Saw this brought back from the dead, and had some things I thought I would add.
First, to be a knifemaker, as Thom said...simply requires you to make a knife.
To be a good knifemaker...requires you to make a knife that serves the purposes and expectations of the end user. Whether it be sharpness, edge holding, ease of cutting...aesthetics, or more likely some combination of all of these.
To be a successful knifemaker however...takes much, much more.
Patience I think is first and foremost. Patience for your own progression, and more...patience for some of your customers. In all the years I've been making knives, I have been blessed to only have two customers who have tried that patience. Dear friends, both...which I'm sure played its part. I miss them.
Determination would be a close second. Determination to be the best you can at what you have chosen to do. Determination not to cut corners in your process (this is tough to balance for the professional, because you must also always be looking to both improve those processes, and to cut the overall time it takes to perform them. It's a high wire act for sure), or skimp on materials...or anything else that negatively effects the end result. You must be true to your vision and hold tight to it. This is honestly more difficult than one might expect.
And finally...I would like to add in, integrity. This is actually counter to the belief and methods of any number of successful knifemakers out there (this is not a jab or accusation...just an observation on my experiences...and certainly not just in the kitchen knife world either), but for me it's the bottom line and in a way, the core of why I do what I do. Making the best knife I can, from my own designs and concepts...my own ideas and my own effort in testing and refining...is an exercise that continuously restores my own faith in the knowledge and skills I have gained and developed. In a way...it defines me in ways that other things simply cannot. There are very few things in the world that can give you this kind of feeling. There may be better makers out there...better or more beautiful knives. But I know that each knife I have made came from MY soul. It wasn't taken or borrowed or piggy backed off of the effort and creativity of another.
I'm sure there are any number of other things that could be said here...but in the end, without those three things, I would be a complete failure in this endeavor. Tools help, other mental aspects help as well. But those three points are what I believe contribute to any success I may have had in this. Without any one of them, there would be none.
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