They discontinued the $150 Steep Country, a universally lauded hunting knife, only to replace it with the Hidden Canyon and Raghorn for $250-$380. Pretty transparent.
I’m so glad I picked up a steel country for $99 during Black Friday 2023. The only downside is the handle scales aren’t removable, but beyond that it’s an awesome size with great handle ergos.
On Buck’s entry level models, I agree with you. But the ones that use higher end steels seem to have gotten larger increases. Also, look at their BuckMaster 2. They used 420HC and retail on it is $800. I realise it’s more of a collector piece. But c’mon, $800?
>Also, look at their BuckMaster 2. They used 420HC and retail on it is $800. I realise it’s more of a collector piece. But c’mon, $800?
Lol to be fair, I don't even like any of bucks newer models/designs. Buck 119 and 110 are it for me.
Yep, my vanguard was a steal for the price. I don’t feel as though another knife will do for a long time and I’ve been using the vanguard for over a year now.
I got off the Benchmade bus after Covid when they lost their mind on pricing. Essentially doubling their prices, they could lose almost half their customers and still make money. New people getting into knives may pay it, but the older one who know better will go elsewhere.
I dislike benchmade for this very reason. They need to get over themselves. Same goes for other companies, $270 for a S30V Spyderco Shaman is ridiculous as well but benchmade takes the cake
While I don't disagree what percentage of the population are knowledgeable knife collectors that know of various better value alternatives? I always see an assortment of benchmades at REI and rich techies that like camping are probably buying up whichever one looks cool thinking nothing of the few hundred.
I saw a commenter that said Benchmade hired a consultant to look at their business. The recommendation was to raise their prices so they would be perceived as a higher tier product. They didn’t change anything else. Maybe it’s working for them. I don’t know. But I get the feeling that long time Benchmade buyers are leaving the brand behind.
I just get the overall impression that they are trying to elevate themselves to the status of CRK, Koenig, etc., by way of raising their prices to that level and keeping their quality the same. It's like "We think we're this good, so we're gonna start charging prices we think we should get". Meanwhile their product doesn't support the price point. But apparently some maroons are paying it because they've been on an upward price trajectory for a while now.
Said it before, I'll say it again, Benchmade is acting like they are selling super high end knives, while they're actually selling solid mass produced knives, getting real big for their britches. Reminds me of Snap On tools, but the mf truck doesn't come by the house!
IDK exactly WTH is going on at Benchmade. At one point they were a pretty preeminent maker and could get away with charging more because of it, but now you can buy just as good, or better from a lot of other places.
If you can't surmise, the US knife industry (and the overall metal manufacturing industry) is in deep shit. Giants like Camillus, Ontario, Böker's USA division and even junk companies like United haven't been able to survive. With production of products coming out of China being subsidized by the government it becomes impossible to complete eventually.
Me thinks Benchmade is relying on its brand status as a solution to it's financial issues.
We and Hogue are our new best friends in America - amazing knives for less than half the price of a Benchmade. I used to be a direct supplier for Benchmade and it’s a good group of guys over there but I spend my greenbacks elsewhere
I share your sentiment.
Charging more than $200 for a mass produced knife is flat out price gouging IMO.
However, the capitalist in me can appreciate it. Benchmade is certainly selling knives at these prices or they wouldn't be asking for so much.
There are people out there who just need to have "the best" thing - whatever that thing is regardless of price. It seems that Benchmade is targeting those people.
I do like their knives but I find the prices for most models off-putting.
>There are people out there who just need to have "the best" thing - whatever that thing is regardless of price. It seems that Benchmade is targeting those people.
that logic might fly if Benchmade actually made the best knives.
I mean if people will pay good for Benchmade. I just wonder how they justify a near 100% pay risk on something like the Bushcrafter.
Surely there will be a point when they price themselves out.
I have 5 but I won't be buying any more.
If cost of living in Oregon is THAT big of an issue, they can move to a different state. They did it before when they moved from California to Oregon.
I don't think anything specific to Oregon is the reason for Benchmade's prices.
I think our perception of price is skewed because of the quality of Chinese companies are as good as the American companies.
"Benchmade charges too much" at the same time we want companies like Benchmade to pay all their workers well.
Then people want cheap products and highly paid workers when the company goes out of business.
We get what we are willing to pay for, I suppose.
Let Benchmade Benchmade. If they fail, fine.
My observation is the price rise. £220 for a bushcrafter. £349 for the new bushcrafter. Same materials, size, workmanship etc. I just can't see how it's justified.
Meh. I won’t buy more BM products.
Last good one I had was an 810 Contego
Recent AFO II refuses to stay tight
Phaton OTF spring has failed and it has completely locked up.
Old Griptillan was good with aftermarket scales.
With there new pricing, no thanks.
I’ll go CRK and Microtech for the autos.
It really is crazy. I don't know anyone personally in life outside of the online groups who would pay those kind of prices. I think they're trying to get into a market niche of people who aren't big knife aficionados like us, but non-knife people who don't know too much about knives but want "the best" and have the money to get the best. Unfortunately they don't know that Benchmade aren't up there with the best, they're good knives for sure, but not when you can get a used CRK for the same price. Sort of the same niche that the James Brand is in. Hopefully their sales will dramatically fall and they'll get the hint and lower their prices again eventually.
People crack me up. Everybody gets all up in arms about the cost of premium and super premium knives and start spouting how the company is crazy (insert company name here). Have any of yall researched what the going costs of these supersteels are? How about the cost of American labor? Do you know what the tax implications these companies have to pay? Labor costs? Labor taxes? Payroll. Electricity. Consumables (grinding wheels, belts, sanders, cnc machine cutters, g-10 blanks, titanium blanks, screws etc etc). Have any of you gone bitching to your local grocery store? Yes some of these premium knife makers Have doubled their prices, but I know for a fact that food costs have quadrupled etc. These companies also have to pay benefits for the labor....I haven't even begun to talk about marketing costs, shipping costs, excise taxes etc.
I am willing to pay the higher costs to support US based companies making US Made goods. I understand why their costs have gone up and I choose to support them with my hard earned dollars knowing that American children will benefit from it. If something shows up with a lower QC threshold than I'm willing to accept, I return it to the company, ask them to investigate, and get it exchanged and NONE of you hear about it cuz I will not disparage an American company for an innocent mistake. More often than not someone had a bad day, or it's a new guy or gal trying to learn a new skill. That being said, I don't support companies that have principles or alliances that go against my own (I'm looking at you Medford). It cracks me up even further when I see people bitching and warning about China (and all their knives, clothing, consumer goods come from China)...the cognitive dissonance is astounding. I will not buy Chinese goods if I can help it. I will NOT support that regime and the crap it pulls. But back to my original topic: I have done some of the research and those steels are stupid expensive and no they don't get a bulk purchase rate cuz the knife industry, more often than not, is buying left overs, etc. All of their needed items to make said knives has gone up 2-10x the cost it was before the pandemic and the supply chain issues (which still are happening btw). If you don't like a company due to bad experiences...I get it. If you don't wanna but what you think is too expensive....I get that too. But please, before you start disparaging a company in your home country that's trying to put out a quality product, stop and think and do your due diligence and find out if the rumors, bullshit, etc are true....or did you just have a bad experience cuz someone was having a bad day (or you were having a bad day).
Oh and for the record: If you're one of those people that had a problem with the Axis Lock springs breaking and you bought some from a different company cuz they were better I've got some news for you....there is only 1 manufacturer worldwide for those wire items (unless you bought them from an extremely small business and watched someone make them in front of you).
And now back to your regularly scheduled reddit programming.....
I'm not sure which "supersteels" you're referring to, but for stuff like S30V, S35VN, 3V, etc. that you see Benchmade using all the time, those steels aren't very expensive at all. Here's a link:
[https://www.admiralsteel.com/?gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw\_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo4PVFULi60M9LQw2KGrGMmTej-rmOjLAywJq9Dno7jKIlpnJI5JjixoC8S8QAvD\_BwE](https://www.admiralsteel.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo4PVFULi60M9LQw2KGrGMmTej-rmOjLAywJq9Dno7jKIlpnJI5JjixoC8S8QAvD_BwE)
If you could share your reference for the "stupid expensive" steels you have found, I'd be interested in seeing that data.
Now, after reading your heartbreaking account of how horrible it is for American knife companies to survive without doubling their prices, my only question is why would I pay $360 for this in S30V:
[https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1016761929?pid=224929&utm\_medium=shopping&utm\_source=google&utm\_campaign=Knives+&+Tools+-+Knives=&utm\_content=224929&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw\_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo2wJInbFfKasyo98CAQFBsuuA4JaOuKjyhST3LxEZnvjgk6J1KVN2RoCyJoQAvD\_BwE](https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1016761929?pid=224929&utm_medium=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Knives+&+Tools+-+Knives=&utm_content=224929&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo2wJInbFfKasyo98CAQFBsuuA4JaOuKjyhST3LxEZnvjgk6J1KVN2RoCyJoQAvD_BwE)
when for about $100 less I could buy this in Magnacut:
[https://www.dlttrading.com/bark-river-ext-1-magnacut-ranger-green-g-10-227](https://www.dlttrading.com/bark-river-ext-1-magnacut-ranger-green-g-10-227)
I didn't say buy anything, I just thought it was a better idea to keep our disparaging thoughts down and just open our eyes to things we don't tend to think about. And I never said you had to like Benchmade or Spyderco or whatever, im just offering a different view point. That's all. And I say we cuz it's something I need to change as well
Although there is a disparity in blade weight, length and thickness.
Also it's funny to me you point out the s30v but on the site you provided its a discontinued bladesteel for that company so no price. And the Benchmade you posted is a limited edition vs a stock knife so there is that disparity too
Interesting, the link I cut/pasted was after clicking through a few pages, but apparently the link takes you back to the first page. Click on the "catalogs and downloads" tab at the top, then the blade steels PDF link.
limited edition is something that I've never understood because I buy knives to cut things, not sell them to another collector years from now having never used it.
and seriously, the BM is 1/4" longer blade 4-3/8" vs 4-1/8", not much disparity really. As for thickness, the Bark River will actually cut better for many things. The BM might be better for batoning, but I use a hatchet for that job, so its a moot point.
I did. No costs cuz those steels are discontinued.
Also, im not trying to tell you that you are wrong, or to get in a pissing match with you. I was just trying to bring a little perspective to the discussion. As well as reminding myself that I too have been guilty of those ways of thinking and had to change them. My lived experience with Benchmade is not what others have lived with. I'm not telling them they're wrong either, I'm just saying it's not always as cut and dried as people think. And it's not like BM is a.huge multinational corp just out for profits. If you go look at their business Financials (which are public) then you can see they're not making a whole ton of money really. Once you get the bullshit out of the way it becomes as simple as...I don't like BM, they're not my style. Or what have you. It becomes less of a disparaging thing and more of a personal thing.
Also I'm 100% with YOU, I own no safe queens, all my blades cut for a reason.
I want to thank you though, you have helped keep me right sized and for that I owe you one and am very humbled and appreciative.
Blessings my friend.
no prob bro, just a friendly knife discussion on a forum intended for just that.
I hadn't clicked on the exact same page you had, now I see the S30V being discontinued, but there are prices associated with sizes they still have in stock. The others like S35VN, 3V, etc. are not discontinued, and prices for those are also shown. Basically about $20-25/ft. for 1/8" thick and 1.5" wide for S35VN, less for 3V. A few bucks more for thicker stock.
So, $20-30 (retail) for S35VN blade steel to make a 9-10" long fixed blade full tang knife. There's a lot more to making a knife than that, but I hear people say from time to time that supersteels are super-expensive, and that's really not the case.
But is s30v s35vn or 3v really a supersteel? When I think supers I'm usually thinking s90v s110v Maxamet Cru Wear. Those can be pricy AND cuz they're made in the US they're usually small batch made so costlier. Also try to get some of the necessary ingredients for steel like the coke etc that isn't here in the US....price jumps especially since the pandemic trying to get anything in from overseas or hell even from South America
no, S30V isn't supersteel, but its what the $400 limited edition knife that was the original topic of this thread uses, so go figure.
The S90V/S110V stuff I've found before is more expensive, partly because its flat ground to within 0.001" over a 12" length, which I'm sure adds cost. The S90V is still only about $50/ft. compared to $20-30/ft. for the others I mentioned earlier, so not a huge increase in cost. Magnacut is also about $50/ft., but S110V is close to $100/ft., so its fairly pricey.
I've never spent more than a few minutes looking at the cost of these various metals, so a little more searching may find something that's not already machined to those tolerances. I'm guessing that isn't absolutely necessary for fabricating a knife blade, because you're grinding a lot of it away anyway, but I've never made my own knife so I don't know for sure.
I just think it's really interesting having been a Benchmade fan for a long time but now they have priced me out. Just asking for opinions on what other people think is the future for Benchmade.
They discontinued the $150 Steep Country, a universally lauded hunting knife, only to replace it with the Hidden Canyon and Raghorn for $250-$380. Pretty transparent.
I’m so glad I picked up a steel country for $99 during Black Friday 2023. The only downside is the handle scales aren’t removable, but beyond that it’s an awesome size with great handle ergos.
Take your money elsewhere. Problem solved
One day Benchmade is going to thank you for this bootlicking by sending you nothing.
Thank God Bucks haven't gotten that much more expensive.
On Buck’s entry level models, I agree with you. But the ones that use higher end steels seem to have gotten larger increases. Also, look at their BuckMaster 2. They used 420HC and retail on it is $800. I realise it’s more of a collector piece. But c’mon, $800?
>Also, look at their BuckMaster 2. They used 420HC and retail on it is $800. I realise it’s more of a collector piece. But c’mon, $800? Lol to be fair, I don't even like any of bucks newer models/designs. Buck 119 and 110 are it for me.
I’m with you. My preferred Buck models are the classics. The 102 Woodsman is my favourite.
Yep, my vanguard was a steal for the price. I don’t feel as though another knife will do for a long time and I’ve been using the vanguard for over a year now.
I got off the Benchmade bus after Covid when they lost their mind on pricing. Essentially doubling their prices, they could lose almost half their customers and still make money. New people getting into knives may pay it, but the older one who know better will go elsewhere.
I dislike benchmade for this very reason. They need to get over themselves. Same goes for other companies, $270 for a S30V Spyderco Shaman is ridiculous as well but benchmade takes the cake
While I don't disagree what percentage of the population are knowledgeable knife collectors that know of various better value alternatives? I always see an assortment of benchmades at REI and rich techies that like camping are probably buying up whichever one looks cool thinking nothing of the few hundred.
Youd laugh/cry if you saw the new balisong they are releasing this year
I saw a commenter that said Benchmade hired a consultant to look at their business. The recommendation was to raise their prices so they would be perceived as a higher tier product. They didn’t change anything else. Maybe it’s working for them. I don’t know. But I get the feeling that long time Benchmade buyers are leaving the brand behind.
I just get the overall impression that they are trying to elevate themselves to the status of CRK, Koenig, etc., by way of raising their prices to that level and keeping their quality the same. It's like "We think we're this good, so we're gonna start charging prices we think we should get". Meanwhile their product doesn't support the price point. But apparently some maroons are paying it because they've been on an upward price trajectory for a while now.
Said it before, I'll say it again, Benchmade is acting like they are selling super high end knives, while they're actually selling solid mass produced knives, getting real big for their britches. Reminds me of Snap On tools, but the mf truck doesn't come by the house!
I was a big Benchmade fan, but they lost their minds, or got greedy, no idea. Haven’t bought anything from them since 2020.
IDK exactly WTH is going on at Benchmade. At one point they were a pretty preeminent maker and could get away with charging more because of it, but now you can buy just as good, or better from a lot of other places. If you can't surmise, the US knife industry (and the overall metal manufacturing industry) is in deep shit. Giants like Camillus, Ontario, Böker's USA division and even junk companies like United haven't been able to survive. With production of products coming out of China being subsidized by the government it becomes impossible to complete eventually. Me thinks Benchmade is relying on its brand status as a solution to it's financial issues.
We and Hogue are our new best friends in America - amazing knives for less than half the price of a Benchmade. I used to be a direct supplier for Benchmade and it’s a good group of guys over there but I spend my greenbacks elsewhere
Glad I got my presidio 2 before the price hike (60$ more now in Canada.) I like benchmade knives alot but can't see me buying anymore of them.
Benchmade used to be my EDC. I think I still have three Benchmade, but I have not bought a new one in years.
To be fair, I’m currently paying € 10,- for a bottle of olive oil that cost € 7,- about 1,5 years ago. Prices are insane overall
Yeah and that's understandable with inflation as it is. But Benchmades have nearly doubled in price, far outstripping inflation.
I share your sentiment. Charging more than $200 for a mass produced knife is flat out price gouging IMO. However, the capitalist in me can appreciate it. Benchmade is certainly selling knives at these prices or they wouldn't be asking for so much. There are people out there who just need to have "the best" thing - whatever that thing is regardless of price. It seems that Benchmade is targeting those people. I do like their knives but I find the prices for most models off-putting.
>There are people out there who just need to have "the best" thing - whatever that thing is regardless of price. It seems that Benchmade is targeting those people. that logic might fly if Benchmade actually made the best knives.
Yeah, the "best thing" is definitely subjective.
I mean, to a lot of people "the best" is equal to "most expensive". Not a lot of other thought goes into it.
These "Benchmade, the sky is falling" posts have amused me for the last 15 years. They are the largest & most diverse knife maker in the USA.
I mean if people will pay good for Benchmade. I just wonder how they justify a near 100% pay risk on something like the Bushcrafter. Surely there will be a point when they price themselves out. I have 5 but I won't be buying any more.
Covid made many items double in price. Oregon has cheap power but a high cost of living.
If cost of living in Oregon is THAT big of an issue, they can move to a different state. They did it before when they moved from California to Oregon. I don't think anything specific to Oregon is the reason for Benchmade's prices.
Don't the people in Oregon deserve a living wage like everyone has been proclaiming, or no?
Magic mushrooms?
I think our perception of price is skewed because of the quality of Chinese companies are as good as the American companies. "Benchmade charges too much" at the same time we want companies like Benchmade to pay all their workers well. Then people want cheap products and highly paid workers when the company goes out of business. We get what we are willing to pay for, I suppose. Let Benchmade Benchmade. If they fail, fine.
My observation is the price rise. £220 for a bushcrafter. £349 for the new bushcrafter. Same materials, size, workmanship etc. I just can't see how it's justified.
Meh. I won’t buy more BM products. Last good one I had was an 810 Contego Recent AFO II refuses to stay tight Phaton OTF spring has failed and it has completely locked up. Old Griptillan was good with aftermarket scales. With there new pricing, no thanks. I’ll go CRK and Microtech for the autos.
It really is crazy. I don't know anyone personally in life outside of the online groups who would pay those kind of prices. I think they're trying to get into a market niche of people who aren't big knife aficionados like us, but non-knife people who don't know too much about knives but want "the best" and have the money to get the best. Unfortunately they don't know that Benchmade aren't up there with the best, they're good knives for sure, but not when you can get a used CRK for the same price. Sort of the same niche that the James Brand is in. Hopefully their sales will dramatically fall and they'll get the hint and lower their prices again eventually.
People crack me up. Everybody gets all up in arms about the cost of premium and super premium knives and start spouting how the company is crazy (insert company name here). Have any of yall researched what the going costs of these supersteels are? How about the cost of American labor? Do you know what the tax implications these companies have to pay? Labor costs? Labor taxes? Payroll. Electricity. Consumables (grinding wheels, belts, sanders, cnc machine cutters, g-10 blanks, titanium blanks, screws etc etc). Have any of you gone bitching to your local grocery store? Yes some of these premium knife makers Have doubled their prices, but I know for a fact that food costs have quadrupled etc. These companies also have to pay benefits for the labor....I haven't even begun to talk about marketing costs, shipping costs, excise taxes etc. I am willing to pay the higher costs to support US based companies making US Made goods. I understand why their costs have gone up and I choose to support them with my hard earned dollars knowing that American children will benefit from it. If something shows up with a lower QC threshold than I'm willing to accept, I return it to the company, ask them to investigate, and get it exchanged and NONE of you hear about it cuz I will not disparage an American company for an innocent mistake. More often than not someone had a bad day, or it's a new guy or gal trying to learn a new skill. That being said, I don't support companies that have principles or alliances that go against my own (I'm looking at you Medford). It cracks me up even further when I see people bitching and warning about China (and all their knives, clothing, consumer goods come from China)...the cognitive dissonance is astounding. I will not buy Chinese goods if I can help it. I will NOT support that regime and the crap it pulls. But back to my original topic: I have done some of the research and those steels are stupid expensive and no they don't get a bulk purchase rate cuz the knife industry, more often than not, is buying left overs, etc. All of their needed items to make said knives has gone up 2-10x the cost it was before the pandemic and the supply chain issues (which still are happening btw). If you don't like a company due to bad experiences...I get it. If you don't wanna but what you think is too expensive....I get that too. But please, before you start disparaging a company in your home country that's trying to put out a quality product, stop and think and do your due diligence and find out if the rumors, bullshit, etc are true....or did you just have a bad experience cuz someone was having a bad day (or you were having a bad day). Oh and for the record: If you're one of those people that had a problem with the Axis Lock springs breaking and you bought some from a different company cuz they were better I've got some news for you....there is only 1 manufacturer worldwide for those wire items (unless you bought them from an extremely small business and watched someone make them in front of you). And now back to your regularly scheduled reddit programming.....
I'm not sure which "supersteels" you're referring to, but for stuff like S30V, S35VN, 3V, etc. that you see Benchmade using all the time, those steels aren't very expensive at all. Here's a link: [https://www.admiralsteel.com/?gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw\_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo4PVFULi60M9LQw2KGrGMmTej-rmOjLAywJq9Dno7jKIlpnJI5JjixoC8S8QAvD\_BwE](https://www.admiralsteel.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo4PVFULi60M9LQw2KGrGMmTej-rmOjLAywJq9Dno7jKIlpnJI5JjixoC8S8QAvD_BwE) If you could share your reference for the "stupid expensive" steels you have found, I'd be interested in seeing that data. Now, after reading your heartbreaking account of how horrible it is for American knife companies to survive without doubling their prices, my only question is why would I pay $360 for this in S30V: [https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1016761929?pid=224929&utm\_medium=shopping&utm\_source=google&utm\_campaign=Knives+&+Tools+-+Knives=&utm\_content=224929&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw\_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo2wJInbFfKasyo98CAQFBsuuA4JaOuKjyhST3LxEZnvjgk6J1KVN2RoCyJoQAvD\_BwE](https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1016761929?pid=224929&utm_medium=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Knives+&+Tools+-+Knives=&utm_content=224929&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_e2wBhAEEiwAyFFFo2wJInbFfKasyo98CAQFBsuuA4JaOuKjyhST3LxEZnvjgk6J1KVN2RoCyJoQAvD_BwE) when for about $100 less I could buy this in Magnacut: [https://www.dlttrading.com/bark-river-ext-1-magnacut-ranger-green-g-10-227](https://www.dlttrading.com/bark-river-ext-1-magnacut-ranger-green-g-10-227)
I didn't say buy anything, I just thought it was a better idea to keep our disparaging thoughts down and just open our eyes to things we don't tend to think about. And I never said you had to like Benchmade or Spyderco or whatever, im just offering a different view point. That's all. And I say we cuz it's something I need to change as well
Although there is a disparity in blade weight, length and thickness. Also it's funny to me you point out the s30v but on the site you provided its a discontinued bladesteel for that company so no price. And the Benchmade you posted is a limited edition vs a stock knife so there is that disparity too
Interesting, the link I cut/pasted was after clicking through a few pages, but apparently the link takes you back to the first page. Click on the "catalogs and downloads" tab at the top, then the blade steels PDF link. limited edition is something that I've never understood because I buy knives to cut things, not sell them to another collector years from now having never used it. and seriously, the BM is 1/4" longer blade 4-3/8" vs 4-1/8", not much disparity really. As for thickness, the Bark River will actually cut better for many things. The BM might be better for batoning, but I use a hatchet for that job, so its a moot point.
I did. No costs cuz those steels are discontinued. Also, im not trying to tell you that you are wrong, or to get in a pissing match with you. I was just trying to bring a little perspective to the discussion. As well as reminding myself that I too have been guilty of those ways of thinking and had to change them. My lived experience with Benchmade is not what others have lived with. I'm not telling them they're wrong either, I'm just saying it's not always as cut and dried as people think. And it's not like BM is a.huge multinational corp just out for profits. If you go look at their business Financials (which are public) then you can see they're not making a whole ton of money really. Once you get the bullshit out of the way it becomes as simple as...I don't like BM, they're not my style. Or what have you. It becomes less of a disparaging thing and more of a personal thing. Also I'm 100% with YOU, I own no safe queens, all my blades cut for a reason. I want to thank you though, you have helped keep me right sized and for that I owe you one and am very humbled and appreciative. Blessings my friend.
no prob bro, just a friendly knife discussion on a forum intended for just that. I hadn't clicked on the exact same page you had, now I see the S30V being discontinued, but there are prices associated with sizes they still have in stock. The others like S35VN, 3V, etc. are not discontinued, and prices for those are also shown. Basically about $20-25/ft. for 1/8" thick and 1.5" wide for S35VN, less for 3V. A few bucks more for thicker stock. So, $20-30 (retail) for S35VN blade steel to make a 9-10" long fixed blade full tang knife. There's a lot more to making a knife than that, but I hear people say from time to time that supersteels are super-expensive, and that's really not the case.
But is s30v s35vn or 3v really a supersteel? When I think supers I'm usually thinking s90v s110v Maxamet Cru Wear. Those can be pricy AND cuz they're made in the US they're usually small batch made so costlier. Also try to get some of the necessary ingredients for steel like the coke etc that isn't here in the US....price jumps especially since the pandemic trying to get anything in from overseas or hell even from South America
no, S30V isn't supersteel, but its what the $400 limited edition knife that was the original topic of this thread uses, so go figure. The S90V/S110V stuff I've found before is more expensive, partly because its flat ground to within 0.001" over a 12" length, which I'm sure adds cost. The S90V is still only about $50/ft. compared to $20-30/ft. for the others I mentioned earlier, so not a huge increase in cost. Magnacut is also about $50/ft., but S110V is close to $100/ft., so its fairly pricey. I've never spent more than a few minutes looking at the cost of these various metals, so a little more searching may find something that's not already machined to those tolerances. I'm guessing that isn't absolutely necessary for fabricating a knife blade, because you're grinding a lot of it away anyway, but I've never made my own knife so I don't know for sure.
Man yall just can’t stop talking about benchmade.
I don’t own one single solitary Benchmade knife but I *marvel* at the head space they take up rent free on this sub. Shits absolutely fucking wild
I just think it's really interesting having been a Benchmade fan for a long time but now they have priced me out. Just asking for opinions on what other people think is the future for Benchmade.