If you were the owner of a major knife company...

Daniel Moore

Daniel Moore

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Jul 28, 2003
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Would you try to appeal to knife knuts or to average demographics?

For example, most people would laugh at the idea of spending even $20 on a knife. That's why SAK ripoff companies can survive- they have horribly substandard products (corkscrews bendable by fingers, blades that just seem to freely wobble when open), and yet people will happily pay $1 for that dollarstore knife than to pay $15-20 for a Victorinox Soldier that could be a great investment. Conversely, there are the steel-snob, picky, spendy knife knuts :D like ourselves that would pay >$100 without much thought. So, do you think it would pay off to focus on producing high end knives with a modest but respectable selection of economy options like Benchmade or Spyderco, to focus on mostly low end knives, or to have a lot of mediocre knives that are neither a low price nor a great make (like I've noticed Gerber has been doing with its single blade folders)?

Of course, on principal, I'd much rather produce high end knives, but I wonder which would be a better payoff financially?
 
Sadly, I think you would make more profit by focusing on cheap junk knives. You have to remember that your average person isn't a knife nut, and does not have a clue as to what a good knife is. If the knife looks cool and is made of some mystery stainless steel, they will most likely buy it. They are not looking for quality, they are looking for cheap.

If I owned a knife company, I would focus on high end and mid range knives. I would have a "value" line that had a street price of around $40.00 - $50.00, and a "high end" line of $100.00 and up. Spyderco and BM seem to follow this model with good results.

Even though I wouldn't make as much money, I would rather sell quality that junk.
 
Short answer? Yes.

I think that benchmade does it best...and they are blatent of doing it. Look at the colors the use...Red box, cheap, foreign made, fine for people who know nothing.

Blue line...good knives that knife guys can use and like, adn will cost some money.

Gold line...customs and what not...for knife nuts

black line...for knife nuts and people who need a good sturdy knife for whatever...think military knives.





I would run it kind of like that. I would make good knives, and I would hopefully make knives that would pay the bills...but I wouldnt sacrifice what I stand for...which is hopefully american made and a good product. i would not make knock-offs, but would hopefully be able to borrow a few designs with permission.
 
Depends on what suits you! If you are the kind of guy who thinks selling a 5 dollar knock off is the way to put bread on the table at night.... then that is the way to go. If you are the type of guy who wouldnt put his name on a piece of junk, they you are like most of the higher end builders....

I dont mean this to insult anyone but an example would be...

You can be like most people out there and own a vehicle just that will get them from point A to point B and not care what the car is made of, stuff used to build it, what it is capable of doing.... OR you can be the kind of guy who wouldnt set his feet into a car unless it met his strict needs. Cornering, acceleration, capablility etc... Going back to knives, ANY semi sharp knife out there will cut a box, a piece of paper, a cord/rope, etc etc... but only a good knife is going to do all of that and last a long time. While your on your 15th walmart special, ill be resharpening my original real deal knife. Thats where I stand. I will never use JUNK. JUNK belongs in the trash, not in my pocket.
 
Only good knives for me. Not necessarily Sebenza-quality, but a knife someone could rely on. I wouldn't want anything with my name on it to be the cause of someone losing his fingers.
 
The ripoff companies make more I'm sure. If it costs you $0.03 including shipping to get a junk knife and you sell the knife for $5.00 that is about 16,567% profit. Hark to knock those margins.

In comparison, there are some knives that don't even get marked up 100%. Some companies offer a whopping 10% profit margin. So, you invest $400 and you get $40 profit when you sell it.

I couldn't peddle crap anyway, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
 
If I were a knife maker, which I hope to be in the semi-near future, I wouldn't sell anything I wouldn't put my name on. I wouldn't make anything I wouldn't buy and put in my pocket if someone else made it.

If I owned a major knife company, I'd run it like Sal runs Spyderco.
 
I would try and balance things by offering a more affordable line of basic working knives along with more expensive ones. If Spyderco and Benchmade are able to do this and make money I see no reason why it couldn't work. No matter what I wouldn't want to sell a cheap POS knife or knockoffs.

I think that in general most people could care less about what type of materials are in a knife. Cheap pot metal looks pretty much the same as any good steel, so it must be the same thing, right? To most people the biggesr factor involved in making any buying decision is price.
 
I would go for the knife community, with a ranging line of tacticals, old styles etc. I would work with established custom makers for original knife designs. I would create a foreign made line, or a cheaper American made line, to be sold to the junk shops, WalMart, Kmart, all the sportings goods stores etc. I would have to serve both the knife community and the non knife community to make a profit, as I was just starting out. If the low end knife (notice I said low end, not low quality) was doing well enough after I had garnered a reputation, I would sell that and focus more on my higher end products.
 
ErikD said:
I would try and balance things by offering a more affordable line of basic working knives along with more expensive ones. If Spyderco and Benchmade are able to do this and make money I see no reason why it couldn't work. No matter what I wouldn't want to sell a cheap POS knife or knockoffs.

I think that in general most people could care less about what type of materials are in a knife. Cheap pot metal looks pretty much the same as any good steel, so it must be the same thing, right? To most people the biggesr factor involved in making any buying decision is price.
Click to expand...
Price is a big factor, so most people think a $5 China special is way better than a $60 Spyderco. What we consider a cheap knife, most people think is way too much for a knife!
 
Honestly, you can make money either way, so my ethics-o-meter would push me toward the knife knuts, and maybe have a line intended for the masses. Kinda like BMW and Mercedes. The cheapest ones run in the 20's, but you can spend more than six figures for the top of the line model.

Keep in mind that if a domestic company were to make cheap $#!+ knives, they would probably be sued out of existance.
 
I would go with high end production knives. Something along the lines of Lone Wolf knives or Mercworx only with designs that appeal more to me. Priced between $125-$300 As long as I can make a living, I would be more intent with the fact that I personally like my knives allot and that requires great materials and high quality that only comes with higher end knives
 
The problem is we are a very small part of the whole knife market. People here at BF appreciate fine cutlery and think about our purchases seriously. Most regular buyers of knives really don't care about quality and are more tuned into the cost. To answer the question, I would sell knives with the highest quality materials available and take the chance of making less money by serving the "real" knife buyers.
Scott
 
A friend asked me hw much one of my recent purchases cost. I told her it was fairly inexpensive, around $70. She looked horrified. I explained that it was an SOG folder, a very high quality knife for the price.

I showed it to her, and she told me that I could go down to Wal Mart and get a bigger knife for a whole lot less. Yes I could...

Some people have told me that I'm a snob in my knives, I carry a Kershaw every day and it cost more than twice (maybe three or four times) what a lot of people's EDCs cost. I've been asked how can I pay that much for a knife and then treat it the way I treat my Kershaw. I tell them, I treat my Kershaw the way I treat it because I know it can handle it, and I feel safe doing it. I would never go to Wal Mart and pay $10 for a Winchester and expect it to handle what I put my Kershaw through. If I did, I'd be missing some feingers.

If I owned a big company, I think I'd do what a lot of you are saying. I would offer a lower end knife in the $25 to $50 range that's nothign special, but will get the job done and is quality made. It surprises me that people will spend $5 for a knife that will very likely close on their finger if they're not careful.

You have to start somewhere though... Case, Kershaw, Camillus, Schrade, all the old American companies started selling inexpensive, but good quality knives. That's why they're still around (except for Shrade).

You have to build a reputation building knives that people can afford and use, and once you've done that, they'll come back and buy your more expensive, specialized stuff.

Ben
 
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