You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business on the internet and an occasional Web3 issue. Today’s email was written to the soft 40 degree breeze outside the window.
Good morning,
Happy Friday. Welcome to an issue all about new stuff. Think of this one as a spice rack full of new-esk flavors sprinkled throughout. Oh so much new flavor.
We’ll start with some quick hits in the social space. Insta and TikTok.
We’ve heard Instagram likes reels. 69 people liked the first one on Vivront’s page. Two people liked the second one. Maybe Instagram just likes your first reel. Ha. We’ll keep posting content and see how it goes.
The first post was about a Nakiri (or “leaf cutting”) style knife from Japan. It was a crappy video made on the fly, but a cool knife. It’s not to be rocked like a western style chef’s knife. This knife is more about pushing when cutting. So far, it’s a top three knife in the kitchen in terms of joyful cutting and it’s been here for three days.
We’ve been building some TikTok fun over on the Vivront account. Hundreds of views (even 50s) is more normal than thousands. We’ve got room to grow. All tips welcome.
A new strategy we are using is to share about how a sharpener thinks about sharpening each knife by looking at each set in the assessment phase. We’ll share the order number and any stories we’ve heard for that knife or set in each video. It’s been fun. Share your knife stories with us when you send your knives. Let us know which one is the picnic knife, etc. and we’ll include those stores in the videos. Afterall, knives are primal and emotional. Let’s tell their stories and in doing so our stories.
One of our videos is an example of a blade that’s been serviced by a pull through sharpener. That style sharpener will only cut a single bevel on blades and typically gouge material off the blade inconsistently. This can create an unintended “bend” (or swage) somewhere on the blade. Here you can see a bow at the back of the blade.
Note, these bows are hard to fix with DIY tools and stoes. Something more industrial can re-profile the blade and fix its cutting shape with more ease. Without restoration knives like this will not cut in the bow and make a clicking noise when in use. Bummer.
Anyway, nerd knife talk here.
Enough with the social. On to the product side.
Bit #1 New Loaners
We offer loaner knives when sharpening is ordered via the web. We ship two knives in the first shipment so customers are not without knives in their kitchen for the few days their knives are serviced.
In the past we were moving $300 sets of a chef and paring knife from Shun and Miyabi. These knives are amazing to cut with. They create “wow” moments because most folks have yet to cut with a Japanese knife. However, not enough people have been purchasing them (vs sending them back) to meet our model. So we went looking for a more cost effective and still amazing cutting experience. We knew we wanted to find something from Japan because they tend to create “wow” experiences consistently.
We found a set of knives made of super unique and strong BD1N America Steel which are then crafted in Japan with Japanese techniques and design. They are fantastic, just $198 for the set and they have cool white corian handles to boot.
While we ship these as standard loaners now they are also available in two other transactions. Is one right for you?
Retail. We have the Chef and Paring set for sale here.
Rental. We’re piloting a rental service. Think of having two sharp knives sent to you every other month for a low monthly fee. Interested? Hit reply. We’ll get you the details for the rental service. I suspect this offering could be popular with folks who have dull knives and are worried about shipping/sharpening their own knives but want sharp knives. We’ll see. Again, let us know if you’re interested in renting sharp knives. Hit reply. We’ll get you set up.
Bit #2 New Packaging + Retail
The former packaging was a hard sided envelope. A video of it in use can be seen here.
Some upsides:
Ridgid and would “hug” the knives as the envelope expanded
Available, crafty in appearance and cost effective
Some downsides:
They tear easily on opening
They create an odd user experience when loading and unloading knives
They don’t present as custom, safe or unique in a retail context
They can fit ~8 knives tops if they are assorted sizes
So, we’ve designed and manufactured a new version that creates a work surface type of tray for loading and unloading knives, supports retail packaging (with a UPC!), is made of a durable cardboard material.
This package format is supporting our direct to consumer service as well as our new service line in retail.
Know anyone in retail contexts that could assist us with distribution perspective? Thanks in advance for the intros. We’re all ears.
Bit #3
This thing is a beast. I’m so glad to have it.
I invested 5 days on it in CA a month plus back and now it’s here and installed - all 1300 cubic feet per minute of air sucking knife grinding wonderful. I’m logging a few hours a day and tuning it in and learning it. It has a strange hop in the 2x48 belt… we’ll get it figured out. Anyway. Things are coming along real nicely.
I’ve snagged a sharpness pressure sensor that measures accurately to the gram. It’s a fantastic tool for running test and learn cycles on junk knives as well as ensuring quality on customer knives. For an example of dull, customer knives came in this week that measured over 1300g of force to cut the test media. We made them sharp in the range of 200 grams (but not too sharp).
Sum
There we have a slew of new stuff. The social side is coming along. It took a bit to get a hold on a strategy and a personality. New loaners, packaging and a industrial no joke sharpening machine are all now in play. It’s go time!
Change
A strong hat tip to @hplug who finds so many insider cool things for the kitchen. Here are just two he has sent our direction in the last few months. And now you have them too.
Get your All-Clad factory seconds
https://homeandcooksales.com/These hand towels are dope, soft, geometric and fun. Loving ours. -
On Your Way
Hey, it’s Friday. Baseball is in full swing. Catch a game this weekend? Whatever you’re doing, take a moment to breathe deep and listen to the wind in the trees for something like 2 minutes. Enjoy it. You’re alive!
Follow @josephrueter on Instagram or Linkedin. Follow Vivront.com on Instagram and Facebook.
Order your knives sharpened, or a subscription so a package just shows up on a schedule, at Vivront.com.