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

Mike157 said:
My memory is a bit foggy on this one so I hope I get it straight....A while back I read an on-line review of a fairly expensive knife, I think in the $300 range, for Field and Stream Magazine (I hope I got the magazine right). The review was very positive. What sticks with me is that I would say 90% of the comments to the review were pretty close to hostile in that they felt the magazine should not be reviewing knives in that price range. Most of the commentators thought owning a knife like that was ridiculous and that anything they needed could be had for well under $100 - probably closer to the $25 to $50 range.
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I'd say that most of those folks would be correct :D:thumbup::D

Anybody remember when they were a NKP? My first good knife that I bought and paid for was a CRKT Hammond Cruiser. I paid what I thought was a huge amount of money for it. $75. I paid way too much for the knife, but I thought I was buying something of very good quality that I could abuse and would last me for many years.

At work I always ask the other welders what they figure my knives are worth. The general consensus is between 15-45% of what I actually paid for them. I remember one time I was showing an older guy my brand new BM Rukus. He said it must be a real nice knife since it came with it's own pocket clip! He refused to believe me when I told him how much I paid for it.
 
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So I'm in the minority when I say the most expensive knife I've considered buying in the last 6 months was $15?
 
me2 said:
So I'm in the minority when I say the most expensive knife I've considered buying in the last 6 months was $15?
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Hi,

Possibly, but there are some very good choices even at that price. Moras, some SAK's, or Opinels.

dalee
 
Bill1170 said:
Only here. You are in the majority in the "real world."
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bingo...

...and moras are decent utility fixed blades, nothing more; they are "awesome" only because they are ultra easy to afford...i use 3-4 of them myself...
 
The average price for a fixed blade knife in Sweden for "non knife nuts" is about 30 SEK or about 4 USD. That is the price of a common Mora clone.
Folders are also about 5 USD at the discount store. Usually it is chinese copies. Therefore people doesnt understand why my knife cost 100 USD while there knife, that looks about exactly the same, is just 5 bucks. They think I got robbed :)
 
hell, i work with a self proclaimed 'knife nut' who won't spend more than $20 on a folder. We compared knives on his first day, think I had my Tenacious on me, asked him who made his and what steel, he didn't know. After I told him what a good deal the Tenacious was for around $30, he started coming back in with "great deals" on S&W knives from big 5 that he got for 15, but normally go for double that...

I don't get on my high horse or anything to him, because he's happy with it. I just try to subtly nudge him into the "good" category of affordable knives. Brought in my Opinel-he cut himself bad :P My opinel seems to cut everyone, they see a little, unobtrusive knife that's all "stained", and they go right to thumbing the razor edge... Showed him a Mora, my spydies, try to have real basic talks about blade steel/heat treat and lock design, etc...

he's not catching on
 
^^ oh and this same 'knife nut' like to take a dremel to his edge, then use a butcher's steel to get "shaving sharp" his edges are seriously so depressing looking... :( I mentioned sharpening techniques one day, and brought up convex edges. Well, his edges are basically ROUND, but he likes to call them convex now...
 
Might be interesting to ask Mike Dye at New Graham how many of his customers coming in to pick up prescriptions had moved up from lower priced knives after being exposed to his inventory. :)
 
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Wal-Mart is a good indicator because they devote real effort analyzing what the average people would most likely buy. I think the most expensive folder they have is in the $50 range (a Kershaw).
 
Most non-knife people would have a problem with spending $10.00 on a knife and are perfectly hayyp going looking for scissors every time they need to cut something.
 
Sep said:
Wal-Mart is a good indicator because they devote real effort analyzing what the average people would most likely buy. I think the most expensive folder they have is in the $50 range (a Kershaw).
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Only problem with using Wal-Mart as an indicator is that for an awful lot of their customers it's the only place they shop so they don't see many options. Plus they are only going to carry items they can buy at volume and discount heavily.
Even so, that price point is certainly pretty close to correct.
If you look at Amazon, there are a lot of higher priced items available, but in a listing of best selling knives almost everything in the first 10 pages is under $75.
 
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me2 said:
So I'm in the minority when I say the most expensive knife I've considered buying in the last 6 months was $15?
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that's completely fine, in my opinion. There are plenty of 100% capable blades out there that cost 15 dollars. Some may perform better than 2-300 dollar customs.
 
Alann45 said:
Only problem with using Wal-Mart as an indicator is that for an awful lot of their customers it's the only place they shop so they don't see many options. Plus they are only going to carry items they can buy at volume and discount heavily.
Even so, that price point is certainly pretty close to correct.
If you look at Amazon, there are a lot of higher priced items available, but in a listing of best selling knives almost everything in the first 10 pages is under $75.
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Amazon caters to a slightly different market, which is relatively internet savvy people that more likely has higher education and higher income. Walmart has much bigger market, thus more accurate sampling. The concept of "expensive" is relative, so I have no doubt that Walmart will carry $80 knives if enough people buy them. Enough people buy $800 flat screen TVs from them, so they keep carrying those TVs.
 
I have two thoughts on this subject. The first is that some knife nuts really don't have a clue, just ask the custom makers. Many believe the whole highend steel thing is simply a gimmic and believe it is all about heat treat. I tend to agree.

Example: First knife purchased was a buck fixed blade that I used for hunting and fishing. Back then they cost about $30. Then I got in to knives and started buying more expensive knives looking for something that performed better. Thousands of dollars and about $150 knive later I still had not found a blade that would hold an edge like the buck. The blade was a flavor of 420 but the heat treat on that knife was special.

There is nothing wrong with buying highend blades with special steel just because. Buying a highend blade that has a weakness in the area that affects the application you intend to use it mena you bought the wrong blade and waisted money.

Butchers use blade with a mid grage steel because they can sharpen them very easy with a steel. With the couple extra cuts they might make with
ATS 34 or D2 it will not out weigh the time it would take to get the edge back. Using S30V around bone all day?

In my neck of the woods I would say $80 to $150 would be more like what I've seen people use. In all my years hunting I can only remember seeing a lowend (sub $30 blade) knife twice.

I still buy knives in the $40 to $120 range when new factory knives come out simply because I like to try them out. I'll buy as many as 4 or 5 a year to test while hunting, my last to this month list just over $100.

I was in Dick's last month looking to see what knives they sold and three people walked out with SOG blades while I was there.

As to fishermen...I've yet to find a blade that works better than my $20 wooden handled knife made for that job. I always wonder if I should just throw them away when the loose their edge. Don't tell anyone but I use one of those to cut up deer sometimes too. They hold a edge better than most and I really do throw them away after that. :)
 
The point that Wal-Mart buys in volume and discounts so heavily is a absolute indicator that most people buy lower priced knives. If they didn't, Wal-Mart wouldn't buy the volume that it does.

I'd almost guarantee that more knives are sold through Wal-Mart in a year than most of the knife stores/sporting goods stores combined sell.

There are over 4000 Wal-Marts, if each one sells 10 knives a day, that's 40,000 knives a day. Even if each store only sells 5 knives a day, that's 20,000 knives a day.

I worked there are 7 years until 2000. That year, the company as a whole, including Wal-mart, Sams Club, and Buds Wholesale did $330 BILLION in sales. Yes, billion. That was more than EVERY other big box retailer in the U.S. combined.

Take my word for it, NO ONE can touch Wal-Mart when it comes to volume sales.

As sorry as it is, what Wal-Mart sells is THE indicator of what the average consumer is looking for, regardless of what it may be.

I would say that if you're a member of this forum, then you aren't going to be classified as the average knife buyer.
 
For christmas this year buy all your friends and family a good kitchen knife. I bought one for my wife years ago because I couldn't stand using her knife of choice. Her kids came over and used the knife and now they have all bought the same set she has, as have their friends.

Many do it because that is all they know. It is up to us to change the world one knife at a time. :)
 
Whatever an average SAK costs. That's the default knife most people are going to have, it's certainly the de facto sheeple friendly knife. Also makes my red scallion a great knife as usually people see red handle and steel blade and think it's a SAK.
 
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