Have you ever considered the cost of doing business

[longcruise]

I made my first consignment gun and it was a style I had not built before. Learned invaluable lesson to not do it again...!

I too learned that the hard way. Building bows. I do it for the pure enjoyment of it. I'll sell them but after taking orders for only a few. . . . Nevermore!

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Spent 50+ years doing the Journeyman Automotive Repair thing.
Had medical issues and figured out "someone was trying to tell me something" so I locked up the tool box and didn't go back.
Ran into a guy that I had worked on his rigs for YEARS. Asked what I was doing? My reply? Any damn thing I want!! And one of the things I do ISN"T working on someone's car.
When asked, my reply? YOU CAN'T AFFORD ME!!

 

[SOLANCO]

That's why I don't keep track of what I spend on hobbies.

We have chickens. So far I think I've got the cost of eggs up to $6 a dozen. Should be $8 by the time the new coop is finished.

I don't even want to think what the vegetables from the wife's garden cost.

 

[shorthair]

Some folks buy a jet ski to use a couple of times or a dirt bike to ride after a truck ride to somewhere. All sorts of money for intermittent play. I’ve been accumulating things to fiddle with fire arms. Disregard the effort to learn a few skills and gather parts and materials it may never allow me to buy a Lear jet but I like it. So far there’s a heat treat furnace, lathe, mill, bandsaw, drill press, buffer, grinders, disc sander, arbor press, six vices large to small and lots of special tools bought one at a time or made. These days I some times charge a modest amount to work on a project that interests me but mostly do things to please my interest. I feel lucky to have a well rounded hobby that an old guy can do in any weather.

The old vocation vs avocation, one is probably not fun but better be profitable while the other better be fun otherwise why do it?

 

[Hood2]

I once saw a beautiful rifle that I would have loved to have owned, but it wasn't for sale. I told a friend that I would gladly pay $3,000 for that rifle. He looked at me like he was gut shot.

A lot of people fail to recognize the talent, the time, and the cost of business.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I once saw a beautiful rifle that I would have loved to have owned, but it wasn't for sale. I told a friend that I would gladly pay $3,000 for that rifle. He looked at me like he was gut shot.

A lot of people fail to recognize the talent, the time, and the cost of business.

Pikers they are sometimes called....

 

[JEBMs]

First #1 rule No partners
Been there, done that, got the tee shirt and commemorative coffee mug. A partnership is a ship destined to sink

 

[cannonball1]

I have liked to scratch build (a plank of wood, best barrel and rough cast parts) ML'ers for many years now and have never built them to sell. Over the years I built several, shot them and sold them. At one time I truly thought it might be something to make a living at, but a friend and classmate of mine said he darn near starved to death making knives. He was the best. He took orders, over three year backlog, and gave the client a price. By the time he was ready to make the knife the price of parts had gone up. He told me he got a good lesson from that. If you are the best, you can make a living, and tell the customer you will give him the price in a couple of years when you are ready to make the knife. He sold one knife (The Jewel of the Orient) for 2 million dollars, but his first years were just making a living. He said if you have a name you can get money for your labors, if you do not, you have to give money back for the loss of cost of parts. Guess that says it best. My guns are going for keep-sakes for next generations. If not - - I loose money from the grave when they try to sell them.

 

[Quicksilver]

I have liked to scratch build (a plank of wood, best barrel and rough cast parts) ML'ers for many years now and have never built them to sell. Over the years I built several, shot them and sold them. At one time I truly thought it might be something to make a living at, but a friend and classmate of mine said he darn near starved to death making knives. He was the best. He took orders, over three year backlog, and gave the client a price. By the time he was ready to make the knife the price of parts had gone up. He told me he got a good lesson from that. If you are the best, you can make a living, and tell the customer you will give him the price in a couple of years when you are ready to make the knife. He sold one knife (The Jewel of the Orient) for 2 million dollars, but his first years were just making a living. He said if you have a name you can get money for your labors, if you do not, you have to give money back for the loss of cost of parts. Guess that says it best. My guns are going for keep-sakes for next generations. If not - - I loose money from the grave when they try to sell them.

Your friend is right about starving making knives. I have had that experience myself. I remember his knife, I believe it was gold or gold colored. It was called The “Gem” of the Orient I think. You should talk him into making some gun parts for us..

 

[mikesto44]

I started building guns a few year's ago. Yes I'm an amateur builder. Have had more than a few people want me to build a gun for them....Not happening....

 

[Flintandsteel]

You have to do this building thing, for the love of ”doing” it. I’ve built well over a hundred guns to date, and probably still have a few in me.
There is no way I could ever make a living at it. I’m too slow, but I do love doing the work, and it does support my hobby, and what I like to do.
Remember, back in the day, labor was the thing you had plenty of, and it was cheap. No TV, no internet. What else did you have to do?

 

[springfield art]

Working for yourself; other businesses and credit people look askance at lone, self-employed people. How do you pay for health insurance? (Maybe the wife has it for the family). Plus, every tax and code authority comes after you: are you doing business in a residential area? How are visiting customers covered for hazard insurance in case they trip-n-fall? Craftsmen like Mr. Brooks are few and far between. Self-employment comes with a lot of glitches. We must respect those that make a 'go' of it!

 

[Gold Grizzly]

My Brother has been making dentures for just about 25 years now. Some days he makes really good money and other days he hardly has any work. Have to be disciplined on how to use your budget. He gets many Thank You , now I can eat steak again letters and it makes his day. He has a natural talent at making dentures and I consider him a craftsman and he is good at it.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Most people who run small business don't charge enough...

 

[cannonball1]

Your friend is right about starving making knives. I have had that experience myself. I remember his knife, I believe it was gold or gold colored. It was called The “Gem” of the Orient I think. You should talk him into making some gun parts for us..

He has long since passed, but years ago I talked him into having a class on metal engraving. I talked to the school about letting us use the benches in the shop class and got it approved. He was a fantastic teacher. All free gratis work I saw a lot of his other real expensive knives, but I never got to see that knife.

 

[borne2fly]

Customers can be a fickle bunch. And probably even more so with something as niche as M/L. It's bad enough with cars, motorcycles, and bicycles, so I doubt I'd ever want to shell out the cost to start a M/L biz.

I digress and ramble a little ....
Back in the '70's I got one of those CVA Kentucky pistol kits. First time playing with any of this. Had a good time putting everything together until one day I needed to have a hole drilled through a steel bolt (a different project but loosely related). When I went to a machine shop they started quoting a laundry list of setup costs to do this. We're talking about drilling a simple hole in something that you could quickly throw into a 3-jaw lathe chuck. The total outlay added up to about 1/4 the price of a used lathe! I couldn't believe it. So out of sheer frustration I opted to buy a old lathe instead, figuring if this was the way things were going then I'd end up using it quite a bit. I still have that lathe, plus a heap of other machine tools along the way. These things have paid for themselves many times over, and I use them all the time .... mostly for repairing stuff that was otherwise couldn't be repaired at all .... like drilling holes through steel bolts

 

[oldwood]

I built m/l guns for fun , and to keep my sanity. If someone wanted a m/l gun , They told me what rifle it was , or showed me an image of it , I set the price . I bought the parts , built the gun , and if they still wanted it, it was theirs. Never had a problem getting rid of a gun. Here in Pa. , the flint lock m/l deer hunters kept me busy.

 

[Onojutta]

Any retired guys at least supplementing income building guns? I always knew building guns for a living would never be realistic, but my goal has been to get good enough so that by the time I am retired I can use my hobby for a little extra cash. Or at least make enough to cover my costs to keep building for the fun of it.

 

[TDM]

My personal view is that I worked 50 plus years to earn enough money to retire. Barely made it, but I did. I want nothing to do with business anymore. My family has told me I ought to sell my carvings, flutes, knives, etc. I freely give them away. But I refuse to spend the time to try and sell them. Those past times and gun building I do for pure enjoyment. But that’s just me and my antisocial attitude.

 

[SDSmlf]

Any retired guys at least supplementing income building guns? I always knew building guns for a living would never be realistic, but my goal has been to get good enough so that by the time I am retired I can use my hobby for a little extra cash. Or at least make enough to cover my costs to keep building for the fun of it.

Guess you could about ‘cover’ your costs if your value your labor low enough.

Without a ‘reputation’ difficult to sell a gun much north of $2000 unless it’s really special. Figure parts will run $1200 or so. Leaves $800 for ‘profit’. Say you can turn a parts set into a finished gun in 100 hours. That’s $8 per hour. Can you take a $1200 parts set and stock blank and turn it into a $2000 gun in 2-1/2 weeks (100 hours)? If you can, you could gross $8 an hour. Then who pays for your supplies and tools? Heats/cools your shop? Pays the taxes?….. Maybe you are really good and fast, but otherwise….. or maybe you can get $4k for that gun with 100 hours of labor into it, putting you at $28 per hour gross. Let’s see some photographs of what you can do.