Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

What is this page about?

As always, this page is about knives! When you think of a city of knives, what comes to your mind? Do you think of a mystical land where knives are medium of trade and commerce, where knives are valued by their size and purpose, used to purchase the good things in life? Maybe you think of the back alleys of San Pedro Sula, the most dangerous city in the world, where knives play a sinister role. Or perhaps you might think that somewhere there is a giant city where every car, every building, every streetlamp is shaped like a knife, in a knife-deco type of design in a distant universe... cool!

Alas, this page is not about the science fiction or imagination of your favorite knifemaker; it's far too real for that! This page is about you, the person viewing this very page, this singular website. Where do you come from? Who are you? What city do you live in?

With modern analytics, I can't really know who you are, but in most cases, I can know what city you're viewing my site in. Neat, huh? It's not that I'm keeping tabs on your traffic (okay, I am, a bit), but these are things that are important because I have a certain type of site genre and personality that may be of interest in a specific city, state, or country. As a professional, I need to understand my metrics, interpret the data, gauge directions and trends accordingly. After all, I'm in business because of you: people who visit this website, people who read these pages, people who are inspired to order and purchase my works.

People come to the site for a lot of reasons, but the visits are mainly because of one distinct and essential word: knife. Whatever city you hail from, you have probably used the word knife or the word knives to get here. This is the place my site occupies in the big beautiful world; it is directly and permanently anchored to these terms, for as long as it is available on a server for viewing on your computer, cell phone, tablet, or internet device. Even after I'm gone and the site is gone, it will be part of our nation's copyright record, recorded in the Library of Congress in the USA, which is widely considered the greatest resource and record of mankind, and the largest library ever known to exist. This is all very humbling to me, for I have typed every word (except the testimonials) and put forward every idea, concept, and taken nearly every photograph on this site. At the time of this writing, it's over 540 pages long with over 15,000 pictures. It will continue to grow, as long as I'm making knives, and at the time of this writing, I'm 56 and plan to be around for a good long time!

What role does the location of my visitors have in all this? It's pretty simple: I want you to understand that I know you're here, I know you're interested, and I care about the experience you have here. What you read, what you learn, and what you carry away from this website reflects on my efforts and accomplishments in my professional field. In that way, we are all connected. As Noah Webster said: "Language as well as the faculty of speech, was the immediate gift of God." It's a gift we all share.

Page Topics

Understanding Metrics

The word metric means a standard of measurement. In modern web development, it's notable to understand what metrics apply to any individual website. This is imperative to me, as a simple web developer (I'm not simple, but my website is). I'm expected to apply what I've learned from the metrics to continue to operate my business and achieve my goals. As the internet analysis spectrum continues to grow every year, I need to know what to do with this information and how it applies to the business. Frankly, much of the metrics are unimportant. For instance, web bots and programs simply scanning for words don't matter much to me; these are not actual visitors. What does interest me are my visitors, and this page is simply about where they come from.

This is only a snapshot, at a particular time, as the changes occur continually. I'll only consider one month. One single month, where over 3 million times the site was accessed, and over 35,000 individual visitors read something from my website. The number 35,000 refers to actual individual visitors, and does not count how many pages they read, that's another metric. What I will reveal is how many individual visits occur from a particular city, and not how many pages each visitor looks at.

Taken in context, this is a stunning amount of interest. When you consider viral videos and millions of views, the numbers seem small, but for a singular website of an individual artist and craftsman, built and maintained by that individual, the impact and significance of this website and my works is humbling indeed.

I'm extremely thankful and grateful for all of my visitors: people who come here because they have seen a link on another site, or a reference to me and my work, good or bad, people who love knives, who are interested in knives, who are knifemakers or want to be some day, or are simply passionate about the craft. Thank you to you all!

Page Topics

Where are you?

When a knife conversation commences, it's usually structured around the knife framework: its pattern, size, shape, materials, finish, embellishment, and accessories. All of this is built around the concept of use. If a military client wants a close quarters weapon, this is a use definition. A hunter may want a field dressing knife; a collector may want to enhance his investment with an especially appealing piece. A counterterrorist team may want an array of types for various missions. A chef may want an ultimate restaurant knife, a survivalist may want a zombie apocalypse ultimate. These are all the kinds of knives I make, and I'm honored by every project.

Typically, late in the conversation, we will discuss location. Mine is actually unimportant; a small town in eastern New Mexico isn't pertinent unless a client is preparing a rare visit. When they do, there isn't much to see here, apart from Roswell Aliens (80 miles south), or the ancient Clovis Man site at Blackwater Draw (12 miles away). Perhaps they might like to see the birthplace of some of the early rock and roll, as Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded here after making the 100 mile trek from Lubbock, Texas. Point of interest: my father was the recording studio electrician, technician, and engineer of the Norman Petty Studio that recorded early Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox, Sonny West, The Fireballs, The Roses, Terry Nowland, the String-a-Longs, Leann Rimes and hundreds of other artists. Norman and Vi Petty were close family friends. Our county is a seat of the dairy and cheese industry (really), and we have the largest cheese factory in the nation, converting 4 billion pounds of milk into 400 million pounds of cheese and 27 million pounds of whey protein every year. If you eat white cheese on a pizza, know that it probably came from this county, not Wisconsin. Yeah, really. Sheees... cheeese... And I don't even make a cheese knife!

What is more important is where my clients are. Many military clients are stationed at bases, or overseas, in whatever nation we are allied with or currently have a conflict in. I've shipped knives that go to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait (a while ago). I ship knives to forward bases, to outposts, and have even received communications from McMurdo Station on Ross Island in Antarctica! At the time of this writing, I'm making a specialized hunting knife for a client in Nunavut, the new Northern Territory north of the arctic circle. How cool is that (ahem)?

Please remember that this list is fluid, a simple snapshot of a particular period. I may update it if some drastic change occurs, but I think you'll understand that due to population densities, most of the major players won't change dramatically. I'll add a comment or two. Please remember that these are not the locations where the majority of my knives are ordered from and sent to; rather these are the locations of people who visit the site.

Major Cities of the Knife

1. New York City: one might thing it a bit unusual that New York is the number one location, but this is simple math; it's a population center. It's our nation's largest city, and hovers around 8.5 million souls. I do ship a good deal of knives there: to chefs, travellers, and collectors. I mention travellers because I'm certain that large survival knives are not carried in New York, unless the zombies have taken over and the rest of us don't know about it!
2. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: Yep, number two. Also, not too hard to understand why; this is the largest city in Australia. I make a lot of knives for Australians. They're great clients, great allies, great people. And they love my knives. There are around 5 million souls there. I'll have to put it on my travel list.
3. Los Angeles: Need I say more? The second most populous city in the United States, so it's no surprise that plenty of people there read this website. I used to do a couple shows in the area: in Pasadena and Orange. If I had the chance to do shows again, they would be high on my list. The people there are great.
4. London: Of course, the highest population in the European Union. And I have a piece there, in the Tower of London. It's an American Partizan, given by the great author Tom Clancy, when he was inducted into the Yeoman Warders (the Beefeaters) of the Tower. That was over twenty years ago, and Tom has passed on to greener pastures. I appreciate all of the visits to my website from people who live in one of the root places of my ancestry.
5. Chicago: Another root of my ancestry, though more recent. Part of my family was from this area. And it's the third most populous city in the US.
6. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: Here's where we start to depart from the population-based interest. Brisbane is huge, the third most populous city in Australia, but now we've skipped a great many more worldwide population centers. This, then, demonstrates Australian's interest in knives generally, and my knives in particular. Grouse!
7. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Are you noting a trend? I am. This is the second most populous city in Australia, and my Aussies aren't letting me down. G'Day!
8. Houston: Of course, Texas! Just eight miles to the east of my home is our border with the great state of Texas. I could not succeed without my Texan clients, and though they may reside all over the world, once a Texan, always a Texan. And it's the fourth most populous city in our nation, so there's that.
9. Denver: Okay, here's a departure; Denver is not the fifth, sixth, or even 20th most populous city in our country; it's around the 23rd. So, it must be a western thing, this interest in knives. The American West is a free, wild, uninhibited area, and likely to have that frontier flavor.
10. San Antonio: Texans again; God bless them! San Antonio is the seventh most populous city in our nation, so that accounts for a lot of the Lone Star visitors.

This seems simple enough: the most populous places are the sources for the most visits to my site. Even though, you can start to see a hint of a trend. Take the Australian connection for example. This is a very powerful bit of information, at least for me. It means to me that Australians like what they see here, or there simply wouldn't be that many visits. Consequently, I've made a lot of knives for Australians: for military combat, for survival, for game, for chefs, and for collectors.

Incidentally, if a reader doesn't like what he sees or reads, he simply leaves the site, and never returns, so these statistics will show that. Rather than go through the list (there are 6638 locations available in last month's metric alone), I'll just point out some interesting things in general trends, location anomalies, and unusual places where my site is read. Please note that this is just one month, and things may vary considerably from month to month and as time passes!

By no means complete, here are some heavy hitters in interest in my website. These are all in the top 100 cities for amount of visitors to my website. Some have had hundreds of individual visitors, some dozens. Every one of them is important to me because even if I don't make them a knife or sell them a knife, they are experiencing my service to our trade and industry by being here and reading my words and seeing my works. I'm honored by that.

• Athens, Greece is the second large European Union city to access this website. Evidently, the Greeks like my work. Great!
• Perth, Western Australia, Australia is another top source of interest. I'm grinning like a shot fox!
• Biel/Bienne is a border city on the Switzerland border. They are a source of a great many visits to my site, more than all but the two previous listed European Union locations! Isn't it unusual that this is one of the sources of the Swiss Army Knife, and Victorinox? Hey, they aren't scanning my site for info are they? Why, as professionals, of course they are; wouldn't you? This demonstrates the power and influence I have in the community of knifemakers. Or, they just look and sigh... Hint: their knives sell for a fistful of dollars. Mine... well... you know.
• Risch, Switzerland, a center for culinary knives and a huge source of traffic!
• Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand are other extremely high hitters in the interest of this site. I've gotta get down there and meet some of these folks!
• Tel Aviv: Our Israeli allies: God bless them! Yes, I make knives for some of the top counter-terrorism units in the world, so this is not surprising.
• Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg: I make a lot of knives for Canadians, our allies to the north. Many of us consider them our countrymen; and we are honored to have them agree.
• Pune and Mumbai, Maharashtra, India is a high hitter in visits. I'd like to think it's because the Indians are genuinely interested in my work, but they do send me a lot of junk mail; they want me to buy their badly made knives. I know some of these companies are copying my work, I see it all the time, but they miss the mark on workmanship.
• Johannesburg, Pretoria: These South African cities are population centers, and I get frequent inquires from South Africa because they love knives.
• Moscow: Yes, the Russians love knives too! I've even been featured in a Russian magazine.
• Manila and Makati: I receive a lot of traffic and interest from the Philippines, which is great.
• Adelaide, South Australia: Are you seeing a trend? I've got to get down there!

Below are more cities of interest in the top 100, where there are considerable visitors and a lot of traffic during this particular month. Please understand that this is only a snapshot of 30 days, and this varies tremendously month to month. It's interesting to know that website traffic continues to grow, so while major trends should continue, specific locations will vary greatly over time.

• Turnhout: Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of Antwerp
• Albuquerque: The largest city in our state. You would be surprised to know how very few knives I actually sell in New Mexico. Strange, no?
• Istanbul: The ancient city of Constantinople has a rich history of knives.
• Zagreb: The capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. Their rich history is honored in a special cultural heritage piece I've made here.
• Bangkok: The capital and most populous city in Thailand.
• Edmonton: The capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.
• Others:
  Kyiv, Ukraine
  Manchester, Great Britain
  Singapore, Republic of Singapore
  Paris, France
  Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  Dublin, Ireland
  Stockholm, Sweden
  These are all in the top 100 locations of my visitors this month. You can see that the site has a lot of international interest!
  

What about interest right here in the United States? In the top 100 traffic source cities this month are these cities:

• Cincinnati, Charlottesville, Tampa, Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Sky Lake, Asheville, Tucson, Manassas, Marlborough, Hialeah, Omaha, New Orleans, Eau Claire, San Jose, Washington D.C., Missoula, Alexandria, Sparks, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Minneapolis, Wichita, Louisville, Bowling Green, Boston, Draper, Philadelphia, Killeen, Colorado Springs, Plano, Affton, College Station, Tuttle, Tempe, Columbus, Portland, Dallas, San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Austin, and San Diego

Wow! This is a big, big world! It's all making me feel very small now, and very proud that these folks have invested their precious time to look over my site, sometimes downloading and reading dozens of pages at a sitting. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In the previous list, I knew every state that each city was in except two. My high school geography teacher would have been proud. The two I had to look up? Tuttle, Oklahoma (population about 6000), and Affton, Missouri (population about 20,000).

Do you wonder about the cities that did not make the top 100 in visitors in this particular metric? I do. While I could go on (6600 times) to list them all, please don't tempt me. I'll just list a few unusual places (at least unusual to me) that people live who have downloaded this very website into their browser for the month past. It should demonstrate the power and reach of the internet, and maybe hint that my efforts in my field are worth it!

• Chennai, Tami Nadu, India: Chennai is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the bay of Bengal
• Gothenburg, Sweden: Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden
• Estavan: Estevan is the eighth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada
• Surgut, Khanty-Mansi, Autonomous Okrug, Russia: an oil rich city, founded in 1594
• Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan: named after Chief Wasso, an Ojibwa leader of the Shiawassee area
• Amstelveen, Netherlands, North Holland: a suburban part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam.
• Goldfield, Esmeralda County, Nevada: an near ghost town of 268 people: thanks to whoever is interested in knives there!
• Bogota, Colombia: Capital city, larger in population than New York!
• Samara, Russia: among the top ten Russian cities in terms of national income and industrial production volume
• Livonia, Wayne County, Michigan: a part of metro Detroit
• Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sulis, Brazil, the center of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area
• Tallinn, Estonia: the capital and largest city of Estonia, listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world
• Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the second most important manufacturing hub in South Africa
• Ploiești Prahova County, Romania, a strong industrial center for oil production and refining
• Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada, the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996–2006, at 80.2% population growth!
• Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui region, North Island of New Zealand
• Hollywood, Broward County, Florida, okay, it's not Hollywood, CA, but is probably named for the wood of the holly.
• Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, near the Gulf of California
• Loveland, Lee County, Illinois in the heart of the USA, near Ronald Reagan's boyhood home
• Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, small and beautiful city on Cape Cod
• Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, inhabited since Neolithic times and 4000 B.C.
• Marion, Smyth County, Virginia, small town and home of "Song of the Mountains" bluegrass
• Øvre Eiker, Buskerud County, Norway, inhabited in 8000 B.C. by vikings
• La Crosse, La Crosse County, Wisconsin, on the upper Mississippi, first inhabited by French fur traders
• Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, considered a resort area of New England
• Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa, part of Johannesburg, and an early gold rush area
• Mililani, Oʻahu in Honolulu County, Hawaii, a beautiful small community created from a plantation in the 1960s
• Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, Georgia, in 1828, the site of the first major gold rush in the United States

I could go on and on, and on, but am sincerely humbled that people in these places, near and far, come to this website for their knife interest. Several of these locations will be receiving knives made by me soon, and in that way, we are all connected. It's an honor to get to meet people from the great big international world, and to make new friends through knives.

I hope you've enjoyed this short glimpse into the the other side of the website conversation, and if you are reading this, know that you are not alone, by any means!

Thank you,

Jay

Page Topics