- Joined
- Feb 23, 2017
- Messages
- 267
Guess you're not as informed as you think you are.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Overpriced 440C blades?
- Thread starter Jack_Burton
- Start date
- Status
Guess you're not as informed as you think you are.
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2017
- Messages
- 267
Good point, but it is not an A-F, let alone one with Harsey's name on it.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2005
- Messages
- 8,561
Well... no. I sure like a lot more stuff than I can actually buy, I just can't justify it at the price. The price may be completely fair for what you get for it, but for my life and finances, it's not justifiable.
This is probably a lot to do with the upcharge. Another thing is that Boker has a zillion designs. There's less efficiency and lower margins in being tooled up to make a ton of designs. Someone like Bradford Knives can offer a much smaller selection of designs at a more competitive price in better materials because they're specialized. We all like the wide variety of stuff Boker and CRKT bring out, but to a lot of us the tradeoff for that variety in an individual knife's finish and materials isn't worth it. To some obviously it is.
But I still see Jack's point. Even more than materials, though, it's fit and finish. You expect better fit and finish at higher price points. I have no experience with Boker's absolute top of the line, but their higher-end stuff can still be hit or miss, and I'm not really willing to pay $150 for a factory 440C fixed blade when I can get one with more consistent fit and finish in M390 from Bradford for the same cost.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,361
Did you just quote yourself?
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,361
Lol why didn't you just edit the other post to include the snide remark?
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2017
- Messages
- 267
HAHAHAHAHA!!! yeah, I screwed up, point is JIMMY....save your W&C baiting for W&C.
If one already cannot respond to a thread over there, there's no need to carry the juvenile BS over here.
If you want to be a punk, do it there.
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2015
- Messages
- 3,024
TBH I'm not sure How much Boker still makes in Germany though, some of their stuff is made in Italy, eastern Europe somewhere, as well as Asia and like Marcinek brought up this knife is going to have royalties that need paid on it along with everything I mentioned. You might be right there could be to many models coming from their factory in Solingen they could also be using older tooling that requires more manual intervention who knows but I will say is this knife converted back to Euro is about what I paid for the made in Germany slippy I gave my dad.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,361
Guess you must really be a huge Emerson fan. Didn't mean to offend, they just aren't for me.
Not sure the name calling is necessary.
I'm going to try and get back to topic.
Are there a lot of overpriced 440C blades lately? I have seen a few personally, but not enough to speak of a trend.
How can you be sure knives are 'priced to sell'? Have you seen sales figures? Maybe this particular model is a fiasco, maybe it's a hit.
I have a complicated relationship with Böker. A few years back, I used to check out their yearly catalog every year. I noticed that some of the more expensive 'limited editions' were in the catalog multiple years. The way I see it, this can mean two things: Either they're not a 'limited' as they seem, or they're not selling very quickly. It happens.
The cost of raw materials is hardly a factor in the total price of a knife, with an exception of rare and exotic handle materials. However, the cost of adequately processing said materials may impact the knife further. For example, the differences in price between a slab of 1095, a slab of 440C or a slab of S35VN by itself maybe only makes a difference of a few euros. However, the equipment and expertise required to apply a proper heat treatment and give it a proper sharpening may have a lot more impact. I would probably pay around €150,- for a knife in 440C if I was 100% sure it had an awesome heat treatment, sharpening and overall craftsmanship. The problem is, with a lot of brands it's just impossible to know until you've actually used the knife for a good while.
In my ideal world, we would be able to sort knives in stores based on the quality of their heat treatment. This would be a more important criterion of selection for me than the kind of steel (other than stainless vs. non-stainless).
I once bought a small and simple Klötzli knife in 440C with G10 (I think). I looked it up online and Klötzli listed it at €700,- or something. Now, the craftsmanship is excellent, and the knife is awesome. But even for me, that price is ridiculous. I would call this 'overpriced'. Luckily, this particular model was missing its' sheath, so I paid € 55,- for it. I would call this 'a bargain'. But both terms are subjective ofcourse.
Are there a lot of overpriced 440C blades lately? I have seen a few personally, but not enough to speak of a trend.
How can you be sure knives are 'priced to sell'? Have you seen sales figures? Maybe this particular model is a fiasco, maybe it's a hit.
I have a complicated relationship with Böker. A few years back, I used to check out their yearly catalog every year. I noticed that some of the more expensive 'limited editions' were in the catalog multiple years. The way I see it, this can mean two things: Either they're not a 'limited' as they seem, or they're not selling very quickly. It happens.
The cost of raw materials is hardly a factor in the total price of a knife, with an exception of rare and exotic handle materials. However, the cost of adequately processing said materials may impact the knife further. For example, the differences in price between a slab of 1095, a slab of 440C or a slab of S35VN by itself maybe only makes a difference of a few euros. However, the equipment and expertise required to apply a proper heat treatment and give it a proper sharpening may have a lot more impact. I would probably pay around €150,- for a knife in 440C if I was 100% sure it had an awesome heat treatment, sharpening and overall craftsmanship. The problem is, with a lot of brands it's just impossible to know until you've actually used the knife for a good while.
In my ideal world, we would be able to sort knives in stores based on the quality of their heat treatment. This would be a more important criterion of selection for me than the kind of steel (other than stainless vs. non-stainless).
I once bought a small and simple Klötzli knife in 440C with G10 (I think). I looked it up online and Klötzli listed it at €700,- or something. Now, the craftsmanship is excellent, and the knife is awesome. But even for me, that price is ridiculous. I would call this 'overpriced'. Luckily, this particular model was missing its' sheath, so I paid € 55,- for it. I would call this 'a bargain'. But both terms are subjective ofcourse.
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2017
- Messages
- 267
Come on Jimmy, I'm not some 5 year old that's going to believe that, I don't think the mods are either.
People weren't born yesterday and can put 2 & 2 together.
Your Disney analogy was baiting, you know it...and I know it. It had jack to do w/ Emerson.
Just save W&C juvenile idiocy for W&C....you savvy?
SpySmasher
Lead Guitar
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2016
- Messages
- 5,016
There's always a disconnect between price and perceived value, unless you are the person who sets the price. I wish it were different but I am not the President of Knives. 
(Vote SpySmasher 2020)
(Vote SpySmasher 2020)
Last edited:
KingMC
The Pun-isher
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2014
- Messages
- 11,600
I'm amused at that analogy because it's been proven to be the opposite.
Letting W&C surreptitiously leak over into the general discussion form for the purposes of baiting people are we?
I thought there was some sort of rules against baiting people on here.
Yeah, you're all real tough guys over in W&C when someone is forced to wear a muzzle.
That reaction seems quite out of place, when I read the post you're reacting to I didn't see anything provocative or out of the ordinary, it seems you may be assuming there was some ill intent where there wasn't any?
I'm not sure what to think, you seem to be reacting way too harshly for the situation.
As far as this thread's topic, I think if Boker can sell their knives with 440c at the prices they set, then they aren't overpriced. I've used 440c a couple times and it's been a brilliantly simple and effective steel that holds up to similarly-priced steels like 154cm.
If Benchmade can sell their knives in 154cm for well over $100 I don't see why Boker can't do the same with 440c, it seems comparable with both brand names and materials.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,361
Are we pirates now? Well aye aye matey, although I can't imagine what your problem with Disney world could be. It is the happiest place on earth.
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2012
- Messages
- 3,610
How do I 'like' this post twice?
Can we have a 'really like' button please?
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,007
If steel dweebs were ever lucky enough [ unlikely I know] to have a girlfriend with a nice personality and a great a-- and t-ts they'd be more interested in her DNA. I've got two Boker AF daggers and while they were a little dull out of the box, they are great looking knives with excellent steel. Let's hope that the delusionary love for pointlessly expensive steel will die out in the near future.
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2015
- Messages
- 3,024
- Status