Selling Your First Hand Forged Items // Starting Your Own Blacksmith Business
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- Is your work good enough to sell? We delve into selling your first hand forged items, no matter how bad (or good!) you think they are.
If you are interested in starting your own blacksmith business, you've got to start somewhere! It takes time to build, so we encourage you to start selling your work, no matter what skill level you are at.
Practice, practice, practice! Get proficient at making one thing, even if it's just s hooks!
If you are interested in starting your own business, blacksmithing is a great field to choose!
Open your Etsy store, and get 40 listings FREE here: etsy.me/2pRkyPT (affiliate link- I get some free listings too for recommending you!)
Business of Blacksmithing Playlist: • The Business of Blacks...
Thank you for being so open about your journey in this craft and the business aspects of it.
+cheyennew811 you're very welcome ! We enjoy teaching others what we know God bless you and thank you for the great comment.
I’m 70 and my grandson and I are just starting out. I started gathering railroad spikes and making stars,crosses, coat racks and bottle openers. We’ve been to a couple craft shows. Our/my main goal is to encourage the grandson. He’s crafty but crude, like me. lol
I enjoy your videos and your no nonsense dialog. 👍
I just wanted to say thank you. For recognizing our service men and women. I am a former Marine
And Iraqi vet. I love watching your videos. I am trying to put my shop together. So I can start forging.
Thanks for your service Sir
You two are some beautiful people. I take encouragement from these videos. This is starting to seem doable for me. Thank you for the lift and some hope!
This is about a year old of a video but I'm just getting to it now. I've been blacksmithing for about a year and half now, I wish I would have started earlier but it always seemed something that was unobtainable. After reading a few book (and by a few I should say a lot) and watching videos on RUclips studying techniques I decided to give it a go. I have kept coming across your videos but I didn't really subscribe at first. I think it was the name Christ Centered Ironworks that kept me from really listening, I'm a Catholic but I've met a bunch of Christians who preach too much and don't practice enough. I'm pleased to be wrong now that I'm going through and watching your videos. I've recently started my own buisiness and although I'm relatively brand new and still learning on every project I do, I enjoy your videos exploring the business side of the blacksmithing trade. Keep up the good work. P.S. As a Special Forces Medical Sergeant, thanks for the shout out to our troops. God bless.
This is a godsend and the amount of down-to-earth advise is invaluable. Thank you for your time and dedication.
well you have made me feel better about myself guys thank you for the encouragement God bless you and your wisdom
+grayem pepper we are glad we could encourage you. Thanks for watching this video Grayem God bless you in your business and on your journey this week
Wow, this was the right video for me to watch. I am truly blessed to hear you two talk about your passion. I want to thank you both for your knowledge, and putting these videos out there. I have been looking to try something new. I had a successful business as a local handyman, but had to give it up to take care of my Father until his passing in 2016. Now I’m taking care of my Mother and I need to find a way to bring some little money into our household to keep everything a float. I still get time to play in my little wood shop but I’m looking forward to forging things in fire. I took your advice and bought a box of 100 horseshoe nails and managed to flatten the heads on about half so far on my makeshift anvil. I have an 8 lb sledge hammer that is my anvil for now and I’m using a 3.5 lb hammer to flatten each nail head. Then earlier this evening I did the unthinkable, I went to Etsy and typed “S hook “ in the search and I was just devastated until I watched this video. I could not believe how many s hooks are available online. I’m still going to try my hand at building a small forge here and doing my best and take the good items and try and sell them. I am currently trying my hand at welding shoe horses and railroad spikes to make fire pit stands. I saw them on Etsy too and I think I can sell a few of them as well. Well thank you so much again for making these videos. God Bless.
Hey Dennis, We're glad that you're trying something new! It can be daunting looking at what is already available in the marketplace. A good video for you to watch would be one of our "3 minutes at 3" titled, "Experimentation". Spread a large net, and you will start finding a niche market that you can meet. For example, instead of just a standard metal s hook, you could offer a copper or bronze s hook. You could make it from square material, and put a decorative twist in it, etc for ornamentation. I hope this helps, and thanks for watching! ~Jessica
Thank you for your testimony! As a perfectionist I am never pleased with my work, my family and friends like it but I cannot release myself from the flaws that my pieces have. 2 years in part time blacksmith and haven't put anything to sell.
Thank you, I will make an effort to accept and put to sell my artwork.
I am forging for 3 month really don't think I suck aas blacksmith I already have a stand in grocery store selle key ring flower a hook I may lack off speed but the product i bring to sell are product I am proud of been a carpenter I have already have good skill making thing don't say we all suck because we don't have a 3 to 4 years experience some guys have native skill but I get you're point and I understand what you mean by it thanks for sharing us all that precious tips and how to
You've got a lot to learn.....
you guys are like a inspiration to me on keeping going and different perspectives of how people veiw a Smith's work I would love nothing better then to meet you guys and just talk blacksmithing we'll keep the hammer banging and the anvil ringing
Thanks Dakota! We'd love to meet you too! We'll be at Quadstate hosted by SOFA in Troy, OH in September! I'll probably share a video about the event in the fall.
The split cross is actually quite appealing. It has a barbaric quality about it. I like it
I would be quite happy to have a hobby that pays for itself. Breaking even may not be the highest of goals, but it would be great!
i thinky that is very nice work interesting work thank you for sharing your knowlege and your passion roy i look every days but i'm not to good for the writing french guy god bless
+michel rodrigue373 God bless you for the great comment. I'll take your broken English any day LOL thanks for watching
Well, I started blacksmithing one year ago in the age of 16. Now I have a lot of orders. First only my family. Than my friends. Than others. They even WANT to pay me, but honestly, I don't want to get money for my work. It's my hobby, so I don't want to do it for money, but I want to do it with love =). Of course this could become a probleme for me in future so I'm not sure how to handle this situation.
You could always accept a little something just to cover materials if it's just a hobby.
Oh man your early work is way better than mine at the moment. Looks like I have a long way to go...
Again very informative. Keep posting and ignor the trolls lurking out there on the internet.
Thanks Jason! Appreciate your comment.
I am enjoying your series. I started doing blacksmithing about 3 1/2 years ago. I have worked with metal off and on for 30+ years. I have done some demos and craft shows here in TN. I had to sign up to tennesseecraft.org to do one of their craft shows. They had an article on there about pricing your items. The first thing they said was to never say "I would never pay that for this item" or "No one will pay that much for this thing". They suggested setting a shop hourly rate and charge accordingly. If it sells it sells. I was surprised because I made a bunch of small items I thought would sell fast and a few big items I thought no one would spend the money on. It was just the opposite.
as always, awesome content. I love the example of the 6 figure bottle cap opener guy. All I want to do is make a perfect fire poker. The process evolves and is refined every time I do another one. I'm on your channel every day, thanks for your work.
You are so right. My first year of blacksmithing I sucked... I am barely above that now :)
Hi thanks for your inspiration. Actually i do blacksmithing it the same way or in a similar way. Its all about finding your way and - what people want- as far as i can judge this after 3 years. I do blacksmithing mostly as a hobby but i hope creating and selling my things will grow to something more successfull, even if i am currently limited to a few products due to a lack of knowledge of what is really good to sell. I started selling things just a few month ago and i wonder how good it goes actually but maybe this Stroke of luck will come to an end sooner or later. I will see
Greetings!
really good content, unique and very helpful so thanks for sharing
You're quite welcome! If you have any specific questions for us, please let us know. We'll try to answer your question or incorporate it into a video. Have a great day! ~Jessica
I started making knives about 10 months ago. It took 30 knives to get to a point where they have broken the 100 dollar mark. I have 12 very nice blades still in my possession and i am about to put a sign up on the road for custom knives. I am fortunate enough to live on a busy highway even though Im out in the country. I had alitter of kittens and put a sign out and they were gone in 6 hours. Lol. Maybe I should give a free kitten with every knife purchase. God bless you brother, God bless you sister. I expect Ill be meeting yall in the heavens some time real soon. Maranatha.
Hi Russ, Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I think it's terrific that after 30 knives and 10 months, you reached the point where you could sell knives above $100. Local business may just work out well for you, since you live near a busy highway. God bless you too.
Idk free kitten with a blade purchase might seem strange... Ya know the whole more than one way to skin a cat thing lol.
Thanks for the tips, folks. Your channel is very helpful.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts I fill same way about stockdog training but this had been my heeling advd I love doing this I don't worry about selling yet but I may may someday but thanks I glad you shared this with everyone. Be pleased merry Christmas God bless you both
Thanks for another great video. Can I get some goodies lol,they look delicious.
+bucksmith88 they were good goodies lol that's probably why I was so fat in that last photo LOL
Time to research crucible forging!
Good points, many of the new smiths, will soon be discouraged by the sales portion of the trade. I was lucky, my first show netted me several thousand dollars, and then the famine kicked in. I took a day job and worked my iron on nights and weekends. Y2K and 911 happened and folks stopped spending bucks. I'm rebuilding my shop for the third time from scratch. After 40 plus years, I still don't know how to quit.
What about getting all of the "business side of things", in order? What/How did you go about doing all of the "BUSINESS" related decisions, and then, too, what about dealing with taxes, inventories, purchasing materials, consumable item expenses, shipping, etc., etc., etc.! Did you borrow any $ to start your business, or did you fund it entirely by working, and saving , and carefully buying, and building up your shop equipment, and material inventory? What about books, DVD's, Classes, Workshops, and memberships in related craft/business organizations, (such as ABANA, UMBA, Metalsmith's Guild, ) etc., (for learning your craft disciplines, and related skills?....
So many fantastic questions! I could do several videos to answer all of those!. I'll just pick one and answer it here for now. I did not borrow any money to start my business. I saved up and purchased tools bit by bit over the first two years, as I worked a full time job elsewhere. Once I had the basics covered, hammers, tongs, anvil, forge, and other assorted handtools, I built a larger shop (other than my shed). Like I mention in the rule of 33 video, I still reinvest about 33 percent of my business' income into not only materials, but upgrading and buying tooling. For me it's been a lengthy process to get where I am now, but I don't believe in debt. Thanks for the fantastic question!
thanks for sharing how you progressed in smithing
+josh putnam you're very welcome! God bless you for the great comment and thank you for watching.
I enjoyed the video. I'm a Blacksmith at the chislom trail outdoormuseum . We're a working blacksmith shop . I have a terrible issue with charging people, I guess what I'm getting at is regardles we change our products on the page do we still always charge the same amount. In the beginning it probably took us 3 times the coke and 3 times the amount of time to make something with less quality. Then after we get ut down we're very efficient.
What us your thoughts on this ? I did watch the whole video and you may have addressed this , if so can you elaborate more .
Thank you, Fonzy
Thanks for all the advice !
Great stuff guys. Thank you.
You two are great, thanks for all you do. Oh by the way, where did you get that cool hat?
+Don Hall you're very welcome we enjoy doing it. I got the hat from my late Grandpa blessing. He was a great guy
Making each item, one at a time, individually, can allow for a lot of creativity in design, and materials. However, IF One can set up some sort of tooling, and simplified mass-production (assembly line) process, THEN there will be a bit of a "Scale of Economy" (....or, "Economy of Scale"?), and a profit can be made by making more items, at a faster rate, per piece, while reducing the endless scrounging around to come up with something totally unique, and totally "unrepeatable"! Sometimes, whole industries arise out of some highly reproducible items, such as "bottle openers, cork-screws, knives, wall hooks, hammer-heads, etc., etc.
I totally agree. Personally, I myself lean toward unique one of a kind items. I get bored with mass production. But, there are a few projects that I choose to do it for, as I've found out that it is easier to create a handful of listings with variations, rather than 50 individual items where I can only use that listing once to get a sale.
I'd like to do something similar - "Metalsmithing", to be creative, and build up a business, and to learn skills, and build my shop. Would you please consider doing some sort of "Walk Thru/Tour of your workshop spaces, and show us the kinds of tools, and processes that you have dabbled in, and explain some of the evolution or your business growth, and development, and what seems to work best for you?.... You ARE VERY Inspirational, to me, and others looking for hope that this kind of dream can be brought to life, and made into a reality, and a source of income, through our own efforts.
We do have a bit of a "shop tour" in our "Behind the Scenes" Playlist, if you haven't seen it yet :) ruclips.net/p/PLumdiZI5Q3f9rzYeCFD1FvuP8SuLutdtV I'm so glad that you find my videos inspirational. I'll try to include the answers to some of your other questions in future videos!
Please keep these coming you may not know it but you are lighting a fire so to speak. Id love to work for self and not the man.
At six days a weeks my norm job so hard to work my forge. What are your thoughts on camp works.?
Your slide show items were nice work.
I just went in a doubled up on my insulin just looking @ Jessica's baked goods. And I looks like you might had backed off of them baked goods some my friend. Looks like you lost a couple pounds from that pic. Thank you for what you do. You are inspiring me to put my stuff out there. Been scared to. My work yet does not meet my standards. Might just do it anyway see what happens
I got 8nto chainsaw carving when I was 15 I did not like. My stuff but my mentor talked me 8n to bringing some of my stuff to the state fair and it all sold fast .other people may see beauty wair the one that made it sees junk
Thanks for the tips! I'm now blacksmithing for about a year, but i just started really blacksmithing in march, before that i was just fooling around. Now i want to sell some hooks on etsy, but the eyes from the hooks aren't the same, because i have no scrolljig. But I can't make one because I have no welder. Can I make one without a welder? Thanks for the video!
+M.T.B. Crafts it takes a little time to get practice to do them by hand but you will progressed and get better over time at making them uniform just by hammer and anvil. Another option if you're looking to need to make a hook jig but without a welder it just requires thinking outside the box a little. I may do a video on a weldless hook jig just so I can help you out:-)
Christ Centered Ironworks Thank you, really hope you make a video about it.
I just recently bought an H&M Armitage anvil date reads 1 - 0 - 18 130 lb mouse hole is that a pretty good anvil
Whey you do your ETSY page. Do you put out pictures and make to order or do you only sell what is already made? I was selling only the stuff I have made but now my inventory on the site is down to a few things. I was wondering if I should relist the items but mark them as Made when ordered. Any suggestions? Thanks again Gary Brown (Hillside View Forge)
it's very intimidating
Guy claims that some people sell things for too much... Also this guy: has a lamp listed on his website for over a thousand dollars. Ok dude😂
Me selling is my choice 100 percent............bare none.
I remerber you claim to charge $100 per hour.