Wow, haven't looked at knives for a couple years. Prices seem insanely high now.

leghog said:
Buy used/vintage. Get the most bang for your buck. I paid very few dollars for the ~45-50 year old Ulster/Craftsman in my pocket. Very few bucks. There's a ton of such knives on the market and most can be had very inexpensively.
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You are spot on Leghog!! Even if you don't care for traditional knives lots of "pre-owned" folders out there.
 
Prices are going up on everything. I still think that you get a lot for you money with the Becker-Ka-Bar's however
 
T. Erdelyi said:
My thoughts exactly, the older knives are well made and reasonably priced usually.
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The prices of knives (or anything else, for that matter) has more to do with the de-vaulation of the dollar than anything.
The Fed has busted its ass for the last 10 years to drag down the dollar so we could "compete" with the currencies of
other countries; what they really want is to make the huge loans we've gotten from China worthless upon repayment.
The trickle-down from "quantitative easing" is that your dollar is of less value.
 
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There's lots of budget-friendly, attractive, and highly functional knives out there, but it does seem as though the industry is gunning for the prestige end of things.
 
I think that's true. But even in the 70's, good knives cost a lot of money. I was just not willing to pay that price then.

Added: What the industry has successfully done is raise the bar to where people are willing to pay $200-$400 for a folder. Those people always existed even years ago, but not to the degree that you see now.
 
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^^ Consumption is an addiction. Also, keeping up with the Jones' is a thing many adhere to.

CARRERA50 said:
The prices of knives (or anything else, for that matter) has more to do with the de-vaulation of the dollar than anything.
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Ding, ding, ding!

Debt-based fiat currency. Devaluation, also known as inflation, is what our monetary system is based on. Fiat currencies always fail, and ours happens to be the longest lasting in history. My favorite topic of discussion! I'll end there, however. :)
 
Lots of truth here. I don't need all the knives I have and I bought most of them for prices that would seem bargain basement by today's standards. But there's no getting around the fact that knives are more expensive . . . a LOT more expensive. . . than they used to be. And wages haven't nearly kept pace. How can people afford to keep paying for them?

Is it any wonder that I get excited when a new legitimate Chinese manufacturer comes on board with solid products and prices that actually make sense? And is it any wonder that I get sad when those very same manufacturers rapidly increase their prices as they see what consumers are willing to spend?

Makes me wonder how a guy like Chris Reeve can maintain moderate price increases while others just keep pushing their prices into into higher and higher orbits. (Keep in mind that a Small Sebenza that sold for $320 in 2005 sells for $350 today and a Large Sebenza that sold for $385 in 2005 sells for $410 today.) If Chris can hold his prices down, why can't others do that?

The answer, of course, is they can. They just don't need to because consumers are too foolish to stop paying them.
 
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High end Chinese manufacturers have raised their prices, but they don't seem to be selling very well , either if the number of unsold on ebay is any indication. Also, try selling one on the secondary market for those prices. You have to take a pretty big hit to move them.
 
Yep. That can make a huge difference if you buy knives with the intention of selling them. If you buy knives to keep, however, that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how well-made they are. And from what I've seen, they're very well-made indeed.

As far as how well they're selling, I don't have a clue. All I know is that they seem to be increasing their presence both in numbers of manufacturers and the models they're producing. How long that will continue remains to be seen.
 
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gadgetgeek said:
the world isn't getting cheaper to live in, and if you want quality, there is a cost to get it. I'd like the people who make my knives to be able to make a reasonable living doing it, and if they do good work, they should be rewarded. Its not like magic knife fairies just deliver them each night.
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Umm, I have a closet full of custom knives and have had good relationships with a number of makers. Respectfully, I think I know the neighborhood. Honestly, my observation was directed primarily toward production knives. But to your point, the world actually is gettign cheaper to live in. Deflation is all around us. If you drive a car and pay for gas, you may have noticed this phenomenon. All commodities are pretty much at generational lows. And like I said before, the average worker's salary in the USA has gone nowhere for decades.
 
zippin44 said:
Umm, I have a closet full of custom knives and have had good relationships with a number of makers. Respectfully, I think I know the neighborhood. Honestly, my observation was directed primarily toward production knives. But to your point, the world actually is gettign cheaper to live in. Deflation is all around us. If you drive a car and pay for gas, you may have noticed this phenomenon. All commodities are pretty much at generational lows. And like I said before, the average worker's salary in the USA has gone nowhere for decades.
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The average worker pay scale is what drives this country. They have lost ground mostly due to insurance costs.

The phenomenon will change. Then where are we? Rice and beans.....
 
I don't buy knives with the intention to resell them, but I only need so many to use and when I buy extras I'd like them to be worth what I paid, in case I do decide to trade or resell down the road, to free up funds for something else. I've watched eBay sellers steadily mark down those, sky high prices on the Chinese high dollar knives and they still aren't moving them. I've also seen them go unsold here, unless they're way cheaper than what they go for brand new.
 
Yep. Might be something Chinese manufacturers want to pay attention to when they decide how much to sell their products for. The most I've paid for a Chinese-manufactured knife is $170 and I don't expect to pay that much for one again. (Then again, I won't pay too much more than that for a U.S.-manufactured product either!) Only reason I paid that much this time is because of the designer attached to it . . . Ray Laconico. And if you don't think Kizer did a bang-up job on his designs, you've got another thing coming. Any knife capable of kicking a Sebenza out of my pocket is a keeper . . . at least it is for me.
 
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powernoodle said:
I agree that knife prices have been accelerating like college tuition. I thought I was the only one who noticed. Consider the Spyderco Stretch with brown G10 and ZDP 189. The MSRP? $349.95. Street price is $216.95.

I don't think so.

Maybe I'm living in the 1970's, but that looks like a $90 knife to me.

Benchmade's high prices and MAPP pricing strategery have ended my Benchmade days too. A Griptilian with a plastic handle costs $100.

This is a big part of the reason that I have really gotten into $20 Kershaws. They cut stuff just like the $349.95 Stretch.

Prices keep going up because knife guys keep slobbering all over themselves with each new release, no matter the MSRP. Cold Steel literally doubled their prices, and everyone but me applauded. So there is no downward pressure on pricing. Or at least it seems that way to guys like me who are stuck in the 1970's.
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Powerenoodle - you said it bro! Uncanny actually. I was looking at my collection the other day, and almost fell over when I saw the prices of that exact same knife - the Spiderco Stretch. $225 is the new $90 as another poster said. Furthermore, and I honestly can't believe you said it, SERIOUSLY, what started all this was that I've been carrying a Benchmade 730 Aries forever and wanted a new largish edc, but prices are absurd, so my next knife is going to be a cheap Kershaw as well! Either the Volt SS or the Strobe. Hey, for $20 - $40 I can have the lobster and the cracked crab, right?

I totally agree with the "slobbering" aspect that you pointed out too. Unfortunately, it's simply part of the disease, or should I say the progression of the disease, because at some point you wake up and 90% of it all looks the same.
 
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Buck 110 can still be had for less than 28.00

Still setting a standard even today.
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singularity35 said:
I don't think so is right. I'm not buying anything knives these days. Lucky for me I bought when I did and I probably have enough hoarded to bequeath to my wife's next husband...well, over my dead body, that is. :D
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Yeah, and she will sell them for the prices that you told her you paid for them.
 
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