Knife prices

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Triton

Triton

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There's an argument to be made that we knife loving types have never had it so good. There's more companies and makers, more designs, more steels just plain more options than any time in recent history. That's pretty great.

I've been noting a trend lately however that I've wondered about and that's the general price of knives seems to be going up at a prodigious rate. Some of that, of course, is certainly general inflation. Everything has gone up at a prodigious rate in the recent past. Some of that is undoubtedly I'm getting older (as are we all) and back in the "good old days" knives cost a fraction of what they do now. (I was also paid a fraction of what I am now as well, but nevermind.) However, I can't help wondering if there is more to it than that.

For example, in the latest of a particular magazine I get there's a knife that has a 2.5 inch blade of cpm 154 stainless, wenge handles with yellow liners. The knife is convex ground and isn't even what I would call highly finished, with slab handles, one pin and one tube for 300 bucks.

Another is a flipper folder, it's got a mosaic damascus blade and a micarta handle and is flat ground. It's priced at 3500 dollars.

Still another is a kitchen knife. it has a river of fire damascus blade with an aboyna handle it's very pretty and it's going to run you 4600 dollars.

I don't begrudge the makers the chance to sell their knives and if they can command those sorts of prices good for them! However, asking isn't getting. Have you purchased a knife like these lately?

I just wonder, are there truly that many customers with that sort money to spend? Is the industry headed towards a "jumping the shark moment" where people say "enough is enough, I'm not paying hundreds of thousands of dollars no matter how pretty it looks or what super steel is used?"

Or am I just badly out of touch and need to go yell at those kids to get off my lawn again?
 
Prices are getting out of hand. Everyone is free to spend their money on what they like, but I feel the entire knife industry is heading towards a crash and burn. Prices and values are kinda all over the place now, and I am finding it hard to make sense of it all. I just don't see how the current market is sustainable, but I have been wrong before.
 
Triton said:
I'm not paying hundreds of thousands of dollars no matter how pretty it looks or what super steel is used?"

Or am I just badly out of touch and need to go yell at those kids to get off my lawn again?
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I hope you meant hundreds or thousands of dollars. Otherwise, I'm even more woefully out of touch.
 
This topic has been discussed many times on the forum and likely will continue to be. I agree prices are high. But as long as demand is high and supply low prices will increase. I do not see this tanking anytime soon. As for me, I buy fewer high end knives and focus more on moderately priced options such as spyderco.
 
I was saying This a few years agobefore the COVID bubble, but In my opinion, I was thinking prices might of dropped, or maybe didn't go Up as high as years previously this year/24? Idk.

I'll look at custom fixed blades and you can get some pretty nice knives for 300-500.

Occasionally I see old ads from gun shows/knife shows from around the 80s-90's. Then, their 300 dollar knives don't seem as good as today's $300 knives.

So if the price is the same, but the quality is better today, than tells me what?

But yes, prices are All over the map....some seem too high, but then Here some makers sell too low.
It's Screwy. Hard to define, I think it makes for great conversation.
 
A cornerstone of knife making for me is to always deliver value. My goal is never to make as much profit as possible, but instead to make my knives as affordable as possible for customers and hope that volume makes it work from a financial perspective. I know I'm not alone in operating with this business model.

Pricing in the knife market will always be all over the board, but I know if I am delivering value, I can sleep at night.

Rule #1: Never be greedy.
 
seems the makers have realized the prices are generally too high or the demand has weakened or both........ as I see far more bigger drops on sales than typical. this last year mainly i started noticing it. even on brands that typically didn't do sales except on discontinued models.

course the market has become over saturated with brands and models and options as well. least imo.
 
Just for reference, a $100 knife in 2004 -- the year I joined BF -- would be $167 today, if only inflation is considered.

A $300 knife, would be $501 today.

But we've had more than inflation since 2004. We now have better steels, better locks, more advanced engineering, more innovation, etc.
 
Actually I would argue that pricing is just all over the map now compared to a decade or two before. I'd chalk it up to two factors; China really upping their knife game and flooding the market with options, and social media driving more hype for a handful of models. The expensive knives are more expensive, but the value knives are an even better value.

So it's true that there are a few knives out there that seem much more expensive than the in-demand knives of yesteryear (I remember Hinderer was one of the more egregious examples with street prices a couple hundred over list; now the hyped knives sell for a much heftier markup). But it's also true that your dollar goes a lot further if you know where to put it. Now you can get a titanium framelock with nice steel for $50 in some cases, whereas before I think the cheapest option was the Bradley Alias at more like $200.
 
I can come closer to understanding a $2000 knife than a $2000 watch. And when it comes to watches, $2000 really isn't much.
 
One of the great things about collecting custom knives is the phenomenal variation in the product and the price. There is generally something for everyone.

If you look at prices of customs for sale online you will see some brilliant knives for sale between $500-$700 and you will see some absolute garbage in the thousands........and vice versa.

Pick your threshold and price point and I promise you will find something great to buy.
 
Twindog said:
Just for reference, a $100 knife in 2004 -- the year I joined BF -- would be $167 today, if only inflation is considered.

A $300 knife, would be $501 today.

But we've had more than inflation since 2004. We now have better steels, better locks, more advanced engineering, more innovation, etc.
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Agree on the impact of inflation.

Also agree on the increased costs due to advancements in the art. The higher performance steels commonly being used today in high end knives are more expensive to produce and are also more difficult to machine into knives. That increases the cost of production. G10 and Titanium are also common in high end knives today. They were not common 20 years ago. Titanium is expensive. G10 must be individually machined into knife handles, so it also is expensive.
 
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