Custom prices?

As AJ said we have an open house policy every other Tuesday night at the knife shop 7 to 9 PM. The next one is Tuesday the 10th.

For directions call 905 670 0200.

As to pricing, making a knife is like ordering a custom built car....base vehicle cost then all of the optional extras begin to run the cost up. The killer is the bill for optional extras because it includes both materials and labour to properly fit and finish them.

As to profitability, some days a parking meter in downtown Toronto makes more money than I do after paying shop rent, heat, hydro, phone etc etc.
 
I was talking to Don Hanson a while back about this. He only makes one knife a week but gets a LOT for them. With that said, he told me that overhead and materials eat up half of what he charges before he ever counts his labor. He tends to use a lot of those $300+ pieces of ivory and runs a rather expensive ad in Blade, so you can see that the money would fly out the door rather quickly.
In contrast, some of the guys on British Blades told me that at the height of the bushcraft/Woodlore clone craze, there was a maker who was cranking out 20 bushie blades ground from O1 A DAY for sale to other makers and hobbyists. Even at $30 a blade, that would be quite a profitable venture.
 
Here is an interesting quote from the Bob Engnath website.

AEBL seems to be about 440B. Extremely easy to grind, in fact, I think I may have set a world record with it a few years back, over a hundred blades from bar stock to 220 grit within eight hours.
Click to expand...

If a maker could do that on a regular basis, I bet a lot of money could be made.
 
I would like to put here my 2 cents. I was asking the same questions when I started. I got no straight answer. But it did not stop me. First few blades I sold intentionally cheap with nearly zero profit. But I put all the earned money in tools and materials. And so I do now. I DO NOT have ANY money in my pocket, everything is going into shop tools, materials and stuff.
I make my knives from the beginning to the end, with HT made by Paul Boss. Because I do care about the quality. I do sheath, tooling, engraving, etc. I never take ready idea or drawing for the engraving. I draw everything myself. It takes sometime few weeks to get descent design or even idea for the certain blade or bolster. I also do not copy anyone's blades. And by the way, my knives are One-Of-A-Kind ONLY. No mass production or batches, noway. I do not like to take orders because I hate to be late and I hate to be irresponsible to the customer. So I sell what i got finished and ready to go NOW.
Now back to the price question. I still sell kives. I tried to rise the price and it didn't work well, my "overpriced" piece did not sell at all. Tell me if fancy hidden tang blade with engraving, made from A2 tool steel and ebony+mammoth ivory handle in custom sheath is worth $500? I spent at least 1 month on it. And materials are worth something.

Yeah I know... many of clever people willl say that I am the crazy and stupid idiot. I do not care. But here is the truth I learned: I will never be wealthy making knives. It is not about making knives, it is about ME. My fault and my inability to take care of business. Who can tell me the right price for my knives?

From the customer's side of the bench many things looks different...

By the way(It is not promotion, it is illustration) my last piece:http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=505014
I still do not know what I should ask for it, NO IDEA!
 
moohbear said:
I've been looking at various websites selling custom knives. Although a lot of those knives sell for more than a grand, there's also quite a lot of items going for less than $500. That got me thinking about the value of a custom knife. I really have no idea of the materials bill for it, but I guess it can't be that much. However, a man has to live from his craft and $500, minus the materials bill and the reseller's commision, that doesn't leave much for the maker. Seems to me that one can hardly make a living with that kind of price. One would need to make and sell at least 60-70 knives a year to make it marginally worthwhile.
Anyway, my question is: how long does it take to make a custom knife? Or, how much a knifemaker is really making out of a sold piece (factoring the time needed to craft it)?
Click to expand...

From what I have seen, it depends on a lot of factors. One of the biggest factors, that I have seen, is whether or not this is the makers bread and butter. Does it keep his roof over his head? These guys are also working on God knows how many knives, all at the same time, at many different stages of the completion process.
 
Knives, like everything else, cannot be overpriced. Anything is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If it sells for the maker's price, it's worth the price. If not, the maker must lower the price or not sell it. Ultimately, the market determines the price.
 
fudo said:
Knives, like everything else, cannot be overpriced. Anything is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If it sells for the maker's price, it's worth the price. If not, the maker must lower the price or not sell it. Ultimately, the market determines the price.
Click to expand...

This Gentleman has got it absolutely right on. I have even had to raise the price on some knives before they would sell.

Al P.

www.polkowskiknives.com
 
Al Polkowski said:
This Gentleman has got it absolutely right on. I have even had to raise the price on some knives before they would sell.
Click to expand...
I imagine that would be true. If a quality knifemaker prices his stuff too low, people might think..... "Is there something wrong with these knives?" and become overcritical of his work.
 
fudo said:
Knives, like everything else, cannot be overpriced. Anything is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If it sells for the maker's price, it's worth the price. If not, the maker must lower the price or not sell it. Ultimately, the market determines the price.
Click to expand...

The first part of that statement isn't true. Certainly knives can be overpriced. If someone prices a knife so high that it doesn't sell, it is overpriced. If the maker has to lower the price of a knife, it was initially overpriced.

It also depends on your definition of overpriced. If someone thinks that a knife that uses basic steel and has a Micarta handle and Kydex sheath, and sells for $500.00 is overpriced, then to that person it is overpriced. Just because the maker sells all the knives he/she makes, that doesn't make the knives good value. To many people, including myself, overpriced is synonymous with poor value.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top