Good review. I suspect that the price difference with these knives has a lot to do with how they are sold. BRKT goes through dealers so everyone involved has to make a "living wage" and BRKT cannot sell directly and undercut the "discounted" retail prices of their loyal dealers. IIRC, the other two both sell directly. In the case of Survive, they are being sold pretty cheap cheap considering the cost of steel like 3V and M390. Guy also appears to be selling the knives for less that you would expect even from companies selling directly AND he include a sheath sourced from a highly respected Kydex bender. Good way to get your name out there, but if it was me, I would not be inclined to do it forever as growth leads to additional expenses either in the form of dealing with retailers who need their cut or hiring employees. Get while the gettin's good!!
Thank you.
I assumed that BRKT's prices were mostly inflated with a smattering of cost of finishing - they seem to put a LOT of effort into appearance. The 'dealer vs. direct' comparison is interesting. Using dealers is a business decision from BRKT. They are not a foreign company, they could sell direct as Bussekin and Survive! currently do... But Guy certainly has his share of order-mishaps as his company grows, he may find it more economical to use dealers in the future... or not. *shrug* However, none of the companies are obligated to publish their expenditures and profit-margins, namely how much it costs to build each knife compared to how much each sells for. By pricing his products well below those of inferior materials from other companies, I certainly hope that Guy is cutting his way into the market! But he has mentioned that prices will start to go up, which is why the pre-orders generate such excitement even though the wait time can be excruciating for some! In an age of "zero-interest" investments, putting money into a Survive! knife can be a very wise financial decision. Had you spent that money on stocks, it is highly unlikely that it will have accrued significant value in the same amount of time that it takes Guy to put out a pre-order knife, a knife which is worth a substantial amount more than you invested in it if compared to similar offerings from other companies! Around the time I invested in this GSO-4.1 (~$150 mid-November 2012 pre-order price), I also had ~$5,000 in respectable stocks. The stocks accrued NET $45.00 in the 5 months it took to receive my knife, now priced at $200 and comparable to other US production knives priced even higher! The stock-interest from $200 would not have generated, in that time period, sufficient funds to afford a similar BRKT model. To be clear, I am not advocating purchasing Survive! Knives for the purpose of re-sale (like many Bussekin and BRKT knives), but pointing out to interested customers how investing in Guy's company pays for itself. I lent him my money at a monthly interest rate of ~7%, accepting the return as a lump-sum knife
Definitely worth getting in on!
I should take this post to mention that Guy's production seems to consist mostly of designing, finishing, and packaging the knives. The steel & micarta come from manufacturers, they are cut and surface- & primary-bevel ground by a contractor, heat-treated by Peters (
http://petersheattreat.com/), and the sheaths are made elsewhere by Kiah. This is nothing like what makers such as Phil Wilson and, I assume, Joe Mandt (
jdm61) do - working with customer designs to build the knife from start to finish. Personally, i only own one custom knife so far, a WC Davis loveless-style drop-point hunter in S30V. I was more expensive than the GSO-4.1 and, to my mind, worth
every penny. Many knifemakers offer very effective knives at even lower prices than Guy's and can give you
exactly what you ask for. While Guy's business may be a great knife-investment, it is by no means the only or best option out there!
Sorry for the long post, and thank you all for reading the review.
