Knife Prices

UffDa

UffDa

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Sep 11, 1999
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I do not generally question prices for anything. I either buy it or don't. There is one thing that has had me scratching my bald head lately. What is with these outrageous prices being asked for European knives? Here's a few examples.

Dozier designed knives made by Boker. Some of them are priced higher the the same knife actually made by Dozier. :confused:

English "bushcraft" knives. I see knives "designed"* by Ray Mears with asking prices of $400 to $500 USD. :confused: These are factory made knives. There is nothing special about them except that they have Ray Mears' name on them. :confused: I see knives made by other English makers priced twice what a US maker gets.:confused:

What's odd to me is that you can buy a higher quality knife from a US maker for half the price. Maybe I'm missing something.

*Designed??? There is nothing special about the design. It is exactly like almost everyone's bushcraft knife. Drop point with Scandi bevel. Big deal.:rolleyes:
 
It is all supply and demand. if they are selling for the price asked, then why lower the price?
more to your point, i guess we have a bit of sentimentality to the sharp works of art from europe. i have no idea why, but that would be my best guess.
 
Vicarious Reality said:
Shipping costs? Inflation? I know the US is in that economic pothole.
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I was curious about the USD to GBP. 1 GBP = $1.62. The last time I checked 1 GBP was $1.85, so a dollar is worth more then it did a year ago compared to the pound.

Shipping costs? Not really that much.

How about a comparison knife to knife?

Ray Mears knife made by Alan Wood. O1 steel. Maple handle. With sheath. £395.00 in the UK. Same knife made by Stephen Cox is £295.00. Same knife made by a factory in Sheffield, about £105.00. ($170) BTW, these are prices in the UK.

Koster Bushcraft. CPM-3v steel. With Sheath $180. Wood handle cost a bit more.

Most knives from Sweden and Finland cost from $10 to $100. (Some are higher)

Maybe it's just snob appeal. ;)
 
Buying stuff in the UK just costs more, it's an expensive country. I have been getting knives and materials from the US for years now because I can get them for less, even with shipping and tax on top of the price.
 
Some of these big name bushcraft knives have a sort of cult status in the UK. If they can get that kind of money at home, why would they lower it for us? :p

For actual working knives for the woods, I would go for a Finnish puukko. I have a Jarvenpaa leuku and puukko set that could take you from bayou to tundra that goes for around $150 for both in one sheath.
 
Haze said:
Buying stuff in the UK just costs more, it's an expensive country. I have been getting knives and materials from the US for years now because I can get them for less, even with shipping and tax on top of the price.
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Your hovercraft is full of eels? If you sell them, you can buy more knives. Uff Da!

:D
 
The knives we get here are a lot more expensive over in Europe, so European knives don't seem like as bad of a value to Europeans. If you don't like the European knives, don't buy them. Most Americans, myself included, stick to the better values you can find here.
 
I am not a fan of Boker, and would never overpay for some European knife, anything I have bought from Europe or the UK I get for the price they pay, plus shipping.

On the other hand, I see what they have to pay for stuff from here and it is ridiculous. Their governments like to actively screw them for trying to shop outside their borders.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
On the other hand, I see what they have to pay for stuff from here and it is ridiculous. Their governments like to actively screw them for trying to shop outside their borders.
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Very true. Actually, their governments seem to want to screw them any way. I was talking to one guy from Germany who said that he buys German products off Amazon.uk, because of the ridiculous policies the government has. It turns out that it's cheaper for the customer to buy a product that's been exported and then reimported.
 
Well according to my personal judgment i have found that some blade smiths charge for their hardwork on blades. Specially if you go for a handmade knife then you will find prices higher than normal usually.

But factory made blades should be around 200-250USD stainless steel.

Same as vintage blades(handmade) have usually more prices than normal market.

All in all price depends on hard work, time invested and finishing of blades.

Brand names usually take advantage of their name....

This is my personal evaluation since the time i am in this industry for....
 
Sure, Ron, but I was commenting on he original post. Of course knives everywhere vary in price, quality, and fan base, and there's no reason to denigrate their place in any of those factors.
 
There are many things that do not warrant the selling prices. High end cars, watches, optics, etc. I think most people would like to own nice stuff. What I was trying to get at is that some of these knives are nothing special and IMHO are not worth the asking prices. Is a person's name etched on a blade worth an extra $200? I don't think so.

Someone mentioned blade smiths. A master blade smith put a lot of effort into his title and that should be worth something. One should expect perfection for the premium paid for a MS made knife. I have seen a fair number of MS made knives that are far less then perfect, but a premium price is still asked.
 
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