New retail prices for Sebs?

R

razorbacks611

Joined
Nov 14, 2010
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I noticed recently the retail prices have hiked up about 30 bucks. Is there a reason for this or do they just want to make more money? My guess was becasue of the switch to s35vn but im not sure.
 
To many possible variables that can add to the cost of production. Labor, material, facilities, transportation market conditions, expansion and the list goes on. I suspect that making more money would not be the only reason to raise the price of their products, but of course if they are not making money then they should raise prices.
 
razorbacks611 said:
I noticed recently the retail prices have hiked up about 30 bucks. Is there a reason for this or do they just want to make more money? My guess was becasue of the switch to s35vn but im not sure.
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I think the bulk of the reason would be called inflation. As mentioned by BRO there are a number of things that have gone up in price so CRK are left with no choice.

Would you prefer that CRK eat that loss for us and eventually go out of business ?
 
I tell you, I have bought thousands of dollars worth of knives. From Walmart 15 dollar knives to $1000 Customs.

In my experience, I have always felt that Sebenzas were a very good value, maybe even underpriced. Maybe the blade steel and the titanium handles aren't so cutting edge anymore.

But quality of manufacture. The design. At first glance a Sebenza seems like it is so simple. Yet after you have one for a long time you realize the incredible amount of thought and effort that went into making it what it is.

The amount of blade per handle length is good. The weight to strength is good. The ergonomics to handle size, and therefore pocketability, is good. Even the pocket clip, it is sort of a two stage pocket clip, that I haven't seen anyone else really do yet. Add to that the fact that if you ever want to you can get it refurbished, you can even get it rebladed.
 
razorbacks611 said:
I noticed recently the retail prices have hiked up about 30 bucks. Is there a reason for this or do they just want to make more money? My guess was becasue of the switch to s35vn but im not sure.
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The S35vn makes for a cheaper knife to manufacture than S30V. In fact it's almost identical to S30V in performance, so the only real reason to switch is to reduce manufacturing cost.

slimshaneee said:
In my experience, I have always felt that Sebenzas were a very good value, maybe even underpriced. Maybe the blade steel and the titanium handles aren't so cutting edge anymore.
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I have owned 3 Sebenza's in the past. I really liked them, but I never tried to kid myself that they were underpriced! There is a reason Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, Buck, etc. can all sell titanium framelocks with better (harder to grind) steel than S30V for $150: CRK is making bank. He doesn't make that many knives, so they have to be priced high. The quality he exudes is unfortunately quite easy to replicate if you already have the equipment to make something like a BM LFTi, it just takes a bit more time (money) to get a perfect CNC finish and most companies don't need that to sell a knife. I am a machine builder and I have run CNC machines on Steel, Aluminum, and Titanium for the last 8 years: I know what it takes to get a certain finish.

I sold my Sebenzas because I could get 4 NICE knives for the value of one Sebenza. They are nice and they are well designed, but the blade material is WAY OUTDATED for a $500 knife. Not only is S30V commonplace on everyday knives, CRK doesn't harden to even close the full potential of S30V. I can get ELMAX and M390 on sub $150 knives, so a CRK is not a good value to me because I don't feel you get what you pay for.

If nothing has changed, then the price hike is either for inflation or to increase profits. I feel in return for an increase in price, the consumer should get more than an easy to grind steel. This is the reason I will not be purchasing more Sebenzas, but everyone gets to decide for themselves.
 
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Why does everyone think they know more than Chris Reeve and Co. that has been successfully producing knives that have no equal in the production knife arena year after year. If you can out produce them then do it, other wise it's all talk and trolling.
 
There was another thread on this a week or two ago. CRK hadn't increased prices in years. This is just catching up with inflation.

razorbacks611 said:
I noticed recently the retail prices have hiked up about 30 bucks. Is there a reason for this or do they just want to make more money? My guess was becasue of the switch to s35vn but im not sure.
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Not to mention the outstanding customer service. I have never had that kind of strait forward interaction with another company.
 
konigsberg13 said:
Why does everyone think they know more than Chris Reeve and Co. that has been successfully producing knives that have no equal in the production knife arena year after year. If you can out produce them then do it, other wise it's all talk and trolling.
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NO equal??

michaelmcgo makes some valid points. Neither he nor anyone else has to be a knifemaker to understand some pretty basic observations that he's posted. I don't disagree with him or see any point in calling him a troll because his eyes are open!

I love my 2 Sebenzas but I make no bones that they're just folding knives with a tight fit & finish. I think they're overpriced as well, but my addiction controls my purse strings some times and what the heck - you only live once.

They aren't what Nutnfancy would call "high value knives" but he would concede that they've definitely got the "cool" or "wow" factor going on. YMMV?
 
Why is it that people are not allowed to make anything on their intellectual property/goods? They can charge what the market will bear...if they made an error, they will correct.

Quite frankly..I am not happy with being charged more for something that I like..But I will pay it if I do indeed want it. I suspect others will as well. (the large Insingo with micarta comes to mind as I just ordered it recently)

Konigsberg13 has a good point..If you can do better then do so..Otherwise..it does come off as trolling.
I have never understood why someone would go to the manufacturers/makers forum to snivel about something they hate or owned and sold because it was not to their liking. There are much worse things to be mad at or worry about :)
 
i wouldn't care to much about the price of Sebenza, just look at gas prices! a Sebenza will last forever!!!! once you have it, well thats it....
 
And if the increase is purely to cover increased costs due to inflation - would there be something unwise or unethical about that? :confused:
 
konigsberg13 said:
Why does everyone think they know more than Chris Reeve and Co. that has been successfully producing knives that have no equal in the production knife arena year after year. If you can out produce them then do it, other wise it's all talk and trolling.
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WTF? I posted on a knife forum (in existence solely to discuss knives and knife companies) in the Chris Reeve subforum (where only discussion on Chris Reeve knives and company is allowed) in a thread about the price increasing on Sebenzas. One question was specifically about if the switch to S35vn was the cause of the price hike. Now please explain to me how I'm trolling. As a Product Design Engineer working with metals and CNC machines every day, I believe I am very well qualified to comment on the manufacture of a product made of metal. Please either confirm/refute my statement instead of throwing a ridiculous ultimatum with horrible logic in my face. I believe you are the one trolling. Do you disagree with the fact that S35vn is not a significant upgrade in performance, or do you disagree with my statement that the fit and finish of a Sebenza can be obtained on any quality modern CNC mill at the cost of extra time? Please bring facts to this argument if you want to play.

Your statement "If you can out produce them then do it, other wise it's all talk and trolling" makes every single person on this forum (including yourself) that is not out producing CRK a troll...
 
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Some think CRK is too expensive, so they buy cheaper knives, others think they are not good enough and buy more exensive knives........

Who cares?? Variety is the spice of life so do what makes you happy. Value is in the mind of the buyer, they either see it and buy or they don't.

What makes me laugh is all the "experts" who think they know better than someone who started the company from nothing and made it what it is today. Running a CNC machine does not make you an expert on the knife business.
 
giant1 said:
Running a CNC machine does not make you an expert on the knife business.
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HOLY CRAP! This forum is filled with the hardest headed people. Your statement is 100% correct, too bad you are using something I said and expounding upon it to make it look like I'm poking my nose into places I shouldn't. I never said running a CNC machine makes me an expert on the knife business. What I did say was the comparison of fit and finish between two knives machined on similar machines comes down to time spent machining. How does this imply I think I'm an expert at the knife business? All it implies is that I know what it takes to get a good finish on a CNC machine. It's a jerk move to take something I say and twist it like that.

I don't understand how answering the OP's questions makes me a troll and "self proclaimed expert on the knife business". Should I hide the fact that I deal with cost vs. surface finish day in and day out? When my company quotes a job on a custom CNC mill, we quote very specific tolerances and repeatability figures that the mill will be able to hold in each axis of motion. Depending on those tolerances, I must tolerance and specify the finish on every critical part of the machine as I design it and draw it into CAD. Every bearing seat, rail bed, mated surface, reamed hole, reference edge, and mounting surface must be machined to the specified tolerance and finish to fall within the quoted range of time (cost) vs. accuracy. I'm not ranting about what I do, I'm simply demonstrating that no matter if you're machining a knife or a rail skate, most concepts hold true across the spectrum of parts. I'm not an expert on the knife business, but I am pretty well versed on surface finish.
 
Let's not start to argue amongst our selves ! The OP posted a poorly thought out question with an obvious answer....lets leave it at that. :):thumbup:
 
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