Sticker shock an annoying trend.

zhyla said:
I don't understand it but knife collectors are willing to pay astronomical prices for some knives. I can barely stomach $100 for a knife. They get used, scratched, resharpened, on rare occasions lost. I wouldn't walk around with $800 in my pocket, why would I buy an $800 knife?
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They're buying art. Art holds its value, and sometimes appreciates as well.

You're buying tools. Different product, different priorities, different market.
 
In Medrords defense they are basically a custom knife shop. Everything they do is in house from cutting the blanks, grinding, machining, and final assembly is all done in house by them. The blade tangs are hand fitted to the titanium lockbar. Their 187 deployment series knives are all $425 and I have handled them and that is a hell of a knife for the price. Greg Medford is an awesome person to do buisness with and he believes in a 100% American made product. Heck their Viper is increadible their flipper on washers is better than 99% of the knives on bearings I have ever handeled (only bearing knife that beats it is a MRBS Shiro) the attention to detail is increadible.
 
The upper $500 range used to mean something. It was a price earned through an earned reputation of quality by a specific maker or sometimes a very special production company. You got what you paid for, usually. Now a days, I'm not so sure.
 
leghog said:
You can get a pinned and recessed S&W M10 for well less than $300.
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For $300 I'd rather get a $300 knife (and have).
Guns are okay, but I use my knives far more than I use my guns.
If I lived in the countryside, then sure, I could get more use out of guns...but I don't.
I live in the city, so it's an annoying couple of bus rides each way to the range and back...and the price of ammo keeps going up...and up and up.

That's another thing; once I buy the knife, that's it. :) No more fees.
With the gun I have to keep buying ammo; they're no fun just sitting there in a cabinet. The fun lies in using them.

And the gun prices in Canada are higher also, so your example is wrong for up here.
 
So I see a few people comparing prices of customs to production. That's two totally different ballparks. A big production company like spyderco has the tools and staff to pump these things out while a custom maker is building each one himself so even if the custom costs 5k it doesn't in my book justify a $300 production version. I may have forgot to mention that I'm far from opposed to paying for certain Luxerys. I own customs that cost $1,000-$1700. I striders, Chris reeves, hinderers, and one brous. I own some high end spydies like the tuff. I also own a whole bunch of zero tolerance framelocks. What's getting to me is that I belive that now companies are just getting greedy. Especially because I've seen some really really nice folders come out of China recently for the $100 - $150 range that are giving some of these "high end" knives a run for their money. Obviously you're paying for American labor if it's made here but that's not enough to justify double or tripple the price especially in a big production company. Before you could expect to be getting big thick TI slabs, a bearing system, overbuilt pivot, or bushing, ultra premium blade steel, and impeccable fit and finish. Now it seems like companies are just saying hey the mid techs and customs are selling let's just tack a rediculous price on this and see how it goes. Then the knife comunity because we all love our hobby drink the Kool aid, and get bent over time and time again. Personally I hope China continues to put out quality offerings for reasonable prices because then I'll be able to buy more knives and hopefully the greedy companies will begin to see the error of their ways.
 
First of all, Spyderco isn't a BIG production company...KAI is huge in comparison.

As for Chinese knives, they CAN be good...if people put the quality control oversight in place.
A guy from a German company was talking about Chinese production, and said that yes, they were producing good parts...because they had, in his words, "An army of German engineers there to ensure quality control was adhered to."

There's a lot more to prices than materials and labour too.

But that doesn't mean that some AREN'T gouging; which companies are doing so, in your opinion?
 
I think it probably is. Pretty sure the "handle" if you can even call it that is titanium and that is part of why the price is so high. But even so... utility knife!
 
stabman said:
First of all, Spyderco isn't a BIG production company...KAI is huge in comparison.

As for Chinese knives, they CAN be good...if people put the quality control oversight in place.
A guy from a German company was talking about Chinese production, and said that yes, they were producing good parts...because they had, in his words, "An army of German engineers there to ensure quality control was adhered to."

There's a lot more to prices than materials and labour too.

But that doesn't mean that some AREN'T gouging; which companies are doing so, in your opinion?
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That's part of the reason I've never tried to buy a custom... it's more than materials and labor and part of the price being so high is the labor of that single maker, which for me usually isn't good enough to justify the price. I get that it's harder if you don't have a staff and machinery but, c'mon. That said there are some great-looking ones I wish I could afford.
 
Thread led me to looking into the rubicon. Seems like a pretty nice knife. I don't even dig carbon fiber on my knives, for my bikes sure. Not my cup of tea but doesn't scream rip off IMHO.
 
I'm not debating the quality of spyderco. Lately certain models from a lot of brands are just way too high. The rubicon being top of the list. What it boils down to is its a TI liner lock and there is really nothing there to justify that price. But that's just one. Microtech's manual knives are way overpriced and the fit and finish is crap now. My doc has terrible grinds a sticky lock that over engaged and an awful blade finish. It sits in its box because it pisses me off every time I look at it and I won't sell it to someone else because it'd be ripping them off. Medford and brous are midtechs and you can expect the little guys to have higher prices. Medford are still a little crazy but at least for the money you're getting generously used high end material.

I understand that people feel the need to justify their spending by claiming that that kind of quality just can't be had cheaper. But that's horseshit and we both know it. We buy these blades because when we see certain ones the dopamine levels in our brains raise and we say "I need that, because it'll make me happy" I know this and am willing to freely admit it. Just because knives are an addiction for me doesn't mean I can't acknowledge when we're being fleeced. The companies sure as shit know we're addicted.
 
Dean Crail said:
In Medrords defense they are basically a custom knife shop. Everything they do is in house from cutting the blanks, grinding, machining, and final assembly is all done in house by them. The blade tangs are hand fitted to the titanium lockbar. Their 187 deployment series knives are all $425 and I have handled them and that is a hell of a knife for the price. Greg Medford is an awesome person to do buisness with and he believes in a 100% American made product. Heck their Viper is increadible their flipper on washers is better than 99% of the knives on bearings I have ever handeled (only bearing knife that beats it is a MRBS Shiro) the attention to detail is increadible.
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Honestly I think medfords are overpriced. Hand fitting a knife and hand assembly is done with every knife manufacturer as there really is not way to automate such processes. I also dont understand the comment about their washer knives being better than 99% of the knives on bearings. Do you means smoother? If so that has more to do with the way they do the detent not whether its on bearings or not.
 
I cant help myself but I love Microtech knives. I heard everything about their issues with customer service, fit and finish and stealing designs from another companies. Their prices are high but I still love them.
 
Will Batayte said:
PURPLEEDC you're absolutely right the fit and finish has gone down look at the pos microtech doc
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LOL, yeah thats my issue. At one point I had no problem paying top dollar if I got top quality. Now that Im not the pricing is bit hard to swallow.
 
I've made a $60 Chinese ti framelock smoother then most of my high end stuff just by mirror polishing the washers and inside scales near the pivot
 
My MicroTechs are as well finished as anything else I own. I bought these two to see if the modern ones were as bad as some say. And they are very refined folders, IMO. Absolutely nothing wrong with either. Plus they cost a lot less than any of the others in the picture (50-275 less).

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Will Batayte said:
stab by that logic spyderco is a big company compared to say brouse
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The logic is logical.
Huge companies can produce in higher quantities, and thus give you more economical goods (of the same quality).
Look at Victorinox; MASSIVE production, good quality, and low prices.
Or Kershaw (part of KAI); plenty of economical models, some of which are made in the USA.

Size matters.

This isn't to say that all big companies will give you cheaper goods, but it sure as hell means that they can.
 
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