Pancho07 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 About a week ago I was talking to one of the guys who is opening a gun shop in town about getting a new gun, then I realised I had no money and told him that I was gonna have to sell some crosses first. He asked about them and after see a couple pictures offered to put them in the shop, pretty cool. Earlier today I got to thinking, if they will take that, maybe they could sell other stuff too. I'm not wanting to jump in feet first and sell every knife I make now because I don't have much experience with blades but once i do feel confident in selling something what do i do with my practice knives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibrariaNPC Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 My "bad practice knifes" fall into one of two categories: salvageable of near-scrap.One of the earlier knives I made (knife #3 outside of class) has a really bad cold shunt in the tang (first attempt at a stick tang), but I've realized I can just make a smaller stick tang and still leave with a knife. If you've run into situations like that, it's not a failed attempt but a product redesign (as I was told in class). xxxx, my first attempt at a sword was botched due to a melt, but I'm working on tweaking the area that melted into a dagger now. Not originally planned, but still something I can salvage.If it's a royally xxxxxx attempt, you might be able to find another way to repurpose it (either as a smaller blade or just as an entirely different project) or weld it into something. I read that at least one smith here takes failed Damascus an welds it into a new billet, I can also see turning parts of a ruined blade into a new billet, so it's not a total waste. Just my two cents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Keep in mind your reputation when you go to sell "practice" pieces. If on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 is a top quality commercial knife that brings thousands and 1 is so bad you can't recognize it as a letter opener, do you really want to be churning out stuff and selling it in the 3-4 range when you plan to be making stuff in the 6-8 range once you improve some? Giving practice pieces to friends and family is a bit different than selling them. Are the issues you are having cosmetic, or structural flaws? A knife that isn't cosmetically perfect might be appealing to those who are looking for a rougher more "hand made" look. On the other hand knives that won't hold an edge, brake or have other structural issues might be best just tossed on the scrap pile vs giving you a bad reputation. Good reputations are hard to create. Bad reputations only take one or two dissatisfied customers. They'll almost instantly forget that the paid a lot less money and only remember the problem issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) What to do with bad practice blades? Learn from them, test your heat treat and sharpening skills, and discard. Use them as practice pieces to learn more, try out that neat idea for a handle on the scrappy blade, or differing things. Then scrap them.The only failure is a failure to learn. Edited October 27, 2015 by Rashelle additional comment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancho07 Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 LibrariaNPC: Thanks for the advice, that's what I had been thinking DSW: I hadn't intended on selling any of the bad knives I may or may not make. I wasn't planning on selling anything I wouldn't use myself and didn't mean to imply otherwise. I just didn't want to have a drawer full of crap before i had enough mass to make it worth my time to take to the scrap yard. At the moment I haven't made very many and the couple that I have people have said that they would use them buy i haven't finished them yet. Need a better grinder and tempering process.Rashelle: Thanks for the reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 As DSW said Good reputations are hard to create. Bad reputations only take one or two dissatisfied customers.Do not be tempted to give them away as gifts to your friends. You do not want to explain to your friend that it was just a practice knife that broke and stabbed him in the leg or other body location.My suggestion is to destroy any knife not worthy of YOUR name and touch mark. Destroy is cutting the tang from the knife and cutting the knife into at least 2, 3, or more pieces. The fellow that goes into the junk yard behind you and sees a bucket of knives, sees a bucket of knives that HE can sell. HE will put that treasure in HIS truck before you can leave the lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Weld up an art sculpture! There are lots of people that fancy dangerous looking art. One way or the other render then non-knives. Game of Thrones foot stool??? Edited October 27, 2015 by Charlotte typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Test to Destruction! Again and again and again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Keep at least a good sampling for your own reference in the future otherwise make them non-knives. Even a sculpture can be iffy if you leave them too bladelike.A good rep is hard to build, a bad rep is almost as hard to avoid.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Humble pile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.J.watts Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Trophies of your skills as they escalate, and a reminder of your beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 The purpose of bad practice knives it to get good at it. Testing heat treat is a mandatory part of that practice and many a good test ends with bent or broken blades---or both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffrat Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Anything I ever made but didn't want anyone to know about, I still have in my possession. I keep them as reminders of where I came from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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