Hossom Collaboration - Details

Sir-G, even worse in South Africa - TK costs 97 Rand, which is equivalent to about US $13.50 :(
 
Impressive looking fixed blades! As a matter of fact, they're the best looking production fixed blades I've seen in a long time...
 
Any word on the estimated prices for these bad boys? I need the BIG one. I'm also curious about the sheaths. Will they be Kydex with TekLok?
 
per Kristi the MSRP for the Forester is $ 374.95. All the Hossoms will have a Kydex sheath with Tek-lok.
 
smcfalls13 said:
What's the MSRP Kristi? Or is that not determined yet?

Gotta know how much cash to save up.:thumbup:

Thanks Kristi.
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Here are MSRP's for all new FB knives Kristi posted on Spyderco Forum:

FB15P - Fred Perrin Street Beat PlainEdge - $239.95

FB16P - Jerry Hossom Forester PlainEdge - $374.95

FB17P - Jerry Hossom Forager PlainEdge - $339.95

FB18P - Jerry Hossom Woodlander PlainEdge - $289.95

FB19P - Jerry Hossom Dayhiker PlainEdge - $229.95
 
wow, that's quite a bit of green for production blades.....I'm out.
 
Remember that street price is often almost 40% less than MSRP. You should be able to find the Forester for about $225 when it comes out.
 
cmott69 said:
for a knife roughly the same size as a "outcast" thats still a lot!
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Not quite an even comparison. The Outcast has a molded "Santoprene" (FRN)handle, while the Spyderco/Hossom has a green Micarta handle machined to be identical to the handle on Jerry Hossoms custom Chainsaw. Jerry has said that many knife companies said this wasn't possible on a production knife (on his forum on KnifeForums). That may not explain the whole difference it is at least a significant portion.
 
To those who think you pay too much for Tactical Knives, well, if you want the latest up-to-date ish, expect to pay about 500 pesos for it here in the Philippines!

Looking forward to the product of this great collab!
 
$375?!! That's an awful lot of dough. It seems totally out of step with the rest of the pricing in the Spyderco line up. This is a fixed blade, it can't be all that difficult to manufacture. Are they having to pay a huge licensing fee to Jerry or what? There's got to be a reason. I was really looking forward to the Forester, but I can't see myself shelling out that much, as much as I love Spyderco. That's Busse/ Strider/ CRK territory.
 
moonwilson said:
$375?!! That's an awful lot of dough. It seems totally out of step with the rest of the pricing in the Spyderco line up. This is a fixed blade, it can't be all that difficult to manufacture. Are they having to pay a huge licensing fee to Jerry or what? There's got to be a reason. I was really looking forward to the Forester, but I can't see myself shelling out that much, as much as I love Spyderco. That's Busse/ Strider/ CRK territory.
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Sal has often said that Spyderco operates on relatively fixed margins - in other words, they charge the cost of production plus a set profit margin.

There are a number of things that can make the Hossom/Spyderco Forester more expensive than some of prices we are used to for Spyderco knives:

- That's a big piece of steel and bigger costs more than smaller
- That's a long edge to grind and more grinding costs more than less grinding - both in terms of grinding time and belts worn out.
- The 3D Micarta handle is more expensive to machine than flat slabs

I doubt Spyderco is paying Jerry that much more (if any) than they pay other collaborators and I doubt that Sal is charging all he thinks the market will bear. Everyone is quoting the MSRP from the SFO. The knives will likely be available at your favorite online dealer at the normally discounted price. Comparing the discounted prices of the "Hossoms" with the discounted prices of other Spyderco offerings is a more realistic comparison.

I'm sure the street prices will be well under the prices in "Busse/ Strider/ CRK territory".

David
 
4 s ter said:
Sal has often said that Spyderco operates on relatively fixed margins - in other words, they charge the cost of production plus a set profit margin.

- That's a big piece of steel and bigger costs more than smaller
- That's a long edge to grind and more grinding costs more than less grinding - both in terms of grinding time and belts worn out.
- The 3D Micarta handle is more expensive to machine than flat slabs
Click to expand...

I believe all of this. It very well may be my relative ignorance about the costs of manufacturing but the price still seems steep to me. It just seems that a folder, with so many more parts involved, would be more difficult to manufacture than a fixed blade, which consists of a blade, some handle scales and some rivets (okay, and all of the parts for the sheath). I've made a couple of fixed blades and it wasn't all that hard. I know it wouldn't be that easy to make a folder. There are just so many more steps, so many more parts to make, finish, and assemble in a folder.

I've heard it said several times that the costs of the materials involved is a fairly small portion of the final cost of a knife, that what really costs is the tooling and the labor. Is it that difficult to produce the blades for the collaboration knives? I don't see anything too tricky there, although it is an awfully big flat grind. But I have several knives of this size that I didn't pay almost $400 for. I have a Becker BK1 that I think retailed for $80, and is about the same size as a Forester. I have a Ka-Bar Cutlass that is a similar size and shape, that has a pretty huge grind on in and I paid less than $50 for that. I imagine that the 3D handle scales would be relatively difficult to make, but do they really cost that much more, as in, hundreds of dollars more?

I'm just curious. I do really want one of the knives, I'm in love with the design. I have the money, but I'm reluctant to part with that much unless I understand why. Does that make me a cheapskate?
 
Engineering your own folder is harder than a fixed blade, but I think factory stuff is a different story. They don't have to make a folder from scratch each time, they grind a small blade and assemble it using parts that are probably stamped or laser cut. A fixed blade requires more grinding and/or machining and finishing work. These are larger knives too. The fancy 3D handles are a pricey upgrade and require far more hand finishing than flat slabs.

I wouldn't buy one at retail, and Don't really have a place for them in my collection, but at street prices they should sell well.
 
Like every Hossom design I have ever seen, these look remarkable...and of course Jerry's blades perform even better than they look. I am still trying to construct a scenario in my mind under which I would use one of those fabulous looking folders he designed for Ontario.........I just think they are outstanding in so many different ways. But that's a Hossom knife for you......
great performance and great style !

-regards
 
I really think that it will be a combination of things that will determine the popularity of Spyderco's Hossom fixed blades: the quality of the knife will be superior to most others out there (fit and finish wise), the look of the different knives (I think they look good), the niche they fall into (higher end production knife vs custom ones), price and of course, the comments of avid knife knuts on the forums like this one...
The comments of users have a wide-ranging influence on various knife models and I think thats to be expected given everyones experience and interest in them...
 
I would still love one of those Hossom FBs, but at those prices I won't be able to come on board :(
 
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