What do the materials cost you to make your knives?

I've spent days making really pretty folders that go "snick" at both ends, out of salvaged materials and sold them for a price I was quite happy with.
I've worked my butt off and made folders out of all new materials that were nicer in every way, I thought, that are still sitting on my table.
The only real answer to your question is to make stuff for a year or five, compare income to outgo, and decide whether it's something you want to keep on with.
 
I make knives for me, occasionally someone will want one and I'll "sell" it to them... It has already been beaten to death about hidden costs so I won't go there. As elementfe said, it makes me happy.
 
If I am making a plain monosteel EDC using knife I have about $4.00 in steel, $3.00 in cocobolo, $1.00 in bronze, $2.00 in belt wear, .50 in epoxy$2.50 in electricity, $4.00 in propane and about 3 hours total labor. If I make a Damascus knife all that goes out the window until I build my forging press since a 160 layer billet by hand takes forever and loses a fair amount of mass to scale-off. What would it cost to replace the equipment that I work with to do all this? $30,000 for an equivalent American made lathe to my LeBlond, add to that the cost of my little lathes, the mill-drill, the drillpresses, the casting equipment, the home made tools and fixtures if I had to pay someone else to make them, and my shop buildings, add in 34 years worth of learning experiences and the whole mess gets pretty expensive

-Page
 
I thought I'd just give a specific example.

1084 steel (including shipping cost) $5
Guard and pin material $4
Epoxy $1
2x sanding belts $7
Hand paper $5
Etching $2
Rotary tool bits for shaping $3
Stabilized box elder block $25
Electricity/propane $4
So this one is somewhere around $50-60, if I were to use exhibition grade wood and better steel, probably more like $75.


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Similar to above, not including the building/electricity etc. overhead, but since I'm in Canada, we pay a bit more for things. On average, I use about $50-$60 in materials for the average knife.
 
I work at well less than the minimum wage by the time I add up the costs of materials, power used, taxes paid for both materials, power used and for the shop itself. Then there is the shop, it took close to 30 years of accumulated machinery and 'stuff' to make it the shop it is. Now add in the repairs and parts, and shipping in the specialty items like heating elements for the HT oven and contact wheels for the grinder which don't come cheap. That does not even include the endless hours spent in the shop of my own time which often could have been put into other things that don't always get done like the endless yard work.
 
I just made a batch of 85 blades from 52100. And after steel and waterjet cost and even heat treat I'm at about 15 $ a piece. Thats for just the knife with no sheath.

Also, I work in a metal shop with a full machine shop. I machine the bevel in my blades at work with their tools and equipment. If I had to do it myself, the price would go from 15 $ to easily 50+$. But work buys all the inserts and belts that I need.
 
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J. Hoover said:
The steel and materials are cheap, the thousands of dollars in equipment along with the years invested in experience is what people pay for. Then you have maintenance on those machines and tools along with replacement cost when they wear out. Add to that your sanding belts, sand paper, quench oil and a hundred other things you accumulate of time to make the knives you want to make. Then include a shop and all the related cost that go along with that. Like I said to begin with the steel and handle material is nothing compared to everything else.
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Thank you for posting my thoughts.
I am new to this and it will take a long time to recoupe my cost of equipment which includes a Evenheat 22.5 grinders etc etc ... It has been way more expensive that I thought .....
 
I made two kitchen knives the same size. One 1084 I heat treated with a propane torch and one AEB-L that I paid to have treated. Handle costs aside, the 1084 steel was probably $5 and it used little sand paper to hand finish. The AEB-L cost twice as much or more for the steel, cost me ~40 to have heat treated after you factor in shipping cost, and then was nigh unsandable. I used a ton of paper on it hand finishing it. Aluminum oxide would barely scratch it and the more expensive silicon carbide paper wore out fast.

If I owned a kiln and had access to cheap LN2 the difference would be less.
 
For me its really dependent on steel and handle material choice + how many I make. If im using m390 steel per knife is about $30 for a hunter. If im using 52100 its about $10. Waterjettig costs about 10 per blank and so does HT. Then handles are anywhere from $5 for micarta to 70 for a wicked block of koa. Then I use about 15 in belts and 3 in pins and a dollar for glue and maybe 2 for sand paper.

Its not that expensive.What is expensive is my rent and all my machines.
 
Strigamort said:
Wow, what are you typically using? I can see a sword or large chopper in a pm steel costing a lot, maybe a large ti folder?

It helps when you describe the knife/knives you make, and Chris, I really appreciate the pic and break down. :)

Grizz, was that you that made that thread in gb&u? It was a very enlightening thread! Do you sell your knives made from blanks? I've only made one blank knife. It was a Gene Martin B&T in d2. It was a very fun experience. :D
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Strigamort, yep that was me! I do sell my knives that are made from blanks. I am up front with my customers too and they have no issues with it. I've not tried Gene's blanks but I have his page bookmarked. These Jantz pattern blades that are ground in house are nice.
 
GrizzlyBear said:
Strigamort, yep that was me! I do sell my knives that are made from blanks. I am up front with my customers too and they have no issues with it. I've not tried Gene's blanks but I have his page bookmarked. These Jantz pattern blades that are ground in house are nice.
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Thanks man. I have zero doubt that you are upfront. Can you imagine the uproar if we found out otherwise?! :D

There is an obvious difference between a person that has their design blank waterjetted, and a person such as yourself, but there are similarities too. I'd love to see some pics of your work.

As for why I posed the question. It's just a thought that crossed my mind. I also thought that it might benefit someone who hasn't given it much thought. I believe that a maker who makes money designing and creating knives is a clever person.

As for me, I have no immediate aspirations for selling knives, or even making them. I've made a few in the past, but never anything that bears mention. The future, however, is wide open. I know for a fact that I enjoy it and I very much enjoy researching and dreaming about it. Right now it's a limitation of time and space mostly.

This all reminds me of another question, but that's a topic for another time.

Thanks, and I appreciate your willingness to be open about such things. I have yet to find a more open and honest group of people.
 
How much do materials cost....it just does not matter
How much is a piece of stone to a sculptor, paint and canvas to a painter, or pen and paper to a writer. Cost of materials does not matter.
I'M gonna do it anyway.

Stan
 
The only time I really think about materials cost is when I'm making a knife for a family member. As a hobbyist, I am more than happy to donate my free time doing something I love to family. I'll generally tag on maybe $10-20 for belts + sandpaper depending on the size of the knife, and $5-10 for consumables like epoxy, acetone, propane, etc. Outside of that, it's pretty easy to calculate.

That said, I've charged them anywhere from $20 for a small knife with a wrap to $225 for damascus, high grade wood, and outsourced HT. I may have made or lost money here or there, but I think it evens out in the end... and I'm not going to nickel and dime family.

If it's a knife I'm making to sell, I'll price it at whatever I think it's worth. Materials obviously become a factor, as a knife in exhibition grade wood and damascus is going to have higher value than one in 1084 and micarta... but it's not something I sit down, total up, and then add an hourly rate to price my knives. Generally, what I value a knife at ends up being proportional to the quality of materials used and time taken anyways, simply because it produces a higher quality knife. I've sold a knife that cost me maybe $40 in materials and 1 1/2 afternoons for $200, and a knife that cost me maybe $125 in materials and took two weeks for $125 because it was, quite frankly, not as skillfully made as the other. I was happy enough to make that sale regardless, as I considered the whole process basically cheap entertainment.

I have a full time job which allows me to live comfortably and pay my bills, so I have the luxury of being able to afford using a lax pricing system. Any profit above materials cost simply means more play money to spend on tools and more materials. That's my only monetary motivation to keep costs low, use my time efficiently, and produce the best work I can. If I were doing this as a full time business however, I would probably have to operate differently.
 
I am looking at:
8" of A2 $11
Heat treat $5-12 depending on how many I send in.
micarta $8
shop supplies $10

So $40+.
 
Strigamort said:
Thanks man. I have zero doubt that you are upfront. Can you imagine the uproar if we found out otherwise?! :D

There is an obvious difference between a person that has their design blank waterjetted, and a person such as yourself, but there are similarities too. I'd love to see some pics of your work.

As for why I posed the question. It's just a thought that crossed my mind. I also thought that it might benefit someone who hasn't given it much thought. I believe that a maker who makes money designing and creating knives is a clever person.

As for me, I have no immediate aspirations for selling knives, or even making them. I've made a few in the past, but never anything that bears mention. The future, however, is wide open. I know for a fact that I enjoy it and I very much enjoy researching and dreaming about it. Right now it's a limitation of time and space mostly.

This all reminds me of another question, but that's a topic for another time.

Thanks, and I appreciate your willingness to be open about such things. I have yet to find a more open and honest group of people.
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Here are a couple of recent knives using the in-house ground blades from Jantz:

This one is 1095 with a vinegar and mustard patina, maple burl that I dyed and sanded back with a CA finish. My knifedogs KITH entry this year.


This one is bead blasted D2 in stabilized buckeye burl. I donated this one to the local Relay for Life charity auction.
 
Wow, love those! Especially the 1095. Are you doing the leather work as well? What about the mosaics? Those come from Jantz too? The secondary bevels are really nice and the handles look comfortable.
 
Yes I hand make and hand sew all my leather sheaths. These mosaics came from Jantz, they are the Gatling style. They are very comfortable...these are my first two that I made using a tapered handle rather than a thinner, rounded handle. I like the tapered.
 
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