Really worth the price?

I just think of it as carrying around a piece of "usable art work"

Worth the price? Absolutely.



 
Capt. Spaulding said:
These do change for the consumer as the price for his knives rise. Its not like a Seb 21 has cost $410 since they were released. The price has risen accordingly. I'm in no way saying the knives are not "worth" the cost, but I do think they are overpriced. I doubt Chris is rolling in piles of money either, but he's definitely not missing a meal.

Don't take this as me trying to start a fight. This is not that in any way. He makes excellent knives and has the following to charge what he does and his knives fly off the shelves. I love my Seb 21 and do not regret paying what I did, but I still believe they are a bit overpriced. If I could somehow find out what the actual production cost of a Seb 21 cost to make I would possibly change my opinion though.

Maybe I wish they were cheaper so I could buy more. :D
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I assume there's a $100 in the price for the dealer. Most retailers of slow-moving inventory items like high-priced knives would want at least 25% mark-up. What the real number is will be closely guarded, especially with the customer set-pricing you see on CRK. Some loyal dealers might get to buy for less from CRK and make more, but everyone sells for the same $.

Another thing you are paying for when you buy a Sebenza is the aftermarket support. You may not personally use it, but if you spend enough time on this forum you will see there must be dozens of knives sent to CRK each month just to have CRK look at them, confirm something, tweak them etc. That costs money for sure, especially when most of this work is "free".

With that in mind, when you buy a Sebenza you are buying that "optional warranty upgrade" they try to up-sell you on when you buy a Fridge or TV, in this case whether you want it or not.

Also you are paying for CRK to offer a good work environment to its employees. I don't have any way at all of knowing, but in the old "legendary blade" videos, Lisa specifically states that Chris and Anne are good employers, which is meaningful to me. The concept that one might be considered a "good employer" is what is missing in today's 'outsource everything' world.

So when you add the dealers prophet, the warranty support, the costs of treating your people right, and all the manufacturing wizardry show in the Blade HQ videos, I don't think there is an issue with price. They certainly aren't wasting it on advertising! We do that for free on this forum;)
 
Capt. Spaulding said:
These do change for the consumer as the price for his knives rise. Its not like a Seb 21 has cost $410 since they were released. The price has risen accordingly. I'm in no way saying the knives are not "worth" the cost, but I do think they are overpriced. I doubt Chris is rolling in piles of money either, but he's definitely not missing a meal.

Don't take this as me trying to start a fight. This is not that in any way. He makes excellent knives and has the following to charge what he does and his knives fly off the shelves. I love my Seb 21 and do not regret paying what I did, but I still believe they are a bit overpriced. If I could somehow find out what the actual production cost of a Seb 21 cost to make I would possibly change my opinion though.

Maybe I wish they were cheaper so I could buy more. :D
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Great lookin Sebenza...Thanks for the pic :D
Personally, I am not taking anything you are discussing as inflammatory or derogatory at all and on the other side, I hope you or no one else is offended by my posts on this subject..It's just a discussion and those are allowed.
I know that I have posted on this subject at least a few times on the website..but owning and operating CNC's is not cheap..Everyone gets wrapped up in the production side of things such as how fast something can be made..Some of which is true, but they don't think of all the supporting elements to production either..Like cutting tools, which can be 1/4- 1/2 of the cost of the knife itself and that is for one tool..Endmills can and do wear out as well as have catastrophic failures. One of the funnier ways I relate to this is that I support many engineers as a machinist/designer..most of them have this belief that all you have to do is load a piece of stock into a machine, set it on 2 minutes and DING..it's done..perfect..Sound like an appliance we all have at home? In reality, the process is a fair bit more complex..Sure you don't have to program each of the same part and or run 2x..Once it's set up, it's basically done..but if only you only had to run 1 part on the CNC for the life of the CNC that would be fantastic..but not realistic..they change runs quite often..requiring different tools, materials and often, people.
Another of the added cost is tolerance requirements; Tight tolerances obviously require more expensive processes..It's not uncommon for someone to look at a part that I have made and equate it with a cost. Size and cost have no relationship to each other. For instance,.I just got done making a calibration ruler that is roughly 9"long, .5 wide and .125 thick.. Cost on it is right around $800.00 ea. Why? There are ~135 slots that are .475 long, .006 wide and .02 deep. The tolerance from slot to slot is around 10 microns (.00039in) and 25 (.00098) micron deviation from end to end. That takes an enormous amount of time and energy. What do you think that machine costs that can measure that? It's all support machinery and it's all expensive.

I will add more if anyone is interested..Just some quick thoughts whilst the metrologist was measuring my parts...They passed...w00t!
 
CRK's folders are one of the very few spendy knives I've owned that are truly worth the asking price.
 
You can probably find a $20 folder that will fulfill basic knife/cutting requirements so, if that is your criteria then a CRK is not worth the price tag.

If you are a collector then CRKs are a good deal because they really hold their value.

If you are a knife aficionado then a CRK may well be worth the price. Materials, design and manufacture are world class as is the customer service but you have to make the personal decision that a $400 folder is worth it. You may have noticed from the comments that many have already made that decision.
 
I didn't get it, and then I bought one, then another, then another...and a couple more. Value is an intangible trait. Should you choose to purchase a crk product and not perceive the value, you can likely sell it for little loss.
 
rustysocket said:
I didn't get it, and then I bought one, then another, then another...and a couple more. Value is an intangible trait. Should you choose to purchase a crk product and not perceive the value, you can likely sell it for little loss.
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This. I never "got it" for a long time, I thought they were nice looking with a decent heritage, but I never understood why people went gaga over such a simple expensive knife. Then I gave in and got my first Umnumzaan. Now I have an Umnumzaan, a StarTac, a Sebenza 25 and am currently planning on my next CRK. I've even had thoughts swirling in my brain of selling off parts of my collections to fund more CRKs. It's a sickness.
 
I bought a "Lisa's Pick" directly from CRK. Since I am not a fan of pocket clips, I asked them to go ahead and remove the clip and install one of the clip insert plugs. Without my asking the took it upon themselves to refinish the back side scale because there was a little mark left on the scale where the clip had rested against it. Customer service!
 
Still watching lol. Does a resale value still hold if the knife is used/scratched? I never put knives in a safe and not use them. They go right into my pocket.
 
yepimonfire said:
Still watching lol. Does a resale value still hold if the knife is used/scratched? I never put knives in a safe and not use them. They go right into my pocket.
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I've bought all of mine "previously loved" and they were still within 10-15% of new price. They hold value very well unless you abuse it. And regaining value is as close as sending it off for a spa treatment.
 
yepimonfire said:
What makes these worth the 400+ price tag?
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That's actually a good question.

What the real question should be is are they worth that much to you and only you can answer that one.

Once we cross a certain threshold in price some people tend to take a pause because lets face it $400 is not exactly a small amount of money for a lot of people.

Here are my opinions on this:

Having owned a number of CRK products over the years and had even more pass through my hands I can say that they are worth every penny. The quality is really there along with the fit and finish, tolerances and excellent design.

Don't expect to be blown away or have a heart attack or anything when you 1st open the box because more than likely it won't happen especially if you get one of the plain ones. The real beauty is in the use and experience once you have had one in hand for a little while and get a chance to get used to it. Once that happens you will likely start to really appreciate all that has gone into the knife.

Hopefully you will get one and enjoy it.
 
yepimonfire said:
Still watching lol. Does a resale value still hold if the knife is used/scratched? I never put knives in a safe and not use them. They go right into my pocket.
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No problem. Where are you in your current knife tastes, and how long have you been in the knife hobby? Sometimes it takes working your way up through the various brands out there to better understand what supposedly makes a CRK better than those and better understand the reasoning behind the price.
 
yepimonfire said:
If I broke it would crk repair it?
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Sure they'll repair it depending on what you do to it. It may not be covered under warranty though usually a broken blade means that you've been prying with it and then they won't warranty that.
 
Most expensive knife I've owned was a $350 cs Laredo. Loved it. My most expensive knife currently is a kershaw s30v blur. I've been enjoying knives since I was 15 so about 8 years. Most of my purchases are less than $100 but I really enjoy a high quality well built knife, regardless of whether it comes in a $40 package or $400.
 
For me a lot of it has to do with pride of ownership. It's a privilege to own a knife as exquisitely well-made as a Sebenza. As I've stated in other threads, my Sebenza isn't just a knife to me. It's the standard by which I judge every other knife in my collection.
 
bld522 said:
For me a lot of it has to do with pride of ownership. It's a privilege to own a knife as exquisitely well-made as a Sebenza. As I've stated in other threads, my Sebenza isn't just a knife to me. It's the standard by which I judge every other knife in my collection.
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Agree 100%:thumbup:
 
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