Knife prices

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On the topic of some of those (what I would consider) ultra-high-end knives you spoke of, those makers tend to have a long roster of longtime customers who will absolutely pay those prices for knives from that specific maker. Others will see these sought-after makers with decades of followers commanding these prices and make similar knives and price theirs in the same range, only to see it go for an undisclosed deep discount on a secondary market sales page. So, it's kind of all over the place.

However, some of the companies we're seeing raise their prices lately have effectively priced themselves out of consideration for many. One specific company that just mystifies me with their actions at this point is Benchmade. Their prices have been bonkers for the last year, and then last week my inbox was inundated with emails from all of the knife sales companies like Knifecenter, BHQ, etc. all talking about "Come get your Benchmade now, prices will be going up January 1st!!!" I got the same notification for Spyderco as well. I love Benchmades and I love Spydercos, but it's going to take a very special knife to get me to purchase at prices far beyond what I personally feel they're worth. I won't go into specifics, but there's a reason why I have stopped purchasing as many knives from certain makers as I used to, and it's not because I can't afford it, it's because I choose not to. And yes, I have no problem admitting it* that I have purchased more knives made in China this year than at any time in my knife collecting journey in the past decade. Not only am I enjoying some of these inexpensive knives, but getting them in, I'm starting to have a hard time defending our American companies when they charge what they do.

This isn't to say that I buy primarily overseas made knives, but there is definitely a reason why I've started to enjoy knives from companies like Rosecraft and Flytanium in the last few months. They're good, really good, and like American knives of old, represent a good product and I'm still supporting an American company. I have many, many expensive knives, but at some point, it gets old paying $400+ for another knife for the collection. I've got a case full of knives costing that (and a lot more!) sitting within arm's reach right now, but I've got a $60 knife from Flytanium in my pocket right now that's a lot of fun, and I can just enjoy using it, and fidgiting with it (since the crossbar lock they had their Chinese OEM install on these is better than Benchmade's AXIS lock, I said what I said).

At the end of the day, people will spend what they think it's worth if they want the product. I personally think some of these companies are doing this just to see what they can get away with, and when sales start cratering, you'll see prices come down....but not back to where they were.

Business Decision Making Guy at Knife Company XYZ: "Huh, so people were willing to spend $300 for this knife that was $145 back in the day, but NOT $400...iiiiiiinteresting....ok then, mark them all down back to $300."

That's where we're at in 2024, going into 2025.



Unnecessarily rude remark removed by staff, rather than issue a warning. This is not the place.
 
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jbmonkey said:
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.
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This. The "New Knives" pages of all the big dealers these days, it's hard to believe how quick the turnover is. New knives seem to be dropping every week these days, it's crazy how many companies are pumping more knives out than ever.
 
I always get a chuckle when everyone is a monocle-wearing pure capitalist until the things we want cost more than we would prefer, then we scurry to our dark Bolshevik corners sipping the wines of revolution:D

Knives cost what they cost. I think a lot of things can be true at once. Coming from an industry where components and whole foods are made months and months in advance of when they are planned on being sold/used, I think a great deal of what we are seeing is inflation speculation. All of the stuff it takes to make stuff cost more. All the stuff used to make stuff kept costing more. It keeps increasing the cost to produce a good as you make it more complex. If all of the components going into a knife went up, the whole good is going to have been hit with price increases multiple times. That doesn't even get into wage increases and the negotiations of workers deciding if they want to stay or go in a job market that favors them. Then of course there are more expensive materials and the more expensive tooling to work with them.

Some of it was indeed inflationary. Some of it was blood-from-a-stone practices. I have seen prices decrease, which is sometimes rare when you want to keep inflation low but stable and not negative. I think what you will see is market correction where some of the speculation came in higher than they were anticipating, and if the knife sales are sluggish so they drop the prices in line to where they "should" be...should being a relative word as anything "should" be priced at the point where it sells for the maximum profit if you are still wearing your monocle;).

In my industry, I have seen massive price increases (not just inflation), then a contraction of prices as our market cooled a bit post pandemic, and what I usually see is the manufacturers just hold the price squeezing a bit more out of me only to go up naturally over time as natural inflation catches up to their padding.
 
Quiet said:
On the topic of some of those (what I would consider) ultra-high-end knives you spoke of, those makers tend to have a long roster of longtime customers who will absolutely pay those prices for knives from that specific maker. Others will see these sought-after makers with decades of followers commanding these prices and make similar knives and price theirs in the same range, only to see it go for an undisclosed deep discount on a secondary market sales page. So, it's kind of all over the place.

However, some of the companies we're seeing raise their prices lately have effectively priced themselves out of consideration for many. One specific company that just mystifies me with their actions at this point is Benchmade. Their prices have been bonkers for the last year, and then last week my inbox was inundated with emails from all of the knife sales companies like Knifecenter, BHQ, etc. all talking about "Come get your Benchmade now, prices will be going up January 1st!!!" I got the same notification for Spyderco as well. I love Benchmades and I love Spydercos, but it's going to take a very special knife to get me to purchase at prices far beyond what I personally feel they're worth. I won't go into specifics, but there's a reason why I have stopped purchasing as many knives from certain makers as I used to, and it's not because I can't afford it, it's because I choose not to. And yes, I have no problem admitting it* that I have purchased more knives made in China this year than at any time in my knife collecting journey in the past decade. Not only am I enjoying some of these inexpensive knives, but getting them in, I'm starting to have a hard time defending our American companies when they charge what they do.

This isn't to say that I buy primarily overseas made knives, but there is definitely a reason why I've started to enjoy knives from companies like Rosecraft and Flytanium in the last few months. They're good, really good, and like American knives of old, represent a good product and I'm still supporting an American company. I have many, many expensive knives, but at some point, it gets old paying $400+ for another knife for the collection. I've got a case full of knives costing that (and a lot more!) sitting within arm's reach right now, but I've got a $60 knife from Flytanium in my pocket right now that's a lot of fun, and I can just enjoy using it, and fidgiting with it (since the crossbar lock they had their Chinese OEM install on these is better than Benchmade's AXIS lock, I said what I said).

At the end of the day, people will spend what they think it's worth if they want the product. I personally think some of these companies are doing this just to see what they can get away with, and when sales start cratering, you'll see prices come down....but not back to where they were.

Business Decision Making Guy at Knife Company XYZ: "Huh, so people were willing to spend $300 for this knife that was $145 back in the day, but NOT $400...iiiiiiinteresting....ok then, mark them all down back to $300."

That's where we're at in 2024, going into 2025.



edit by staff...
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I had to check the avatar, twice, to make sure that I didn't type this. ^^^

Get outta' my brain. 🙂
 
My limit for buying any knife is currently $500.

I've only exceeded that limit a few times to buy what I consider "grail" knives.

Went on a buying binge this year after taking 2023 off and will be taking 2025 off too.

I've got 8 days to make my final purchases for 2024.

Averaging what I spent in 2024 over 3 years makes it seem less extravagant. :cool:
 
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Triton said:
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.
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Go ahead, buy one already, do something for the economy! Cheaper than a car, a boat or a girlfriend, in that order …

On a serious note, I try to think about how many working hours went into the knife, and I can tell you for sure that many - of our makers at least - are underselling their knives.
 
Thankfully we have a very healthy secondary market full of knife nerds (including myself) that don’t use them. So you can pretty much get nib knives heavily discounted. I rarely buy any knives new unless it’s a drop from my favorite maker.

The secondary market has plunged since last year so it’s actually a great time to be buying.
 
There will be a correction in the knife market and after the shake up, there will be fewer companies. Easy to guess which will be around just by looking at your favorite knife retailer's website. This reminds me of what happened to the US hand tool industry. Where is it now?

None of this applies to the very high end art & collectible market as it is different beast. People buying that stuff are not the hoi polloi like you and me.
 
J. Doyle said:
1. A knife is worth what someone will pay for it.

2. If you think a knife is overpriced, try making it yourself, exactly like it and then see if you still think it's overpriced.
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Amen,

Who knows. Maybe he would be a fantastic maker?

Or he would appreciate the differences between what is assumed to all be the same because it has a blade and a handle.

It's a win-win.
 
Any craft will have the ultra-high end, all art does.

Yes, some people have the money for those knives in the thousands.

A $5,000 knife isn't much cash compared to some of the higher end watches out there for example.
 
For me the equation is very simple; the more expensive knives get, the fewer that I buy. I have enough knives to last me the rest of my life, so it must really speak to me for me to pay the asking prices. It is capitalism, they ask what they think a knife will sell for. That doesn't mean that I am obligated to pay it. I vote with my feet and keep on walking.
 
TouhouFan said:
Any craft will have the ultra-high end, all art does.

Yes, some people have the money for those knives in the thousands.

A $5,000 knife isn't much cash compared to some of the higher end watches out there for example.
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I agree with everything you said but I don’t think watches and knives are comparable especially in terms of price and value for the simple reason there’s a lot more to a watch than a knife. Even tthe highest extremes when a knife becomes art while a watch becomes jewelry. And in terms of price/value personally I feel way more comfortable spending 1k+ on a watch than a knife. Probably because it’s easier to justify for a watch than a knife for me.

That being said I’m on the books to buy my first custom at $1,200. 😂
 
Often shocked when I read posts concerning prices of many knives. Realize materials cost big bucks these days but $500 for a blade blows my mind as I was from the Stone Age. Only one with quality I saved was the Puma Skinner from 67. Ran me around $26 back then but yeah that was a chunk of change back then too. Learned a lot from you guys and I appreciate the knowledge. Not nearly as many choices back in my heyday and sure is fun to check out the offerings.
 
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