How much do knife designers make?

[cchu518]

I was just wondering how much do knife designers make. Eg like how much would Kit Carson male off the M16 design. Is it a flat fee structure or do they get licensing commissions per knife sold as well. How much money are we talking about percentage wise out of each knife sold go to the designer?

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[jdm61]

That is something that we will likely never know unless the designer volunteers that information. From what little I have been told, they do get royalties for each knife sold. I am not sure if they get if fee or advance up front, but I would not be surprised. I do know one designer who said that the little kiss that he was getting off of each of his knive that a major manufacturer was selling was helpful in keeping body and soul together while he was putting together some mid tech and offshore production projects of his own. It basically gave him time to essentially quit making full blown custom knives for a while and concentrate all of his energy on the new projects.