`Paper slitter knife company evaluation`

Consulting case ca. 1984, Danvers MA. Canadian timber baron client considering acquisition of a small slitter-knife maker who had developed a new heat-treating and brazing process delivering six times blade life. Tom's recommendation: don't buy unless you can grow the market — six-fold life on a $25M business shrinks the business absent new applications.

I had a similar problem twenty-five, thirty years ago. Someone asked me to evaluate a little company north of Boston. This was a Canadian timber baron, and these guys had developed cutter knives. If you buy a ream of paper, 8½ by 11, you can tell it's all been cut at once. These are the knives they use to cut the paper to 8½ by 11 before they package it. And these knives are sharp. They are so sharp that — you know how you take a sharp knife and run your finger over it to see if it's sharp — you do that with one of these knives and you slice your finger off. You have to rub your fingernail against it to see how sharp it is. I'm not kidding — these were super-sharp knives.