Buying knives on working man's wages

Bobby Branton

Bobby Branton

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I remember when I first started to make knives, my mentor George Herron used to tell me that he would always try to keep his knives priced so the average working man can afford one of his knives. He was very successful in doing that until he could no longer make knives.

I guess I am a little out of touch with the average wages of today's workers, so my question is......

In today's economy, what is the average price range that you can or will pay for a good quality custom knife that you will not be afraid to use?

How much will you spend without batting a eye and not hurt your budget?

I mean a good working knife whether it be a hunter, utility or boot knife with a blade of 3 1/2 - 6 inches.
Quality steel, satin finish, G-10 or basic wood handle and a decent sheath (kydex or leather)

Bobby
 
I consider myself the average working guy with a college education and a job with good benefits, but only decent pay. I fund many of my knife purchases through buying and selling on ebay etc. I find that realistically, for me, about $350 is the max I'll spend on a knife I intend to use, carry and enjoy. I have knives worth a lot more in collection, however.
 
Under $200 is my sweet spot the closer to $100 the better. $300 is about my max.
 
without batting an eye? $100

But with that said, I'm also not afraid of spending $2-300 on a user if I believe it to be of very good quality and visually appealing.
 
For a folder, it is $500.00 or less.

For a fixed blade, $300.00 or less.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
When I was a working stiff, before I went out on my own as a knife dealer, I spent $350 on my first custom folder that I was going to carry...before that it was Benchmade Folders. I thought $350 was a bit much to carry, but I liked the maker and the quality of the knife was exceptional so I spent the money. I have NEVER regretted buying that first custom knife, and I carry a knife by that maker to this day, every day.
Hope that helps?
 
xaman said:
without batting an eye? $100

But with that said, I'm also not afraid of spending $2-300 on a user if I believe it to be of very good quality and visually appealing.
Click to expand...

ditto. If I see a knife that really tickles my pickle for under $150, I jump.
 
Under $200 for me. If it's over that, the chances of me using it are slim to none.

I may buy one for more than that from time to time, but probably would not actually use it much. Just keep it around for oogling and fondling.
 
For a working knife my upper price range would be about $400.00. I might stretch that to $500.00, but not without batting an eyelash.
 
I figured I'd chime in and give the "new to the knife world" opinion. My limit, right now, for a user would be $100. More than that and I would simply reach for the cheaper one every time.

I'm sure in the future the limit will increase. I notice a correlation between amount of posts and amount willing/able to spend.
I'm also sure that if I actually had more use for a knife then I might be willing to spend more on it.

So I guess it really just depends what corner of the market you are trying focus on.
 
Under $200 for me, unless it's something really really special.

I wouldn't necessarily baulk at spending $300 on a single order, or $300 in a month, but that would be for several factory knives of mixed prices.

I wonder how much our ancestors labored for a quality pocket knife in 1900 and 1950. A day? Two hours?
The average American earns $25,000/year, so about $100/day. A $300 knife would be three day's pay, and at a time when housing, transportation, insurance, taxes/withholdings, and utilities are eating larger chunks of each person's wages.
 
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I would most likely not use a knife valued over $500 unless under special circumstances. Now I define use as used for any task that may come up including hard use.
I would carry a folder that's more.
 
For perspective, I'm a software developer with 20 years in the industry. I make pretty decent money now but I got clobbered in the dot-com bust in 2001 and I'm in a "rebuilding" phase which I expect will last for the rest of my life. I'm a lot tighter with a dollar than I once was.
Bobby Branton said:
In today's economy, what is the average price range that you can or will pay for a good quality custom knife that you will not be afraid to use?
Click to expand...
$200 - $250.
Bobby Branton said:
How much will you spend without batting a eye and not hurt your budget?
Click to expand...
$3.45. That's the price of a medium cafe latte. I stop and think about it for a minute before springing for a large.

rmd
 
For a working folder I would go $150.00 maybe $200.00 so long as I felt certain that it could handle what I would throw at it while fitting my tastes. For a fixed blade I would be willing to go higher because my demands on such a knife would be higher.
 
Id say my sweet spot is 200 for a nice folder and upwards of 500 for a fixed becasue I like them BIG!
 
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