How much do the various steels affect knife cost?

Machine work, tools and dies, supply and demand, extra man hours, all these are probably more of the cost associated with the newer premium steels than the cost of the steel itself from a supplier.

Like anything else that is an improvement, adds value, highly desirable or involves more work it usually garners more $ . I think that’s one reason why makers put some more aesthetically pleasing materials and finish on the premium blades so it looks more expensive. Lol.
 
K.O.D. said:
Some of these "super" steels are very difficult to machine, and/or are very hard on the tooling. Some may require special tooling the company doesn't have.

So a lot more goes in to the cost of the blade than the raw steel. This is why companies like Spyderco only offer these steels in sprint runs. It's too costly to their machinery for full production runs and/or they lack the quantity of appropriate equipment for full production runs.
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Agreed. There is a video of BBB grinding REX 121 and he flies through Norton Blaze belts.

He had more cost in the belts alone than the steel itself and by a significant margin.
 
I am glad you posted this, because I was considering asking the same thing but from a slightly different perspective in looking at the low end of the spectrum. Around Christmas you see the holiday pack special import Buck and Kerahaw knives in the big box stores, and they are usually run in 3cr13. I am wondering why anybody would use this blade steel? Would a 420hc or 440a really be that much difference in price? Unless there is a massive difference in steel prices I can’t see it making that much difference in the cost of the finished product. I have tried to look up the prices of these Chinese steel stocks but haven’t really been able to find much in the way of good info and I don’t want to reach out to distributors for bogus quotes. I would think the cost of these lower end steels wouldn’t be that much different but maybe I’m wrong
 
Isn't heat treat on a high end steel way more complex (for one).

You can heat threat 1095 in your back yard.
 
Compare the prices of the base $60 Civivi Elementum to the WE Knives Elementum. Top of the line WE at $635 is Damasteel with titanium frame. IMHO there is no practical advantage in use between the two. In fact, few would likely put the more expensive one to hard use for fear of misusing it. It’s all flash.
 
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chevyrulez1 said:
I am glad you posted this, because I was considering asking the same thing but from a slightly different perspective in looking at the low end of the spectrum. Around Christmas you see the holiday pack special import Buck and Kerahaw knives in the big box stores, and they are usually run in 3cr13. I am wondering why anybody would use this blade steel? Would a 420hc or 440a really be that much difference in price? Unless there is a massive difference in steel prices I can’t see it making that much difference in the cost of the finished product. I have tried to look up the prices of these Chinese steel stocks but haven’t really been able to find much in the way of good info and I don’t want to reach out to distributors for bogus quotes. I would think the cost of these lower end steels wouldn’t be that much different but maybe I’m wrong
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Well, as these knives are made in China, Chinese steel is going to be cheaper. Some of these same factories also make the cheap counterfeit/knockoff knives, so probably have a supply of 3cr etc on hand.
 
There are examples of less expensive knives with better steel and vice versa.i wouldn't consider 154CM "high end" but plenty of knives approaching $300 use it. Many over $300 too. I've even seen knives using D2 north of $500 yet others using S30V or S45VN below $200.
 
New Old Stock, end runs and bulk buys all affect cost of production runs. But ultimately the market pegs the number.
 
There are only 3 grades of steel that significantly affect the end cost of knives:
1. Adamantium
2. Vibranium
3. Unobtainium

Not only does their failure to actually exist add significantly to final knife price, but it takes copious amounts of top shelf bourbon to believe they are real.

In that way, they’re quite similar to a Survive! knife.
 
So if I read correctly, Ontario should not charge 3× more for upgrading the mouse I mean the Rat 3× of the price just because of a steel/handle material change yes or no?
 
No one really speaks of handle material as a function of cost. Considering the World's events and 90% of Titanium comes from Russia, an alternative handle matieral to Ti could avoid 500 dollar Benchmades, 475 dollar Ti handled Buck 110's and 750+ Sebenzas...
 
goldie said:
So im wondering if Spyderco and Benchmade are still using S30v maybe because they are getting a ton of it real cheap ?
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From what I can see, S30V is very similar in cost to other CPM steels like S35VN, S45VN, Cruwear, and CPM-154. S90V is a bit more expensive and 20CV is considerably more expensive. I'm looking at Niagara Specialty Metals' pricing.

Like many have said, I'm sure part of the cost with some steels is the time and consumables used in addition to the material itself. Something like S90V is going to burn through consumables because of its excellent wear resistance.
 
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