It all makes complete sense Dan. You have to have a business plan and it is the right way to price items up taking everything into account. Excellent.

Great video there Dan! And thank you very much sir for the shout out hope you are doing well. God bless

Great information on the business side of the shop. Now, I jus need the skills to produce some product. As it stands now, I would have to charge $875 bucks for a bottle opener since it take me 28 hours to forge a craptastic version. Heh.

Great hammer control and precision!

Took my first blacksmithing lesson last Saturday, and loved learning and making the wall hook it was great.

I really appreciate your videos. You are one of the few that talk about stuff like this and it's extremely helpful. Thanks from East Tennessee!

Nice video, i'm envious of your power hammer.

Simple poker my a**! It's bloody awesome. I can't WAIT til i can do cool stuff like that.

The fire pokers I turned out at the Pioneer Village were sold at a low price of $30 - $35 at the gift shop however they were not out to make money, just to pay for supplies. That's around 25 - 26 pounds I believe. They were worth more than that but that's what they did. And I could not make enough of them. I mostly forged out handles when folks were not around as that part is boring, maybe do a fire weld when folks were in the shop just for some picture moments. I'd tell the folks to get ready for the fireworks.

Daniel,

Should be running into Roy at SOFA at the end of this month. You should come set around the fire and have a coffee with us. :)

To keep costs lower for folks, I try to make as many of an Item as I can at the same time. Keeps costs lower but you make more in the long run. Small items are the easiest sellers and big ticket items are nice but they dont come along to often to consider them stable income.

Nice one D'sun. Back to viewing. Get out of the nut house on Friday. Vehicle spelt this way in English just FYI, 🤣...great vid as usual, very helpful, well done. 😀

Nice job Dan. I had my poker like that at $24 us but was thinking that was too cheap. I have a day job and have been doing blacksmithing and metal fabrication on the side for quite a few years. I've found you need to find the right people willing to pay for quality handmade items. I used to make trapping supplies but it got hard to compete with the items made overseas. (Asia)

nice job Daniel when I make my blades unfortunately I do not have a belt grinder so all my work is done litteraly by hane with files and the like. When I forge a blade it saves very little time for the process is about the same length. For now I have benn charging around 200 US dollars for my pieces and this is also with a hand made leather sheath hand made mosaic pins and as good of a high polished finish along with a razor sharp edge thanks to my Wicked Edge sharpening system. I guess what I'm trying to say is everyone has a process and sometimes no matter how long it takes to make your product you should sell it for what you can get even if it took you as long to make said product as I have explained in a brief description of what I make here at my forge.. Right? Id like to here your input when you have a chance. Thank you and Cheers from across the pond... Martin M&S Blades..

I have always figured specialty things like this at $1/min or $60/hr. Not feasible with everything item but for things you are good at and can knock out quickly or for larger items that are of good quality, I think that as a standard rate + materials just so simplifies the math. What are your thoughts?

that a lot of fire pokers you gotta sell in a day.

Well put Daniel. I typically figure my prices off of what I earn from my day job. If I were to earn $18.00 an hour doing overtime, which I feel my hobby smithing is considered, and I basically void the material cost since a lot of the steel I use is recycled. I do add a little for my fuel cost though. The other thing that is a BIG factor, is my market. If I am selling to complete strangers, I set the price a bit over, and allow for discussion on price. On the other hand, at SCA events, I try to ask a fair price or even under cut a bit, since happy customs bring in more money. Sometimes I have taken it to far, but as said before, it is a hobby and not a career. Hope you had the chance to see my 'for Daniel Moss' video.

nice info but i have to ask you why dont use power hammer that much you dont hit that hard can you tell me why

Daniel,