Where can I find an asian company to produce blanks?

$30-40 ???

That's just too much.

I'd like you to make them out of 3V, with ironwood handles and sell them for $20.

That's what I'd like. :)




Oh wait, we are posting our pipe dreams without any sound research behind them, right? I'm just say'n.... :)
 
This kind of thing just makes me sick inside!:mad:
Give Americans the work!!!!
Mace
 
Proud of every one here saying find a US company. Thank you. There just is not much that smokes me more then people that would rather send money overseas than spend it here in the good ole USA and those same people are usually the first to bitch about the shape were in.

Cliff Parker
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I work with American and Chinese companies for different things, and I think most moral arguments for using one over the other is frequently overly simplistic.

A 4X8 sheet of American 1095 HRPO isn't expensive, probably $200-$300 and you might could get 200-300 blanks out of it. The total cost per finished tumbled blank would be in the $2-$4 range. I use local shops for laser and waterjet and receive worldclass quality, pricing and delivery.

American blade blanks, in volume, wouldn't be expensive. This is still an area where American industry is highly competitive, it would be foolish to try to import equal value.

Decent grinds and HT, are expensive. But I would not trust China to do either correctly on a quality knife. Though I would trust China to overmold a plastic handle onto a finished blade. Probably about $1.50 each plus tooling which would be around $5,000. Double both of those numbers to have it done here for similar quality.

BTW, making a few hundred of anything is still way below the threshold of "mass producing" a product. This is called short run manufacturing.
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I really dont mean to step on anyones toes here, and Im just looking for some sound honest advice and I dont like being bashed.

one of the reasons I wanted to choose an overseas company is because many of them do all the work (assemble the knife handles and sheaths). So my theory was If I get a package deal the cost and hassle would be less per knife, and I couldnt find a Us maker that did all that for a decent price. I origionally wanted to use micarta on the handles, but that may have to wait.

And Im not trying to "undersell" the compeditor with "cheap knock offs", I realize that knife that some guy sells for over a few hundred dollars can be easily made for under 20 dollars, and in my opinion thats price gouging.

I want to produce a sound knife of my own design, out of good steel and paired with leather or kydex sheaths with cordwrapped handles, and make it very affordable. and I know I can do it.

Decently made knives are not for the few priveledged people that have hundreds to blow, they are for the people that need a decent no bs knife that will get the job done and be very affordable.

A lot of you have some good advice, and I really appreciate it. I will look into some US companies, I am in western pa (close to pittsburgh) and if any of you have some links to some fabricators I would be pleased, it would also be preferable if the shop did grinding too.

Thanks!
 
There are many great American companies that can do what you want. Bark River is one. http://www.barkriverknifetool.com/ Reid Tool and Design has a forum here. Search and you will find what you need. Just remember, cheaper isn't always better. You will get what you pay for. ;)
 
I realize that knife that some guy sells for over a few hundred dollars can be easily made for under 20 dollars, and in my opinion thats price gouging.
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Just tryin to help and not flamming but your quote above is worse than the over seas thing. You have no idea about running a business. A manufacture might only have $20 actual material and labor cost in a piece but could easily have $50-$100 or more per piece in overhead. Then need to add a profit to that.

Are we talking Custom/Handmade or Production? A custom maker might only have $20 in materials but much more in labor and over head, like $200-$300 for a low end piece.

The cost of a custom knife in most cases is cheap!
 
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Don Hanson III said:
Just tryin to help and not flamming but your quote above is worse than the over seas thing. You have no idea about running a business. A manufacture might only have $20 actual material and labor cost in a piece but could easily have $50-$100 or more per piece in overhead. Then need to add a profit to that.

Are we talking Custom/Handmade or Production? A custom maker might only have $20 in materials but much more in labor and over head, like $200-$300 for a low end piece.

The cost of a custom knife in most cases is cheap!
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the designs are full tang with cord wrapped handles, all I plan on doing is cord wrapping the handles and do some buffing, the real cost will be in the kydex and rivets. but honestly I have figured up the costs and aside from wrapping the handles and making sheaths which I will enjoy (I do this in my freetime anyways). The projected cost will be well under 20 dollars per knife for me. that is if I can get blanks under 10 dollars, and a lot of the designs are very small and unorthodox.

The sole reason driving this project is the desire to create something no one has ever seen before and something very practical and inexpensive for the buyer.

once I get the manufacturing lined up and set in stone I will be oredering a small batch of 100 to work on, as I wont sell too many off the get go. I already have a friend that will be selling them through his site so I know I could sell (some). And I just launched a website last week that I will be selling and marketing them through.

I know many of you guys have made high quality beautiful knives, and That is a passion you stand behind and will fight for if need be, so naturally I understand that many of you are terrified of competition. I mean come on look at how many cheap mass produced knife companys are out there now. in many cases they are a degredation to the decent knife making industry. But do not worry I dont aspire to be like them. I hope this clears some things up.

Thanks again! Links appreciated!
 
wahooone said:
I know many of you guys have made high quality beautiful knives, and That is a passion you stand behind and will fight for if need be, so naturally I understand that many of you are terrified of competition.
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I believe that the part about terrified of competition is completely wrong. I'm still a newbie knife maker, but if the amazing makers were afraid of competition, would they belong to these forums and bash you? These forums are for helping others, not for showing off our work. I would never have made a knife if it weren't for these forums, so you can't really say that knife makers don't like competition. Most people just don't like undercutting hard working US (or Canadian even) labor.

I'm wondering this though... what are you trying to gain from this project? Getting blanks cut is one thing, so you don't have to worry about them looking different and saving time, but having someone make the entire knife except for the handle wrapping and making a simple kydex sheath just doesn't make sense. I also believe it's not a custom knife if there are 99 others exactly the same as it.
 
You need to re-think your thought about competition. Most everyone on these forums are friends and are more than willing to help one another. Cheap ass knife companies and what goes on here are two different things. What you are proposing to do is no competition to anyone here. No one cares about or wants a $20-$40 knife. E-gay would be a good place to market something like that. Good luck on your new venture.
 
wahooone said:
I realize that knife that some guy sells for over a few hundred dollars can be easily made for under 20 dollars...
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Show me how. I'd love to know! No cheating by replacing a skilled craftsman with a stamp and some slave-wage drones either, or trading top-quality steel for generic "stainless". There are several very good reasons that mid- and high-end knives sell quite well, and you seem to have completely missed the point.

I believe a person could make a fair profit making short runs of laser- or water-cut blanks and having them finished by skilled machinists/assemblers. Bark River Knife and Tool seems to be doing pretty well with a similar approach. But I think you would have to focus on quality, as BRKT does. If you're going to compete with the Chinese factories based on cost alone, I think you're in for a long and bumpy road.

You're assuming that (if) you can get blanks cut for $10, you can then finish-grind, heat-treat, polish, wrap and provide a sheath for another $10? With all due respect, you're out of your tree.

I don't think anyone here is trying to rain on your parade, but you before you get huffy you might want to consider that these folks represent decades of experience in manufacturing, craftsmanship, and running businesses. And asking independents/small shops how to undercut them is not all that conducive to a productive discussion.

EDIT: I agree 100% with Patrice, Mike and Dave about the competition issue. These people around here have bent over backwards to help me get started, even though I honestly intend to compete with their work at as near to their level as I'm able. They are not "terrified" of you, me, or anyone else. ;)
 
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What competition? :cool:

This thread was moved to the wrong forum! It has nothing to do with custom knife makers!
 
:thumbdn:This guy is F'ed up dude!

We will help are fellow man here.
But dont come in here and put us down like this:o:o.We take pride in the USA and pride in what we do!
And if you think,You can make a knife like Me and my friends on this site do for $20.00
Just try it walk a mile in our shoses and she what happens
 
Just a thought, If you are in your kitchen and your pipes break and flood your house you are going to call the plumber and he is going to charge you a minimum of $75 per hour to fix your house, same thing with an electrician. and you are going to pay it and be happy that you got your pipes fixed. But then you look at these people that spend hours building a knife that is more like a useful piece of art and you expect them to work for minimum wage. And then go out and say they are price gouging. I am not trying to be rude but hope you will understand were all these good people on this forum are coming from with there posts,

that being said,

I own and operate a Water Jet and that is what I use to cut my blanks, I would not be able to do the grinding for you but I would be happy to give you a quote on 100 blanks. Just send me the dxf. file and I could let me know the price (cutting price) + cost of steel.

Scott Hansen,
yotebuster1200(at)yahoo.com
 
$20 ????

Wow, I wish I could even approach that cost.

Mikkel Willumsen and I just made 128 knives.
It cost us almost $12k
Before our labor.
$12k out of pocket !!!
 
Trying to be the voice of reason here. I'll point out some of the holes in your plan.

You want to make an inexpensive knife that looks a lot like an expensive knife, but is totally different.
You want it made from top quality materials.
You want someone to make the knife, grind it, HT it, and maybe even put on a handle.
You want someone to make a custom sheath for this knife.
You are willing to wrap some paracord and perhaps buff the knife. For all this you want to pay the makers $20......total!
You plan on selling it for $40
You plan on making.....what??? $2-$5 per knife ?

Even if you could make all that for $20 ( which you can't) there is a lot more than just getting it made.
The way I see it ,after import duty, shipping from Asia, business taxes, business license,incorporation fees, business insurance, operating expenses, commissions ( you did plan on paying the fellow who was going to sell them for you?), FICA, and Federal and State taxes....you might not loose much at all. Maybe only a couple thousand in the hole. That all assumes you work out of your house, and don't pay yourself. If you want to run an illegal home import business, you might be able to skip some of that expense, but you better hope you never become successful, or you will have problems later. If you made $2-5 on each knife it would be a miracle.

Let's look at the startup.
If you figure on 100 knives at $20 cost - that's $2000
Sell them for $40 - that's $4000
That is a gross profit of $2000, or $20 per knife.
All the expenses above may add up to much more than that, but if you can afford the startup loss, you might be able to start seeing a profit after a couple thousand knives.

And then there is the patent thing....you violating someone elses...or them stealing yours.

If you can come up with a business plan to sell 100,000 of these, you could potentially make about what a McDonald's manager makes.

Stacy
 
I love how the header before you come into shop talk for this thread says "Where can I find an Asian...." Hehe :D
 
Don't forget that if you wish to continue such an operation, your product will make or break your reputation. Poorly made, mass produced POS knives will not garner any return customers. Just my 02
 
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