How much do "non-knife" people expect to pay for a knife.

Seems to me that most non-knife people and campers i've seen that carry a knife have a multitool or folder and sometimes a decent folder at that. Think benchmade mini-grip and leatherman so say 10-80 bucks. I hardly see anyone around here with a fixed blade. What's funny is I told a couple of older guys I used to work with that I bought a new fixed blade knife and all three of them gave me the same response, "Is it a Gerber?" Um no, I'm better than that.:D
 
I had someone shoot coffee through their nose when I was showing them my Hinderer XM18 and told them the cost. Does that count?
Luckily the hot coffee went all over them and not me or the knife.;)
 
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I have a buddy who attended an emergency preparedness seminar taught by an expert on cold weather survival. When the speaker talked about clothing, he mentioned a knife (he said he considered it like clothing because one should have it on him at all times). He told those in attendance that when it came to buying a knife, they should not skimp on the price. "Go ahead and be prepared to spend a lot of money...a good $40 or so."

I guess there's a man who knows his audience. For the uninitiated, $40 is a bit much for a knife, I guess.
 
RevDevil said:
I had someone shoot coffee through their nose when I was showing them my Hindered XM18 and told them the cost. Does that count?
Luckily the hot coffee went all over them and not me or the knife.;)
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I had a guy that I used to work with who is a serious gun nut and has a ton of them etc.

He saw my SmF CC SW and asked how much it costs, because he really liked it.

I thought he was going to pass out when I told him.
 
I was searching Cold Steel Ti-lites and my gma (yes make jokes here) walked in the room. she saw the price and flipped out! "i cant believe its that much!" "wel gma how much do u think ud pay for a good knife?" "$5 at the most!!" ahh, the ones with little knowledge.
 
I was recently eating out at a bar/restaurant, and some good ol' boys were at the table next to me and my friends, and I couldn't help but listen in when I saw them passing around a pocket knife.

"Yeah, I got a good one. Not one of those cheap gas-station knives. I payed nearly $50 for this knife. It's a Smith and Wesson." As all his friends commented positively and with admiration. "Now that's a quality knife!":D:rolleyes:

I sometimes wonder if I'd be better off not knowing what is out there. Then I take out my Benchmade, or William Henry, or Microtech, and say, "Nah, I'm glad I have these beauties."
 
Ankerson said:
I had a guy that I used to work with who is a serious gun nut and has a ton of them etc.

He saw my SmF CC SW and asked how much it costs, because he really liked it.

I thought he was going to pass out when I told him.
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That's priceless. Looking back, I really should have snapped a picture of the aftermath. :thumbup:
 
I'd say it's definitely $40 or less. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be all of the cheap chinese knock-offs available like they are. I've got a couple of friends who have flea market booths at major markets in the area, and they won't stock a knife that costs more than $30 because they'll get stuck with it.

Also, you have to look at what's being sold in the big box stores. They're only going to stock products that move in volume. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, heck even Dick's, Cabela's, and Bass Pro Shops. Yes, the last three do stock some higher priced blades, but more often than not, they're still moving stuff under $30-$40. When at the local Bass Pro, the blades I wanted to buy last time I was shopping them weren't available, because they only order a couple at a time. They weren't anything I'd consider high priced either. One was a Kershaw Skyline and the other was a Cold Steel Voyager.
 
i think it's $30 max...preferably under $20...buck 110 is as good as it gets for most people...nothing wrong with that either; i got my 2...

and though the paranoid non-knife types offend me, hard core knife types can be just as freaky too...

--

i camp or visit the eastern sierras many times every year; NOBODY cares what brand of knife you're carrying, only if you got one...and for the record, mostly what i see being carried and used are buck 110 and 119's, and some model of leatherman...
 
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My family knows me as the "knife-guy." They know I spend money on knives and a few people think I'm crazy for doing so. I don't care. I think my cousins are crazy for spending $100/month on their IPhone's data plan. You can buy a couple of nice customs a year with that money. People spend money on things they like, for some people it's knives, for others it's clothes, cars, etc.
 
Here in the netherlands, most people think my Spyderco Tenacious is ridiculously expensive at 40 euros. Go figure.
 
bubblewhip said:
I'm just wondering what people who are not super into knives but require them, like hunters, campers, ect. expect to pay for a knife?

For me my perception is

Folder: under $50
Small fixed: under $60
Large fixed: Under $80
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I agree with your prices and I would certainly say these are the Max for the Non-Knife people of the world. My dad just showed me a case trapper he bought and he said it was the most expensive knife he has ever bought ( 62 years old ) and it was $50.00. Being a big time hunter throughout his life, you would think this number would be higher; this should say even more how accurate your prices are !!!
 
bubblewhip said:
I'm just wondering what people who are not super into knives but require them, like hunters, campers, ect. expect to pay for a knife?
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Not much. The sub $20 sold WAY faster than higher priced knives while I was working at Academy. Most of my friends consider $30 a lot to spend on a knife.
 
At the same time I think non-knife people are also more likely to overpay for an average knife due to automatically assuming that higher cost=better knife without the knowledge to know if that really is the case. This may be true in many cases but not all the time depending on pricing.

I have a neighbor who showed me his hunting knife he bought after the clerk told him he could skin 8 or 9 deer before he had to sharpen it because of the amazing steel. He's used it a few seasons and really likes it. I was interested to see what it was. He pulls out an Outdoor Edge skinner of some sort with AUS8 steel and told me he paid $120 for it. I complimented his knife and figured that ignorance is bliss. He likes it so I guess that's all that matters but I wonder if there is a placebo effect at work where he likes it even more because it cost more. Higher cost=more pride in ownership?

I don't know.

my .02
 
I have a BIL that buys these POS knives and then wants me to sharpen them for him. I have tried to educate him about knives but he says he always loses them and doesn't want to spend much on a knife. He is definately in the under $30 group and has an uncanny ability to avoid all the decent knives in the $30 and under range.
 
DMD08 said:
I have a neighbor who showed me his hunting knife he bought after the clerk told him he could skin 8 or 9 deer before he had to sharpen it because of the amazing steel. He's used it a few seasons and really likes it. I was interested to see what it was. He pulls out an Outdoor Edge skinner of some sort with AUS8 steel and told me he paid $120 for it.
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Sounds like a nice knife and AUS8 is a decent steel, but $120 - WOW!
I have seen plenty of knives that are made in China with 'stainless steel' stamped on the blade - I'd bet AUS8 is an amazing steel compared to that generic SS. Still, $120 sounds like a lot - I suspect the clerk was pushing that knife because the store was making a really good profit margin on it.
 
The best anecdote I know on this subject comes from a post Les Robertson wrote in a very interesting thread about custom knife prices on JD. I hope Les will not mind if I quote him:

"Several years ago a maker was set up at a 3 day show. Early into the a customer came to the table and asked the price of a knife. The maker replied to the customer..."Three Seventy Five." The customer walked away. But for the rest of weekend the maker caught him on the other side of the row "sneaking a peek" at the knife.

Finally, as the show was winding down the customer approached the maker and said "I see you still have the knife, being that the show is almost over are you willing to take less for it?" The maker replied "No, I'll take the knife home and put it on my website."

Shrugging the customer pulled out his wallet he said "Ok, I'll take it." Digging into his wallet he took out a $5 bill and handed it to the maker. The maker with a confused look on his face said "What's this?" The customer replied to the maker..."That is for the knife, I just need change and perhaps a bag to put the knife in."

Momentarily stunned, the maker had to figure out how to tell this person that the knife was $375...not $3.75.

Handing back his $5 bill he explained that he should have made it more clear that the knife was $375.00. The customer nodded and walked away.

Later he told me he didn't know which was sadder:

1) That this customer thought you get a custom folder for $3,75

2) Or that he spent 3 days of his life trying to get a better price than $3.75.

From then on he put stickers with prices on his knives."
 
LorenzoL said:
Handing back his $5 bill he explained that he should have made it more clear that the knife was $375.00. The customer nodded and walked away.

Later he told me he didn't know which was sadder:

1) That this customer thought you get a custom folder for $3,75

2) Or that he spent 3 days of his life trying to get a better price than $3.75.

From then on he put stickers with prices on his knives."
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Mind => blown! :eek:

Even accepting that the customer didn't have a clue about custom knives and the sort of money that they cost, believing the price to be $3.75 there is no excuse for taking longer than a millisecond to decide to buy it and definitely no excuse for trying to negotiate a cheaper price. I would have thought that even having no idea of the knife's value someone would realise it was expensive - like over $20, therefore $3.75 would have to seem like an absolute bargain.

Of course I fully understand why the uninitiated really don't understand what the differences are between a $300 knife & a $30 knife - both are made out of steel and can cut stuff, right? How many people that aren't knife nuts know that one stainless steel can be different from another? How many even know what stainless steel is apart from 'a steel that doesn't rust'? How many know what AUS-8, VG-10 or CPM-S30V is? How many know what micarta, frn or kydex is?

Until a year ago all I knew about stainless steel was that there were different grades available. That was because the instructions for my LM Wave had mentioned that some stainless was harder, but not quite as rust resistant and that the multi-tool I had purchased had the steel chosen for the best mix of rust resistance and blade hardness. I knew that stainless steel had more added to it than just carbon & iron and assumed that the percentages of different elements could be different to produce different characteristics. That was about it, that was the extent of my understanding of steels. I didn't even know that 'super steels' existed!

I have a $25 knife - an Ontario RAT-1. How many people can appreciate why they should pay $400 for a Sebenza instead of $25 for a RAT-1? It's not like the RAT-1 is poor quality or will fall apart in the first week! If you buy a RAT-1 and it does everything you want and it lasts over a decade then what could a $400 folder possibly offer that would make it worth spending that much more on? Only a fanatical knife knut would see the benefit in paying the extra to have a Sebenza, of course others would think that person is crazy!
 
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