Interesting responses, and I guess not what I was expecting. I thought there would be a few more users on the very high end.
Single blade slipjoints are one thing, but if you're talking multi-blade knives, especially ones that require blade bending/krinking like stockmans and congresses, there's a massive price jump with customs. The most expensive production stockman with non-exotic handles might be around $150, usually not even that much. But a custom stockman is likely to run several hundred dollars at the minimum. Much more dramatic than the difference between a Bradley Alias and a Sebenza or even a Hinderer. A Bose (Tony or Reese) will cost a couple grand and take a few years, or cost a couple more grand on the secondary market if you can't wait.
I used to think that the minimal market for high-quality slipjoints was odd, with very, very few available with premium steels, but I'm beginning to think that it's because there never really was much of a market for one. Back in the days when a knife we today call "traditional" was merely just a knife, people didn't buy them to collect, look pretty, or brag about how theirs has the latest supersteel that can cut through 2.7% more strands of manilla rope than somebody else's knife. People bought a knife to use, and they used it. The next step up would have been a rich man's knife with pearl or ivory handles and these didn't get used like a farmhand's or a farrier's would have. The high-end "working" knife is a more recent trend and typically found in modern knives.
Traditional knives in high end steels are few and far between outside of customs. Queen (and knives made by Queen for other companies) makes knives in D2, which although high-performance, isn't new or exotic. The Case/Bose line comes in 154CM or ATS-34, but I don't know of any others that do. Canal Street has some in 14-4 CrMo, and there's some Japanese manufactured A.G. Russell knives in AUS-8 and VG-10. And that's about as new and exotic as it gets. I can't think of a single production traditional style knife in S30V (the Spyderco UKPK doesn't count), never mind S90V, ELMAX, Cts-20P, M390, etc. I'm kinda torn about this. As much as I'd love to see a good old stockman in the latest-and-greatest steel, it's kinda contrary to the "traditional" aspect of the knife. I mean, there's a reason that so many traditional knives are still sold in plain old 1095 or CV. If a "traditional" knife was the working man's knife back when the working man actually carried a knife, it shouldn't require hundreds of dollars worth of sharpening equipment to keep an edge on it.
I'm rambling now...time for bed.
