What is your point of diminishing return?

Charlie Mike

Charlie Mike

Sober since 1-7-14 (still a Paranoid Nutjob)
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 1, 2000
Messages
28,365
For me... $1500/folders and $400/fixed... not that I haven't spent over this figure.

I was just browsing AZCK and PVK. Many 4 figure knives there. It's my opinion that many of them are priced so high only because someone will pay that much. I love high end everything but I can't afford to buy something that I'm afraid to use (or unwilling to modify).
 
Charlie Mike said:
For me... $1500/folders and $400/fixed... not that I haven't spent over this figure.

I was just browsing AZCK and PVK. Many 4 figure knives there. It's my opinion that many of them are priced so high only because someone will pay that much. I love high end everything but I can't afford to buy something that I'm afraid to use (or unwilling to modify).
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About $400 for folder or fixed is as far as I have gone thus far. 95% of the knives I buy I intend to use so the price has got to allow for that.
 
A few years ago my limit was a couple grand. But I never would use them. And It was a waste having them around to just look at. So these days I really wont pay over $500 for a knife. Not because I wouldnt desire something nicer than that. Its just I cant jusify anything over that no matter how much I like the design. Especially since my EDC tasks would never have me even be able to appreciate what a more expensive knife can do that a $100 knife cant. Still the majority of my collection is well under the $300 mark.
 
850 for folders. ~500 for fixed blades.

Have a custom Steingass in the works made to my dimensions. Also in line to get a Hall (Hall Handmade) fighter. I have no folders because the custom guys are too backlogged and/or won't accept new commissions. If I'm getting a custom, it's being made with my input. Otherwise, I see no point.

Both will be 9.5 inches overall length with a 5.5 inch blade. Both are bowies.

For folders, I want a double headed pivot (pivot head on both sides). I either want no pocket clip or a pocket clip mounted on the spine like some of the Mcustsa or the Caswell. I don't want a relief cut on the opposing lockbar side because I'm not an ogre and don't need one to facilitate lockbar manipulation. These seem like simple requests, but many custom makers I've inquired with don't want to do these things.
 
Diminishing returns? $100-$150 for folders. For that price I can get extremely durable, efficient, low maintenance knives, comfortable knives. Those are the qualities that, for me, really define a knife's value as a tool.
 
$120-150-ish max for factory-made or mass-produced knives.
$150-300 is the sweet spot for affordable custom-made knives. :thumbup:
 
Charlie Mike said:
Same here.
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I just bought a $4800 knife and a $8000 knife, full customs from two makers that are regarded as the best of the best, books indefinitely closed ultra-exclusive blah blah. I'll be very blunt about this, it's still very hard for me to accept that I spent that much. I spent a lot of time wondering if they were really worth it. My conclusion involves 2 perspectives: 1. My value, in this case both are were worth it and I get giddy playing with them and taking videos of them, lol, 2. Market value, currently they are both worth it in value wise in the market. I've had multiple offers higher than what I paid by legitimate collectors. If they market value drops, then that perspective changes. I'm a collector so my valuation is based on the rarity and if I enjoy the knife in my collection.

My collection is all over the place recently, I've bought a $1500 knife, then the next day I bought a $150 knife I already have with the intention of modding it myself. I tend to stay in the higher-end range and I'm hitting the point where the value is not justified. For instance, I'm in the books for a Rexford custom but with no solid date. So I want to get a custom before then. Rexford customs start at around $6k for a basic now, the one I want is around $20k. That is a serious amount of money and pretty much my limit. I don't use any of these, they are strictly for my collection. I actually carry a kershaw cryo 2......that is about my limit for a user $30 lol

As far as the price versus value, its based on my collectors perspective. So the rarer, harder to get & gaudiness of it is what I'm after. Prices get exponential in that perspective.
 
Pittknife said:
I just bought a $4800 knife and a $8000 knife, full customs from two makers that are regarded as the best of the best, books indefinitely closed ultra-exclusive blah blah. I'll be very blunt about this, it's still very hard for me to accept that I spent that much. I spent a lot of time wondering if they were really worth it. My conclusion involves 2 perspectives: 1. My value, in this case both are were worth it and I get giddy playing with them and taking videos of them, lol, 2. Market value, currently they are both worth it in value wise in the market. I've had multiple offers higher than what I paid by legitimate collectors. If they market value drops, then that perspective changes. I'm a collector so my valuation is based on the rarity and if I enjoy the knife in my collection.

My collection is all over the place recently, I've bought a $1500 knife, then the next day I bought a $150 knife I already have with the intention of modding it myself. I tend to stay in the higher-end range and I'm hitting the point where the value is not justified. For instance, I'm in the books for a Rexford custom but with no solid date. So I want to get a custom before then. Rexford customs start at around $6k for a basic now, the one I want is around $20k. That is a serious amount of money and pretty much my limit. I don't use any of these, they are strictly for my collection. I actually carry a kershaw cryo 2......that is about my limit for a user $30 lol

As far as the price versus value, its based on my collectors perspective. So the rarer, harder to get & gaudiness of it is what I'm after. Prices get exponential in that perspective.
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I guess I'm in the wrong profession as a graduate student wanting to go into academia as a professor. I can't even fathom spending that much. I would if I could. Certain pieces like Ron Lakes are just fantastic.
 
I believe that I can get a very nice production folder with primo materials for <$250ish. For the money, I can get fancy scales, a wide selection of super-duper 'boutique' steels, choice of lock design...you name it. If I pay more (and I have), I feel that I am buying something more special to me than just a functional pocket knife--it's gonna appeal to me on a deeper level.

-Brett

*ETA: now that I think of it, I'm reasonably confident that I could buy a very decent cutting tool for less than $50. Might not have all the bells and whistles, but there are options in this price-range that would get the job done in spades!
 
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Pittknife said:
I just bought a $4800 knife and a $8000 knife, full customs from two makers that are regarded as the best of the best, books indefinitely closed ultra-exclusive blah blah. I'll be very blunt about this, it's still very hard for me to accept that I spent that much. I spent a lot of time wondering if they were really worth it. My conclusion involves 2 perspectives: 1. My value, in this case both are were worth it and I get giddy playing with them and taking videos of them, lol, 2. Market value, currently they are both worth it in value wise in the market. I've had multiple offers higher than what I paid by legitimate collectors. If they market value drops, then that perspective changes. I'm a collector so my valuation is based on the rarity and if I enjoy the knife in my collection.

My collection is all over the place recently, I've bought a $1500 knife, then the next day I bought a $150 knife I already have with the intention of modding it myself. I tend to stay in the higher-end range and I'm hitting the point where the value is not justified. For instance, I'm in the books for a Rexford custom but with no solid date. So I want to get a custom before then. Rexford customs start at around $6k for a basic now, the one I want is around $20k. That is a serious amount of money and pretty much my limit. I don't use any of these, they are strictly for my collection. I actually carry a kershaw cryo 2......that is about my limit for a user $30 lol

As far as the price versus value, its based on my collectors perspective. So the rarer, harder to get & gaudiness of it is what I'm after. Prices get exponential in that perspective.
Click to expand...

With all due respect you better sell those now while the market for current custom folders is still lukewarm. Plenty of makers aren't commanding the prices they did just a couple months ago.

For me, $500 for production, $2000 for custom. Unless it's a mil-spec Emerson Rhino.
 
Lately I've become much more interested in modding production folders in the $100-$200 price range than in buying much more expensive knives (the highest I've gone is $850). For example, right now I'm in the process of getting a Spyderco Junior blade stonewashed/acid washed, then a super thin mirror-polished reprofile job, followed by custom scales. This process (and the anticipated final result) interests me much more than does the idea of buying another $500+ knife.
 
asdf12345 said:
With all due respect you better sell those now while the market for current custom folders is still lukewarm. Plenty of makers aren't commanding the prices they did just a couple months ago.

For me, $500 for production, $2000 for custom. Unless it's a mil-spec Emerson Rhino.
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You are exactly right bro. I Bought these a few months ago, I've never sold a custom knife, I've only bought them. That thought of the market plunging has been creeping in my mind. From a collectors standpoint it doesn't make that much a difference, I really do enjoy them.

The high-end makers are still getting ridicoilous money. I had some proxy bids at TKI and got beat in all the auctions I wanted.
 
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harkamus said:
I guess I'm in the wrong profession as a graduate student wanting to go into academia as a professor. I can't even fathom spending that much. I would if I could. Certain pieces like Ron Lakes are just fantastic.
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I have a BSME and a MBA, life has been good, no complaints. Teaching pays well, you can make a lot as an adjunct while having a cush corporate job.

It's like everything else, my friends make fun of me for spending thousands on knives but don't think their Rolex or Patek watch is a bad spenditure. Some others think dropping $10k to go to the Super Bowl is not a bad investment. I choose to used extra play money on knives. If They become devalued, at least I can cut something with them, lol
 
Anything much over $500-600, you're almost always paying for expensive materials or rarity...high demand and low supply, not function. It's not really that often you're actually getting some uber expensive material, and those materials won't improve function (I'm talking mokuti, timascus, zirconium, damascus, etc.)

Do I sometimes like fancy stuff, or stuff that I have to pay too much for? Sure. But those are the ones I really tend to think about in terms of $500-600 knives.

Is a $1,500 custom worth the same as a Sebenza with inlays AND a Wayfarer in B75P with LSCF? Not to me, not usually anyway.

Is a Sebenza or a Wayfarer worth more than 3 $200 Zero Tolerance knives? Yep, easily.
 
My Collectors view on value. Almost no limit because of the purpose.

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My user view on max knife value, and yeah i got my thumb guillotined while taking the pic above, damn thorburn closes faster than my thumb can move.

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For me it depends on how the knife appeals to me. I am not collector yet and justify knife purchases on whether I like how the knife looks, craftsmanship, and will I use it.
That being said, I will pay more for a handmade knife over a production due to it being a one of.
So for me up to $700 for a production folder, and $1000 for a custom fixed.
 
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