Actual cost of a sebenza?

mrknife said:
yeah? favorite knife? i mean the design is simple and functional. which makes it elegant. its the price tag that deters me thats all. plus i cant sharpen a knife well so id hate to have to deal with getting a butter knife like the other poster got.
Click to expand...
The price was hard to justify for me too, till I got my first. If you are familiar with fabrication and machining to even a small degree, it really is in a different league than anything else you could get for less than $300. I'm also not a great knife sharpener. I've been teaching myself with kitchen knives and some of my budget knives. It's a good skill to learn, and hopefully I'll soon get to the point where I'm comfortable tackling my duller CRK's.
 
Ken44 said:
No, I haven't, and won't.
No way of knowing anyway, and like with other companies I'm happy to pay their price if they're offering a product worthy of that price.



Here you go....

[video=youtube_share;4QiEnhA3n0A]http://youtu.be/4QiEnhA3n0A?list=PLSI4ay_8F4TDC3oMu9yTH3YgPEf7jC6U V[/video]
[video=youtube_share;Nj6p8p6vfZQ]http://youtu.be/Nj6p8p6vfZQ?list=PLSI4ay_8F4TDC3oMu9yTH3YgPEf7jC6U V[/video]
Click to expand...

These two videos were a factor in me purchasing my first Sebenza. There's also a DVD floating around Youtube..exquisite blade or something? that I think a Japanese blade magazine put together. The 2nd part focuses on the folders, and the Japanese girl is annoying as all hell, but also another good look into the making of the Sebenza that the BladeHQ videos do not have.
 
mrknife said:
yeah? favorite knife? i mean the design is simple and functional. which makes it elegant. its the price tag that deters me thats all. plus i cant sharpen a knife well so id hate to have to deal with getting a butter knife like the other poster got.
Click to expand...

The sharpmaker should take care of you-works well with the Sebenza. Wicked edge is even better, but costs as much as the knife-so that is more for the fully addicted.
 
One caution on the Sharpmaker (or any sharpening system) - make sure you learn how to deal with the tip area of the edge or you'll wind up with uneven edge bevels. This is true of any knife, not just a Sebenza.
 
JNewell said:
One caution on the Sharpmaker (or any sharpening system) - make sure you learn how to deal with the tip area of the edge or you'll wind up with uneven edge bevels. This is true of any knife, not just a Sebenza.
Click to expand...

ah i see, thank you. i just got something from lansky but i dont think im using it right. only be trying it on my budget knives well junk knives i guess. before that it was a carbide sharpner :(
 
uofaengr said:
Wait, what?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's been questioned a bit with no response/defense. I think it must have been one of those cases where the wrong words were chosen haphazardly, or perhaps a reference to some seriously limited cases/examples. Either way, I'm moving on;)
 
When I think of "actual cost", I remember that I probably paid close to retail maybe 12 years ago. Not exactly sure what I paid, but probably close to retail. Divide that number by 12 and my annual /"actual cost" cost is pretty darn low:D

And every year I own it, my cost keeps going down:D
 
Why would you even care.....
Same discussion with apple products....
People scream about it being too expensive, margins are too high, they make too much money, and ripp off their customers........
All great, until you handle their(and CR) products: they are brilliant in any way shape and form.
Dont know, dont care, as long as they keep up their current standards

(This price issue standpoint coming from a born&raised Dutchman, might be worth just a little more than just my 2 cents;-p )
 
NvG79 said:
Why would you even care.....
Same discussion with apple products....
People scream about it being too expensive, margins are too high, they make too much money, and ripp off their customers........
All great, until you handle their(and CR) products: they are brilliant in any way shape and form.
Dont know, dont care, as long as they keep up their current standards

(This price issue standpoint coming from a born&raised Dutchman, might be worth just a little more than just my 2 cents;-p )
Click to expand...

Well when you buy apple, sure its coming from china, but I've had my mac book pro through most of college, my itouch, and iphone areall well built. All of those things do a lot. Now are there sebenzas from china, sure, you betcha. Pivot bushing and everything. Crummier Ti, and D2 blade, but same concept. I'm just curious what Mr.Reeve is charging for thats all. I am sure its a great knife, and many people buy them because of that.
 
I bought mine because I wanted the very best EDC knife, that's 100% USA made.
That was 14+ years ago-It IS the best EDC knife I have ever owned in my 63+ years of life.
LG
 
With premium pricing, there is a complete disconnect between production costs and MSRP. There is no question in my mind that CRK employs this strategery, and to good effect (for CRK, not the consumer). And that also means its virtually impossible to reverse engineer the MSRP to determine estimated production costs.

I envy you, Mr. Grits. I wish I could find just one knife - CRK or otherwise - to latch onto for 14 years to the exclusion of all others.
 
powernoodle said:
With premium pricing, there is a complete disconnect between production costs and MSRP. There is no question in my mind that CRK employs this strategery, and to good effect (for CRK, not the consumer). And that also means its virtually impossible to reverse engineer the MSRP to determine estimated production costs.

I envy you, Mr. Grits. I wish I could find just one knife - CRK or otherwise - to latch onto for 14 years to the exclusion of all others.
Click to expand...


I have never believed in buy'n cheap tools-----------:D
Have to say a LG, 21 w/Insingo blade is call'n out to me.
LG
 
mrknife said:
Well when you buy apple, sure its coming from china, but I've had my mac book pro through most of college, my itouch, and iphone areall well built. All of those things do a lot. Now are there sebenzas from china, sure, you betcha. Pivot bushing and everything. Crummier Ti, and D2 blade, but same concept. I'm just curious what Mr.Reeve is charging for thats all. I am sure its a great knife, and many people buy them because of that.
Click to expand...

This has been done to death.

He is charging for his vision, his design (which is intellectual property), his creation(s), the knife that you receive, the services after the sale, and the warranty. These things are worth what he can sell them for.

If you are good with buying something made by an entity willing to take someone else's design and reproduce it without permission, enjoy yourself. Just realize that you are getting only the knife, someone else stole the design and intellectual property with zero vision of their own (other than to profit off someone else's dream), and you'll get no service or warranty.
 
unit said:
This has been done to death.

He is charging for his vision, his design (which is intellectual property), his creation(s), the knife that you receive, the services after the sale, and the warranty. These things are worth what he can sell them for.

If you are good with buying something made by an entity willing to take someone else's design and reproduce it without permission, enjoy yourself. Just realize that you are getting only the knife, someone else stole the design and intellectual property with zero vision of their own (other than to profit off someone else's dream), and you'll get no service or warranty.
Click to expand...

Especially the production of the knife to the tolerances that CRK maintains. No one else in the cutlery industry makes knives to the dimensional tolerances of the Sebenza 21 and earlier models. No one else even tries. And for sure nothing coming out of China with the possible exception of their aerospace industry matches those tolerances.
 
If anyone is in doubt about Sebenza production costs, swing by Boise and see for yourself what actually goes into making one. I did. Ignorant people assume that it is just a high tolerance knife that is spit out in pieces by an expensive cnc machine, screwed together and thrown into a box with a cloth and an Allen wrench.

There is a lot of hand work in every knife that isn't necessarily evident at first glance.
 
Tripton said:
If anyone is in doubt about Sebenza production costs, swing by Boise and see for yourself what actually goes into making one. I did. Ignorant people assume that it is just a high tolerance knife that is spit out in pieces by an expensive cnc machine, screwed together and thrown into a box with a cloth and an Allen wrench.

There is a lot of hand work in every knife that isn't necessarily evident at first glance.
Click to expand...

OR they could design a line of knives,..buy the necessary equipment..hire competent people and try it out.

The equipment involved costs more per machine than the average home of ALOT of people. When you get the equipment, then try hiring anyone with a mechanical aptitude.
Don't forget the human element. These machines do exactly what you tell them to do...Miss a decimal point or forget a zero when manually editing code. Let's say "G00 Z-10." when you actually needed "G00 Z-1.0". (G00 is a rapid positioning command= GO) These machines have no logic and will attempt to do exactly what you tell them to.
Also, tolerances need to be checked somehow..and that equipment isn't cheap either. :)
 
I can see how a lot of people could simply price the blade stock, the screws, and titanium alloy and come up with some ill-informed conclusions. They are very expensive items if you simply compare them to a "typical pocket knife" (as defined by the average person).

Let's face it, CRKs are not for everyone;)
 
"Let's face it, CRKs are not for everyone"
So true, and neither are Rolex watches--:D
I'm lucky to have both.
LG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top