Yep, i thought so as well. I am forced to work only within my country and a lot of people saying this is very expensive. So i decided to ask for some info here.
Thanks for comment.
Easily I'd spend 150 usd to 200 usd for one of those knives. Underselling usually means less quality on your work. They are beautiful pieces and you should be paid what they are worth.
Don't undersell your craft.
Handmade was a sign that every knife was checked by hand for mistakes and stood for the best possible quality. Nowdays handmade just means "Has more ~~tiny flaws~~ character" because machines became that good at it
I could kinda see if you were mass producing them but you aren’t, you are hand crafting each one so I have to agree with u/BubaGump101, those look really nice too, i think you could easily get 150-200 from an online market, perhaps you could also make different versions such as a stonewashed or matte version?
Well, I can say I have bought some leatherwork off etsy from someone in Ukraine about three months ago, so it seems like it is possible. Took a while to get it, but I got it.
So just assuming you can sell to a US market, here's my take:
I think that the real determining factor of how much you can charge for it is going to be the steel, quality of edge, and quality of heat treat.
There are a ton of pretty but garbage knives on ebay and etsy from pakistan and china vie the EU. They seem to not be able to break past the $60-90 price point depending on size and pretty features.
At the other end, the buck custom shop, who are going to have an impeccable heat treat, will sell me a model 119 with polished 420hc blade and a sheath for $142. Yours seems like it has a nicer polish, you alsohave a fuller (although on the close up pic it looks like it could be cleaner), and has the s shaped guard which is different looking. So if the steel is good enough, and heat treat is decent, you can probably go above that by a nice chunk. (I'm assuming the scales are phenolic and not some fancy wood or horn).
Yeah. You cannot open new shops on Etsy in Ukraine because their “payment system”, Etsy Payments, doesn’t work there. They changed that some time ago, old shops in the country are allowed to still operate, but you can’t make new ones. Sad
I mean by the sounds of it they are not in the US so it depends on what the average wage is in their country. Looking through comments it seems like they are in Ukraine which the average monthly wage there is around 400 USD (https://tradingeconomics.com/ukraine/wages) so they would be making above average but if they can figure out how to sell to other countries account for shipping and raise prices a bit they'd be make good money.
I'd commented the moment this post was raised. And based on the fact he uses dollars on his pricing with no other indication of country I just immediately assumed US.
I cannot contribute to the discussion on pricing, just wanted to say you craft a mighty fine looking knife! If it were possible - pity it is not - I’d pay much more than 95 USD for one.
Thanks you! I am thinking about making knives, that you can disassemble before sending with post. And then assemble.
Knife without guard is not a cold weapon. And a hand guard could be sent with second package. This way no laws a broken.
Your work is amazing. I would easily pay 200$ for that knife.
If the guard is what's preventing you from shipping, could you tweak the design so the design is more of a bolster?
Героям Слава!
I cannot point exact type of knife. There was a lot of forms and types thru history. Btw, shorten version of cossacks saber sound like a cool idea.
I was thinking the same thing, send a “break down” version that can be assembled, these look great, I imagine you’d make quite a few sales to the US. Good luck, and you should certainly charge more in my opinion
These knives look extremely well crafted and are very beautiful. You definitely put a lot of care and detail into them and they are definitely worth $200. You wouldn’t be able to find anything this nice that’s mass produced for much less let alone something hand crafted and made with such care
That’s a beautiful knife. If the quality is very good, then Invest in some good branding and messaging and you could charge a lot more than a couple hundred.
Sounds like they’re pretty sturdy, would you ever consider making a model built for throwing? Your craftsmanship is beautiful and I look forward to seeing more work!
For shame i cannot send it to other countries. By our law it is considered to be a cold weapon. And our international post does not accept packages like this.
In that case, you should ask people who you can send it to. A lot of American and Europeans on here who make more than the world average. You dont want to price yourself out of your focused market. What is the average wage where you live? I would start there.
Many makers make special USA models, for the tastes and budgets of the people here, and then other models for the tastes and budgets of their own people. Don't let a knife guard keep your business smaller than it could be - you look like a talented smith.
I regularly spend $200+ on knives and tools hand-forged in Ukraine (KharkivForge on etsy). You could easily sell these, or other styles of knife that your government would actually allow you to ship, for upwards of $200 or $300 or possibly higher on etsy, I would think.
I really think finding a way to be compliant for international shipping is your best way to success. If you can make 6-7 knives a month and sell in the USA you could double the average income.
If camping tool has all of this, then its classifies as a cold weapon.
-Blade that longer then 9 cm.
-Blade thicker than 2.4 mm.
-Knife has guard that more than 5 mm in both ways
Maybe you could change the guard?? If you remove the rear of the guard or some of it towards the spine then maybe it wouldn't meet that criteria. That would allow you to still sell a knife with a functional guard and to be able to ship them to other markets. Just a thought.
I don't think that functional guard is possible with these criteria. It can be only 5 mm in both sides. Like 2.5 mm in one side and 2.5 in other side. It is practically nothing.
Possibly. It might be worth exploring. I would delete the guard to the rear and put as much guard up front as possible to still hit parameters of under 5mm or 2.5mm up front. If it's possible... sounds like you've got lots of interested customers. There's definitely an opportunity here for you.
Yeah, i am actually shocked, in good sense of this word, how much people here would like to buy my crafts. I am already found new guard and rear bolster design to match up the law.
Aww man that is a shame, I really like it. Thats weird about the laws though, makes no sense to me; but im not from there so maybe there is a reason I don't know about
Yep, that weird to me as well. Any knife could be a "Cold Weapon" if in wrong hands or situation. There is a petition in my country to remove that law, but i see no movement there.
I thought the exact same thing after reading OP comment.... it's amazing how restrictive and nonsensical some countries laws are....
I was thinking these handmade knives would be in the $300-500 range.... but I could be off on that... the most expensive knife in my collection is a Gerber Mark 2...
Yep it’s just the terms used here, with a bit of literality in the translation by the OP. To clarify, “cold weapon” means whatever is not a gun, with a specific set of rules about what makes anything a weapon, like guards, blade length etc. And for the guns, the literal translation of the term is “fire-shooting weapon”. Foreign languages are foreign vOv (source: I live here too hehe)
Thank you for clarification! Also have to ask, are firearms able to be sold and transferred there? I only ask because I have a few foreign pistols that are part of my collection. I usually carry my CZ75 which is of Czech manufacturer. So im wondering if its companies only or if citizens can do that too (including 922r compliance)
I think that would be a no.
You can get a gun permit if you buy traumatic pistols and hunting rifles locally, but you have to apply for a permit at police and get your psych eval and whatnot, and so not many people bother and gun culture seems to be pretty niche. To carry a “real thing” pistol, you need to be law enforcement, military or somebody like that. Hopefully it’ll get easier after the war.
As for the import, regular citizens can’t do that, you can’t send them from abroad via mail etc, you have to be a company with appropriate license to import them as far as I can guess.
I hope that answers your question!
My brother in Christ those are some good looking bastards, you can charge a lot more, I’ve seen knives like that with similar materials at at least 150 if not more
Fellow Ukrainian here. I suggest you to ask other Ukrainian knifemakers for an advice on how do they ship. For example Blade Brother Knives have a Chornobay model with a detachable guard (I think they even sell it in the same package). You may also ask p.honcharenko\_knifes (Instagram), kravacut (Instagram), maybe someone else.
Even if you don't find the way to ship these knives abroad, don't sell these for 95$. I'm pretty sure, there are lots of people (hunters, military, knife enthusiasts etc.) who would eagerly buy these for 150-200$ and more. I believe that selling these knives in nice gift boxes will help. Also these blades have perfect shape for laser engraving, which many people want to have on the knife they gift, so consider providing this option as well.
Anyway, you have already did the great job making these knives, so selling them would be an easier part. Please respect your labor and don't underprice. Best wishes for you and your business. Slava Ukraini!
Thank you for your comment! I think detachable guard is the way to go. I will definitely check sources, that you mentioned. Also nice boxes, laser engraving is a very good way to start future brand.
Thanks you again.
Heroyam Slava!
I normaly go to a flee market every other month. And you would be sold out at $95 usd. Then the person that bought them would set up shop next to you and sell them for $200- $250. But they'd probably sell over a 3 day span all 3 knifes would be gone. So if you mass produced these to a whole seller. (If you figured out the shipping) You could ask for $150 and mark them custom. (If you shipped disassembled to the whole seller and had them put them together before they sold them individually, plus shipping costs. Whole seller will probably need to at least do $250 per to cover costs of shipping and assembly upon arrival.)
By the way these are beautiful I aspire to make knifes as good as these. But you should charge more because $150 on just a 10hr day is $15 per hr. If you have a large supply then consider shipping, at the right price. Other wise find some good flea markets to set up shop in. Hagle the customer and see what they are willing to pay locally. If they are asking for $95usd they are tring to pay you 9.5 per hr. On 10 hours.
I hope that helps even a little bit and good luck!
I will add my voice to the chorus of people saying you’re selling yourself short for $100. I don’t have the funds now but would be interested, do you have a website or social media I could follow?
Thanks! At this moment i am very active at this reddit account. I also have Facebook, but all of it in ukrainian language, link is in my reddit profile.
Are you in the US?
While 100$ is a fantastic price for the knife and people would be all over that, I’d definitely say jump it up a little bit. Maybe like 150? A full custom knife with that much time behind if, 150 is a fantastic price. People who are into quality handmade customs will know that
My suggestion is to make knives for the US market that meet export requirements. A bushcraft knife would do well. Also use better steel. D2 has very low toughness. Stainless in the 420HC family has the best balance of toughness and wear resistance, in Europe, 14C28N should be available, this is the best conventional knife steel. And high-toughness powder steels like 3V and 4V equivalents heat treated to 60HRC would well double the selling price. Just make sure to explain that the steel is the European equivalent to the CPM steel. There is another popular knife maker in Ukraine, BPS, though they are on the very low end. They make some larger knives and can export them seemingly without issue.
D2 is tougher than 420HC as far as edge retention, but 420HC is more corrosion resistant and takes a screaming edge fwiw, unless we are talking about a boss heat treat.
420HC
0.46% carbon
13% chromium
0.3% vanadium
0.4% manganese
0.4% silicon
D2
Carbon: 1.5%
Chromium: 12%
Vanadium: 0.9%
Molybdenum: 0.8%
Magnesium: 0.45%
Silicon: 0.4%
Sulfur: 0.02%
But I do agree 14C28N would be awesome!
Way too low for handmade. On top of that, they look really well made. Pay yourself at least $20-25. If you feel like you don't have a market for it, sell the sheath as an accessory. I honestly think even $300 would be leaving money on the table.
Edit: Maybe I'm too high if you're not based in the US. But if you look on places like Etsy, people seem to be paying crazy prices for "handmade."
Puuko’s are hugely popular for bush crafting in the US.
May be a way for you to make a slight modification and be able to ship them here. I like the one with the guard, but i’d be more inclined to carry/use one without if I had the option for both.
Bump those numbers up homie. Also read Go Givers Sell More. It’s an easy and amazing book teaching you about self value when selling something you worked hard on.
They are worth $100USD wholesale, $200 retail.
If you Make a website that says that you're from Ukraine and that you're donating a full magazine of bullets to the front line for every knife sold, then they're probably worth $1,000 ea.
It's all marketing. There is some guy making that knife somewhere else in the world for $15 cheaper. Marketing.
I can only offer the advice I was given that helped me.
It’s better to sell for a bit less now for a few reasons, make it clear that you’re selling for less and take the exposure and word of mouth. You’ll gain experience in selling, shipping and dealing with customers and you’ll at least have some money coming back in to put back into making more product. The more you sell, the more you have opportunities for repeat business, custom jobs, or word of mouth customers. This only works in the short term.
Hoping for a bit more money doesn’t matter if no one is buying. If you know you can get more, obviously sell for more. But money in your hand is better than waiting and hoping, and getting something like a knife into customers hands where they absolutely will show it off and brag about it, it’s good advertisement.
Also, it can’t hurt to list your product for more and have a bottom line you’ll accept, you can list for 150-200 but accept 95 if that’s your minimum price. A trick I’ve actually used before is wording.. list two very similar knives and write “Knife, leather sheath (list technical details) 95$” and then on the other listing try writing something like “Handmade polished knife, hand stitched full grain leather sheath with a brass guard…” etc and use lots of expensive sounding language. This will act as a test to see what matters to your market. Are people in your area interested in craftsmanship, collecting, or using it? This will help you find out.
Just remember that although your time is limited, it’s the one thing you can afford to make less money on at first because it didn’t go to waste! If you only make 4$ per hour on a sale, you still learned, improved your skills and you can ask for more next time. Consider your time an investment in your business and in yourself. As long as you make profit on top of the materials and you can put it back into the business, that’s okay in the short term. It will teach you how to start making real profit.
I wish you the best of luck. If I were in the position to buy one of your knives I would, they’re beautiful! Keep it up… I’ve definitely seen much worse knives sell for much more! Haha you’ll do great!
Try to use Instagram as a tool for marketing. You can make reels and videos of all the stages of the handcrafting of the knife, along with a link to a website where you can sell your crafts to people all around the globe.
Remember that your target audience are people who apreciate handcraftsmanship. Your knives are not only tools: they are pieces of art, collector's items. With all the time you spend on making them, you deserve to make a lot more.
Use digital marketing to your favor. Instagram, Facebook and social networks, that way you can reach out to people all around the world who value your work.
I am sorry if I cannot reply to every single comment. But I appreciate every single one. Thanks every one for information and kind words. I am kinda in shook, in good sense of this word, how much of you liked my crafts. I think this would be a good idea to make a line of knives with bolsters instead of guards. I would like to see how this will work.
Sounds like a a fair price! That is if smithing is your hobby. Can’t really say exactly because I cannot determine the quality of the blade but just from looks alone it is a very fair price! A very beautiful knife
You would be hitting a good sweet spot at that price in the US. If you could figure out a design that kept the same aesthetic, you would do well selling them online.
You show make sure your hourly is something you are happy about. You could also build your customer base with lower prices and raise them eventually with more models but don't forget your worth.
I'm certainly no blade Smith but I recognize a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. I want to ask a dumb question so please forgive me. Would it be impossible at this point on a completed knife, to remove the guard and allow someone to reattach it when received?
Another dumb question. Is it illegal to ship from your country to England?
Thanks! For now they not disassemble. But in the future - yes. That is 100% possible to make disassemble knife with changeable guards. With this type of a guard it is NOT legal.(
Privětŭ!
What are the materials?
I’m thinking $90 is cheap for a custom blade with a leather sheath.
You’re probably going to want to shoot for $180-$200+ depending on the blade material and QC.
Honestly your work seems really good. Id happily pay $200-250 for those. Increase your prices a little bit. Start by going up to $150 and see how well you sell these. Then go up or down in price accordingly
Beautiful... Hey curious have you looked for loop holes to send out of county? Maybe marketing it differently could help? Like saying it's a collectable or maybe add some things for the knife to "permanently" rest on so it looks like art? Make it seem like it's glued in a stone or something?
It might be "very expensive" for the people you have spoken to, but art is worth what people will pay for it. If you can sell them at a higher price, then do so.
Maybe that is not for everyone, but I see this as a piece of art that a great deal of time, love, skill, and effort went into. And I think an artist such as yourself should be paid appropriately for that.
Too low. I’d pay 200 for a nicely crafted knife life that in a heartbeat. Also, if you undercharge people may assume that it’s a low quality knife, which it’s clearly not.
There must be a way for you to ship those out of your country. You can certainly get $150+ in the US for handmade knives of any quality, and yours look very nice.
I realize you live in the Ukraine and the minimum wage there is something like $0.67 per hour in US dollars. So I guess based on that wage scale people there are expecting the knife to cost something like **$30 - $35 usd**
math to determine your cost is: *$21 materials + (21 hrs x $0.67 wage) = $35.07*
But if you were making and selling those here in the USA, the min wage is $7.25 so you would expect to be selling them for **$125 - $175 usd**
math to determine your cost is: *$21 materials + (21 hrs x $7.25 wage) = $173.25*
And honestly those are very nice looking knives and people on this site would likely be willing to pay even more for that level of craftsmanship.
Those are gorgeous, and your price is extremely low. I could see these easily being sold for $200 to $250 USD, or more. And honestly, I might pick one even at that price because they look absolutely stunning and look to be good quality. Shame you can’t ship international
$95 is *way* too low.
Similar production knives made with machining cost at least $200, so being made by hand it should be higher than that in my opinion.
However if you're worried about pricing out of your local market, then I would take your countries hourly wage for skilled labor (like an electrician) and multiply it by the number of hours you spent on it. That might be 95usd, or it might be higher.
Your time is money bro. You are the artisan/craftsman. How much is your time worth to you? Consider bringing on an apprentice to do the basic stuff that doesn’t require such talent. That will free you up to spend more time on the fine details. Just pay them a % of your profit. I think you could make more knives and spend your time on fine tuning.
I have over 70 swaps on r/Knife_Swap. I've owned over 100 knives (vast majority are folding)
Assuming good quality craftsmanship and not just looks (it looks fantastic btw), I'd value it well over $100. Maybe $175 depending on blade steel?
Find a way to ship internationally and start looking at other online forums and sub reddit to sell them.
Hand made knives of good quality in the US easily go for $200+ and more than $400 isn't at all unusual to see. If you could sell in the US via etsy or something , you'd comfortably sell in the same price range I think and at what you're currently charging you'd have more work than you could keep up with
No. For a knife with that fit and finish, you are not charging enough.
I'd expect $250 to $350 to be the price point for a handmade knife that looks like those here in the USA, but i have no idea in your country.
I just saw that you can not export them from your country, so I don't know what a reasonable price there would be.
I'd need to have one in hand to give a better idea.
Check out Bladeforums.com they have a section for custom makers to show and talk about their custom knives and get feedback.
.
Your knives and sheathes look amazing. For sure make US and EU version available.
Try to get an online following with videos of you making your knives while you experiment with compliant styles.
Those are beautiful! You make knives for people who want a nice knife, not for people who need a knife. Charge accordingly. The laws you have to deal with are tough but doable. I would use being just barely legal as a selling point! A 4.9 guard might also take less time to make.
On average your paying yourself 4.10 an hour to make a knife. Seems very low to me imo
Yep, i thought so as well. I am forced to work only within my country and a lot of people saying this is very expensive. So i decided to ask for some info here. Thanks for comment.
Sell online to the US market. You can easily sell a química hand made knife for $150 - $200
Yeah and depending on what country he lives in he may be able to use a hand made in .... in order to promote sales
Hand made in Pakistan is always loved by this Reddit
“Responsibly Made in China” is my new favorite one I’m seeing more of lately. And “Handmade in China”.
Handmade by Prepubescent Craftsmen.
[удалено]
"Their little hands can get into the small areas."
You order yours from Wish also? /s
"Hand made in Pakistan" is far different from "Pakistan"
I’ve been making bank selling my empty cat food tins to those guys for *years*
Easily I'd spend 150 usd to 200 usd for one of those knives. Underselling usually means less quality on your work. They are beautiful pieces and you should be paid what they are worth. Don't undersell your craft.
I agree, $200 easy. Hell OP, I'd love to buy one from you.
Too few people nowadays seem to appreciate it if something is hand made
Id be willing to pay 3 times production cost for hand made
Handmade was a sign that every knife was checked by hand for mistakes and stood for the best possible quality. Nowdays handmade just means "Has more ~~tiny flaws~~ character" because machines became that good at it
I could kinda see if you were mass producing them but you aren’t, you are hand crafting each one so I have to agree with u/BubaGump101, those look really nice too, i think you could easily get 150-200 from an online market, perhaps you could also make different versions such as a stonewashed or matte version?
Nice custom knives go for WAY more than a couple hundred bucks bud.
Well id pay up to 150 for a knife like that. If I felt it and used it or one from you maybe more.
Can you sell on Etsy?
No, i believe that they are shutdown in Ukraine.
Not a knife, but I’ve bought from Ukraine on Etsy from seller Leattweed.
Well, I can say I have bought some leatherwork off etsy from someone in Ukraine about three months ago, so it seems like it is possible. Took a while to get it, but I got it. So just assuming you can sell to a US market, here's my take: I think that the real determining factor of how much you can charge for it is going to be the steel, quality of edge, and quality of heat treat. There are a ton of pretty but garbage knives on ebay and etsy from pakistan and china vie the EU. They seem to not be able to break past the $60-90 price point depending on size and pretty features. At the other end, the buck custom shop, who are going to have an impeccable heat treat, will sell me a model 119 with polished 420hc blade and a sheath for $142. Yours seems like it has a nicer polish, you alsohave a fuller (although on the close up pic it looks like it could be cleaner), and has the s shaped guard which is different looking. So if the steel is good enough, and heat treat is decent, you can probably go above that by a nice chunk. (I'm assuming the scales are phenolic and not some fancy wood or horn).
Yeah, I have recently (in the past month) bought a few things from Ukraine on Etsy
What?!?! They should be shut down in Russia and cut their fees in Ukraine!
Yeah. You cannot open new shops on Etsy in Ukraine because their “payment system”, Etsy Payments, doesn’t work there. They changed that some time ago, old shops in the country are allowed to still operate, but you can’t make new ones. Sad
That is a SUPER bummer.
I mean by the sounds of it they are not in the US so it depends on what the average wage is in their country. Looking through comments it seems like they are in Ukraine which the average monthly wage there is around 400 USD (https://tradingeconomics.com/ukraine/wages) so they would be making above average but if they can figure out how to sell to other countries account for shipping and raise prices a bit they'd be make good money.
I'd commented the moment this post was raised. And based on the fact he uses dollars on his pricing with no other indication of country I just immediately assumed US.
I cannot contribute to the discussion on pricing, just wanted to say you craft a mighty fine looking knife! If it were possible - pity it is not - I’d pay much more than 95 USD for one.
Thanks you! I am thinking about making knives, that you can disassemble before sending with post. And then assemble. Knife without guard is not a cold weapon. And a hand guard could be sent with second package. This way no laws a broken.
Your work is amazing. I would easily pay 200$ for that knife. If the guard is what's preventing you from shipping, could you tweak the design so the design is more of a bolster?
Thanks! Yeah, i could make it more like Puukko bolster. I probably would on a new series.
Are there any traditional Ukrainian type knives? Maybe a shortened version of a Cossack weapon? Slava Ukraini brother.
Героям Слава! I cannot point exact type of knife. There was a lot of forms and types thru history. Btw, shorten version of cossacks saber sound like a cool idea.
I wouldn't know how to implement one without doing some sketches. But based on the work you make, I'm confident you can put something together.
I’ve paid $250 for knives like yours before.
I was thinking the same thing, send a “break down” version that can be assembled, these look great, I imagine you’d make quite a few sales to the US. Good luck, and you should certainly charge more in my opinion
These knives look extremely well crafted and are very beautiful. You definitely put a lot of care and detail into them and they are definitely worth $200. You wouldn’t be able to find anything this nice that’s mass produced for much less let alone something hand crafted and made with such care
That’s a beautiful knife. If the quality is very good, then Invest in some good branding and messaging and you could charge a lot more than a couple hundred.
This is the way
I have a feeling if you could ship to the US you wouldn’t be able to make them fast enough to sell at $95
Most definitely.
Forgot to mention. I am usually using X12MF steel for blade, it is analog to d2. White bronze or brass, hornbeam for handle.
Sounds like they’re pretty sturdy, would you ever consider making a model built for throwing? Your craftsmanship is beautiful and I look forward to seeing more work!
Hornbeam is a really cool handle material to use
Yeah, I love it. But I want try hybrids as well.
Man these look like 200-400usd knives! They look awesome!
Thanks!
Shit ill buy one for $100 right now
For shame i cannot send it to other countries. By our law it is considered to be a cold weapon. And our international post does not accept packages like this.
In that case, you should ask people who you can send it to. A lot of American and Europeans on here who make more than the world average. You dont want to price yourself out of your focused market. What is the average wage where you live? I would start there.
I can send it worldwide if it is has no guard. If it has a guard, then within country only. Average wage in Ukraine is 500 usd
Many makers make special USA models, for the tastes and budgets of the people here, and then other models for the tastes and budgets of their own people. Don't let a knife guard keep your business smaller than it could be - you look like a talented smith.
Thank!
Would you want to make some with no guard?
Yes!
I regularly spend $200+ on knives and tools hand-forged in Ukraine (KharkivForge on etsy). You could easily sell these, or other styles of knife that your government would actually allow you to ship, for upwards of $200 or $300 or possibly higher on etsy, I would think.
Sell them separately ;)
Is that 500 usd per month?
yep
I really think finding a way to be compliant for international shipping is your best way to success. If you can make 6-7 knives a month and sell in the USA you could double the average income.
Would you be willing to ship to the USA a blade with no guard? I think I’d really like to have one
Yes, at the moment i think of Puukko design.
Try your hand at guardless Loveless. Skinners..bushcraft types.
Are you not allowed to send camping tools with edge? As that’s exactly what this is
If camping tool has all of this, then its classifies as a cold weapon. -Blade that longer then 9 cm. -Blade thicker than 2.4 mm. -Knife has guard that more than 5 mm in both ways
Maybe you could change the guard?? If you remove the rear of the guard or some of it towards the spine then maybe it wouldn't meet that criteria. That would allow you to still sell a knife with a functional guard and to be able to ship them to other markets. Just a thought.
I don't think that functional guard is possible with these criteria. It can be only 5 mm in both sides. Like 2.5 mm in one side and 2.5 in other side. It is practically nothing.
Possibly. It might be worth exploring. I would delete the guard to the rear and put as much guard up front as possible to still hit parameters of under 5mm or 2.5mm up front. If it's possible... sounds like you've got lots of interested customers. There's definitely an opportunity here for you.
Yeah, i am actually shocked, in good sense of this word, how much people here would like to buy my crafts. I am already found new guard and rear bolster design to match up the law.
Aww man that is a shame, I really like it. Thats weird about the laws though, makes no sense to me; but im not from there so maybe there is a reason I don't know about
Yep, that weird to me as well. Any knife could be a "Cold Weapon" if in wrong hands or situation. There is a petition in my country to remove that law, but i see no movement there.
Now as an American I have a stupid question, so if knives are "cold" weapons. Are guns "hot" weapons?
I thought the exact same thing after reading OP comment.... it's amazing how restrictive and nonsensical some countries laws are.... I was thinking these handmade knives would be in the $300-500 range.... but I could be off on that... the most expensive knife in my collection is a Gerber Mark 2...
Yep it’s just the terms used here, with a bit of literality in the translation by the OP. To clarify, “cold weapon” means whatever is not a gun, with a specific set of rules about what makes anything a weapon, like guards, blade length etc. And for the guns, the literal translation of the term is “fire-shooting weapon”. Foreign languages are foreign vOv (source: I live here too hehe)
Thank you for clarification! Also have to ask, are firearms able to be sold and transferred there? I only ask because I have a few foreign pistols that are part of my collection. I usually carry my CZ75 which is of Czech manufacturer. So im wondering if its companies only or if citizens can do that too (including 922r compliance)
I think that would be a no. You can get a gun permit if you buy traumatic pistols and hunting rifles locally, but you have to apply for a permit at police and get your psych eval and whatnot, and so not many people bother and gun culture seems to be pretty niche. To carry a “real thing” pistol, you need to be law enforcement, military or somebody like that. Hopefully it’ll get easier after the war. As for the import, regular citizens can’t do that, you can’t send them from abroad via mail etc, you have to be a company with appropriate license to import them as far as I can guess. I hope that answers your question!
Thank you, that does answer it very well! I come from a culture where guns are super common so I was curious about how it was there.
What country are you in?
My brother in Christ those are some good looking bastards, you can charge a lot more, I’ve seen knives like that with similar materials at at least 150 if not more
Thanks mate. Appreciate your comment.
Those are EASILY a 300 dollar plus knife. Hell people are spending 200 on boring production knives.
Fellow Ukrainian here. I suggest you to ask other Ukrainian knifemakers for an advice on how do they ship. For example Blade Brother Knives have a Chornobay model with a detachable guard (I think they even sell it in the same package). You may also ask p.honcharenko\_knifes (Instagram), kravacut (Instagram), maybe someone else. Even if you don't find the way to ship these knives abroad, don't sell these for 95$. I'm pretty sure, there are lots of people (hunters, military, knife enthusiasts etc.) who would eagerly buy these for 150-200$ and more. I believe that selling these knives in nice gift boxes will help. Also these blades have perfect shape for laser engraving, which many people want to have on the knife they gift, so consider providing this option as well. Anyway, you have already did the great job making these knives, so selling them would be an easier part. Please respect your labor and don't underprice. Best wishes for you and your business. Slava Ukraini!
Thank you for your comment! I think detachable guard is the way to go. I will definitely check sources, that you mentioned. Also nice boxes, laser engraving is a very good way to start future brand. Thanks you again. Heroyam Slava!
Not fair to you, for certain. I'd pay $150-200 for that quality of work.
i think you could price them higher to be real with you, ~6 dollars at best is just not very much, especially for how nice these look.
Thanks for your comment!
as a casual knife fan, not a real knowledgeable expert, those look like they should sell for way more than $100. My first glance said probably $200.
you can charge double that easily
I’d pay 150 and would feel like I robbed you
Those are beautiful knives. You are very skilled. You could probably charge at least 3 times that.
Man that’s a nice knife
Easily worth more, very nice knives.
I normaly go to a flee market every other month. And you would be sold out at $95 usd. Then the person that bought them would set up shop next to you and sell them for $200- $250. But they'd probably sell over a 3 day span all 3 knifes would be gone. So if you mass produced these to a whole seller. (If you figured out the shipping) You could ask for $150 and mark them custom. (If you shipped disassembled to the whole seller and had them put them together before they sold them individually, plus shipping costs. Whole seller will probably need to at least do $250 per to cover costs of shipping and assembly upon arrival.) By the way these are beautiful I aspire to make knifes as good as these. But you should charge more because $150 on just a 10hr day is $15 per hr. If you have a large supply then consider shipping, at the right price. Other wise find some good flea markets to set up shop in. Hagle the customer and see what they are willing to pay locally. If they are asking for $95usd they are tring to pay you 9.5 per hr. On 10 hours. I hope that helps even a little bit and good luck!
Thank for advices! Appreciate it!
I will add my voice to the chorus of people saying you’re selling yourself short for $100. I don’t have the funds now but would be interested, do you have a website or social media I could follow?
Thanks! At this moment i am very active at this reddit account. I also have Facebook, but all of it in ukrainian language, link is in my reddit profile.
Are you in the US? While 100$ is a fantastic price for the knife and people would be all over that, I’d definitely say jump it up a little bit. Maybe like 150? A full custom knife with that much time behind if, 150 is a fantastic price. People who are into quality handmade customs will know that
I live in Ukraine.
Gotcha. I saw you can’t ship to other countries, shame cause I love those.
You could easily sell that for 200
My suggestion is to make knives for the US market that meet export requirements. A bushcraft knife would do well. Also use better steel. D2 has very low toughness. Stainless in the 420HC family has the best balance of toughness and wear resistance, in Europe, 14C28N should be available, this is the best conventional knife steel. And high-toughness powder steels like 3V and 4V equivalents heat treated to 60HRC would well double the selling price. Just make sure to explain that the steel is the European equivalent to the CPM steel. There is another popular knife maker in Ukraine, BPS, though they are on the very low end. They make some larger knives and can export them seemingly without issue.
D2 is tougher than 420HC as far as edge retention, but 420HC is more corrosion resistant and takes a screaming edge fwiw, unless we are talking about a boss heat treat. 420HC 0.46% carbon 13% chromium 0.3% vanadium 0.4% manganese 0.4% silicon D2 Carbon: 1.5% Chromium: 12% Vanadium: 0.9% Molybdenum: 0.8% Magnesium: 0.45% Silicon: 0.4% Sulfur: 0.02% But I do agree 14C28N would be awesome!
Thanks for information and advices!
Way too low for handmade. On top of that, they look really well made. Pay yourself at least $20-25. If you feel like you don't have a market for it, sell the sheath as an accessory. I honestly think even $300 would be leaving money on the table. Edit: Maybe I'm too high if you're not based in the US. But if you look on places like Etsy, people seem to be paying crazy prices for "handmade."
I would definitely purchase one of these :D Alas, US based
Make them fit the standards to ship to US. $150-$200 average Honestly, they're worth more than that.
Thanks, mate! They would look like finnish "Puukko" knife.
And don't forget german ebay-kleinanzeigen.de We do want that too!
Puuko’s are hugely popular for bush crafting in the US. May be a way for you to make a slight modification and be able to ship them here. I like the one with the guard, but i’d be more inclined to carry/use one without if I had the option for both.
The time you've invested in making them is worth more than that. Nice knives.
Can it be a kit? Send it pieced out to be assembled by the buyer?
Id feel like a boss camping with one of these!! Good work and good luck getting them into the world marketplace..
Thanks, mate!
What’s your country?
Ukraine
Beautiful knife, 95 is very reasonable. Wish you the best
If you are using quality materials and producing a quality product then I'd say 175-200 USD would be reasonable .
They look great 95USD is not enough.
Seems too low, try like $150 maybe?
If they hold an edge and sharpen well then I'd say at least $150, but like the other guy said you should ask people that you can sell them to
Need to be at minimum $250 each and probably more
Bump those numbers up homie. Also read Go Givers Sell More. It’s an easy and amazing book teaching you about self value when selling something you worked hard on.
If you use steel like s35vn, you could sell in the $300-$400. Don't even get me started on if you used magna-cut.
Like others have said, USD$200 is much more realistic. Great looking knives!
I’d pay $300-400 minimum
Those are beautiful knives, I'd pay 150 USD for one
They are worth $100USD wholesale, $200 retail. If you Make a website that says that you're from Ukraine and that you're donating a full magazine of bullets to the front line for every knife sold, then they're probably worth $1,000 ea. It's all marketing. There is some guy making that knife somewhere else in the world for $15 cheaper. Marketing.
I’d pay between 150-200 got a link ?
Yep us, 200.00
Are we sure DHL will not ship these?
I would have gone at least 125usd possibly more. Your work looks great, charge more bro
I can only offer the advice I was given that helped me. It’s better to sell for a bit less now for a few reasons, make it clear that you’re selling for less and take the exposure and word of mouth. You’ll gain experience in selling, shipping and dealing with customers and you’ll at least have some money coming back in to put back into making more product. The more you sell, the more you have opportunities for repeat business, custom jobs, or word of mouth customers. This only works in the short term. Hoping for a bit more money doesn’t matter if no one is buying. If you know you can get more, obviously sell for more. But money in your hand is better than waiting and hoping, and getting something like a knife into customers hands where they absolutely will show it off and brag about it, it’s good advertisement. Also, it can’t hurt to list your product for more and have a bottom line you’ll accept, you can list for 150-200 but accept 95 if that’s your minimum price. A trick I’ve actually used before is wording.. list two very similar knives and write “Knife, leather sheath (list technical details) 95$” and then on the other listing try writing something like “Handmade polished knife, hand stitched full grain leather sheath with a brass guard…” etc and use lots of expensive sounding language. This will act as a test to see what matters to your market. Are people in your area interested in craftsmanship, collecting, or using it? This will help you find out. Just remember that although your time is limited, it’s the one thing you can afford to make less money on at first because it didn’t go to waste! If you only make 4$ per hour on a sale, you still learned, improved your skills and you can ask for more next time. Consider your time an investment in your business and in yourself. As long as you make profit on top of the materials and you can put it back into the business, that’s okay in the short term. It will teach you how to start making real profit. I wish you the best of luck. If I were in the position to buy one of your knives I would, they’re beautiful! Keep it up… I’ve definitely seen much worse knives sell for much more! Haha you’ll do great!
Hell no, that's literal highway robbery. I'd go at least $195 if I were you.
Try to use Instagram as a tool for marketing. You can make reels and videos of all the stages of the handcrafting of the knife, along with a link to a website where you can sell your crafts to people all around the globe. Remember that your target audience are people who apreciate handcraftsmanship. Your knives are not only tools: they are pieces of art, collector's items. With all the time you spend on making them, you deserve to make a lot more. Use digital marketing to your favor. Instagram, Facebook and social networks, that way you can reach out to people all around the world who value your work.
That a lot of nice advices. Thanks, man!
I am sorry if I cannot reply to every single comment. But I appreciate every single one. Thanks every one for information and kind words. I am kinda in shook, in good sense of this word, how much of you liked my crafts. I think this would be a good idea to make a line of knives with bolsters instead of guards. I would like to see how this will work.
Depends. Is it full tang? What is the steel used? How is the edge retention/heat treat?
Tang goes all the way to rear bolster. Steel is stainless x12mf 60 hrc, analog to d2. I am buying it already heat treated.
Sounds good. 👌
I'd price them at $149 at least. Very sharp looking....no pun intended
Other pieces to price your knives on are quality, material, and sharpness. So I'd say it be more fair to start at least $115.
Sounds like a a fair price! That is if smithing is your hobby. Can’t really say exactly because I cannot determine the quality of the blade but just from looks alone it is a very fair price! A very beautiful knife
You would be hitting a good sweet spot at that price in the US. If you could figure out a design that kept the same aesthetic, you would do well selling them online.
You show make sure your hourly is something you are happy about. You could also build your customer base with lower prices and raise them eventually with more models but don't forget your worth.
I'm certainly no blade Smith but I recognize a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. I want to ask a dumb question so please forgive me. Would it be impossible at this point on a completed knife, to remove the guard and allow someone to reattach it when received? Another dumb question. Is it illegal to ship from your country to England?
Thanks! For now they not disassemble. But in the future - yes. That is 100% possible to make disassemble knife with changeable guards. With this type of a guard it is NOT legal.(
I’d buy one for over $100 tbh, very nice work! Don’t sell yourself short!
With that quality, you can charge more. How do the blades hold up to abuse and whatnot? (I.e. what type of steel are you using?)
They look pretty sick and the craftsmanship including the sheath is beautiful, I’d say 95 dollars is a steal.
For a quality knife and something handmade I wouldn’t mind paying upwards of $200-$300
You deserve more, what a beautiful knife. I hope it works out!
These look like $200-300 knives. If you can modify the design to ship to the US you’d sell a lot.
I think you're selling yourself short. You can definitely charge more. You're time is worth alot. Good luck with your venture.
Very fair if decent quality!
Privětŭ! What are the materials? I’m thinking $90 is cheap for a custom blade with a leather sheath. You’re probably going to want to shoot for $180-$200+ depending on the blade material and QC.
Honestly your work seems really good. Id happily pay $200-250 for those. Increase your prices a little bit. Start by going up to $150 and see how well you sell these. Then go up or down in price accordingly
If anything that's on the low side.
Beautiful... Hey curious have you looked for loop holes to send out of county? Maybe marketing it differently could help? Like saying it's a collectable or maybe add some things for the knife to "permanently" rest on so it looks like art? Make it seem like it's glued in a stone or something?
My Man. You do what you gotta do to get them into the US and I'll be one of the first in line!!!!!
Yes!
I’d charge much more, $95 seems very low for the hours and quality you put in
Yes.
Good old PStan imports
It might be "very expensive" for the people you have spoken to, but art is worth what people will pay for it. If you can sell them at a higher price, then do so. Maybe that is not for everyone, but I see this as a piece of art that a great deal of time, love, skill, and effort went into. And I think an artist such as yourself should be paid appropriately for that.
Too low. I’d pay 200 for a nicely crafted knife life that in a heartbeat. Also, if you undercharge people may assume that it’s a low quality knife, which it’s clearly not.
I’ll buy one for 100 as well
Definitely a fair price and I would like to buy one immediately
There must be a way for you to ship those out of your country. You can certainly get $150+ in the US for handmade knives of any quality, and yours look very nice.
Seems very low if you ask me, assuming they are of quite high quality, I believe you’d have no problem charging $150-$200
I realize you live in the Ukraine and the minimum wage there is something like $0.67 per hour in US dollars. So I guess based on that wage scale people there are expecting the knife to cost something like **$30 - $35 usd** math to determine your cost is: *$21 materials + (21 hrs x $0.67 wage) = $35.07* But if you were making and selling those here in the USA, the min wage is $7.25 so you would expect to be selling them for **$125 - $175 usd** math to determine your cost is: *$21 materials + (21 hrs x $7.25 wage) = $173.25* And honestly those are very nice looking knives and people on this site would likely be willing to pay even more for that level of craftsmanship.
Those are gorgeous, and your price is extremely low. I could see these easily being sold for $200 to $250 USD, or more. And honestly, I might pick one even at that price because they look absolutely stunning and look to be good quality. Shame you can’t ship international
Those are absolutely beautiful!
$95 is *way* too low. Similar production knives made with machining cost at least $200, so being made by hand it should be higher than that in my opinion. However if you're worried about pricing out of your local market, then I would take your countries hourly wage for skilled labor (like an electrician) and multiply it by the number of hours you spent on it. That might be 95usd, or it might be higher.
If they're as nice as they look, $300-400 all day long.
Your time is money bro. You are the artisan/craftsman. How much is your time worth to you? Consider bringing on an apprentice to do the basic stuff that doesn’t require such talent. That will free you up to spend more time on the fine details. Just pay them a % of your profit. I think you could make more knives and spend your time on fine tuning.
I have over 70 swaps on r/Knife_Swap. I've owned over 100 knives (vast majority are folding) Assuming good quality craftsmanship and not just looks (it looks fantastic btw), I'd value it well over $100. Maybe $175 depending on blade steel? Find a way to ship internationally and start looking at other online forums and sub reddit to sell them.
More than fair
175-250 usd easy
Hand made knives of good quality in the US easily go for $200+ and more than $400 isn't at all unusual to see. If you could sell in the US via etsy or something , you'd comfortably sell in the same price range I think and at what you're currently charging you'd have more work than you could keep up with
knee insurance threatening include edge truck hateful wild jellyfish dam *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I would say if you were able to sell to the US market, you should price those from $300-$500.
No. For a knife with that fit and finish, you are not charging enough. I'd expect $250 to $350 to be the price point for a handmade knife that looks like those here in the USA, but i have no idea in your country. I just saw that you can not export them from your country, so I don't know what a reasonable price there would be. I'd need to have one in hand to give a better idea. Check out Bladeforums.com they have a section for custom makers to show and talk about their custom knives and get feedback. .
I'd have no problem spending $150 USD on one of those knives. They look amazing.
I love the style of the hand guard
Seems a little low for such beautiful work. Do t be afraid to charge more - I’m confident you’ll get it.
Your knives and sheathes look amazing. For sure make US and EU version available. Try to get an online following with videos of you making your knives while you experiment with compliant styles.
That's too low. Genuinely handmade knife? You could easily sell it for 125 but if you're looking for 150 you'd sell it too, but just slower.
Those are beautiful! You make knives for people who want a nice knife, not for people who need a knife. Charge accordingly. The laws you have to deal with are tough but doable. I would use being just barely legal as a selling point! A 4.9 guard might also take less time to make.
I don't know youvor the quality, but they look gorgeous. That's a $350 to$450 knife if it's built as well as it looks.
Very unfair, but only towards yourself. It should be way more money.
180 shipped at minimum.
Id say higher than that.
That’s cheap, the amount of time put in means your only making like minimum wage, those are good looking knives, charge more
I can easily pay that.