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If you do a search for shirogorov on the forums this has been discussed quite a bit. The short answer is "availability" and the secondary market, particularly, are driving the cost up. FWIW, I never thought I'd own one but last fall I found one at a "reasonable" price. Now I own three... I've come to really like and appreciate them. IMO, they are in a league of their own as far as production knives go. However, I think +1000.00 pricing is excessive but there's a market for them at that price. Some of the more knowledgeable members can explain the differences between serial production runs, custom division and (I think) actual custom knives from one of the brothers.

I'm not happy with the general pricing either but I'm happy with the prices I've paid thus far. This year, I've decided to carry one of my Shiro's everyday.
 
I think it's because they are so hard to get. You can't exactly contact igor to make an order so it drives people crazy with knives. Some of the customs are really just higher end custom, like the cd Hati, I've seen them $2-3500. The full customs are way more $4k plus. I bought 2 shiros both with srbs, held a mrbs and washers. I love them but not for $4k. I've seen some of the full custom Divisons with mokuti and damascus, they are sick but not sure I would take that over a stab Wilson NFF, southard and especially a basic rexford.

People love them though. The regular 95s have stabilized in price, which is good.

I've been looking for a custom division with damascus blade for a year and no luck, only seen 3. I made the owners really high offers and they turned them down. All told me it was the best knife they own
 
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Having handled the Shirogorov knives last year at Blade, I certainly admired the way they were made. But I couldn t imagine paying 1500-2000 dollars for the ones I held. But I can t imagine paying $40 million dollars for a Van Gogh (even though I like the paintings).:)
 
Easy answer.....imported from Russia through a single importer. There's the price increase for you. He's the only importer, so he can jack the price up.

IIRC, they are priced about like a Chris Reeve overseas. The price is just high in the US.
 
The price is controlled by a lot of factors, from imports (you have to take into consideration the high import taxes as well as the dealers' profits) to the market it self (demand basically), but the price is honestly worth it still in my opinion. I currently own 2 Shirogorovs, but I have owned many more than that.

They are likely one of the best production companies on the market, and they offer a very wide variety of product options in steel, handle style/materials, and levels of customization. They are very hard to get though, especially if you are looking for a specific model with a specific steel or style, which most people really are.
One of the main things that gets me interested in them is that fact that their knives are made to a very high tolerance, and have a rather extreme amount of strength built into them. Not only that, but they function flawlessly, and only improve as Shirogorov has more time to learn. They have improved their designs more and more as time has gone by, and added more and more options and innovations to their products as they do so.

They designed the Multi-Row-Bearing System, which is an exceptionally strong and smooth bearing system, even above their standard bearings. Then they recently took that eve one step further, and created the Roller-Bearing and Multi-Row-Roller-Bearing Systems, which I have yet to handle, but I have seen nothing but extremely high praises for from the select few who have been lucky enough to get their hands on them.

The Custom Division knives are basically a cut above any other production knife on the market, or at least that seems to be their appeal. I have handled a few of them, and I must say that they are probably the best knives I have ever held in my life, but they are too much money for me to reasonably be able to carry one.

I do carry a 95T (bearings) and a Hati (washers), and both are exceptional. The steels are very well heat treated, very well ground, and came very sharp. They are the two bet flipping knives I own in both of their categories by far, and I cannot find a flaw in either one after a long period of carry (for the 95T at least, but I have only had the Hati for a few days so far).

Like I said, I personally can justify the price, but that certainly does not mean everyone can. The Custom Division knives are too far out of my reach to reasonably carry, and I would never honestly spend the kind of money that the brothers' personal customs go for on a knife, but to someone somewhere, those prices are reasonable for the knife, otherwise they wouldn't sell as much as they do.
 
seedubs1 said:
Easy answer.....imported from Russia through a single importer. There's the price increase for you. He's the only importer, so he can jack the price up.

IIRC, they are priced about like a Chris Reeve overseas. The price is just high in the US.
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I don't believe it is exclusively one exporter, and I know for a fact that the prices for them are high everywhere outside of Russia itself. You won't get any price cuts simply by going to Europe.
 
Charr said:
I don't believe it is exclusively one exporter, and I know for a fact that the prices for them are high everywhere outside of Russia itself. You won't get any price cuts simply by going to Europe.
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All you have to do is read some of the Russian comments on Shirogorov YT reviews and you will find that the U.S. market has driven the prices up for the Russians as well. I hardly think that there is one person in control of exporting these knives. Besides I've bought to of mine from a regular Russian knife collector, not even a dealer.

Steel selection has definitely turned me on to Shirogorov... I have Elmax, Vanax35 and S90V. I like the variety.
 
shady A.M. said:
All you have to do is read some of the Russian comments on Shirogorov YT reviews and you will find that the U.S. market has driven the prices up for the Russians as well. I hardly think that there is one person in control of exporting these knives. Besides I've bought to of mine from a regular Russian knife collector, not even a dealer.

Steel selection has definitely turned me on to Shirogorov... I have Elmax, Vanax35 and S90V. I like the variety.
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Yeah. I believe the dealer saw how much they were going for on the secondary so he started charging more, then Shiro saw how much the dealer was getting for them so they raised their prices as well.

They are the hot production maker now, like Hinderer was. Eventually the market will soften just like it did for Hinderer. At least Rick never raised his prices. A few years ago shirogorovs direct were like $400-500 at blade.
 
They are probably closer to a 500$ CR or Hinderer knife but having owned a carbon fiber relax Hati I can tell you they are very very well made. Best flipper action I have ever felt, great lock up, beautiful design and top of the line quality and precession. Blade was perfectly centered and perfectly shaped.

Are you paying a 2-300 premium yeah. Are they one of the best production knives made? I think so....
 
When I found out it wasn't a custom...

[video=youtube_share;rr428_pwBss]http://youtu.be/rr428_pwBss[/video]
 
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