What you didn’t know about the Stakeholder Auction

What you didn't know about the Stakeholder Auction

For those who don’t know about the Stakeholder Program, almost 3 years ago I launched the Stakeholder Program to transition from a part-time maker to full time! It was a huge success, I sold 100 positions in 6 mins after crashing my website and sending out links through email. There were a lot of people who didn’t get a chance to get in. Many have been waiting for this opportunity to arrive. So when it did earlier this month no one really knew how much it would bring. I had guessed somewhere between 1200-1800. I think everyone was surprised when if far surpassed that and ended up bring in $2551.00. I spoke with the new Stakeholder “John” a TSP listener from the beginning and a true supporter of both Simply Cleansing and MT Knives. He was really motivated to get this position since he tried and missed the first launch.

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Ranger Prototype with Lacewood handle

The seller also had purchased the Limited Edition Ranger LE03 which he was holding onto in case the new Stakeholder wanted it as well. Which he did as well.

The Search for the Missing General
The General

The original Stakeholder decided for what ever reason to pass on purchasing his Limited Edition General LE02, I was contacted by the new Stakeholder and asked to see if I could track down the General to complete his new set of knives. Side note: Everyone has different strengths and weakness…. lets just say record keeping wasn’t one of my strengths :/ However I have learned working for myself, keeping good records is valuable. 😉 So I went to my spreadsheet with the information of all 100 Stakeholder Knives and found the missing General and now he will be adding that to his collection as well.

 The Value of the Limited Edition Knives and Stakeholder Position

Do you own a MT Knives Limited Edition Knife? Maybe you will be getting tracked down one day to see if you would be willing to part with it. 😀 I hope by now, those who may have had some reservations about what value their knives may have, aside from the inherent values already involved. They see these knives truly are a one of a kind, never to be made again. I hope your knife is somewhere safe and taken well care of for the generations to come. Everyday I strive to make my knives better and better. You never know in the future which one may end up in a museum for all to see. I hope it is some of my best work 😀

Many people who first hear of the Stakeholder position don’t fully understand the value of that position. I have talked to several Stakeholders, most of them never plan on selling their position. There are a few that would consider it if the price was right. But even the owner of this position wasn’t sure he wanted to part with it. As time goes on, I think the number of Stakeholders willing to part with their positions will only get smaller.

I have wondered if any would come forward after the success of this auction, but what I am seeing is the opposite. The Stakeholders I have talked to are more adamant about keeping ahold of their position. But don’t lose hope, if you would like to become a Stakeholder be sure and join the mailing list. I will keep you posted if and when one comes available!

Sharpening Class SOLD OUT!

The Colorado Sharpening Class is now overfilled. With 4 sign ups on one day we ended up filling one more seat than expected. It is no problem, this is going to be a great class and I look forward to it! If you would like to host a class in your area be sure and contact me.

TSP Knives

I think this is the 3rd run of TSP knives we have done. I am blown away by the support of TSP listeners and I love the thought of all those listeners getting a knife that will last them a very long time, hopefully getting passed on for many generations to come.

TSP Genesis

Shop Remodel

It have been a very busy month with record sales, I have already sent out over 70 knives this month! On top of that I remodeled my shop. With the Summer heat fast approaching… well already here now, my shop can get well into the triple digits. I had a 12×12 room in the shop that was insulated but only heated it in the winter. I decided to frame in the other 12×12 in front of that room to give me 288 square foot of shop that can be both heated and cooled.

building material

The first challenge was to figure out the material needed and then get it. Fortunately the Man Van can handle that task just fine 😀 12ft lumber fits nicely and so do full 4X8 sheets of plywood. I chose plywood for the walls for speed and durability.

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The next phase was to clean out my already crowded shop to get the work done. Thankfully I had some help from a friend. Thank You Terry, your help on this and many other projects over the two weeks was greatly appreciated!

Shop room

One thing I didn’t like was when I was working in the shop, I couldn’t see outdoors. So I added a window for the AC and also to make it easier to see what is going on outside. I still have some arranging to do but got my drill presses moved in along with my office stuff.  The shop is an ever changing project. I am alway looking for ways to improve both quality of the work and efficiency.