# Where we go from here.....



## Dave Martell

As most of you likely know we spent the last 4 months homeless and down for business. Being without income for all this time has put a serious hurting on us that'll take some time to make right. It's been tough the last 4 months and it will continue to be tough as long as I have a backlog of paid for work on the books - this has to change. The very worst thing I've done since starting my business was taking pre-payment for knife orders, it's been keeping me up at night worrying and stressing over how to catch up. I've wrestled with how to tackle my backlog of paid for work while not screwing over anybody and yet still eating and paying rent at the same time, I've come up with the following....

I will start making Martell knives that are on order (and paid for) yet I'll also make Martell knives (maybe every other) that I'll offer for sale. I realize that this will likely (rightfully so) piss off some of you who have been waiting a very long time for your knives that you've paid for but I truly believe this is the only alternative I have for staying in business and getting you all your knives. If it helps any, please know that you'll have paid a lot less than current pricing and the quality you'll get in your knife will be much higher than it would have been if done way back when you first ordered as I get better and better with each knife I grind. Still though, I realize that this is a crappy thing to do to those of you who have been waiting patiently for so long. If I could have just a little more patience from you I promise to deliver and make things right.

Martell knives will have priority but I will also do some western rehandle work when it's possible to double up on the steps in the process like cutting, mounting, and shaping along with Martell knives. Many of you also have paid for western rehandle coupons that will be honored but again I may have to do some rehandles to generate cash flow.

For sharpening work, I am once again open for business. I have always turned over sharpening work quickly and will continue to do so. I try to devote time everyday to the sharpening side of the business. Please see JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com for details.

Also, just to note (again), our stone sales store is open for business, see JapaneseKnifeSharpeningStore.com


I have so many plans for the future for our business but it's very clear that I need to get this backlog in check first, nothing can move forward until this is done. I hope that those of you who are affected by my plan of attack can understand why I chose to do things this way, regardless, I'm very sorry for the long wait and now for this direction I have to go.

For those of you who have been emailing and PM'ing me over the last month or so regarding work inquiries and haven't got a response I will be getting back to you very soon. 

Regards,
Dave


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## ecchef

And this is different than any other custom maker how....? :razz:

You worry too much.


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## daddy yo yo

It is actually quite nice that you worry so much, but then again, better you have your order books full instead of empty!

Hey, we all know this business and we're all used to waiting for the things we want, so don't worry too much as this won't make you any faster or feel better.


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## apicius9

I know exactly how you feel. I am sure, people will support you with whatever you choose to do, and if some bow out, that will be their loss. I gotta bug you about a few things also but will try to keep it easy...

Stefan


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## larrybard

Your forthrightness, honesty and integrity are greatly appreciated.


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## SteveD

Hi Dave, 

I am sure things will work out for the business. People will buy and wait for quality. Glad to see you're settling in to the new place and the website is back up. 


Hopefully will be packing up a few knives for sharpening and sending your way shortly. 


Steve


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## KimBronnum

+1 what larrybard said


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## apathetic

KimBronnum said:


> +1 what larrybard said



+2


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## Lefty

Just good to see you up and at em, Dave. I'm looking forward to seeing the beautiful work you put out.


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## James

Looking forward to seeing some of your new work and how your knives have evolved. 

P.S. sent you a pm about one of my knives that needs work :biggrin:


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## toddnmd

Dave, thanks for the update and concern for your customers.

Not sure if the prepaid customers were given a promised (probably not) or even expected timeline. Anyway, I think most people who have paid would prefer you keep your business going so they eventually receive the knife they paid for. 

As others have pointed out, long wait times are just part of the territory with custom knives. 

If I were one of your prepaid customers, I might appreciate periodic updates (maybe every two or three months) about how many prepaid knives you have left to do. It would make me feel better and closer to getting the knife if I saw those numbers going down.

Good luck balancing the needs of your past and future customers, and taking care of your business in the way you need to keep things going.


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## sudsy9977

My knife better be spectacular when it gets here!....good luck juggling!....ryan


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## ThEoRy

sudsy9977 said:


> My knife better be spectacular when it gets here!....good luck juggling!....ryan


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## Dave Martell

Thanks for all the kind and encouraging words, even Ryan....LOL


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## ejd53

You know Dave, you do worry too much. Anyone who has ever run a business knows that without cash flow, there is no business. Just do what you need to do to keep things running. I don't think anybody here will think less of you, and anyway, the alternative is a whole lot worse for them as well as you.:knife:


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## Namaxy

I'm sure people on these boards understand! And I know we prefer you to stay healthy and in business.

Cash flow is a perpetual issue to the business owner. Is there something, other than sharpening, that you could do to generate current income that wouldn't take much time away from the knifemaking backlog? Like say thinning....something you could charge more for than the standard sharpening but doesn't take crazy hours.


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## Dave Martell

Stone (store) sales used to be a great source of cash flow for us but that's not true anymore. It does OK but it's much more of an extra thing than and income thing. I hope to change that but not now for sure.

As for other jobs like thinning and rehandles those take some decent time and although not a full knife they are about 1/2 and if combined make for about the same time requirement. 

Sharpening can be fast if it mostly belt work but when stones are used it's very time consuming.

There's no quick way for this guy to make money. Still though, I love my job.


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## ecchef

Have you considered exotic dancing?


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## daveb

Stunt double for a bowling ball?


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## Dave Martell

Oh...you jokes eh?


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## rami_m

Dave Martell said:


> Oh...you jokes eh?


Guys be careful he who laugh last laugh longest. Your knives may have an accident on the way.


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## Erilyn75

Not even worried about it. Just get yourself up and running again, new shoes can wait


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## pkjames

stay well Dave, you will get there!


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## Dave Martell

I'm still working away on my shop. It's taking me a lot longer to get the place set up mostly for three reasons. The first is that we downsized on both house & shop which means we have too much crap now and this crap keeps getting in the way of the crap I need to put places, it's a constant juggling act that sucks. The second hassle is that when you live so rural everything is so far away from you, trips to the hardware store for some screws or whatever takes hours of drive time to do, we really have to plan every drive out and hit other stores while we're out and that kills time. The third thing is that because of the downsizing I can't just set things up like before, I've had to take apart all benches and re-configure almost every work station. I tell you guys this move has been beyond crappy, actually the whole experience of leaving the old place until now has really sucked bad and I'm doing all I can do to hold on.

On the bright side, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and some additional plans for products for our store is coming together which is nice. Also, my lovely wife Robin is joining me on a part time basis (again) to help out in the shop in the afternoons while the kids are at school - finally I have my assistant back! _(Shhh - Don't tell her that I called her my assistant though) _:doublethumbsup:

I'd like to mention my lack of communication, that is me not returning emails and PM's....I realize that I have a ton of them to get to and I've been putting it off to keep rolling on other things. The thing is that I don't have an office set up just yet and I'd rather wait to get to that point where I can become organized than to tell you something and it slips through the cracks with the mess I have now. I promise to get back to each and every one of you soon. You're all VERY valuable people to me and I hope you can see that I'm not blowing you off completely....just temporarily. LOL


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## marc4pt0

Instead of assistant you should call her your _ secretary_ then play a mean game of "chase her around the desk"


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## daddy yo yo

I envy you: your wife won't even be pi**ed when you start an affair with your secretary!


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## Dave Martell

LOL, yeah secretary, that could work out.


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## Dave Martell

I've got the office all set up (woohoo!) and boy does that feel good. It's so much better out here in the shop now.


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## stereo.pete

Good to hear Dave!


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## Matus

I was about to PM you Dave, but it seems that letting you sort out things is going to be a better idea. Hold on - once you have to shop set up you will not miss the old one so much. Take it as a possibility to make it even better than it was before


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## Dave Martell

Matus said:


> Hold on - once you have to shop set up you will not miss the old one so much. Take it as a possibility to make it even better than it was before




That's exactly what I'm doing but not so much because I want to, it's become a have to thing, but yeah it's coming along OK. I'm actually down to the final touches which are the worst bits to do. It should be a much better work shop overall although it's no where near as nice for stone sharpening work as the old place and that's because this doesn't have running water nor the space with a floor drain to catch excess flow. The handle/knifemaking/belt sharpening set up is a lot more fluid now so I guess I'd say that it's been a give and take balance.


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## Dave Martell

Update>Spent the whole weekend re-working my belt grinder motor. I decided to move it because it's fan has always blown the dust to the left of the grinder which causes a problem with dust pick up. This led to a whole new design for the drive belt tension set up. I used it for a day and hated it so I broke it all down and went back to the drawing board. Once I drive a couple of hours tomorrow for some longer mounting bolts I'll be able to give the new version a test spin. I hope it work because it's a real nice set up that allows me to quick change speeds of my step pulleys (and no I don't have a nice variable speed set up!). Changing drive speeds has been a pain in the ass so I'm hopeful this will help. Plus it was so much work making the mounting plate and everything that I just don't want to have to do it all over again, I just want to be done with this and move on.


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## Dave Martell

Robin and I just spent the last 4 hours hanging crap on the walls so that we can get the crap off of the floor. Round and round we go... :spin chair:

The biggest hurdle that still needs taking care of is the dust collection system. I'm going to have to go half-ass with it (using cheap dryer ducting) for now so that I can back get to working and then order up the remaining (quality) stuff for the permanent system to install as I can. To do this correctly is going to take time and money - neither of which I have currently. 

I'm just about back up and running now and once I get the stone/hand sharpening station set up I'll take some pictures of the shop and post them for you guys to see. I've got to get a decent rack for my stones first though, I want to have them surrounding (or at least in front of) me within arms reach, well that's the plan anyway. 

So now it's time to start answering all those PM's and emails. :bigeek:


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## Matus

Our Yoshikane SLD petty is waiting for your PM ... patiently 

May the force be with you going thorough all those emails and PMs


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## Dave Martell

Matus said:


> Our Yoshikane SLD petty is waiting for your PM ... patiently
> 
> May the force be with you going thorough all those emails and PMs




PM sent


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## Matus

Dave Martell said:


> PM sent



:thankyou333: , let the show begin


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## Dave Martell

Only 8 PM's left and 15 emails to go...making HUGE leaps here folks. LOL


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## ThEoRy

Get it crackin!!!


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## Dave Martell

ThEoRy said:


> Get it crackin!!!





I'm on the job Chef!


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## WildBoar

When's the Open House?


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## Dave Martell

Belt sharpening work is flying out the door! It's great to be getting some work done finally. 

Thanks to my loyal customers for sticking with me. :thumbsup:


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## Dave Martell

FYI - The turnaround time (currently) on sharpening work is better than it's been in years. Please feel free to take advantage of this.


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## Paco.McGraw

So does that mean it's time for me to send in my 25 piece ginsu set and 5 moritakas previously worked over from Ken to be freshened up?

How about a quantity discount?


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## Dave Martell

Paco.McGraw said:


> So does that mean it's time for me to send in my 25 piece ginsu set and 5 moritakas previously worked over from Ken to be freshened up?
> 
> How about a quantity discount?




Ouch!


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## EdipisReks

Dave Martell said:


> Ouch!



I'm sure you can replicate the traditional Katana belt grinder polish, right?


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## chinacats

How's that schedule apply to rehandles?


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## CutFingers

You can't please them all...but if you can please the majority of customers that have waited so long things will be alright.


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## Dave Martell

chinacats said:


> How's that schedule apply to rehandles?




Not so much.


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## Dave Martell

CutFingers said:


> You can't please them all...but if you can please the majority of customers that have waited so long things will be alright.




I'm hoping to make good to those who have waited so long.


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## ThEoRy

Dave Martell said:


> I'm hoping to make good to those who have waited so long.


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## ecchef

One box o' crap inbound to Airville!


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## Dave Martell

ecchef said:


> One box o' crap inbound to Airville!




:IMOK:


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## Dave Martell

Guess who's been making knives? :spiteful:


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## Paco.McGraw

Anything coming my direction?


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## Dave Martell

Paco.McGraw said:


> Anything coming my direction?




Not yet BUT real soon I promise. I just have to sell a few to pay some bills and keep the lights on but I can't wait to get rolling on all the long term (very patient) waiters - you guys are my #1 priority!


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## ThEoRy




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## Paco.McGraw

Totally understand Dave. 

Just seeing whether I should get ready to camp out by the mailbox for some new sharp pieces of metal on a stick.


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## Dave Martell

Paco.McGraw said:


> Totally understand Dave.
> 
> Just seeing whether I should get ready to camp out by the mailbox for some new sharp pieces of metal on a stick.




I understand.


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## sudsy9977

Where do we go from here....hmmmm....how bout start workin faster!!!!!!....ryan


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## Dave Martell

sudsy9977 said:


> Where do we go from here....hmmmm....how bout start workin faster!!!!!!....ryan




Man you're tough!


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## ThEoRy

sudsy9977 said:


> Where do we go from here....hmmmm....how bout start workin faster!!!!!!....ryan



"The Jerk Store called.......":rofl2:


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## apicius9

Definitely a tough crowd here. 

Stefan


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## sudsy9977

In all seriousness Dave is one of the hardest working guys I know...he goes way above and beyond for every order. Whether the customer knows or not....I know my stuff will be worth the wait...keep on truckin Dave! ...ryan


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## Dave Martell

I'm starting on the list folks. Many of you already got messages today so you know who's up next or on the way. Keep on truckin! :spin chair:


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## Mrmnms

ThEoRy said:


> "The Jerk Store called.......":rofl2:



That was so good. Just passed beer through my nose.


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## sudsy9977

ThEoRy said:


> "The Jerk Store called.......":rofl2:




Are u one of those weirdos who eats their snickers with a knife and fork...ryan:knife:


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## ThEoRy

Nah, just a Seinfeld reference is all.


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## Dave Martell

Dave Martell said:


> I'm starting on the list folks. Many of you already got messages today so you know who's up next or on the way. Keep on truckin! :spin chair:





Lots of new stuff coming along, I'm SUPER excited to be able to push myself in some different directions on these first up knives. Maybe some of these things will become upgrades or options in the future. Just talking out loud here....


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## sudsy9977

ThEoRy said:


> Nah, just a Seinfeld reference is all.





As was my comment, I loved that show....ryan


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## ThEoRy

Right over my head Ryan. Shoulda went with, "What does it matter? You're their all time best seller!!"


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## Dave Martell

The next knife (or knives) up will be western handled sujihikis for sale, followed by a few from the list. The ones on the list (except for one being done without a handle) are all different to what I've done in the past - all challenging in their own way. I think I have 5 or 6 currently in different stages of work right now but admittedly I'm taking my time with the more challenging ones.


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## sudsy9977

Where did the list go?...I know I'm a few years away...lol...but I tried finding it with no luck....I wanna know how many sob's are in front of me....ryan


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## Dave Martell

sudsy9977 said:


> Where did the list go?...I know I'm a few years away...lol...but I tried finding it with no luck....I wanna know how many sob's are in front of me....ryan




I axed it since I had to go out of order to get the ball rolling. Sorry brotha


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## sudsy9977

I got ya....no wonder I couldn't find it....I'll keep waiting by my phone, waiting for the magic call that I'm next....ryan


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## ecchef

Ryan, you are a patient man! 

I believe that Dave's team has reached the Arctic and will be digging the mastodon tooth out of the ice any day now. :biggrin:

Are you in for a Gyuto or suji (or both)?


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## sudsy9977

Both....I've pretty much sold off everything else kitchen wise and waiting on them.....they're gonna be perfect....we got some good ideas planned for em for sure....ryan


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## Dave Martell

I'm working my way to the quality level you expect...I need more practice


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## sudsy9977

I hope you are....I've waited so long for these, I'm gonna be bustin out the magnifiers for them....thee better be no gaps, no stray sanding marks...not a thing out of place buddy!....Ryan


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