Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Messages
- 17,703
There will be a modest price increase on existing patterns going into effect now. I wanted to announce this outside of a sale because sometimes folks post on sales before reading everything and I wouldn't want there to be an unexpected surprise. The cost increases will be relatively minor but are necessary to reflect the rising costs of production since the pricing models were originally established.
It also reflects the additional work we're putting into our knives now that wasn't figured in on the original pricing models. We've been selling everything as "Field grade with tool and grind marks visible" but we've refined our process and have added some steps where I believe our fit and finish for "Field Grade" has become pretty clean.
The original Shiv, UF and Field Knife weren't even ground, they were just "as machined". Today our work is given a light hand grind to make a convex geometry at the shoulders and some get a shallow S grind as well. Despite being production knives these grinds go through the same manual finishing progressions of a fully hand made knife.
We consume about 2,000 CNC machining center spindle hours for the machining steps per 1000 knives. Think about that for a moment.
We're seeing price increases coming at us from every direction. There is more inflation in industry than people realize because the consumer price index includes things like food and fuel and energy costs that are constrained differently than the raw materials and consumables that go into manufacturing a product. This inflation is not always visible to the average person, but believe me folks, there is real inflation right now and it is effecting people like me.
A carbide insert that was $13 the last time I ordered them is now $16 today. A carbide endmill I used to get for $45 is now closer to $60. A bucket of cutting fluid is up to $90 from $80. A grinding belt that was $3.60 is now $4.10.
People have been saying I need to raise prices for a while (supply and demand etc. and when was the last time a sale took more than ten seconds) but I haven't wanted to do this because our core driving philosophy here is intrinsic value "bang for the buck". We focus on achieving high performance through optimized design, materials and metallurgy without unnecessary non-functional fluff. Our knives are very expensive, but compared to other high performance high end knives we're pretty affordable. In my quest to provide real intrinsic value for our work I have resisted the call to raise prices to better balance supply and demand. So please understand that's not what this is. This isn't a money grab. It's acknowledging that costs have gone up and we need to adjust our pricing accordingly.
So, to summarize: We're putting more into our work than ever before and our costs for everything from raw materials, packaging, hourly rates and consumables have gone up. In order for us to be able to continue to produce these kickass knives we need your support and your continued interest in our work. And we need a little raise.
I'll address this on a pattern by pattern basis but expect to see a 5-25% price increase on most established patterns.
Please understand that you, our customer, are very important to us. We strive for your satisfaction. I recognize that a higher price comes with higher expectations for that satisfaction. You can trust us to produce the sort of high quality knife that you can stake your life on and depend upon for a lifetime. I don't think there is anyone in the industry that is better than us at what we do and I hope that you'll agree that we still represent a bargain here at the high end of the high performance knife industry.
Thank you, every single one of you, for your patronage.
Nate, Jo and Mark
It also reflects the additional work we're putting into our knives now that wasn't figured in on the original pricing models. We've been selling everything as "Field grade with tool and grind marks visible" but we've refined our process and have added some steps where I believe our fit and finish for "Field Grade" has become pretty clean.
The original Shiv, UF and Field Knife weren't even ground, they were just "as machined". Today our work is given a light hand grind to make a convex geometry at the shoulders and some get a shallow S grind as well. Despite being production knives these grinds go through the same manual finishing progressions of a fully hand made knife.
We consume about 2,000 CNC machining center spindle hours for the machining steps per 1000 knives. Think about that for a moment.
We're seeing price increases coming at us from every direction. There is more inflation in industry than people realize because the consumer price index includes things like food and fuel and energy costs that are constrained differently than the raw materials and consumables that go into manufacturing a product. This inflation is not always visible to the average person, but believe me folks, there is real inflation right now and it is effecting people like me.
A carbide insert that was $13 the last time I ordered them is now $16 today. A carbide endmill I used to get for $45 is now closer to $60. A bucket of cutting fluid is up to $90 from $80. A grinding belt that was $3.60 is now $4.10.
People have been saying I need to raise prices for a while (supply and demand etc. and when was the last time a sale took more than ten seconds) but I haven't wanted to do this because our core driving philosophy here is intrinsic value "bang for the buck". We focus on achieving high performance through optimized design, materials and metallurgy without unnecessary non-functional fluff. Our knives are very expensive, but compared to other high performance high end knives we're pretty affordable. In my quest to provide real intrinsic value for our work I have resisted the call to raise prices to better balance supply and demand. So please understand that's not what this is. This isn't a money grab. It's acknowledging that costs have gone up and we need to adjust our pricing accordingly.
So, to summarize: We're putting more into our work than ever before and our costs for everything from raw materials, packaging, hourly rates and consumables have gone up. In order for us to be able to continue to produce these kickass knives we need your support and your continued interest in our work. And we need a little raise.
I'll address this on a pattern by pattern basis but expect to see a 5-25% price increase on most established patterns.
Please understand that you, our customer, are very important to us. We strive for your satisfaction. I recognize that a higher price comes with higher expectations for that satisfaction. You can trust us to produce the sort of high quality knife that you can stake your life on and depend upon for a lifetime. I don't think there is anyone in the industry that is better than us at what we do and I hope that you'll agree that we still represent a bargain here at the high end of the high performance knife industry.
Thank you, every single one of you, for your patronage.
Nate, Jo and Mark
