A Question About Spyderco Pricing

G

Gassyerik911

Joined
Jul 6, 2012
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118
On Amazon the average price for a FRN Dragonfly is about $52. The average price for a FRN Endura 4 is about $55. Hmm. The Endura is a much larger knife obviously made with more material. Both the knives have the same handle material, blade steel, and locking mechanism. So my question is, Why is the dragonfly so damn expensive in relation to the endure?


-Gassy
 
You have to hire a separate, smaller-fingered workforce to make the smaller knives. That drives up prices.
 
Honestly though, it might come down to production figures for the two models. The Endura is an older design, and I'm guessing they sell a LOT more of them.
 
My guess: The cost of materials might be slightly less, but the cost of manufacturing more than likely would be nearly the same. Spyderco still has to cut out the blades, grind, heat treat, mold the handles, ect. Also the delica is probably made in much larger quantities making it cheaper...again just a guess. :)
 
liamstrain said:
You have to hire a separate, smaller-fingered workforce to make the smaller knives. That drives up prices.
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Thank you for the good laugh.

I think they cost about the same because while the Dragonfly does use less material, it is equally intricate, likely causing a slightly higher production cost, offsetting the lower material cost. Also, like said above, the choil makes it worth every dime (and that is something additional to machine in).
 
Amazon pricing changes a lot. A lot, a lot. There are sites out there that track Amazon pricing, so you can look up historical prices for any item.

That said, dealer pricing between the regular black FRN Dragonfly and the Endura is about $12.50. Though I'm pretty certain Amazon buys direct from Spyderco and doesn't pay regular dealer price.
 
Ivenoticed the same thing with their pricing, especially the dragonfly. Do yourself a favor and don't try and justify the g-10 dragonfly.
 
I'm pretty ignorant of Spyderco's manufacturing details but I imagine that simply because the knife uses less material doesn't mean that the tooling, machining, finishing, assembling, etc, costs any less than a larger model.
 
Materials do not cost that much. Knife steel isn't very expensive (although I have no idea where one would buy VG10). The extra inch or two of steel would not drive up the price very significantly. I think most of the cost comes from manufacturing and design, although I have no idea.
 
9blades said:
My guess: The cost of materials might be slightly less, but the cost of manufacturing more than likely would be nearly the same. Spyderco still has to cut out the blades, grind, heat treat, mold the handles, ect. Also the delica is probably made in much larger quantities making it cheaper...again just a guess. :)
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Bingo!
 
9blades said:
My guess: The cost of materials might be slightly less, but the cost of manufacturing more than likely would be nearly the same. Spyderco still has to cut out the blades, grind, heat treat, mold the handles, ect. Also the delica is probably made in much larger quantities making it cheaper...again just a guess. :)
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Thanks for saving me time Kirby!
 
9blades said:
My guess: The cost of materials might be slightly less, but the cost of manufacturing more than likely would be nearly the same. Spyderco still has to cut out the blades, grind, heat treat, mold the handles, ect. Also the delica is probably made in much larger quantities making it cheaper...again just a guess. :)
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I think this is really close to the truth.
 
How about the "time" it takes to assemble?
Dragonfly....simple FRN molded "chassis"
Delica...2 detailed FRN scales, 2 drilled and milled steel liners, fasteners and fitting all these pieces together.
 
While I cannot cite statistics, I would guess that the Delica and Endura might well be their most numerously manufactured products. Surely they must make many more of those than probably anything else. Economies of scale?
 
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