I wish I knew THIS before I started knife making

Fredrik Spåre (Örebro, Sweden) talks to us about life from part-time to full-time knife making! If you have ever wondered what life is like going as a full time craftsman, this is your video!
Fredrik Spåre www.spareknives.com
Knife-making classes in Sweden: www.spareknives.com/classes
Instagram: / fredrikspare
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[@FredrikSpare]

TLDR; follow your dream. :)

[@zacharykirby6248]

Love learning about business advice related to this profession. It’s blunt information that everyone needs to hear. Great interview.

[@UKBladeshow]

Thank you Zachary! I appreciate you taking time to comment! Please feel free to let us know if you have any specific topics that you want us to tackle! Cheers! - Vinz

[@wingburen]

A really nice guy. Lots of sharpened wisdom When he ”take the blade from his mouth”❤

[@FredrikSpare]

😘

[@Xiras1985]

Very good advice, especially not to spread your focus too much and the difference between hobby and a job, which many people don't seem to understand. Sill, nearly 6 years full time, still love it. Cheers

[@_jaeger_fabian]

Awesome! Exactly what I need these days 👌 huge thanks to UK bladeshow and Fredrik 👋

[@UKBladeshow]

Cheers man! I hope it gave you some good insights and value!

[@_jaeger_fabian]

@@UKBladeshow definitely 👋

[@andyc750]

all very useful information there, have to say the current financial situation in much of the world would make starting full time very difficult at the moment as many don't have the spare cash to buy quality or bespoke items

[@mathiasw.8148]

That answers a lot of questions. Thanks so much.

[@UKBladeshow]

Hey buddy nice to see you again, thank you very much for watching and glad to hear that it answered a lot of your questions

[@mathiasw.8148]

@@UKBladeshow i really appreciate all of your work. I wasn't feeling so good about my last comment that's why I deleted it. I hope you understand.

[@exodustwelve2044]

Valuable info for sure

[@UKBladeshow]

Thanks for watching! 👀

[@krissteel4074]

I think in retrospect the hobbyist knife makers probably make more in terms of development of the art than a full time maker does. In that they tend to have that time, patience and often money to sit on a project and then nut it out with trial and error over time that you just don't get as a full time manufacturer. Like for instance I invested 2-3 days into doing something experimental, wrecked about 100 bucks worth of steel and got nothing out of it at the end which wasn't even close to being saleable, I learned a lot. Didn't make any money! So I can't really afford that kind of time off to do much of that each year, every couple of months or so I'll go do some mad-science and probably 8 times out of 10, there will be something that slops out and at least pays for a little bit of the time/materials and abrasives. So its a hard work, life, creativity balance Business is hard, if you're bad at business it'll be over before you know it. Take Fredrik's advice and really figure out your cost, time and profit margins, or take my advice and do yourself a business course at an adult education centre. Like I had 15 years experience in engineering and operations, before that I had some experience in fine arts and small business operations with various trades- DO NOT go into full time thinking it'll all be power hammers, presses and cool jump-cut edits like you see in youtube videos of knife makers that turn 10kg of stacked, pattern welded billet into 'a knife' after 10 weeks. Unless you have alternative income, that just doesn't happen. Nope, some days you're just out there at your grinder doing pre-heat profiles and geometry all day on very similar shaped knife shaped objects, other days you'll be doing heat treating in big batches, then some more days at the grinder, more at the hand sanding a bit and frankly- its just a lot of hard, repetitive work to the point your muscle memory and feel for the work is second to none. Just as a final warning to people considering training other people, or if you're going to go do a course with someone. Make sure they have the personal insurance on their business to cover if someone gets smashed up doing a course on their property. Like I know where all the hot, sharp, burning, poisonous, dusty and dangerous parts of my shop are, no one else does so that's why they're not allowed into it!

[@UKBladeshow]

Thanks for the advice! I hope this helps other makers that read it too! Thanks!

[@gregmccormack5709]

Love this , very informative👍🏻

[@UKBladeshow]

Thanks Greg!

[@foxbritten]

Great interview. And as a chef it’s a goal to own one of his knives at some point. He makes gorgeous pieces

[@UKBladeshow]

Hey buddy thanks for taking time to comment! Fredrik's work speak for themselves! The functionality is excellent and on top of that, the brut-de-forge look is something I'm in love with! Don't tell Fredrik this but his knife he made for me is now my Go-To kitchen knife :D Thanks again for watching!

[@leonbarnes1402]

@uk bladeshow is this a re upload or new? sure ive seen before

[@UKBladeshow]

Hi Leon. It’s a new video. It’s a continuation of our chat with Fredrik; the previous video was about “5 things I wish I knew”.

[@leonbarnes1402]

@@UKBladeshow cool. Thanks, will watch later.

[@shitkicker86]

thanks a lot for that video

[@UKBladeshow]

You’re very welcome! Thanks for watching!