :D

 

Frosty LOL on the Mac !! got my sisters old lab top for X-Mass it needed a new home :)

Me on a Mac? Not even a Big Mac. I'm slowly outsmarting the idiot ITs who wrote Windows8

 

I wouldn't tell the customer anything but thank you and would you like anything different? 5 hours is WAY too long to charge for this door pull. It'll go much faster this time, probably on the order of 2.5hrs, maybe 3. It'll get more profitable as skills grow and new tricks are learned.

 

My shop rate was in the $100/hr+ neighborhood till my accident and now it's not a decent fraction of that. I'm no longer good enough to give value for that rate.

 

How the learning curve works where compesation is concerned is somethig like this. You have overhead, that's a constant. Tool investment. Investments are gambles but they get factored in. Your schooling, unless you're apprenticed school costs you, it doesn't pay you. Your compensation is learned skills, contacts and a customer base.

 

Here's an example. a few years ago my wife took up spinning, her best friend died of brain cancer and left Deb her spinning wheel with instructions it was NOT to be a shrine, Deb was to use it. So, Deb learned the near zen meditative state spinning invokes. She started acquiring tools and equipment. One thing she acquired was half interest in a drum carder. to remove the carded wool from the carder you need a doffer. commercial doffers are very much like blunt ice picks and lots of spinner polish up a philips screw driver.

 

The Metalmangler, Mark operates the blacksmith booth at the State Fair and Deb sent me over to take a look at the doffers he makes. Mark and I have been friends for years and if you're ever looking for me at the fair I'll be leaning on his booth. Anyway, Deb's instructions were look at Mark's doffer and make her one. Marks doffers are much better tools than the commercial ones, his have a nice curve that make them easier to use and do less damage to the fiber.

 

I told him about the mission Deb sent me on and we joked about how he shouldn't let me look at his. Too late, I'd already seen them and that was that. A major part of the necessary skills is being to look at something and devise a sequense of processes to duplicate it. Then as you make multiples of an item you tune your techniques and speed comes. Well, I went home that night, fired up my forge and made Deb a doffer but not like Mark's. Instead of a relaxed "J" curve I put a relaxed "S" curve in the needle and a pusher/puller on the back.

 

The S curve allows the user to slip the relatively straight point under the wool and either lift or press down to pull the wool from the drum's carding teeth. the finial end is curved so it's flat enoough to press with the palm without hurting or pull by letting it hook inside your fist and it doesn't hurt no matter how hard a lady has to push pull.

 

The next day at the fair, the other ladies spinning watched Deb doff wool from the carder, tried it asked where she got it and brought home 6 orders. The first one took me about 3 hours, what with all the comtemplation, dinking and such. I'd told Deb $50 when she asked how much I charged. 6 orders at $50 each. woo HOO I had me a money maker, one of those lucky gizmos that make easily but everybody just HAD to have.

 

That night doffer 2 took about an hour, by doffer 6 I had it down to 20 minutes not counting the details on the finial. Doffer 1, Debs had a sheep head finial. One order wanted a doxy, the others wanted whatever was standard. Doffer 1= 17/hr doffer 6 =$150/hr. Using the power hammer a leaf finial, the standard, takes maybe 3 miutes, fancier finials are $+.

 

And THAt my friends is how you charge for the learning curve, you learn and make it pay more by doing more in the same time. This is the Doxy doffer, about 35 minutes when I was good.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Well said Frosty.