What are the easiest selling items for a new Blacksmithing business?

[JHCC]

Welcome, Mick. What's not period about the Peter Wright?

[MickKrug]

 The one that I bought is not C.W. Period (before 1865) for reenacting but close to size! Through US Army manuals they were 100 lbs. for Traveling Forges! :-)

Edited June 3, 2022 by Mod34
Excessive quoting

[JHCC]

Fair enough!

[ThomasPowers]

Did you see the period anvil I found for David E at an antique store in El Paso?  Was the one that went with the ACW traveling forge and stored inside the base, though the base was in poor shape.

As the configuration is OK for ACW only the stampings are off for that date, Melt a little black crayon into the offending ones and you are good to go! (If a bit heavy...)

[MickKrug]

14 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

That is a good looking Peter Wright.  I'm envious of your Perrin anvil and forge. Any name on the forge? Kinda looks like a Canady Otto to me.

Thanks! Yes, Anxious to get started with both! I’ll have to check more on that forge? I believe it does have some stamping on the fire pot....

39 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Did you see the period anvil I found for David E at an antique store in El Paso?  Was the one that went with the ACW traveling forge and stored inside the base, though the base was in poor shape.

Thanks Thomas! Will do!

[MickKrug]

Thanks George N.M. for the comments!  Will do on the Anvil #1. Greatly appreciate your knowledge in Blacksmithing as well as David Einhorn’s who has me digging a little deeper into the C.W. Trade!

Frosty: Thanks for the advice! Hopefully all will go well with those endeavors!

Daswulf: Ed sure is! That Forge Table, Perrin Anvil, Tools and Post vise were all purchased from Ed at Atlas! 
thanks for the advise! Taken well and will do!

Irondragon: Thanks also to you! Advice taken well and Will do!
”I'm envious of your Perrin anvil and forge. Any name on the forge? Kinda looks like a Canady Otto to me.”  :-)

I’ll have to check that forge fire pan... I know it’s stamped but well used so hard to read!
 

Still catching up to this forum and posting and such! Look forward to discussing/posting more with you all!

 

[rockstar.esq]

On 6/2/2022 at 10:56 AM, Nicholas_Killmeier said:

However as much as I'd like to make custom parts for my guitars, I'm looking more for items I can stock and sell probably on a website. I'd love to do custom guitar parts, but it's not something I see selling easily as a prestock (at least not short term, I'm sure if I cranked out 20 of those PRS bridges they would eventually sell, but I'd need a reputation of stocking guitar parts, which might be tough).

Nicholas,

I understand your point of view, and I saw where you listed some things you'd like to make.  What follows isn't me trying to sell you on any given suggestion, it's just an observation on human nature that might apply to you.  If it does, I hope it helps.  If it doesn't I hope you won't take any offence as none is intended.

A long time ago I was in an electronics course on Boolean logic.  This is the AND, OR, NOT, IF, NAND, NOR, logic gates used by everything from microprocessors to search engines.  A really simple example of this would be something like a pair of pushbuttons controlling some dangerous piece of machinery.  The machine won't work unless the left AND the right button are pressed simultaneously.  

This gets more complicated in proportion to the total number of inputs for any given logic system.  One method to sort all of that out is to use Boolean logic maps, which create a matrix of all possible input combinations, and the resulting output of the logic system.

So far, this has all been working from an existing logic system, towards defining what it'll do.  In reality, we often need to define what we want to happen for every eventuality, then sort out the most efficient means of arriving at those outcomes.  

This is the important part.  We can identify and choose input combination/situations where we "don't care" about what the output would be.  Typically, it's because there is some "real life" reason why that theoretical input combination cannot happen.  

There are two reasons I brought this whole thing up.  The first, is that I believe people often overlook the utility of breaking momentum on pattern recognition.  They're so burdened by the implied requirements of every possible demand, that they lose sight of the context attending the demands.

Having a huge stock of parts to sell online seems like reputation-building requirement.  Seems logical, whatever sells, will sell better if every buyer is immediately gratified.  We all see big businesses doing this all the time.

How would things change if we elected to "not care" about having a huge stock of parts, widgets, whatever?  The first problem coming to mind is now the customer isn't getting their immediate gratification, which might be a problem when compared to competition.

Fair point, so what if we didn't take forever to make a custom order?  What if we didn't make excuses about delays, production setbacks, shipping, and whatever?  Well, then we'd be offering a luxury worth the extra time, money, and attention of our customers.  Pro-tip; This is the only option for most small firms in large markets.

The second reason I brought all of this up, is because I see a lot of people who unwittingly market themselves as a commodity because they never see options beyond price, convenience, brand loyalty or physical proximity.

Years ago I visited the Cody Heritage museum in Wyoming.  Just like Yellowstone, It's worth the trip to Wyoming to see it.  There's tons to see, including a lot of historical firearms.  While there, my wife drew my attention to a display showing some engraved Schofield revolvers.  What really stood out about them was that the engraving was in the art deco style.  There's no end to floral and sporting motif's in gun engraving, but wow, the structured restraint and flowing lines of art deco add immeasurably to the visual appeal of a piece. 

I left thinking about how an obvious opportunity is being overlooked simply because everybody assumes that whatever is currently selling, is the only thing that will sell.  My best guess is that the art-deco engraving job took one tenth of the time, and used less costly materials to produce.  An average person might be able to afford such work and would set them leagues apart from the lowest levels of factory custom offerings.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

On 4/1/2022 at 2:13 PM, Nicholas_Killmeier said:

really enjoy tool making and spending more time on the anvil.

One of the things I made to sell at demonstrations/fairs was a leaf blade throwing knife forged out of RR spikes. They sold like hot cakes and may go with the knives you already make, good looking ones by the way. I could forge two or three in an afternoon.               

[MickKrug]

14 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

One of the things I made to sell at demonstrations/fairs was a leaf blade throwing knife forged out of RR spikes.               

Wouldn’t happen to have any pics would ya? :-)

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

As a matter of fact I have one from when we were still selling at craft fairs. I think this was around 2008 or so. The RR spike knives sold well especially the one I call a leaf blade on the right.

 

[Daswulf]

Irondragon, I don't recall ever seeing your sea dragons from horse shoes. I absolutely love them. I'll Have to give that a try. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Be my guest, I have fun making them and they sold pretty fast at the right event.

[MickKrug]

Iron dragon, yes indeed! Very nice! I’ll have to also give them a try with your RR spike knives! 
Daswulf, did you say you still set-up at C.W. Re-enactments? Settler?
We are scheduled all year with the Infantry. Almost every other weekend! (Not suttler’s yet

[Daswulf]

Was not me. I haven't been to one let alone set up at one. I'm sure I would like doing that tho.