Looking For Private Label USA Manufacturer for High Quality Pocket Knife

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bg81la

bg81la

Retailer / Enthusiast
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I'm looking for a private label manufacturer in the USA that my company can work with on production of a high quality EDC-style pocket knife. Someone with access to the top quality knife steels and production methods, and a US-based facility capable of turning a design into a finished product. We want to make something enthusiasts would enjoy.

Does anyone have recommendations on US-based manufacturers I should reach out to?
 
bg81la said:
I'm looking for a private label manufacturer in the USA that my company can work with on production of a high quality EDC-style pocket knife. Someone with access to the top quality knife steels and production methods, and a US-based facility capable of turning a design into a finished product. We want to make something enthusiasts would enjoy.

Does anyone have recommendations on US-based manufacturers I should reach out to?
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What do you mean by, "we?"

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Do you have an IndieGoGo or Kickstarter?
 
Mecha said:
What do you mean by, "we?"

uYza045.gif


Do you have an IndieGoGo or Kickstarter?
Click to expand...
Haha, sorry for having been vague. I manage an EDC ecommerce retailer, I just kept the name off so we can keep things quiet until we have a product ready to launch.
 
bg81la said:
Haha, sorry for having been vague. I manage an EDC ecommerce retailer, I just kept the name off so we can keep things quiet until we have a product ready to launch.
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You'll have to keep things quiet even then unless you and the company you represent have the proper membership level in order to advertise on this site.


(For the record, I have no financial interest in the site and derive no income from it.)
 
bg81la said:
Haha, sorry for having been vague. I manage an EDC ecommerce retailer, I just kept the name off so we can keep things quiet until we have a product ready to launch.
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Look, I know you think you want to make knives for ecommerce. Lots of upstarts think the same, but they never get any good advice, so I'll help you out.

First, you go get yourself 500 railroad spikes, a coal farrier's forge, and a 3 lb ball peen hammer, a good pair of vice grips, 500 lbs of coal, and a piece of railroad mainline.

You take those railroad spikes and you start forging them into knifes, one by one. Forge them completely to the final knife shape, none of this sissy grinder nonsense. Keep forging until every spike is a knife.

Then you take the knife billets and you start heating them up until they glow enough to where a magnet doesn't stick to them anymore, and dunk it in the creek. Do this for all 500 of them.

Then, maybe, just maybe, you'll be ready to make a knife worth a darn.
 
Great meme...

I guess a lot of people must come on here asking this sort of question, which explains the sarcastic cynical reply.

Listen, I'm not trying to reinvent the knife, and I don't think I have some kind of magical special idea. I'm a retailer with a lot of great customers who appreciate quality, and I want to make something they'll like (and that I personally like) and sell it at a fair price.

So maybe I can skip the years of forging and mastering my heat treats and just work with some people who know what they're doing?


Mecha said:
Look, I know you think you want to make knives for ecommerce. Lots of upstarts think the same, but they never get any good advice, so I'll help you out.

First, you go get yourself 500 railroad spikes, a coal farrier's forge, and a 3 lb ball peen hammer, a good pair of vice grips, 500 lbs of coal, and a piece of railroad mainline.

You take those railroad spikes and you start forging them into knifes, one by one. Forge them completely to the final knife shape, none of this sissy grinder nonsense. Keep forging until every spike is a knife.

Then you take the knife billets and you start heating them up until they glow enough to where a magnet doesn't stick to them anymore, and dunk it in the creek. Do this for all 500 of them.

Then, maybe, just maybe, you'll be ready to make a knife worth a darn.
Click to expand...
 
bg81la said:
Great meme...

I guess a lot of people must come on here asking this sort of question, which explains the sarcastic cynical reply.

Listen, I'm not trying to reinvent the knife, and I don't think I have some kind of magical special idea. I'm a retailer with a lot of great customers who appreciate quality, and I want to make something they'll like (and that I personally like) and sell it at a fair price.

So maybe I can skip the years of forging and mastering my heat treats and just work with some people who know what they're doing?
Click to expand...

Ok well I'll level with you. 😆

The real reason for humorous and sarcastic replies is because once in a while we get people who show up and call themselves "knife designers," asking if we would buy their knife once they get it mass produced. They post up a cringe CAD drawing of a super boring knife that has at least one major design flaw, one super ugly feature, and one element that is ripped off of a current knife design.

It's inevitably revealed that the "designer" is clueless and has a Gofundme or IndieGoGo campaign set up to gather money for production from dupes who will never see their ugly knife.

The sarcasm is just to probe and see if this is another of those scenarios, and I guess it isn't...it isn't, right? :oops:

If you're looking for a USA knife making outfit, the only one I've ever heard of is Millit. https://millitknives.com/ I have no experience with them and offer no vouches.
 
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I promise I'm not one of those types. I'm relatively new to the knife space, and there's a ton that I don't know. Anything I do know is from the standpoint of being a consumer and seller, participating in Facebook groups, watching/reading product reviews etc. I have a few ideas, but I'm not a designer, and I'll be looking to partner with someone who has the experience and credibility to help me get to a complete concept. But before I do that, I'm trying to line up the manufacturing resource, since I know a lot of shops are backed up right now (one that I talked to was backed up over a year), so I want to get the process started.

Mecha Mecha thanks for the suggestion
 
bg81la said:
I promise I'm not one of those types. I'm relatively new to the knife space, and there's a ton that I don't know. Anything I do know is from the standpoint of being a consumer and seller, participating in Facebook groups, watching/reading product reviews etc. I have a few ideas, but I'm not a designer, and I'll be looking to partner with someone who has the experience and credibility to help me get to a complete concept. But before I do that, I'm trying to line up the manufacturing resource, since I know a lot of shops are backed up right now (one that I talked to was backed up over a year), so I want to get the process started.

Mecha Mecha thanks for the suggestion
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No problem.

Touching base with people or someone who has a lot of experience with this stuff is a good idea. For example, Lorien Lorien is basically a knife designing machine, and quite a few of his models have been produced by a variety of people and companies.
 
OK I'll bite; hit up Maratac USA in California. They're a defense/government contractor that dabbles in Ti and makes tonnes of EDC stuff. They're really plugged into what people want.

But as said they'll want a big order and for a new customer I"m pretty sure they'll want a dumptruck of cash to start the machines.

Sounds kind of like you want to be new Massdrop but they made their stuff offshore. USA will be a premium product so you'll have a massive uphill battle to convince your customers that your USA knife is better than the makers own less expensive products. Making their knives offshore let them set a price at a level that people were willing to roll the dice on.

CRK and Spyderco have also made special customer knives in the past but I suspect you'll find no one wants a new customer right now. Supply chain issues and demand means anything they make has 3 folks fighting to get it.

To honestly get real world advice you need to show all your cards. You're pretty safe due to the noted conditions that no one is going to steal your idea and start making nice USA EDC blades before you can get to market.
 
I am going to lock this thread. My guess is that bg81la joined a few days ago only to get this information., He does not have the level of membership that grants him those privileges. I am sure he did not know this is not allowed, but now he does.

bg81la - feel free to post sketches and ideas about knives you make or want to make, and ask for opinions and critique. But, but do not discuss selling and manufacture.
 
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