IMHO the largest influence on the cheapness of Swamp Rat blades (especially given their high performance levels), is the founding mandate from the Busse Combat parent company to make and market bombproof blades that would be affordable by enlisted grunts in the military and low-seniority LEO & Emergency Responder personnel. This projected market is notoriously short of spare cash. So the driving motivation was to make a blade that these folks could afford, yet still stand up to their VERY vigorous working environments. This imperative motivation to keep the final product relatively cheap without sacrificing the product's high performance capabilities suffuses everything the company does.
Part of SRKW's ability to maintain such an attractive price point as a new knifemaking entity is the fact that, since they are using Busse facilities and machinery resources, they didn't have initial capital outlay for many of the physical manufacturing and related training and support start-up costs for the company. They likewise get to leverage the extensive R&D, experience, and equipment of the parent company in areas like building a corporate structure & presence, product testing, manufacturing methodologies (workflow for blanking, grinding, heat treat, coating, handles, etc), product promotion to the market or trade, and customer service. In spite of being two seperate companies, SRKW came into being with a sizable amount of market name recognition from the Busse parent company.
Also, their personnel base is very small and not even all located at the shop. Our fearless moderator Eric is located in Kentucky. For such people, SRKW doesn't have an outlay for office space & furnishings, phone, computer, and other such things from company resources.
Additionally, the SR101 steel used for the knives probably isn't terribly expensive to procure, especially when buying in bulk. That's a guess on my part, but it is touted as a low-alloy 52100-like steel. Compared to more exotic steels like CPM S30V and others, I'm thinking that SR101 looks like a steal.
(pun intended) Anyone who has purchased commodities on the wholesale side of manufacturing, then had to buy on the retail market after getting out of business, knows what the price point difference looks like.
Lastly, while positing a "no holds barred" warranty on their wares, the robustness of Swamp Rat products indicates that the actual cost of that warranty coverage will likely be close to nil, while the marketing recognition garnered by that warranty's audacity will more than offset any actual capital outlay to establish it.
