How much do you think it costs CRK to make a Sebenza?

R

RedSox

Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
124
I think that it's worth every penny, but I still would like to know how much of a profit CRK makes off of one of these knives. I have no idea how much titanium costs, or how many hours of labor goes into each knife.

What are your guesses?
 
My guess is probably not much money. I don't know all the processes, but consider the machinery, the labor, the steel prices (Always going up), advertising, mail outs, man hours, knife shows, research and development. They obviously profit some, but they do it for the love of the knife and I think that is worth more than money to them :)
 
I have wondered this myself. I would imagine it would cost at least $150 for a basic, small Sebenza, if not more. That blade grind must take quite some time.
 
Ever hear the story about the TV repairman who was in his shop when a man brought in his TV and said, "It stopped working."

The repairman plugged it in, looked at it for a few minutes, then gave it a sharp bang on the side with the heel of his hand. The picture and sound came back on perfectly.

"That'll be $100." he said.

The outraged customer fumed, "$100!!! All you did was bang it with your hand! I demand that you write up an itemized bill!"

So the repairman went to the desk, wrote out a bill, and handed it to the customer:

1) Hitting one TV with hand: $5.00
2) Knowing where to hit TV: $95.00

Total: $100.
 
Or perhaps the story of the lady who came upon Pablo Picasso sitting on a park bench and gushed, "Oh, Mr. Picasso, I would just love it if you would draw a sketch of me!"

The old master made a few strokes with his pencil, handed it to the woman, and said, "that will be $1,000."

"What?" She screamed. "$1,000!!! Why it only took you 30 seconds to make that sketch!"

"No, my dear lady," Picasso replied, "it took me all my life."
 
IamMatt said:
Or perhaps the story of the lady who came upon Pablo Picasso sitting on a park bench and gushed, "Oh, Mr. Picasso, I would just love it if you would draw a sketch of me!"

The old master made a few strokes with his pencil, handed it to the woman, and said, "that will be $1,000."

"What?" She screamed. "$1,000!!! Why it only took you 30 seconds to make that sketch!"

"No, my dear lady," Picasso replied, "it took me all my life."
Click to expand...

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
In another thread somebody said that it costs only $2 to make a knife...:D
 
I agree with Laken. Watch the DVD. I studied Accounting and Economics in college and cost and profit can mean different things to different people. In raw materials yeah the cost is probably minimal but it's the hand work and machinery cost that will "bump" the price up. It takes two years of training to grind a Sebenza blade properly. Many blades don't make the cut. Those costs need to be factored in. In the end the market sets the price and cost be damned. When the price falls below what Chris is willing to sell for then he will stop making knives or lower the prices.;)
 
I have always heard that the price of a product basically doubles every time it changes hands. If that is true in this case, a $400 sebenza would cost $100 to make. Knife dealers would buy it from CRK for $200 and sell it for $400. I'm sure CRKs love it when people order directly from them since they can cut out the middle man and triple their profit.
 
From what I understand,there does not seem to be alot of markup in knives.I have checked into buying as a Dealer from a couple of places and there is not,at leist from what I have seen.I bought a large wood inlay sebby for $325 including shipping and was told by the guy he lost a Buck on the deal,but didn't want to pay taxes at the end of the year on it.

MPE
 
I've always heard that Glock pistols cost $70 to make. But you then have to add the additional equipment, packaging, shipping to the distributor, various paperwork they have to file with gov agencies. All of that cost money which is of course passed on to the consumer.

Maybe it does cost $20 to build a Sebenza, maybe it's $100....I don't know.

But on top of the cost to build a Knife we have to add other costs. They don't get a free place to build the product so they have to pay for a manufacturing facility. Utilities aren't free either so utilities have to be paid for. Knives don't build themselves so you need employees which not only includes payroll but workmans comp, health insurance. You have to pay taxes to the city and state. And this is just off the top of my head as I'm sure theres other expenses.

Not to mention that Mr Reeves has to live in a home, eat and live a life like anyone else. He doesn't live in the shop sleeping ontop of a CNC machine you know.
 
MPE said:
From what I understand,there does not seem to be alot of markup in knives.I have checked into buying as a Dealer from a couple of places and there is not,at leist from what I have seen.I bought a large wood inlay sebby for $325 including shipping and was told by the guy he lost a Buck on the deal,but didn't want to pay taxes at the end of the year on it.

MPE
Click to expand...

Hmm surefire gets 40% retail mark up, my friend sells those to me at cost, don't know about Chris Reeve but would be something similar. Nobody is in the business to lose money so if retail for wood inlay is $450.00 - 40% would be around $280.00 dealer price. He still made a buck off you, assuming CRK does get the 40% mark up. But i would expect so because most premium brands get this kind of mark up.
 
hmmm.... i would be willing to bet that they arent making nearly as much off the blades as one would think...... as a business owner i know the expenses involved in just operating..... cant imagine what they pay a year in workmans comp..... jeez
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top