Help me understand.

K

kevnkar

Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
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I get it, some steels are more desirable than others but I have a hard time understanding how an $85 dollar VG10 knife becomes a $285 knife because of a change in blade steel. There is simply no way the cost in raw materials warrants this specially on a production blade that sees vast quantities of the steel in question purchased at rock bottom pricing. Please enlighten me.
 
Some things that contribute are supply and demand, as well as production costs. Usually the fancier blade steels are limited production and this drives up cost due to demand. Production costs can also increase based on the blade steel. As a maker myself I can tell you there is quite a difference in the time and labour used in making knives from different steels. 154cm or 440, or the like isn't too bad to work. Now move to some things like m4, zdp, m390 etc, and it takes longer to work, and wears out tools and grinding equipment faster.
 
Cynic2701 said:
Can you provide the specific example you are referencing?
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I'm guessing he's talking about something with a super blue run coming out. If its some super steel that's a LE (limited edition) run and is highly sought after they command a premium, the prices in his example is probabily something like say $85 being internet-retail price of the VG-10 "standard" knife while the $285 is either MRSP or pre-order.

Steels, as with all metals, do cost drastically different prices depending on many many factors, not just its physical spec's vs. another type of steel.

I'm guessing your talking about spyderco...Another aspect that does contribute is volume, when they make a 600-1200 piece sprint run of some super steel (say super blue) they arnt getting nearly the volume pricing as when they buy enough VG-10 to produce millions of pieces a year, that's a big factor.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I can totally understand wear and tear of equipment figuring in on a smaller scale but when making thousands of knives, it must be strictly a supply and demand thing. Ask as much as you want until people stop buying then back off a bit until they start buying again. I guess it's like anything else, name alone is worth x amount and adjust from there. I'm just trying to learn a bit about the modern market. 440c was super steel when I was a teenager so I just want to know what I will be spending my money on.
 
The harder steels are more labor intensive work and shorten the life span of the tools used to shape them.
 
I agree with, and think 1Hiker2 has nailed the biggest increase being in cost of added labor, and shortened tool life span.
 
Demand, cache, "exclusivity", insanity perhaps? I'm not so sure it's the steel that makes a knife expensive, but more of a who made it...not hard to find custom fixed blades using D2 steel selling for upwards of $500.
 
Seems like you are comparing apples to peaches, or grapes maybe. If it's an $85 dollar knife with VG10, then you quote $285 for different steel with same model? Are you comparing dealer price to the new models MSRP? Is it dealers to someone selling a hard to get model on the bay? There is something wrong with this figure because if you are talking Spyderco than there are no knives that meet the criteria above. Not unless you are talking about sprint runs that are in demand and being sold by flippers. Any way else it's figured there must be other upgrades such as Ti, or Carbon fiber to go along with the new steel.
 
Acesn8s said:
I agree with, and think 1Hiker2 has nailed the biggest increase being in cost of added labor, and shortened tool life span.
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Today most blades, even from small companies, are either plasma/laser cut or water jetted so the actual cutting of the blade blanks isn't really effected by higher tooling wear, about the only actual tooling that's effected is the primary grinding and sharpening all done on a belt.
 
Alnamvet68 said:
Demand, cache, "exclusivity", insanity perhaps? I'm not so sure it's the steel that makes a knife expensive, but more of a who made it...not hard to find custom fixed blades using D2 steel selling for upwards of $500.
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I find the LE knives from Spyderco and Benchmade to be VERY reasonably priced when compared against CRK, Hinderer, Strider, Grayman and all the other midtechs that use Ti, framelocks, and mid grade steels.

Getting m4 steel in a Gayle Bradley or a Contego at a $100-$150 price point is just wild, and getting your favorite knives remade in brand new steels for a hundred or two hundred bucks more isn't that bad at all, considering my above statement. And let's not forget that limited edition means it won't likely come around in that steel again.

Not bashing CRK or Strider at all, but midtechs customize their already expensive knives and it doubles or triples the price point without adding anything in terms of performance. By comparison most of these LEs increase performance multiple times at a price point that is STILL below the standard midtechs.
 
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