RMJ Tactical prices (wtf?)

Visited RMJ's shop a couple of times when I go eat in Chattanooga - good people. I really want a Jenny Wren or Kestrel - but I have no need & lack the extra cash to blow at this time. I own 3 tomahawks (2 Hawks, Ranger, and Condor) & a GB axe that handle all my axe needs currently. 2 teenage boys at driving age have killed my knife play money. Maybe one day I can finally get one. That said I'm really digging the RMJ Utsidihi & that might actually see use.

The RMJ people have always been nice and the shop tour was pretty cool. Couple displays & pics of their hawks being used by Military/LEO/EMS/Firefighters in various ways. And for fun they have a 55 gallon drum set up with a Shrike stuck in it that they let customers take for a test drive. Watched my boys chop, gouge, and punch holes in the drum with no damage to the hawk. As cool as their tactical style hawks are I really want one of Ryan's traditional wood handled hawks.

Anyway - good people, good product, and they are selling at the price they ask. Don't want to pay it, look around the secondary market & maybe you'll find one for less. Think they're overpriced - don't buy it. You think you can make a hawk just as good, for less money - have at it. If you're able to do that you might have a new career.
 
I had a Jenny Wren for a bit there. It was fantastic. For my uses it was a toy but it was absolutely a great toy. There was nothing I did not like about it.
 
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Nader393 said:
I meant to sit this out, but I want to clarify a couple of things. First, are you guys implying that it takes a 5-axis CNC mill to make a tomahawk?

Speaking of which, Shinyedges, thanks for posting about the machine. They're really amazing! A couple years ago, I ordered a set of 4 custom pistons for my race car from the manufacturer Ross. Prior to that, a set from CP. In each case, they looked like jewels, and they cost about $600 for the set. Very complex shapes, and very tight tolerances in dimension and weight. Far cry from, say, a tomahawk.

Craytab was right, things got very contentious in questioning the cost. Disagreements of opinion are fine, but I have a problem when it gets personal and people question my ability and competence. Which is the second thing I'd like to clarify; I'm happy to post up pictures of things I've made over the years. As I alluded to above, I have a race car. I've done a lot of fabrication on it over the years, including a fair bit of machining. If you're interested in seeing that and what I've done, then check out this thread (fabrication starts at about page 15):

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/spi...66-1994/156125-pics-duetto-racer-buildup.html

I know, seeing the knives I've recently made is more applicable. When I'm feeling more motivated, maybe I'll jump through the hoops to set up a separate Photobucket account or whatever to host the images. Kind of a pain, though.
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I like your style, Nader393.
 
Anything is only worth what one is willing to spend. Buy what you can afford. If you want something higher end, you save for it or sell something to buy it. I currently have 9 RMJ and have a 10th on order and looking at more. I like em. Mine are used afield and from what I have seen in Ryan’s videos, I know they can handle anything I will throw at them. I have had knives all my life, Hawks are different and I really like what I have. Me personally, I will gladly pay more for high quality and designs I like. They are certainly not overpriced for what you get.
 
If RMJ prices are too high make more money or buy a CRKT.

Simple as that

Do you hate corvettes and Ferrari’s, probably more of a daewoo type of car enthusiasts is my guess
 
shqxk said:
They made one of the finest hawk in business. The balance and design are even better than many custom in the same price range, they also came with great reputation of life time warranty which you may need for hawk type of thing more than knife... I think they are expensive but not overpriced just like Busse, CRK etc.
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The fool !

He said CRK :eek::D

I fully agree, these knives play with the "premium" factor so people buy them.

"But the finish is excellent" :rolleyes:
 
bubbaskyjacker said:
If RMJ prices are too high make more money or buy a CRKT.

Simple as that

Do you hate corvettes and Ferrari’s, probably more of a daewoo type of car enthusiasts is my guess
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You know this thread has been dormant for 5 months, right? Seems strange to resurrect a thread just to tell people to make more money and make assumptions about what kind of cars they like....
 
Just bought an RMJ Tactical Sparrow. It arrives today. Hoping it will be my perfect EDC fixed blade.
 
shqxk said:
They made one of the finest hawk in business. The balance and design are even better than many custom in the same price range, they also came with great reputation of life time warranty which you may need for hawk type of thing more than knife... I think they are expensive but not overpriced just like Busse, CRK etc.
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I agree sir. My RMJ blades have out performed virtually my entire collection of high end custom shop blades.
 
Burke said:
I think this is pretty key when it comes to a pricing discussion (although RMJ makes Bawidamann...but I'd also add Busse and some of the mid-tech smaller makers like Helm Forge). If there was an opportunity to build top quality US-made tomahawks with a high-end warranty etc for $200ish and make a decent profit, somebody would be doing it...
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Personally, I don't look at edged instruments under $200. I expect decent knives to start at the $400-600 price range. Typically, one gets what one pays for.
 
shinyedges said:
I'm torn, I have had 3 rmj hawks. Still have a shrike. His forged hawks were unique and fantastic quality. They have since stopped forging hawks and completely switched to CNC machining them, which is a move in the wrong direction to me. Everyone and their grand mammy is using cnc in a very non original way, which is meh, to me.

Ryan is a business man and knows to charge what people will pay.

Regarding his knives, I believe he ventured into knives because he knew there was money to be made. He is a capitalist which I can't knock.

All that said, I don't think his prices for the process they undergo is proportional to ME.
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As far as what price they sell to the civilian market goes, I couldn't care less. Anything ever made is only worth as much or as little as what its market will bear, and companies adjust accordingly. High prices during feast times and lower prices during the famines. Their forged 4140 Chrome Molly Alloy Shrikes were a horse of a different color when they came out. They are amazing tools and the production costs and warranty actually justified the price in pretty much everyone's opinion that ever put one through hell, and I did several of them. Mr. Johnson once said, several years ago, that one of the reasons his prices were so high was that, and I am paraphrasing here but trying to get as close to the quote as I remember him saying during an interview in relation to complaints from civilians about the limited availability, no civilian has a justifiable need for one of these tools, our target market is the US military and our first responders. We want to provide them with the best tools we can, at the best pricing we can, in as timely a manner as we can. He said another factor in the pricing was, and this was right after the attack at the theater in Aurora Colorado in 2012, that one of his biggest concerns was turning on the television and finding out one of his hawks had been used in a similar massacre. So their goal was to take care of the military market, and the civilians could go buy Cold Steel or Estwing or whatever else they liked he didn't care. The thing I find disappointing about it now is that they have switched to all CNC production, and have in the case of some of their hawks moved to a less expensive steel that according to the data I have seen is less tough than 4140 and I personally wouldn't want a Shrike made from it if I planed to use it the way I have tested the 4140, and raised their prices. Maybe they're just following the pharmaceutical formula of getting in their licks before the inevitable new kid in town shows up, but it appears they may be going the same route SOG went when they lowered their production costs by moving from the US and Seki Japan facilities to primarily Taiwanese and Chinese production, and then raised their pricing significantly with a target market of the US military. I guess only time will tell if it will have the same effect on how seriously RMJ is taken in the market place in the future as that sort of thing had on how a lot of people view SOG today compared to the 90s. But just looking back at what happened between a certain big box store and a certain former US knife maker (maybe more than one but one in particular), what has happened with SOG, both of which were at one time two of my favorite knife companies, as well as what has happened to several other knife companies over the years that many today don't even know existed... but greed runs rampant in the world today, and over time greed seems to have a penchant for devaluing, diminishing, and destroying everything it touches.
 
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