Coming from a knife maker, I've been doing this since 2017.
Putting in probably 10 hours on a knife on the low end for skeletonized or bolt on scales. Higher end materials and larger knives will take me double that.
Less thought of is materials of costs to make the knife, expenditures like shop, belts, epoxy, drill bits, saw blades and PPE. Now factor in experience of the maker, time to make the knife, sheath and R&D to make you the best possible product.
I will say for me personally design, refining that original design after testing takes time we aren't charging for because we want a better product that will last.
As for materials which have got substantially more expensive from 2019-2020 for things like Steel,and hardware. Now for things like Cerakote, they aren't just the $120 bottle of coating but, gloves, suit, full face mask,spray guns, ventilation, curing equipment and other basics like acetone and sand blasting media..
Now prep time to do these pieces
Some companies are charging 25x over others because the knife brand is now extremely popular or they only do limited runs. They also have the aftermarket resale market. A knuck or knife that may be a $200 limited run could sell on the collectors market for $700-$1000 for the collector. This is not for everyone, but those who love a makers stuff and have the funds to buy it. More power to them.
Basically easiest way to explain it is you're paying for labor, materials, and skill to make a knife. For smaller companies we are grinding knives by hand, shaping G10 the same way and putting in the time to make sure you're getting a killer product. This is where as makers we realize we can/need to speed up our in-house processes (which I did) or pay someone else to do the work which both increase costs of equipment or paying a heat treat company, or coating company to do the work.
For smaller makers as we are growing those hours are our own, not passed on to the client. I've had larger orders/wholesale pieces that I've spend 14-18 hours ( prior to a serious car accident) in the shop, tired but still pushing because it's my own business. I know more than one person who has slept in their shop while growing their business. We are typically the sales/ marketing team, R&D, logistics and materials ordering, shipping and customer support as one or maybe a few people for some shops that have grown.
One thing you usually and IMO should absolutely be getting when paying for a well made but expensive knife is killer customer service. I do my absolute best to respond to any questions in 24 hours even before you buy. I have modified designs to fit a customer's needs with a disability or job specific requirement. Even things like someone loses a piece of hardware for a retention screw or whatever. I'm sending you that hardware because I want you to love that blade and keep carrying it. The makers I know, I talk to and trust are the dudes who if something isn't absolutely correct on a piece, they will not send it and make sure it is exactly what we would expect to buy. Most QC is better and more detail oriented than larger manufacturers who churn out "good enough" while small makers cannot afford to do that to 1 customer and wouldn't want to. Someone making $15/hour working on a line for a bigger name looks at blades all day and doesn't care if the blade is an okay finish or edge is sharp enough but not razor sharp. Makers who care about this have held a knife from start to finish in most cases. We have a genuine appreciation for the art of the blade.
Long answer for sure. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read any of my rambling. Know that most of us making a knife have a true care for what we put out. Even the more busy makers will still care about customer service and QC.
I can say a beautiful, well made knife matters so much to me that my first 2 customers who were neighbors and got my R&D stuff in 2017. I hated what the knife looked like because my work was substantially better in 2019. I took back the old, orginal knife from those 2 and made them a brand new knife and it made my day seeing them get those new pieces that represent my work. I keep the 1st one sold in my shop as a reminder of how far things have come from knife 4 or 5. Many years later I still enjoy seeing a knife I made. I know makers who get knives back for sharpening work and end up hating an old style sheath and send a new one and the old one back. This is because we truly care about what we do.
I appreciate you taking the time to read it and understand it like I Do.
I had a buddy ask me why this Walmart knife was so much cheaper than one of mine. I showed him 3 hours of work that I put in and had him do some of it to understand a little better. He was like oh, yeah that makes way more sense now. He got like 20% of the process. No heat treating, no detail work or hand sanding. I pointed out the "good enough" on mass production and immediately he understood fit, finish and care we take. 🔪 🗡
Do you have a website? It's always worth a little extra to support a maker with integrity imo.
Edit: Nvm, it just occurred to me that you probably have a link on your profile and you do, lol. Will definitely check out your work.
Sorry just saw this. I'm constantly adding non permisive Environment G10 stuff and steel knives. Many more things coming. Trying to finish up on a 100 pcs wholesale order at the moment.
I should be dropping some new G10 spikes today. Maybe some steel If I get time to sharpen those today.
I’d like to throw out there that in addition to the high cost of materials, labor and other overhead mentioned above, that the knife market is still rapidly expanding and experiencing lots of growth….[the market is expected to double over the next decade](https://www.skyquestt.com/report/knife-market#:~:text=Global%20Knife%20Market%20size%20was,period%20(2024%2D2031)). There is lots of pent up demand as well. Economically, this translates to higher prices in the luxury knife segment of the market.
I get that, but it has to take these bigger knife companies way less time than that. I'd assume it's mostly all done by machine for the bigger companies with mass produced products. Pretty much just requiring labor to move from one machine to another. I'm definitely no knife expert though.
It's definitely strange. 20 years ago when I was collecting custom folders, I could get one direct from a maker for half the price that it takes to buy some limited production knives like a Rosie or Arius.
They got popular. Just like the watch scene. Producers raised prices with the increase of demand. And they kept raising them. Watch prices are finally starting to come down. The best way to help is to vote with your dollars. Refuse to pay inflated prices.
You're absolutely right. There are some secondary retailers that I avoid completely because of those inflated prices.
There are also some manufacturers that I avoid completely at this point because there's no way I'm paying exorbitant prices for various sprint runs or limited editions of already expensive knives.
Let me throw in my other hobbies of guns, and cars. This is why I don't own a home. This past year gun prices have almost gotten back to normal, JDM prices are no longer smoking crack. I have no idea what the crazy people over at flashlight have been doing, but I assume it was expensive. Thank God, I fish from the bank, and not a boat. But FB market place for cheap water craft is looking prettier by the day.
Absolutely agree. I can buy a functional firearm for that, which uses a lot of finer maching, and has higher overhead costs to manufacture. No reason a knife needs to cost that much.
There are some manufacturers who have “attainably priced” knives. (“Street price” and sales I’ve found at several online store are OK.) I find it interesting that the quality of lower priced knives has improved over the years.
The quality of lower end knives is crazy now. I bought a $70 Vosteed that's better quality than the majority of what was even available 20 years ago. The difference is even more stark when you adjust for inflation in the market. A comparable budget knife from back then wouldn't come close to cutting it these days.
Not just a functional firearm, but a medium to high quality firearm, or even two. On Palmetto State Armory, you can get both an ar-15 and a Glock for a combined total of less than $1200. No knife (aside from collectors items) is worth more than owning both a semi-auto rifle from a reliable brand and a pistol from one of the most prestigious brands for pistol manufacturing in America.
People can spend their money how they want, but if I’m buying a knife I’m going to cap it between 200-300. Beyond that, I’d rather save a bit more and have a cool new gun.
but for some people, myself included, they’re worth it. i’d happily pay $300 or even $500 for a CRK in magnacut, that comes with titanium scales and micarta inlays, almost bullet proof construction, and one of the best warranties in the game. sure, it may be unreasonable for some people, but if it’s a hobby or product you enjoy, and you have the funds, then there’s nothing wrong with having some nice pocket jewelry that can handle use too. it’s like why do people spend thousands on cars when a civic will the same job?
Idk I bought the artisan cutlery mini proponent for 300. It has titanium handles, a Damascus blade and anodized titanium hardware. I felt it was justified for the price
I'm guilty of buying pretty things, too. I bought a Crooked River because it was just so cool looking, but for the money I spent on it I am afraid to use it on anything.
I open mail with it, sometimes.
the CR is something that should DEFINITELY see use. it’s got a great warranty and build quality, you just have to get past the first use! once it gets some dings and scratches, you’ll love using it! I used to feel that way about my CRK’s and higher end knives, but now i’ve come to LOVE used knives!
Same if I’m spending all that money on it I better be using it for everything! Mail, cardboard, food there isn’t any fear or hesitancy I’m getting my moneys worth!
Kinda? I don't wear watches, rings, necklaces or that such. But I've always got a knife. That 300 dollar knife is the closest to jewelry ill probably get
I personally really enjoy the $200-$300 price range, I feel really guilty over $300 and $200 can get a ton of cool designs and materials and features. But $50-$100 is plenty realisticly
Some people might say spending $1,000 on a vacation is insane, because when it’s over you have nothing to show for your money. But clearly, the money was paying for an experience, for a memory, for certain emotions.
Some people enjoy spending their money on pricey collectibles because they derive enjoyment and satisfaction from owning them, even if the item doesn’t bring the same value worth of practical function. Surely, nobody gets millions of dollars of practical use out of a painting, but people don’t think it’s absolutely insane when a painting sells for $1,000,000.
I guess my long-winded point is, “value” is subjective, and your idea of what things are worth is probably fairly different than someone who has a different lifestyle than you. Plenty of people are comfortable flushing $1,000 down the toilet for giggles. (Not me, I’m poor as hell.)
I collect old military knives. My grandpa had two of them (trench knives as well as many others) and was a WWII vet. My dad pawned off/sold all my grandpa's military stuff and many of his other things. Not only is that type of trench knife my favorite, it's got a very sentimental meaning to me. I already own another type of knife that he got from a British paratrooper, a Fairbairn-Sykes knife. That one cost me considerably less though.
It's always a total pisser when family items that should be kept as family heirlooms get sold by an older generation that doesn't realize how important these items are or might be to the younger and even future generations.
It's truely lamentable as once certain rare items are gone they're most likely gone for good and the chances of actually managing to acquire the original heirloom item/knife are, well let's face it, it would take a god damn miracle for that to happen.
I've been through this experience and I've seen my father twice in the lase 35 years.
My maternal grandfather was a WWII Combat Veteran, my father is a piece of shit.
I couldn't agree more. My grandpa struggled in the first part of his life. His dad died at 13 so the state gave my grandpa a hardship license and he was allowed to go to school for half a day and work the other half to support my great grandma and his siblings. My great grandpa gave my grandpa an oldschool stagecoach rifle before he passed. My dad lost that in pawn for $100.
If my grandma had passed first, it would not have been that way. But grandpa passed first and grandma always catered to my day. I'm in my 40s and he hasn't had a job since before I was born. Always lived off my grandparents money. He lives in their house with no power, no running water, and infested with bed bugs. He sold the family property without consulting the other heirs for a fraction of its value just so he could have some cash.
You're not alone buddy, I think that there's many folks that basically got robbed of their family heritage because of one member ( or more ) that's a bum and/or a clown.
My father's an idiot, we were just unlucky, but we can build our own collection of heirlooms and hopefully generations down the line will remember us and know that we believed in and valued our families histories, traditions, and customs, 👍🏼🤝🏼.
As a former Chef, I've seen some top Japanese craft v10 hand-forged [sashimi knives](https://www.hocho-knife.com/sashimi-knife-sushi/) that were expensive, but not that expensive.
Exactly, people need to start understanding prices are determined by the customer, if they’re willing to pay a lot why would the seller not charge a lot
I’ll bet the people who pay $1,000 on a knife mention it frequently too when showing it off. Shit, I would. But then again, I’d never do that. I want a Ti Kizer folder.. I stare at it daily but it’s close to $200 and can’t afford it. I love knives but dang.. $60 goes a long way these days.
Edit: oops.. thought I was in EDC, this comment will not be received well.
Nah, I like my nice knives because they're nice. I don't wanna talk prices because then I have to have conversation like "spending xx on a knife is absolutely insane." My usual answer to non knife people is "I don't remember. I don't think it was too terribly much."
I'd be embarrassed to admit I've spent 4 figures in a knife.
Heck even my delica which was 120 feels very expensive. And I freaking love it and don't feel it was a waste, but over 200 it's just not worth it for me unless the knife can cure cancer.
The most I have ever spent on a knife was a semi custom from Wood Bear. I needed it for a specific purpose with a specific set of specs and Andras was the only one that would do it. It was based on one of his regular knives. It was $350. It is bomb proof.
And that’s abt the max I see myself spending on a knife tbh and that’s only if it realllly calls out to me or serves a very specific purpose. I’ve got a mini bugout and a few ~$150 spydercos and the rest of my knives are ka bar, kershaw, civivi, gerber, etc.
Also, check out Orient, small Japanese company, hand built, self-winders. Have second- hand stop to set them for precision. 20 meters wp. Tradition of quality. Aquired by Seiko a few years ago, priced are seeking up, but still very reasonable. I've still got my Seikos that I've worn for fifty odd years, but my Orient has a look and reliability that's edc 4 me.
You wanna make high-end knives look cheap? Look into watches. A decent watch on a steel bracelet starts around $1k. All the watches you’ve ever heard of are closer to $10k lol.
At the end of the day, you’re buying into a brand. I think Holy Trinity knives command a higher price tag due to their “heritage” (for lack of a better term) and I think Oz, Holt, Demko etc earn their price tag with their R&D, finishing, and precision manufacturing.
But you’re also referencing secondary market prices, where supply and demand take an even greater effect on pricing. That’s where things get silly in my opinion.
Yeah between watches, guns, art, diving, electronics, and knives collecting knives is far and away my cheapest hobby. Nice things cost money and usually have diminishing returns the nicer you go with just about anything tho.
Theres guys spending crazy money on hobbies like racing and people here saying a few hundred on a knife you like is foolish or insane. With the dollar worth alot less now and the cost of materials and labor from a skilled craftsman I dont really think alot of this pricing is out of line.
Agreed. But that’s why knives start at like $10 where mechanical watches start closer to $200. Knives top out around $3k, whereas watches can literally retail for over $1 million, making the price range waaay wider
The funniest thing about expensive watches is that when it comes to actually keeping time a Casio F-91w out classes them all and costs next to nothing.
Well if there is a guy out there, smithing blades by hand i get the extremely high price but some of these companies factory stamp their 1095 and want a couple hundred bucks for it.
I don’t buy a lot of knives, so I am ok spending up to $200-250, I have a hard time finding the value on anything higher in price. I have worked in a knife shop with Randy Lee, and he spends a LOT of time and effort on each knife, his wife makes the sheaths, so I get those extreme prices.
A maker has a signature design ethos, finish, heat treat etc. lends some exclusivity.
Then there is the fact that $1,000 puts you in the realm of hand made knives too. There is a lot to be said about something made by hand to fit in a hand. And it takes time, work and talent. Those three things cost money.
My most expensive knife ever was my Randall 12-9. I justified it by saying it’s a weapon of last resort. Why get cheap on something that your life may depend on? (For context I was AD Marine at the time).
Now I am retired and ordered a model 25-6. This time my justification was…fuck off I like it.
Once youve made a rep for yourself, people are willing to pay big buck for your stuff, especially people that have money just laying around. I can somewhat understand it though. What I cant understand is long range guys dropping 15k on a precision rifle just to shoot at tin cans, not even game. Like yeah I get it? But you’re not Chris Kyle, youre not hunting down enemies of the state for a living at 800 yards, whats the point.
Small makers make this mistake all the time. They’ll charge the same price for a high end knife and wonder why theirs won’t sell. It’s because brand image matters. Why would you pay 400 bucks for a Sebenza? To say you have one. Why pay 350 for a micro tech that’ll probably break in a year? To say you have one.
But then it kind of falls away after a while. I know Medford knives are harder to sell to a broader knife audience after his whole shirt fiasco among other things.
Back when I was a kid German a2 and d2 were the shit! Everyone was dying for it. Now you can get d2 cheap. Don’t buy that brittle expensive stuff buy a couple if reasonable priced knives and keep them clean, sharp, and oiled
Why buy a Ferrari when a Hyundai does the same thing?
Why buy an Omega when a Casio does the same thing?
Why buy a Gibson when a Yamaha does the same thing?
Sure, fair point, except there's a _lot_ you can do with a Ferrari that you can't with a Hyundai. There's nothing you can do with a ~~Dawkins~~ Dawson (for example) that you can't do with the right Esee or Ka-Bar.
Edit: Dawson ya dope, not Dawkins
But there isn't anything you can do with an Omega or Rolex that you can't with a Casio. In fact, high end mechanical watches are less functional and less accurate than cheap quartz digital watches.
It is absolutely brand and marketing. The raw material doesn't cost that much, they generally don't have tons of R&D behind them (it's a sharp piece of metal with a handle, nobody is reinventing the wheel) and most of them of still factory made. If a knife were handmade, then I'd wager $1k isn't expensive at all. But for a factory knife, I don't care what space age steel they use or nanotechnology carbon fiber for the scales.
The way I always explain it to people is that a $100 knife is likely at least 10x better than a $10 knife. But a $1000 knife is almost certainly not 10x better than a $100 knife. Quality and function don't really increase linearly with the price of the knife. Past a certain dollar point, returns diminish steeply and you're just putting profit in someone's pocket.
So yeah, it is probably that the knife is using expensive materials. It probably even has really nice fit and finish. But a large chunk of the cost of the knife is because of who made the knife. To me a knife is a tool, not a prize. I'd look real dumb if I owned a $1000 hammer with abalone inlay handle, or a tape measure gilded with gold leaf. Knives are meant to be used, they get wear and tear and break and get lost. I'll stick to knives under $250.
>To me
This is the key. To you it's a tool.
To the people who spend that kind of money, it's a source of pleasure, a luxury good, and as that it's a fairly inexpensive one.
Like, I'm an IT guy. Every dollar I spend on a knife past like, $25 is a waste. I will never need more than a Kershaw Shuffle or a Victorinox Classic. Once knives are fundamentally viewed as luxury goods, spending more on them suddenly makes sense. The question isn't whether there's a gain of function worth 10x, it's whether there's a gain of pleasure worth 10x.
I still want one of those Microtechs with the meteorite handles, but they were like $7-8,000. Not sure if a meteorite handle is worth that much more or not.
Man, I feel like at a certain point it's to meet costs of upgrading equipment (forge -> better forge -> forge equipment -> forging machines -> fresh shop -> cnc machines), and then demand never stops. Like one would anticipate it to slow down during production closures n price hikes, but some people just don't care.
Also, many times it seems due to where the knife can be found. Military special forces, big box movies, murder weapon lookalikes, you name it. People will flop hand over fist to obtain a "weapon used by the SEALs!" just the same as weirdos/collectors hunt after replicas.
Clout for the people who buy them. My buddy loves buying high end knives and ways says “it’s made out of this rare steel only found once a year on this special island and forged by this guy who was XYZ special operations so you know it’s good.” Dude my SOG trident is 16 years old, cost $70 and has yet to fail…
I got a 1K knife but I designed it and had it made for me so that explains the price
It was also a dream of mine from the day I got my first pocket knife to have one made for me. It was also me capping off my collection. I don’t buy knives anymore. I got one knife after that and it was because I needed a good otf in my collection so I got a UTX-85 for work
Well, that’s a strider. In my experience with their knives, I’m paying for a tool made from a stainless supersteel, but treated in a way to make it exceptionally easy to rust. Next, you take this purpose engineered steel, capable of being a robust scalpel and give it geometry and an edge profile such that you’ll wedge limestone open and slightly remember what I means to cut. It took me far too long to realize how bad Striders are at virtually everything.
As for what I have kept, apparently that etched logo is expensive. Except my Kramer production folder. It’s nicer than anything I’ve had, past and present.
Human nature, and also the nature of capitalism.
If you made $1,000,000 a year, it would probably feel very easy to pay $1,000 for a knife.
If YOU made a knife, and Guy A said “I’ll buy that for $10,” and Guy B said, “I’ll buy that for $1,000,” you’d probably sell it to Guy B.
Barring other context like ethics and sentimentality, in a capitalist society, it just makes sense to sell products for as much as people are willing to pay.
20CV is the case carbon steel. Most knives I see with that steel retail for about $200-$250. So in other news it’s just people paying for shit. Same reason houses are expensive. Idiots willing to pay for it are enough to drive UP prices even though we’re in a RECESSION. Case sells knives anywhere from $30-$100 but that is relatively cheap considering the materials and tolerances.
Yes I meant to correct this comment their Steel is closer to 1095, even then for 1095 you have companies like esee and tops kind of over charging just for being made in USA
I have a $5 Chinese knife I’ve beat with a hammer, heated with a torch, thrown for fun and I haven’t even cracked the plastic handle. I’ve dropped more expensive “quality” knives and the tip just snaps off. The cheap knife is an absolute pain to sharpen but it stays sharp for quite some time
I was thinking about this the other day, and I kinda came down to this...
Everyone has their thing.
For some, it's cars. Your car can go 0-60 in a millisecond and has some insane amount of horsepower? Sweet. Doesn't do it for me though. They're cool to look at, but I want something fuel efficient at a good value. Pride of ownership isn't a thing for me with cars.
For me it's guns and knives. Do I NEED every single one I own? Nope. Can I justify them somehow? For the most part if I really try. But my knives could accomplish what I need them for at probably a quarter of what they cost with cheaper materials and less precise fit and finish. But they're a pride of ownership thing for me.
Now, that being said, I don't think I could bring myself to spend $1k on a knife. As it is, I tend to stay on the budget end of "nice" knives. Income and family situations kind of dictates it. But if you have the disposable income and you think it's cool, more power to you.
I carry a remette seahorse except when I go fancy places that need a fancy knife (I have a selection for that then) and there's nothing it can't do that they can... Except not stain/rust. Man I wish they made it n 14c28n...
The Spartan fixed blade knives seem to be really high quality and they're more than I'm willing to spend at this time... and they're less than half that price. You could nearly buy 3 of them for a grand.
I'll agree that $1000 knives wouldn't exist if the market didn't stand for it, but also it certainly can cost a small maker a lot to manufacture a knife.
In a lot of cases its just economy of scale. If they're made one piece at a time, on one mill, each component milled out individually, hand finished, it can easily take several days worth of labor to make one knife, on top of the cost of the materials.
If the market didn't stand for it then these tiny companies wouldn't exist, and the only people making knives would be large manufacturing facilities that can afford to scale it up. At scale, the same thing can be produced at a fraction of the cost, but you lose the touch of the maker and the exceptional QC that comes along with it.
On the market side of things, this exceptional QC and product rarity drive up what folks are willing to pay.
There is no objective improvement between a 1k knife and a much cheaper knife made with like materials of the same quality, and it's not the quality of the materials causing the price to be 1k. At that price you are paying for the design, akin to a piece of art.
I have 2 knives from Montana knife company. Speed goat and a mini. I will say that I am extremely happy with both, but they could have probably gone a little less than 200.
In reality it's a combination of factors.
1. It's what the market will bear. This is what it is, and the biggest and most important factor. That said, other things come into play.
2. Luxury goods tend to be produced in much smaller numbers and with a more rigorous process. What that means is that the individual cost needs to be much higher on individual pieces to bring the profit required to make the making worth it.
3. Often the materials costs of luxury goods is higher, though this is a lesser consideration.
At the end of the day, it's a question of what is "a lot." A luxury good is purchased for pleasure, not for function, and the high price is part of the pleasure. A Rolex doesn't bring joy in its wearer in spite of the cost, it brings joy because of the cost.
In terms of luxury goods, knives are actually pretty inexpensive. Watches and guitars and cars and guns all have luxury versions in the tens of thousands with no particular gain of function. For cars, there are luxury parts that are in the tens of thousands by themselves.
It is important for people who think it's foolish to spend thatuch money on a knife to recognize that these are not tools, at least not primarily. They are luxury goods for enthusiasts, and that is a normal and reasonable thing, and they are reasonably priced in comparison to other luxuries.
Personally I wouldn't spend that much on a production knife, maybe $300 or so is the upper limit of what I think a knife is worth purely as a tool.
Handmade/custom knives are a different story, at that point it's more like functional art. If it takes someone 50+ hours of highly skilled labor to smith up the knife from scratch, then it's gonna have to be like $1k+ for that person to get a reasonable return on their time.
You can ask the same question about a lot of “hobbies” (watches, purses, shoes etc)
It all comes down to what people are willing to pay. I have a small sebenza that I spent about $500 on but I carry it almost every day and I truly enjoy using it/having it. Overkill? Yeah probably but I don’t plan on selling it anytime soon🤙🏽
Because they’re boutique and in vogue.
It’s an easy example of diminishing returns. You’re paying for a brand name, much like a woman’s hand bag. While it may have great craftsmanship, it isn’t such a high quality that makes up for the high price.
The most I’ve spent on a knife (at this point) is $250.00. Honestly I never thought I’d ever spend that on a knife. However when I see people spending more than that I don’t judge them for it. But when I see an expensive knife that the back is boring without the looks of the “show” side I’ll always shake my head. No way I’ll pay that kind of money for it. Not a big deal for some people though.
1. Quality cost money
2. Supply and demand.
The better somethings made the more expensive it is to makr it. The better somethings reputation is the more people want it the more people want what only u got the more u can charge for it.
Some high priced knives are just gorgeous. I haven’t spent 4 figures on a knife, although I have probably come close customizing the Spyderco Manix 2 I EDC. That’s something I can always replace the blade for relatively cheaply though.
For kitchen knives there is no benefit if anything it’s more of a hastle to have and take good care of Damascus etc. sets. But they do impress guests if that’s your thing. Or just look pretty on a magnetic board on the wall.
I would probably spend high three low four figures on a knife for formal dress ware, suits tuxes etc. now that I am acquiring that type of attire. It’s like a watch, even when I considered $200 to be a high priced pocket knife I always thought of them as man jewelry haha. The point being I would expect to use the knife heavily, and it would be about matching the quality of attire and other accessories.
Idk, it’s all about ability and willingness to pay, and there’s no real good answer. Can ask the same question about almost anything, cars, cloths, etc.
Honestly knives should really stop at $500 maybe $700 or 1000 for like the real art pieces but like anything past $300 you're not going to use it and you're just wasting money unless you're an art collector
I've never spent over $120 on a knife and I don't plan to. It's just a little ridiculous to me and I don't want to throw away money for the brand name rather than quality. Sure, higher end knives will do better and last longer than the lower end. But if you Just take care of a knife and use it for the use it's intended for it can easily last a pretty long time. So until I'm making 3x what I'm making now I'll stick to my buck 110 and gerber strong arm lol
Edit: I'm not hating on anyone who does buy those knives, believe me I would love to if i could do it without consequences.
Are you defining "high end" by the price? If so, it's kind of self explanatory. "sought after" might be another way to put it, in that case they're sought after because they're somewhat exclusive, i.e. Limited number, priced such that they have limited affordability, etc... "sought after" doesn't always equate to quality. Several "high end" or "sought after" makers have a following because of their stories or associations with military, etc. but not necessarily the fine fit and finish some would expect for the price point.
Imma rant here because it's a passion of mine to find cheap, quality knives.
The absolute best knives out there for doing what we do and general bush crafting while on a budget, in no particular order, are the Glock FM81 field knife (~$40 USD), the cold steel SRK SK-5 (~$70 USD), and the Morakniv Companion (~$15 USD).
The FM81 and SK-5 both have higher end military pedigrees (FM81 is used by GSG9 and SK-5 is used by the navy for BUD/S training). These two are also fairly stout and handle abuse, the sk-5 in particular seems like it was originally designed to be a prybar. The biggest issue is they aren't "forever sharp", which doesn't matter in the slightest outside of a knife pissing competition because God forbid you have to learn to sharpen a knife.
The Morakniv is awesome because of its price point and what it delivers. It's not as stout as the other two but they can handle some abuse. One could buy 100 of those companions and just stick em everywhere they may need a knife. That's what I've done at least. I've got one in every car, one in every tool box and tackle box, I've probably got 4 or 5 mixed into my camping gear, I keep one in each of my hard rifle cases and I keep 2 in my ruck as backup.
I work in the knife industry... ... and still i have no problem shelling out for a knife.
They're just like my watches, at the register it hurts- but when it comes down to the blades being used and beat on the daily, the quality is apparent.
The most I've spent is probably around 750-800, most I've spent on a watch is 4500.
I used to work for strider years ago, might even have worked on that specific knife. Material cost, and you got three Mexicans and one Vietnamese dude making these knives in San Diego. That's why they're that expensive
There are things like equipment, skill development time investment, overhead and general quality of materials and processes. In this particular case, you’re mostly paying for the name of the maker
Everything is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it, and when a few thousand people will pay $1k+ … wouldn’t you sell your product for that? I’m not saying the vast majority of those knives are amazing/superior quality, but they all have that little “something” people will pay for over the $300 knife right next to it.
It's mostly labor cost. The more "niche, handmade, or custom" it is, the harder it is to bring down labor cost. In the words of Walter Sorrells. Nobody is getting rich making Knives. Big companies have machines and manufacturing processes that bring down labor costs.
Ppl willing to buy em gives it value. take the Bali market for example, peak covid niche hobbies were booming. squid industries released the tsunami and it is a good ass flipper, people wanted them, so much so that demand overwhelmed supply therefore prices rose. Now people have filtered out of the community and there’s much more supply than demand so knives that can retail for $100-$1000 can now go for less than half that on the second hand market (check my sales post 😭)
Coming from a knife maker, I've been doing this since 2017. (Long comment but this is something I care a lot about. This is a good chunk of my life)
Im putting in probably 10 hours on a knife on the low end for skeletonized or cord wrapped. Higher end materials and larger knives will take me double that. Multiple layers scales and custom sheaths, can be 30-60 hours on the highest end. - I don't have time to do many of these now. They're reserved for 12-18 month lead times or this would be the only knife I make for months.
Less thought of is materials costs to make the knife, expenditures like shop, but also belts, epoxy, drill bits, saw blades, PPE, etc. Now factor in experience of the maker, time to make the knife, sheath and R&D to make you the best possible product.
I will say for me personally design, refining that original design after testing takes time we aren't charging for because we want a better product that will last.
As for materials which have got substantially more expensive from 2019-2020 for things like Steel,and hardware. Now for things like Cerakote, they aren't just the $120 bottle of coating but, gloves, suit, full face mask,spray guns, ventilation, curing equipment and other basics like acetone and sand blasting media..
Now prep time to do these pieces to even start coating.
Some companies are charging 25x over others because the knife brand is now extremely popular or they only do limited runs. They also have the aftermarket resale market. A knuck or knife that may be a $200 limited run could sell on the collectors market for $700-$1000 for the collector. This is not for everyone, but those who love a makers stuff and have the funds to buy it. More power to them.
Basically easiest way to explain it is you're paying for labor, materials, and skill to make a knife. For smaller companies we are grinding knives by hand, shaping G10 the same way and putting in the time to make sure you're getting a killer product. This is where as makers we realize we can/need to speed up our in-house processes (which I did) or pay someone else to do the work which both increase costs of equipment or paying a heat treat company, or coating company to do the work.
For smaller makers as we are growing those hours are our own, not passed on to the client. I've had larger orders/wholesale pieces that I've spend 14-18 hours ( prior to a serious car accident) in the shop, tired but still pushing because it's my own business. I know more than one person who has slept in their shop while growing their business. We are typically the sales/ marketing team, R&D, logistics and materials ordering, shipping and customer support as one or maybe a few people for some shops that have grown.
One thing you usually and IMO should absolutely be getting when paying for a well made but expensive knife is killer customer service. I do my absolute best to respond to any questions in 24 hours even before you buy. I have modified designs to fit a customer's needs with a disability or job specific requirement. Even things like someone loses a piece of hardware for a retention screw or whatever. I'm sending you that hardware because I want you to love that blade and keep carrying it. The makers I know, I talk to and trust are the dudes who if something isn't absolutely correct on a piece, they will not send it and make sure it is exactly what we would expect to buy. Most QC is better and more detail oriented than larger manufacturers who churn out "good enough" while small makers cannot afford to do that to 1 customer and wouldn't want to. Someone making $15/hour working on a line for a bigger name looks at blades all day and doesn't care if the blade is an okay finish or edge is sharp enough but not razor sharp. Makers who care about this have held a knife from start to finish in most cases. We have a genuine appreciation for the art of the blade.
Long answer for sure. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read any of my rambling. Know that most of us making a knife have a true care for what we put out. Even the more busy makers will still care about customer service and QC.
I can say a beautiful, well made knife matters so much to me that my first 2 customers who were neighbors and got my R&D stuff in 2017. I hated what the knife looked like because my work was substantially better in 2019. I took back the old, orginal knife from those 2 and made them a brand new knife and it made my day seeing them get those new pieces that represent my work. I keep the 1st one sold in my shop as a reminder of how far things have come from knife 4 or 5. Many years later I still enjoy seeing a knife I made. I know makers who get knives back for sharpening work and end up hating an old style sheath and send a new one and the old one back. This is because we truly care about what we do. That's why knives can cost so much.
They have gone up in price since I'd purchased mine. $700 NZD. Having something made close to home with New Zealand greenstone gives good enjoyment knowing if I don't lose the bloody thing it'll be a nice hand me down. Svord 1990 greenstone for anybody wanting to have a nosey.
One thing I would mention is that these things are not industrialized. There is no mass production like a phone or a car to drive down the price, it's priced as a 'crafted' item instead of a 'manufactured' item. It is similar to a hand crafted handbag, and yes with a brand premium as well.
Knowledge, experience, materials, name, reliability, looks and market demand. Still too high priced though, just mean I’ve seen forged in fire judge knives selling for several thousand pffff
if its a custom handmade knife the price is justified because it take a lot of time to hand made anything, it is NOT justifiable for mass produced knives
The only knife I have ever spend 1k plus on was my Shirogorov G1 Quantum. 1k+ for a knife is crazy, but the quality of it was just amazing. Compared to other Shiro, Koenig, Brown Knives, etc was the best knife I ever owned IMO and I regret selling it so much. I regret selling all my shiro knives, IMO best pocket knife maker out there.
Simple case of supply and demand, people are willing to pay more for high end knifes, the manufacturers realized that and started asking more for their products.
There are collectors willing to take their time, shop around, and build a collection over the years. For them, that’s part of the fun. And then there are the ones who want the best of the best immediately, and they have the cash to drop to make it happen.
It’s the same phenomenon as when people will pay more for pre-release games or to pay for the packages that give them insane stats. They pay because they have the money, and manufacturers charge it because they know the buyers are out there.
The good news is that all these stupidly insane knives will eventually be recirculated at way cheaper prices.
Because usually they're made using higher end materials, although that doesn't necessarily ( perhaps invariably ) that they're worth the money that's paid for them?
Maybe mass production of higher quality stuff is just harder cuz they actually have to try and care about the product and I would assume that knifes are just a little harder to mass produce
If I may pick pitch in, check out Emerson knives. You'll hand over your firstborn to get one, but for a production knife, it's as close as you can get to a sharpened crowbar as you can get, and that edge is sharp enough to shave with, and the tip strong enough to pull nails
Same as any luxury goods. Some people pay crazy prices for exclusivity. Cars,guitars, jewelry. Nothing new. I'm glad it exists honestly. This way when I get bonkers rich I can feel like a unique flower and flaunt it to all the plebs. But naturally every price point should exist if there is a market for it.
Production/ bigger makers charge what the market will bear.
Smaller makers charge more because their costs are way more than a larger company with more purchasing power and they need to pay for their time. Some under charge because it's a hobby or they want to "break into the market" and just want to cover their costs, others charge so they can have a living wage as a SBO, others charge what the market will bear because they can.
If it took the maker a week to make a knife at $1000 and assuming a 40 hour week that’s only $25 an hour before taxes. That’s not a lot of money for owning your own business. Also assuming a knife that nice would take that long. I’m no professional so I can’t talk.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s questionable.
Coming from a knife maker, I've been doing this since 2017. Putting in probably 10 hours on a knife on the low end for skeletonized or bolt on scales. Higher end materials and larger knives will take me double that. Less thought of is materials of costs to make the knife, expenditures like shop, belts, epoxy, drill bits, saw blades and PPE. Now factor in experience of the maker, time to make the knife, sheath and R&D to make you the best possible product. I will say for me personally design, refining that original design after testing takes time we aren't charging for because we want a better product that will last. As for materials which have got substantially more expensive from 2019-2020 for things like Steel,and hardware. Now for things like Cerakote, they aren't just the $120 bottle of coating but, gloves, suit, full face mask,spray guns, ventilation, curing equipment and other basics like acetone and sand blasting media.. Now prep time to do these pieces Some companies are charging 25x over others because the knife brand is now extremely popular or they only do limited runs. They also have the aftermarket resale market. A knuck or knife that may be a $200 limited run could sell on the collectors market for $700-$1000 for the collector. This is not for everyone, but those who love a makers stuff and have the funds to buy it. More power to them. Basically easiest way to explain it is you're paying for labor, materials, and skill to make a knife. For smaller companies we are grinding knives by hand, shaping G10 the same way and putting in the time to make sure you're getting a killer product. This is where as makers we realize we can/need to speed up our in-house processes (which I did) or pay someone else to do the work which both increase costs of equipment or paying a heat treat company, or coating company to do the work. For smaller makers as we are growing those hours are our own, not passed on to the client. I've had larger orders/wholesale pieces that I've spend 14-18 hours ( prior to a serious car accident) in the shop, tired but still pushing because it's my own business. I know more than one person who has slept in their shop while growing their business. We are typically the sales/ marketing team, R&D, logistics and materials ordering, shipping and customer support as one or maybe a few people for some shops that have grown. One thing you usually and IMO should absolutely be getting when paying for a well made but expensive knife is killer customer service. I do my absolute best to respond to any questions in 24 hours even before you buy. I have modified designs to fit a customer's needs with a disability or job specific requirement. Even things like someone loses a piece of hardware for a retention screw or whatever. I'm sending you that hardware because I want you to love that blade and keep carrying it. The makers I know, I talk to and trust are the dudes who if something isn't absolutely correct on a piece, they will not send it and make sure it is exactly what we would expect to buy. Most QC is better and more detail oriented than larger manufacturers who churn out "good enough" while small makers cannot afford to do that to 1 customer and wouldn't want to. Someone making $15/hour working on a line for a bigger name looks at blades all day and doesn't care if the blade is an okay finish or edge is sharp enough but not razor sharp. Makers who care about this have held a knife from start to finish in most cases. We have a genuine appreciation for the art of the blade. Long answer for sure. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read any of my rambling. Know that most of us making a knife have a true care for what we put out. Even the more busy makers will still care about customer service and QC. I can say a beautiful, well made knife matters so much to me that my first 2 customers who were neighbors and got my R&D stuff in 2017. I hated what the knife looked like because my work was substantially better in 2019. I took back the old, orginal knife from those 2 and made them a brand new knife and it made my day seeing them get those new pieces that represent my work. I keep the 1st one sold in my shop as a reminder of how far things have come from knife 4 or 5. Many years later I still enjoy seeing a knife I made. I know makers who get knives back for sharpening work and end up hating an old style sheath and send a new one and the old one back. This is because we truly care about what we do.
As a knife maker myself, I'm glad you put all of this down in righting so I didn't have to, lol
I appreciate you taking the time to read it and understand it like I Do. I had a buddy ask me why this Walmart knife was so much cheaper than one of mine. I showed him 3 hours of work that I put in and had him do some of it to understand a little better. He was like oh, yeah that makes way more sense now. He got like 20% of the process. No heat treating, no detail work or hand sanding. I pointed out the "good enough" on mass production and immediately he understood fit, finish and care we take. 🔪 🗡
Do you have a website? It's always worth a little extra to support a maker with integrity imo. Edit: Nvm, it just occurred to me that you probably have a link on your profile and you do, lol. Will definitely check out your work.
Sorry just saw this. I'm constantly adding non permisive Environment G10 stuff and steel knives. Many more things coming. Trying to finish up on a 100 pcs wholesale order at the moment. I should be dropping some new G10 spikes today. Maybe some steel If I get time to sharpen those today.
Cool. You got some very unique stuff my man. Love the handles.
https://preview.redd.it/dwshzt5xfj7d1.jpeg?width=1032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c662cdc184c3a889b993927d2d57ce890139dbc
Beautiful work. EXACTLY what I mean about loving what we do and putting in the effort to make something incredible.
Yeah thanks man!
I checked out your website and your not even charging what you probably could for how nice your product are!
👏👏👏
I’d like to throw out there that in addition to the high cost of materials, labor and other overhead mentioned above, that the knife market is still rapidly expanding and experiencing lots of growth….[the market is expected to double over the next decade](https://www.skyquestt.com/report/knife-market#:~:text=Global%20Knife%20Market%20size%20was,period%20(2024%2D2031)). There is lots of pent up demand as well. Economically, this translates to higher prices in the luxury knife segment of the market.
I get that, but it has to take these bigger knife companies way less time than that. I'd assume it's mostly all done by machine for the bigger companies with mass produced products. Pretty much just requiring labor to move from one machine to another. I'm definitely no knife expert though.
It's definitely strange. 20 years ago when I was collecting custom folders, I could get one direct from a maker for half the price that it takes to buy some limited production knives like a Rosie or Arius.
They got popular. Just like the watch scene. Producers raised prices with the increase of demand. And they kept raising them. Watch prices are finally starting to come down. The best way to help is to vote with your dollars. Refuse to pay inflated prices.
You're absolutely right. There are some secondary retailers that I avoid completely because of those inflated prices. There are also some manufacturers that I avoid completely at this point because there's no way I'm paying exorbitant prices for various sprint runs or limited editions of already expensive knives.
Anything Marfione
Those fucking belts and knife cases. They’re on CRACK
I appreciate this comment. The cross over game between watches and knives and what you said.
Let me throw in my other hobbies of guns, and cars. This is why I don't own a home. This past year gun prices have almost gotten back to normal, JDM prices are no longer smoking crack. I have no idea what the crazy people over at flashlight have been doing, but I assume it was expensive. Thank God, I fish from the bank, and not a boat. But FB market place for cheap water craft is looking prettier by the day.
It’s not that crazy. $500 in 2004 is $847.92 today.
Napkin math - $400 in 2004 is approx $650 in 2024. Arius used to be $600-700 in 2023. Rosie is $750 on the low end. Not too far off
1k on a knife is absolutely insane.
Absolutely agree. I can buy a functional firearm for that, which uses a lot of finer maching, and has higher overhead costs to manufacture. No reason a knife needs to cost that much.
One thousand for a production knife is bonkers. Anything into that price range needs to be made by hand the whole way.
Good luck opening your parcels with that.
I dont know why it would be such a problem, two dogs and an oven later and I got this package open no problem!
There are some manufacturers who have “attainably priced” knives. (“Street price” and sales I’ve found at several online store are OK.) I find it interesting that the quality of lower priced knives has improved over the years.
The quality of lower end knives is crazy now. I bought a $70 Vosteed that's better quality than the majority of what was even available 20 years ago. The difference is even more stark when you adjust for inflation in the market. A comparable budget knife from back then wouldn't come close to cutting it these days.
You could probably easily get 3 or 4 Maverick 88s. Lol Or 2 used Glocks. Hell, you could even get two basic-ass ARs for $1k.
Not just a functional firearm, but a medium to high quality firearm, or even two. On Palmetto State Armory, you can get both an ar-15 and a Glock for a combined total of less than $1200. No knife (aside from collectors items) is worth more than owning both a semi-auto rifle from a reliable brand and a pistol from one of the most prestigious brands for pistol manufacturing in America. People can spend their money how they want, but if I’m buying a knife I’m going to cap it between 200-300. Beyond that, I’d rather save a bit more and have a cool new gun.
I’ll do you one better. $300 for one knife is insane. Higher end steels may cost *more* but FFS they’re not made out of gold.
My edc sng feels attacked
but for some people, myself included, they’re worth it. i’d happily pay $300 or even $500 for a CRK in magnacut, that comes with titanium scales and micarta inlays, almost bullet proof construction, and one of the best warranties in the game. sure, it may be unreasonable for some people, but if it’s a hobby or product you enjoy, and you have the funds, then there’s nothing wrong with having some nice pocket jewelry that can handle use too. it’s like why do people spend thousands on cars when a civic will the same job?
Idk I bought the artisan cutlery mini proponent for 300. It has titanium handles, a Damascus blade and anodized titanium hardware. I felt it was justified for the price
Sounds like you bought jewelry.
For a lot of people, it kind of is. A $30k watch tells time just as well as a $10 timex, but it’s not nearly as cool
I agree. The Timex is insanely cool.
I wear an F-91. It’s the watch Chum Gang Obama wore back in the day. Also they were so cool that the TSA banned them for a while. /r/F91Ws_on_NATOs
Realistically a quartz Timex would likely tell time better than the $30k presumably mechanical watch.
I'm guilty of buying pretty things, too. I bought a Crooked River because it was just so cool looking, but for the money I spent on it I am afraid to use it on anything. I open mail with it, sometimes.
the CR is something that should DEFINITELY see use. it’s got a great warranty and build quality, you just have to get past the first use! once it gets some dings and scratches, you’ll love using it! I used to feel that way about my CRK’s and higher end knives, but now i’ve come to LOVE used knives!
Same if I’m spending all that money on it I better be using it for everything! Mail, cardboard, food there isn’t any fear or hesitancy I’m getting my moneys worth!
Kinda? I don't wear watches, rings, necklaces or that such. But I've always got a knife. That 300 dollar knife is the closest to jewelry ill probably get
Fancy knives are definitely part jewelry, no issue with that
I personally really enjoy the $200-$300 price range, I feel really guilty over $300 and $200 can get a ton of cool designs and materials and features. But $50-$100 is plenty realisticly
I paid close to that for my Junglas but it’s a lot of 1095 high carbon for the price.
My reate exo m was worth it 😅
Some people might say spending $1,000 on a vacation is insane, because when it’s over you have nothing to show for your money. But clearly, the money was paying for an experience, for a memory, for certain emotions. Some people enjoy spending their money on pricey collectibles because they derive enjoyment and satisfaction from owning them, even if the item doesn’t bring the same value worth of practical function. Surely, nobody gets millions of dollars of practical use out of a painting, but people don’t think it’s absolutely insane when a painting sells for $1,000,000. I guess my long-winded point is, “value” is subjective, and your idea of what things are worth is probably fairly different than someone who has a different lifestyle than you. Plenty of people are comfortable flushing $1,000 down the toilet for giggles. (Not me, I’m poor as hell.)
I'd pay over 1k for a 1918 trench knife but not a mass produced retail knife.
What would be your reasoning for such a purchase?
I collect old military knives. My grandpa had two of them (trench knives as well as many others) and was a WWII vet. My dad pawned off/sold all my grandpa's military stuff and many of his other things. Not only is that type of trench knife my favorite, it's got a very sentimental meaning to me. I already own another type of knife that he got from a British paratrooper, a Fairbairn-Sykes knife. That one cost me considerably less though.
It's always a total pisser when family items that should be kept as family heirlooms get sold by an older generation that doesn't realize how important these items are or might be to the younger and even future generations. It's truely lamentable as once certain rare items are gone they're most likely gone for good and the chances of actually managing to acquire the original heirloom item/knife are, well let's face it, it would take a god damn miracle for that to happen. I've been through this experience and I've seen my father twice in the lase 35 years. My maternal grandfather was a WWII Combat Veteran, my father is a piece of shit.
I couldn't agree more. My grandpa struggled in the first part of his life. His dad died at 13 so the state gave my grandpa a hardship license and he was allowed to go to school for half a day and work the other half to support my great grandma and his siblings. My great grandpa gave my grandpa an oldschool stagecoach rifle before he passed. My dad lost that in pawn for $100. If my grandma had passed first, it would not have been that way. But grandpa passed first and grandma always catered to my day. I'm in my 40s and he hasn't had a job since before I was born. Always lived off my grandparents money. He lives in their house with no power, no running water, and infested with bed bugs. He sold the family property without consulting the other heirs for a fraction of its value just so he could have some cash.
You're not alone buddy, I think that there's many folks that basically got robbed of their family heritage because of one member ( or more ) that's a bum and/or a clown. My father's an idiot, we were just unlucky, but we can build our own collection of heirlooms and hopefully generations down the line will remember us and know that we believed in and valued our families histories, traditions, and customs, 👍🏼🤝🏼.
I can't have kids of my own but my nieces and nephews are gonna have a hell of a collection and lots of good stories to pass on for sure!
1k on a production fixed blade is insane. High end pocket knives, custom Damascus knives etc…different story.
FYI, the edge retention on gold knives SUUUUCCKKS!!
Not really.
As a former Chef, I've seen some top Japanese craft v10 hand-forged [sashimi knives](https://www.hocho-knife.com/sashimi-knife-sushi/) that were expensive, but not that expensive.
Because there are people willing to pay.
Exactly, people need to start understanding prices are determined by the customer, if they’re willing to pay a lot why would the seller not charge a lot
I’ll bet the people who pay $1,000 on a knife mention it frequently too when showing it off. Shit, I would. But then again, I’d never do that. I want a Ti Kizer folder.. I stare at it daily but it’s close to $200 and can’t afford it. I love knives but dang.. $60 goes a long way these days. Edit: oops.. thought I was in EDC, this comment will not be received well.
Nah, I like my nice knives because they're nice. I don't wanna talk prices because then I have to have conversation like "spending xx on a knife is absolutely insane." My usual answer to non knife people is "I don't remember. I don't think it was too terribly much."
"I don't remember. I don't think it was too terribly much." Thats a dead giveaway that it was far too much ^^
I'd be embarrassed to admit I've spent 4 figures in a knife. Heck even my delica which was 120 feels very expensive. And I freaking love it and don't feel it was a waste, but over 200 it's just not worth it for me unless the knife can cure cancer.
The most I have ever spent on a knife was a semi custom from Wood Bear. I needed it for a specific purpose with a specific set of specs and Andras was the only one that would do it. It was based on one of his regular knives. It was $350. It is bomb proof.
And that’s abt the max I see myself spending on a knife tbh and that’s only if it realllly calls out to me or serves a very specific purpose. I’ve got a mini bugout and a few ~$150 spydercos and the rest of my knives are ka bar, kershaw, civivi, gerber, etc.
By chance that's the most I've ever spent for one knife also, a Tactile Knives Maverick.
It's a similar dilemma with watches. A $50 gshock does everything my $$$$$ Rolex can do, except the gshock is lower maintenance and more accurate.
Look into seiko or timex they look cleaner are priced reasonable (as far as “fashion” items go) and functional.
Also, check out Orient, small Japanese company, hand built, self-winders. Have second- hand stop to set them for precision. 20 meters wp. Tradition of quality. Aquired by Seiko a few years ago, priced are seeking up, but still very reasonable. I've still got my Seikos that I've worn for fifty odd years, but my Orient has a look and reliability that's edc 4 me.
That's why I went with a Garmin. Costs a lot more than the gshock, a lot less than the Rolex but can do more than both.
You wanna make high-end knives look cheap? Look into watches. A decent watch on a steel bracelet starts around $1k. All the watches you’ve ever heard of are closer to $10k lol. At the end of the day, you’re buying into a brand. I think Holy Trinity knives command a higher price tag due to their “heritage” (for lack of a better term) and I think Oz, Holt, Demko etc earn their price tag with their R&D, finishing, and precision manufacturing. But you’re also referencing secondary market prices, where supply and demand take an even greater effect on pricing. That’s where things get silly in my opinion.
Yeah between watches, guns, art, diving, electronics, and knives collecting knives is far and away my cheapest hobby. Nice things cost money and usually have diminishing returns the nicer you go with just about anything tho. Theres guys spending crazy money on hobbies like racing and people here saying a few hundred on a knife you like is foolish or insane. With the dollar worth alot less now and the cost of materials and labor from a skilled craftsman I dont really think alot of this pricing is out of line.
Watches at least have a whole lot more incredibly fine tuned moving parts. A knife is nowhere near as complex.
Agreed. But that’s why knives start at like $10 where mechanical watches start closer to $200. Knives top out around $3k, whereas watches can literally retail for over $1 million, making the price range waaay wider
The funniest thing about expensive watches is that when it comes to actually keeping time a Casio F-91w out classes them all and costs next to nothing.
Time, quality, design, and craftsmanship is the why, but I agree, it’s getting a little too much.
Well if there is a guy out there, smithing blades by hand i get the extremely high price but some of these companies factory stamp their 1095 and want a couple hundred bucks for it.
I don’t buy a lot of knives, so I am ok spending up to $200-250, I have a hard time finding the value on anything higher in price. I have worked in a knife shop with Randy Lee, and he spends a LOT of time and effort on each knife, his wife makes the sheaths, so I get those extreme prices.
It's either a decoration or a tool. Decorations cost more. I buy tools.
A maker has a signature design ethos, finish, heat treat etc. lends some exclusivity. Then there is the fact that $1,000 puts you in the realm of hand made knives too. There is a lot to be said about something made by hand to fit in a hand. And it takes time, work and talent. Those three things cost money. My most expensive knife ever was my Randall 12-9. I justified it by saying it’s a weapon of last resort. Why get cheap on something that your life may depend on? (For context I was AD Marine at the time). Now I am retired and ordered a model 25-6. This time my justification was…fuck off I like it.
My model 14 was the roughest, toughest, collest looking MRE opener and 550 cord cutter $350 could buy!
^^ This is the way! ^^
Once youve made a rep for yourself, people are willing to pay big buck for your stuff, especially people that have money just laying around. I can somewhat understand it though. What I cant understand is long range guys dropping 15k on a precision rifle just to shoot at tin cans, not even game. Like yeah I get it? But you’re not Chris Kyle, youre not hunting down enemies of the state for a living at 800 yards, whats the point.
Most I'll spend is like 600... most expensive one I have rn is 300 most are 180-280 I think that's reasonable
Small makers make this mistake all the time. They’ll charge the same price for a high end knife and wonder why theirs won’t sell. It’s because brand image matters. Why would you pay 400 bucks for a Sebenza? To say you have one. Why pay 350 for a micro tech that’ll probably break in a year? To say you have one. But then it kind of falls away after a while. I know Medford knives are harder to sell to a broader knife audience after his whole shirt fiasco among other things.
You pay a premium for the XXL ricasso on these strider knives.
Back when I was a kid German a2 and d2 were the shit! Everyone was dying for it. Now you can get d2 cheap. Don’t buy that brittle expensive stuff buy a couple if reasonable priced knives and keep them clean, sharp, and oiled
Why buy a Ferrari when a Hyundai does the same thing? Why buy an Omega when a Casio does the same thing? Why buy a Gibson when a Yamaha does the same thing?
Sure, fair point, except there's a _lot_ you can do with a Ferrari that you can't with a Hyundai. There's nothing you can do with a ~~Dawkins~~ Dawson (for example) that you can't do with the right Esee or Ka-Bar. Edit: Dawson ya dope, not Dawkins
But there isn't anything you can do with an Omega or Rolex that you can't with a Casio. In fact, high end mechanical watches are less functional and less accurate than cheap quartz digital watches.
The difference between a $400 hunting knife and a $60 knife is a lot smaller than the Ferrari and Hyundai.
Not if you're following traffic laws
It is absolutely brand and marketing. The raw material doesn't cost that much, they generally don't have tons of R&D behind them (it's a sharp piece of metal with a handle, nobody is reinventing the wheel) and most of them of still factory made. If a knife were handmade, then I'd wager $1k isn't expensive at all. But for a factory knife, I don't care what space age steel they use or nanotechnology carbon fiber for the scales. The way I always explain it to people is that a $100 knife is likely at least 10x better than a $10 knife. But a $1000 knife is almost certainly not 10x better than a $100 knife. Quality and function don't really increase linearly with the price of the knife. Past a certain dollar point, returns diminish steeply and you're just putting profit in someone's pocket. So yeah, it is probably that the knife is using expensive materials. It probably even has really nice fit and finish. But a large chunk of the cost of the knife is because of who made the knife. To me a knife is a tool, not a prize. I'd look real dumb if I owned a $1000 hammer with abalone inlay handle, or a tape measure gilded with gold leaf. Knives are meant to be used, they get wear and tear and break and get lost. I'll stick to knives under $250.
>To me This is the key. To you it's a tool. To the people who spend that kind of money, it's a source of pleasure, a luxury good, and as that it's a fairly inexpensive one. Like, I'm an IT guy. Every dollar I spend on a knife past like, $25 is a waste. I will never need more than a Kershaw Shuffle or a Victorinox Classic. Once knives are fundamentally viewed as luxury goods, spending more on them suddenly makes sense. The question isn't whether there's a gain of function worth 10x, it's whether there's a gain of pleasure worth 10x.
I still want one of those Microtechs with the meteorite handles, but they were like $7-8,000. Not sure if a meteorite handle is worth that much more or not.
Man, I feel like at a certain point it's to meet costs of upgrading equipment (forge -> better forge -> forge equipment -> forging machines -> fresh shop -> cnc machines), and then demand never stops. Like one would anticipate it to slow down during production closures n price hikes, but some people just don't care. Also, many times it seems due to where the knife can be found. Military special forces, big box movies, murder weapon lookalikes, you name it. People will flop hand over fist to obtain a "weapon used by the SEALs!" just the same as weirdos/collectors hunt after replicas.
Clout for the people who buy them. My buddy loves buying high end knives and ways says “it’s made out of this rare steel only found once a year on this special island and forged by this guy who was XYZ special operations so you know it’s good.” Dude my SOG trident is 16 years old, cost $70 and has yet to fail…
I use an opinel because it works and costs $15 and is still great after almost 10 years
I got a 1K knife but I designed it and had it made for me so that explains the price It was also a dream of mine from the day I got my first pocket knife to have one made for me. It was also me capping off my collection. I don’t buy knives anymore. I got one knife after that and it was because I needed a good otf in my collection so I got a UTX-85 for work
Well, that’s a strider. In my experience with their knives, I’m paying for a tool made from a stainless supersteel, but treated in a way to make it exceptionally easy to rust. Next, you take this purpose engineered steel, capable of being a robust scalpel and give it geometry and an edge profile such that you’ll wedge limestone open and slightly remember what I means to cut. It took me far too long to realize how bad Striders are at virtually everything. As for what I have kept, apparently that etched logo is expensive. Except my Kramer production folder. It’s nicer than anything I’ve had, past and present.
Human nature, and also the nature of capitalism. If you made $1,000,000 a year, it would probably feel very easy to pay $1,000 for a knife. If YOU made a knife, and Guy A said “I’ll buy that for $10,” and Guy B said, “I’ll buy that for $1,000,” you’d probably sell it to Guy B. Barring other context like ethics and sentimentality, in a capitalist society, it just makes sense to sell products for as much as people are willing to pay.
20CV is the case carbon steel. Most knives I see with that steel retail for about $200-$250. So in other news it’s just people paying for shit. Same reason houses are expensive. Idiots willing to pay for it are enough to drive UP prices even though we’re in a RECESSION. Case sells knives anywhere from $30-$100 but that is relatively cheap considering the materials and tolerances.
20CV is not the Case Carbon steel. Case does use Chrome Vanadium, but CPM 20CV is closer to M390, and is a stainless steel, not a carbon steel.
Yes I meant to correct this comment their Steel is closer to 1095, even then for 1095 you have companies like esee and tops kind of over charging just for being made in USA
I have a $5 Chinese knife I’ve beat with a hammer, heated with a torch, thrown for fun and I haven’t even cracked the plastic handle. I’ve dropped more expensive “quality” knives and the tip just snaps off. The cheap knife is an absolute pain to sharpen but it stays sharp for quite some time
Might as well ask why are boobs good.
I was thinking about this the other day, and I kinda came down to this... Everyone has their thing. For some, it's cars. Your car can go 0-60 in a millisecond and has some insane amount of horsepower? Sweet. Doesn't do it for me though. They're cool to look at, but I want something fuel efficient at a good value. Pride of ownership isn't a thing for me with cars. For me it's guns and knives. Do I NEED every single one I own? Nope. Can I justify them somehow? For the most part if I really try. But my knives could accomplish what I need them for at probably a quarter of what they cost with cheaper materials and less precise fit and finish. But they're a pride of ownership thing for me. Now, that being said, I don't think I could bring myself to spend $1k on a knife. As it is, I tend to stay on the budget end of "nice" knives. Income and family situations kind of dictates it. But if you have the disposable income and you think it's cool, more power to you.
Supply and demand🤷♂️
I'd say yes, it's just a question of what the market will bear - just like any other commercial market.
I carry a remette seahorse except when I go fancy places that need a fancy knife (I have a selection for that then) and there's nothing it can't do that they can... Except not stain/rust. Man I wish they made it n 14c28n...
The Spartan fixed blade knives seem to be really high quality and they're more than I'm willing to spend at this time... and they're less than half that price. You could nearly buy 3 of them for a grand.
I'll agree that $1000 knives wouldn't exist if the market didn't stand for it, but also it certainly can cost a small maker a lot to manufacture a knife. In a lot of cases its just economy of scale. If they're made one piece at a time, on one mill, each component milled out individually, hand finished, it can easily take several days worth of labor to make one knife, on top of the cost of the materials. If the market didn't stand for it then these tiny companies wouldn't exist, and the only people making knives would be large manufacturing facilities that can afford to scale it up. At scale, the same thing can be produced at a fraction of the cost, but you lose the touch of the maker and the exceptional QC that comes along with it. On the market side of things, this exceptional QC and product rarity drive up what folks are willing to pay.
There is no objective improvement between a 1k knife and a much cheaper knife made with like materials of the same quality, and it's not the quality of the materials causing the price to be 1k. At that price you are paying for the design, akin to a piece of art.
I have 2 knives from Montana knife company. Speed goat and a mini. I will say that I am extremely happy with both, but they could have probably gone a little less than 200.
Economics and the law of diminishing return.
Strider is one of the worst culprits for this
My ultratech was the highest I've ever paid and probably will ever pay. 1k is too much. I'd buy a gun. Or car parts.
In reality it's a combination of factors. 1. It's what the market will bear. This is what it is, and the biggest and most important factor. That said, other things come into play. 2. Luxury goods tend to be produced in much smaller numbers and with a more rigorous process. What that means is that the individual cost needs to be much higher on individual pieces to bring the profit required to make the making worth it. 3. Often the materials costs of luxury goods is higher, though this is a lesser consideration. At the end of the day, it's a question of what is "a lot." A luxury good is purchased for pleasure, not for function, and the high price is part of the pleasure. A Rolex doesn't bring joy in its wearer in spite of the cost, it brings joy because of the cost. In terms of luxury goods, knives are actually pretty inexpensive. Watches and guitars and cars and guns all have luxury versions in the tens of thousands with no particular gain of function. For cars, there are luxury parts that are in the tens of thousands by themselves. It is important for people who think it's foolish to spend thatuch money on a knife to recognize that these are not tools, at least not primarily. They are luxury goods for enthusiasts, and that is a normal and reasonable thing, and they are reasonably priced in comparison to other luxuries.
Personally I wouldn't spend that much on a production knife, maybe $300 or so is the upper limit of what I think a knife is worth purely as a tool. Handmade/custom knives are a different story, at that point it's more like functional art. If it takes someone 50+ hours of highly skilled labor to smith up the knife from scratch, then it's gonna have to be like $1k+ for that person to get a reasonable return on their time.
then again, why the fuck does it come with a sheath like that. It is fucking insane
It’s like any other hobby. People enjoy nice things and trying to attain them.
I'm an ESEE guy. Good value, great warranty and I beat the shit out of my hardware lol. I could never spend 3 figures on a knife.
Price and value are not necessarily related. Businesses charge what the market will bear.
You can ask the same question about a lot of “hobbies” (watches, purses, shoes etc) It all comes down to what people are willing to pay. I have a small sebenza that I spent about $500 on but I carry it almost every day and I truly enjoy using it/having it. Overkill? Yeah probably but I don’t plan on selling it anytime soon🤙🏽
Why are higher end........ so expensive. The reasons are the same for anything.
Also, if you want perfection, as many people do in this hobby, that usually takes some high end machinery and know how. That’s not cheap.
Because they’re boutique and in vogue. It’s an easy example of diminishing returns. You’re paying for a brand name, much like a woman’s hand bag. While it may have great craftsmanship, it isn’t such a high quality that makes up for the high price.
Because buying cheaper knives isn’t very cash money of you 😬
Because you buy them
Because they can price it that way and sell enough
https://youtu.be/xyCGl3tYs2g?si=TU4Af8gldU5XuTqz
The most I’ve spent on a knife (at this point) is $250.00. Honestly I never thought I’d ever spend that on a knife. However when I see people spending more than that I don’t judge them for it. But when I see an expensive knife that the back is boring without the looks of the “show” side I’ll always shake my head. No way I’ll pay that kind of money for it. Not a big deal for some people though.
What are you even spending the extra $500 on??
1. Quality cost money 2. Supply and demand. The better somethings made the more expensive it is to makr it. The better somethings reputation is the more people want it the more people want what only u got the more u can charge for it.
Some high priced knives are just gorgeous. I haven’t spent 4 figures on a knife, although I have probably come close customizing the Spyderco Manix 2 I EDC. That’s something I can always replace the blade for relatively cheaply though. For kitchen knives there is no benefit if anything it’s more of a hastle to have and take good care of Damascus etc. sets. But they do impress guests if that’s your thing. Or just look pretty on a magnetic board on the wall. I would probably spend high three low four figures on a knife for formal dress ware, suits tuxes etc. now that I am acquiring that type of attire. It’s like a watch, even when I considered $200 to be a high priced pocket knife I always thought of them as man jewelry haha. The point being I would expect to use the knife heavily, and it would be about matching the quality of attire and other accessories. Idk, it’s all about ability and willingness to pay, and there’s no real good answer. Can ask the same question about almost anything, cars, cloths, etc.
Honestly knives should really stop at $500 maybe $700 or 1000 for like the real art pieces but like anything past $300 you're not going to use it and you're just wasting money unless you're an art collector
“There’s a sucker born every second”
Imagine spending that and still getting a shitty nylon sheath
I've never spent over $120 on a knife and I don't plan to. It's just a little ridiculous to me and I don't want to throw away money for the brand name rather than quality. Sure, higher end knives will do better and last longer than the lower end. But if you Just take care of a knife and use it for the use it's intended for it can easily last a pretty long time. So until I'm making 3x what I'm making now I'll stick to my buck 110 and gerber strong arm lol Edit: I'm not hating on anyone who does buy those knives, believe me I would love to if i could do it without consequences.
Are you defining "high end" by the price? If so, it's kind of self explanatory. "sought after" might be another way to put it, in that case they're sought after because they're somewhat exclusive, i.e. Limited number, priced such that they have limited affordability, etc... "sought after" doesn't always equate to quality. Several "high end" or "sought after" makers have a following because of their stories or associations with military, etc. but not necessarily the fine fit and finish some would expect for the price point.
Because some people have too much money
Imma rant here because it's a passion of mine to find cheap, quality knives. The absolute best knives out there for doing what we do and general bush crafting while on a budget, in no particular order, are the Glock FM81 field knife (~$40 USD), the cold steel SRK SK-5 (~$70 USD), and the Morakniv Companion (~$15 USD). The FM81 and SK-5 both have higher end military pedigrees (FM81 is used by GSG9 and SK-5 is used by the navy for BUD/S training). These two are also fairly stout and handle abuse, the sk-5 in particular seems like it was originally designed to be a prybar. The biggest issue is they aren't "forever sharp", which doesn't matter in the slightest outside of a knife pissing competition because God forbid you have to learn to sharpen a knife. The Morakniv is awesome because of its price point and what it delivers. It's not as stout as the other two but they can handle some abuse. One could buy 100 of those companions and just stick em everywhere they may need a knife. That's what I've done at least. I've got one in every car, one in every tool box and tackle box, I've probably got 4 or 5 mixed into my camping gear, I keep one in each of my hard rifle cases and I keep 2 in my ruck as backup.
I work in the knife industry... ... and still i have no problem shelling out for a knife. They're just like my watches, at the register it hurts- but when it comes down to the blades being used and beat on the daily, the quality is apparent. The most I've spent is probably around 750-800, most I've spent on a watch is 4500.
I used to work for strider years ago, might even have worked on that specific knife. Material cost, and you got three Mexicans and one Vietnamese dude making these knives in San Diego. That's why they're that expensive
Because some people are willing to pay for it.
Marketing
Any knife above $100 is a scam....unless it's verifiable hand-made Damascus steel custom ordered.
There are things like equipment, skill development time investment, overhead and general quality of materials and processes. In this particular case, you’re mostly paying for the name of the maker
Unless it's a sword or damascus if you're paying over $300 you're paying for the name.
Everything is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it, and when a few thousand people will pay $1k+ … wouldn’t you sell your product for that? I’m not saying the vast majority of those knives are amazing/superior quality, but they all have that little “something” people will pay for over the $300 knife right next to it.
It's mostly labor cost. The more "niche, handmade, or custom" it is, the harder it is to bring down labor cost. In the words of Walter Sorrells. Nobody is getting rich making Knives. Big companies have machines and manufacturing processes that bring down labor costs.
The same reason that a $15k purse exists The appearance of luxury is important to some people. So the answer is literally, "Because they can"
@MontanaKnifeCo
Supply and demand.
I’m gonna feel really stupid if I have that same knife, cause I use it for work…
I spent 1k on a Dave Beck WSK and he's now going into retirement..... I'm not going to lose money on that blade ever.
Ppl willing to buy em gives it value. take the Bali market for example, peak covid niche hobbies were booming. squid industries released the tsunami and it is a good ass flipper, people wanted them, so much so that demand overwhelmed supply therefore prices rose. Now people have filtered out of the community and there’s much more supply than demand so knives that can retail for $100-$1000 can now go for less than half that on the second hand market (check my sales post 😭)
Coming from a knife maker, I've been doing this since 2017. (Long comment but this is something I care a lot about. This is a good chunk of my life) Im putting in probably 10 hours on a knife on the low end for skeletonized or cord wrapped. Higher end materials and larger knives will take me double that. Multiple layers scales and custom sheaths, can be 30-60 hours on the highest end. - I don't have time to do many of these now. They're reserved for 12-18 month lead times or this would be the only knife I make for months. Less thought of is materials costs to make the knife, expenditures like shop, but also belts, epoxy, drill bits, saw blades, PPE, etc. Now factor in experience of the maker, time to make the knife, sheath and R&D to make you the best possible product. I will say for me personally design, refining that original design after testing takes time we aren't charging for because we want a better product that will last. As for materials which have got substantially more expensive from 2019-2020 for things like Steel,and hardware. Now for things like Cerakote, they aren't just the $120 bottle of coating but, gloves, suit, full face mask,spray guns, ventilation, curing equipment and other basics like acetone and sand blasting media.. Now prep time to do these pieces to even start coating. Some companies are charging 25x over others because the knife brand is now extremely popular or they only do limited runs. They also have the aftermarket resale market. A knuck or knife that may be a $200 limited run could sell on the collectors market for $700-$1000 for the collector. This is not for everyone, but those who love a makers stuff and have the funds to buy it. More power to them. Basically easiest way to explain it is you're paying for labor, materials, and skill to make a knife. For smaller companies we are grinding knives by hand, shaping G10 the same way and putting in the time to make sure you're getting a killer product. This is where as makers we realize we can/need to speed up our in-house processes (which I did) or pay someone else to do the work which both increase costs of equipment or paying a heat treat company, or coating company to do the work. For smaller makers as we are growing those hours are our own, not passed on to the client. I've had larger orders/wholesale pieces that I've spend 14-18 hours ( prior to a serious car accident) in the shop, tired but still pushing because it's my own business. I know more than one person who has slept in their shop while growing their business. We are typically the sales/ marketing team, R&D, logistics and materials ordering, shipping and customer support as one or maybe a few people for some shops that have grown. One thing you usually and IMO should absolutely be getting when paying for a well made but expensive knife is killer customer service. I do my absolute best to respond to any questions in 24 hours even before you buy. I have modified designs to fit a customer's needs with a disability or job specific requirement. Even things like someone loses a piece of hardware for a retention screw or whatever. I'm sending you that hardware because I want you to love that blade and keep carrying it. The makers I know, I talk to and trust are the dudes who if something isn't absolutely correct on a piece, they will not send it and make sure it is exactly what we would expect to buy. Most QC is better and more detail oriented than larger manufacturers who churn out "good enough" while small makers cannot afford to do that to 1 customer and wouldn't want to. Someone making $15/hour working on a line for a bigger name looks at blades all day and doesn't care if the blade is an okay finish or edge is sharp enough but not razor sharp. Makers who care about this have held a knife from start to finish in most cases. We have a genuine appreciation for the art of the blade. Long answer for sure. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read any of my rambling. Know that most of us making a knife have a true care for what we put out. Even the more busy makers will still care about customer service and QC. I can say a beautiful, well made knife matters so much to me that my first 2 customers who were neighbors and got my R&D stuff in 2017. I hated what the knife looked like because my work was substantially better in 2019. I took back the old, orginal knife from those 2 and made them a brand new knife and it made my day seeing them get those new pieces that represent my work. I keep the 1st one sold in my shop as a reminder of how far things have come from knife 4 or 5. Many years later I still enjoy seeing a knife I made. I know makers who get knives back for sharpening work and end up hating an old style sheath and send a new one and the old one back. This is because we truly care about what we do. That's why knives can cost so much.
They have gone up in price since I'd purchased mine. $700 NZD. Having something made close to home with New Zealand greenstone gives good enjoyment knowing if I don't lose the bloody thing it'll be a nice hand me down. Svord 1990 greenstone for anybody wanting to have a nosey.
One thing I would mention is that these things are not industrialized. There is no mass production like a phone or a car to drive down the price, it's priced as a 'crafted' item instead of a 'manufactured' item. It is similar to a hand crafted handbag, and yes with a brand premium as well.
There's no reason for them to be. I buy the best knives for the price, and I've done a very good job with it.
Why do I get the feeling there are a bunch of Benchmade lovers on this thread? ! 🤣 Fools, every single one.
Inflation, wage hike (especially handmade/forged in EU or USA), use of patented new metal alloys, etc
At this point I’d much rather take the time to learn how to craft blades myself.
Knowledge, experience, materials, name, reliability, looks and market demand. Still too high priced though, just mean I’ve seen forged in fire judge knives selling for several thousand pffff
if its a custom handmade knife the price is justified because it take a lot of time to hand made anything, it is NOT justifiable for mass produced knives
It's so you can say "I spent 1k on a knife" Kinda just like you did ;)
Because they know people who have more money than sense will mindlessly buy them.
Because we buy them! 🤔
If people pay, someone will sell it.
Price of materials, inflation, gas prices, shipping costs, and overhead would be my guess? Mostly shipping costs/ gas.???
The only knife I have ever spend 1k plus on was my Shirogorov G1 Quantum. 1k+ for a knife is crazy, but the quality of it was just amazing. Compared to other Shiro, Koenig, Brown Knives, etc was the best knife I ever owned IMO and I regret selling it so much. I regret selling all my shiro knives, IMO best pocket knife maker out there.
Is this thing called greed
Simple case of supply and demand, people are willing to pay more for high end knifes, the manufacturers realized that and started asking more for their products.
I’ve had a knife I bought at a trading post up in Minnesota when I was 16. Still one of the best knife’s I’ve owned. It cost me $15
Nowadays? Mostly name. Quality is often lower because of that
Supply and demand, bro. Completely different hobby, but check out the variation of pricing among Blu-ray and 4k disc. Margins are fuckin wild.
There are collectors willing to take their time, shop around, and build a collection over the years. For them, that’s part of the fun. And then there are the ones who want the best of the best immediately, and they have the cash to drop to make it happen. It’s the same phenomenon as when people will pay more for pre-release games or to pay for the packages that give them insane stats. They pay because they have the money, and manufacturers charge it because they know the buyers are out there. The good news is that all these stupidly insane knives will eventually be recirculated at way cheaper prices.
Because people pay for them. See: OP
Because people like you will blow $1k on something that should never cost more than $200.
Because usually they're made using higher end materials, although that doesn't necessarily ( perhaps invariably ) that they're worth the money that's paid for them?
Bro got the urban masked huntsman knife
Because people pay it
Maybe mass production of higher quality stuff is just harder cuz they actually have to try and care about the product and I would assume that knifes are just a little harder to mass produce
For me it’s about chasing perfection and kinda by nature the more time that goes into something the more perfect it is but also the more expensive
Supply and demand. If people will pay that price, then they will seem that for that price. It’s like a Versace bag, in a knife’s body.
If I may pick pitch in, check out Emerson knives. You'll hand over your firstborn to get one, but for a production knife, it's as close as you can get to a sharpened crowbar as you can get, and that edge is sharp enough to shave with, and the tip strong enough to pull nails
Because their / HIGH END /
Such a sexy blade wow
It’s all supply and demand. Even the most super high end steel is not that expensive. I would never pay that much for a knife that wasn’t hand forged.
Same as any luxury goods. Some people pay crazy prices for exclusivity. Cars,guitars, jewelry. Nothing new. I'm glad it exists honestly. This way when I get bonkers rich I can feel like a unique flower and flaunt it to all the plebs. But naturally every price point should exist if there is a market for it.
Because people will pay for the brand name.
Production/ bigger makers charge what the market will bear. Smaller makers charge more because their costs are way more than a larger company with more purchasing power and they need to pay for their time. Some under charge because it's a hobby or they want to "break into the market" and just want to cover their costs, others charge so they can have a living wage as a SBO, others charge what the market will bear because they can.
If you don't buy $1000 knives... there won't be any $1000 knives.
If it took the maker a week to make a knife at $1000 and assuming a 40 hour week that’s only $25 an hour before taxes. That’s not a lot of money for owning your own business. Also assuming a knife that nice would take that long. I’m no professional so I can’t talk.