What do you look for in a $500 knife

evltcat said:
^---- These right here. Everybody has to start somewhere, but I don't know anyone that would buy a knife from an unknown maker for $500+
If you can start out in the $100 or so range, I think you'll have better luck establishing your name and reputation. Good luck!
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I understand that I'm not going to start out making $500 knives. I figured that I would throw out a random high dollar amount and get a idea on what people look for in a high end knife so I know what to pay attention to in my knives.
 
Obviously good materials and fit and finish.

Not so obvious (as so many knife makers that sell knives over 500 cannot sharpen for crap) is a refined edge.
 
I expect excellent performance followed by at least very good F&F and/or particular design/style (to my taste, of course). And yes, sharp out of the box please :)
 
aaron.steele.9026 said:
I understand that I'm not going to start out making $500 knives. I figured that I would throw out a random high dollar amount and get a idea on what people look for in a high end knife so I know what to pay attention to in my knives.
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There are knives that sell for well over $500 with good F&F, that use D2/1095, have standard washers, and Ti/G10 scales.
There are knives that sell for half of $500 ($250 range) that have good F&F, that use M390/S90V/3V, roll on bearings, and have fancy milled Ti scales.....

The money is not necessarily in the materials, there are many other factors that are intangible and unpredictable....
 
What do I look for these days? Something I can carry and use lightly and eventually sell for more than $500.
 
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It would have to be a very large knife, well made, and have excellent blade steel and heat treat to justify $500 from a new maker. It might also have special materials like ivory or file work. File work done well adds cost.

The only knives I have ever considered buying over $500 were from master bladesmith or a budding one that is just about to get his top credentials.
 
A 500 dollar knife should include a couple of Kate Upton clones to do laundry, clean the house and such. Mostly the such.
 
The biggest turn off though is the maker themselves trying to justify their own price tag. If you print M390 in giant letters on the flat of the blade or make a you tube video about traveling to countries far and wide to source the best hemp thread to make your uber-tacky MANcarta handle scales(I should trademark that) I'm not going to buy your product. Not at $500. Not at $100. Just make a knife and let it speak for itself.

Frankly, I don't care what sort of steel the blade's made of. I like to think that a custom maker has selected a good steel rather than hammer forging an old laptop stand he found in an alley. Short of that, I don't care. 1095 sharpens faster anyway.
 
If I buy a high end custom there are some things I look for.

1) Resale . Will it keep it's value if I resell it? Not usually unless it's from a well known and recognized maker. I know what materials cost and have made a couple knives and from what I've seen most knife smiths don't pay themselves very much per hour. I can get a lot for the money so if I pay a lot it needs to be something that is well recognized and in demand in case I need to sell. There are waiting lists for all the makers I'd buy from

2) It has to give me something I can't get from a production knife. No 440C or even S30V now. Maybe not even S90V now because I can get a Spyderco for less than $100 with S90V and excellent performance. If it's 10V I want it run at rc 63-64. If It's O-1 I want rc 60-61. Heck, how about a 52100 or O-1 lockback at rc 61-62. No one makes that so I might be inclined to spend for what I want.

I actually want more than just a harder blade in fact. I'd like to have some say about the heat treat parameters if I'm getting spendy. How about PD#1 or Z wear at rc 63 in a folder?

Don't try to sell me a steel that's convienent to you by saying something like "440C was THE "super steel" in the 60's and 70's and still outperforms steels that are more expensive". If you want to use 440C that's fine, and there are reasons to do that but don't tell me fibs to convince me why. If I can't agree with your reasons and you aren't comfortable with my requirements than it's better for both of us not to put a round peg in a square hole.

The bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie as the saying sort of goes. Also, be aware that a certain amount of your customers aren't happy with anything less than CNC precision and grew up with perfectly molded plastic parts and expect to see the grinds and alignment more than eye perfect. On the forums we sometimes see guys that are raging over imperfections on the inside scales that need light and magnification to show the other forumites and even though it doesn't effect performance or value they will make overly dramatic statements about how they had the worst day they have ever had in their lives because when they found the flaws in their knives and tried calling you they couldn't get you on the phone and furthermore you didn't respond to their e-mail for 2days by which time they have broadcast their meltdown on 3 different knife forums and because they can never trust you again they have notified their credit card company etc...

Fortunately not everybody is like that but expect to find a few that are. Some folks are used to instant gratification and are very special, fragile snowflakes who have not learned problem solving techniques and go straight from one e mail to runaway, duck and cover mutual Assured Destruction nuclear option. :)

Good luck.

Joe
 
I made my first $500 (and $1000) knife this year. I have been making knife-like objects for almost 6 years. For the first 4 years, the most expensive knife I made/sold was $250. I had to make a lot of knives and sell them cheap because... my name was not so well known and my work was still a learning experience.

The other part of the price is materials. The $1000 dollar knife I made cost me $400 to make.

And it helps to get your work in Blade Magazine a few times.
 
Quiet said:
The biggest thing? At that price range, I'm looking at custom knives made by established makers, with a history of excellence and quality products which are proven designs, made of proven materials that they've proven they can get great performance out of.

I am not quite sure you'll sell many knives at that price point if you're just starting out. Best of luck to you, brother.
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You'll have to start at the bottom, build a reputation and a worthy knife. And it better be damn near perfect for that price.
 
kershawguy said:
A four hundred dollar discount :D
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The marketplace speaks. :D

I agree that Eye Dog got it right. :cool:

The best answers to this question will come from a) a 'maker who charges $500 for a knife they've made, or b) a person who has $500 and is willing to spend it on a knife.

A $500 knife is kinda like the old adage about art -- you'll know it when you see it.

Just don't spend five hundred bucks on a $200 knife, ok? ;)

Tom @ KnivesShipFree
 
I think if you are going to start making knives, just make the best ones you know how. You'll be learning, making mistakes and so forth. I wouldn't think price at this point. Think quality.
 
For $500 that one knife had better be able to do all the things--and better--than all the knives $500 could buy. My average EDC runs in the $30-50 range per knife. The one exception is my 5.11 kerambit, which is out of production (an early model) and ran in the $100 range when it was new, although I traded into mine, and may be replacing it with something cheaper. After nearly losing a PPT because it wouldn't stay where I damned well clipped it, I gave up on the idea of carrying expensive knives.
 
aaron.steele.9026 said:
I'm looking to start making my own knives soon so I decided that it might be a good idea to ask what you look for in both folders and fixed blades.
Good thing to avoid would be appreciated as well.
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I think Quiet nailed it-

The biggest thing? At that price range, I'm looking at custom knives made by established makers, with a history of excellence and quality products which are proven designs, made of proven materials that they've proven they can get great performance out of.

I am not quite sure you'll sell many knives at that price point if you're just starting out. Best of luck to you, brother.










 
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