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

Last Buck 110 I had for 28 dollars from Walmart fell apart the first time I used it. It didn't do any worse than a 20 dollar Kershaw Lifter, though that was barely used and now won't lock up at all. I have a 50 year Buck 110 now but it was closer to 40 dollars and seems better made than the Walmart 28 dollar one.
 
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vanslem6 said:
^^ Consumption is an addiction. Also, keeping up with the Jones' is a thing many adhere to.



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. :)
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20 year monthly chart of US dollar index shows the high was 2001, low 2008. We currently are close to a 61.8% Fib retracement. Without getting into the fiat currency zombie apocalypse stuff, the US dollar is kind of strong right now.
 
zippin44 said:
20 year monthly chart of US dollar index shows the high was 2001, low 2008. We currently are close to a 61.8% Fib retracement. Without getting into the fiat currency zombie apocalypse stuff, the US dollar is kind of strong right now.
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Relative to other currencies. Dig deeper, it's a race to the bottom. We have the reserve currency and a central bank unafraid of printing to oblivion. Look at Japan for cues to our future. :) Nothing was fixed in '08, instead it was papered over via 'funny money,' the bill sent to future generations of taxpayers (you and I, our children, and children's children), and the actual destruction was pushed out into the future. We've not yet dealt with actual repercussions of the 'crash of '08.' The talking-heads on the television will tell you otherwise, however. Don't believe me, do your own digging.

zippin44 said:
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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That's the rhetoric, however, it simply isn't true. Oil has been < $50/barrel for months now, yet I'm still paying $2.50/gallon. It's all geopolitical, and no commodity is safe from tampering - IE, the vast majority of commodity prices are artificial. If you get down and dirty, you'll see the proxy war going on in the ME - the Saudis are trying to squeeze Russia out of the EU market. SA wants to put in a pipeline to EU, but Syria, Iran and Iraq are 'in the way.'

Even if people are 'saving' $10 or so /week on fuel, it's being more than made up for in other areas. Health insurance, anyone? The largest driving factor keeping us out of a technical recession is insurance. It's the #1 cost for many these days, and it's not getting any cheaper. Orwellian double-speak to a 'T.' 'Affordable' care act, lulz..

I'm leaving this thread now. I could type all day long, I love it! :D
 
I'm curious, because 2 people have pointed toward insurance costs. So if everyone is paying more for insurance,
A) where does all the money we are all shelling out finally end up? Someone must be laughing ing all the way to the bank, right?
B) how do we make it less of a burden for the average American so we have more disposable income to buy knives?
 
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.
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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Not to mention that the thieves at the federal reserve; for every dollar printed we automatically go into a debt which we can never pay back.
 
Just an advanced heads up, steer clear of any political discussions as they tend to get threads about knives shut down. We have a Political Arena section for those that wish to discuss such matters.
 
zippin44 said:
I'm curious, because 2 people have pointed toward insurance costs. So if everyone is paying more for insurance,
A) where does all the money we are all shelling out finally end up? Someone must be laughing ing all the way to the bank, right?
B) how do we make it less of a burden for the average American so we have more disposable income to buy knives?
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The people with big money are just getting richer. The rich keep getting richer, and by next year, just a handful of the upper-class will have accumulated more than half of the world's wealth. Like 1 percent of the world's population will own half the wealth. Fair? No, do they need it? No, but that's just the way it is. Now get to work! Making them some more unneeded wealth! :D While we sit here worried about how much a knife costs.
 
A.L. said:
Prices rising is also another good reason to support small businesses or custom makers.
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+1 to this!

You can get a Great handmade knife for a comparable amount of coin to a standard production knife. Most makers will even allow you to have the knife made to your preference without a major bump in cost, making this an even more appreciable option.
 
zippin44 said:
I'm curious, because 2 people have pointed toward insurance costs. So if everyone is paying more for insurance,
A) where does all the money we are all shelling out finally end up? Someone must be laughing ing all the way to the bank, right?
B) how do we make it less of a burden for the average American so we have more disposable income to buy knives?
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I believe I noticed that the average hospital bill in the US runs about $10K per episode. Consider that when your medical insurance premiums run more than $1000 per month. What about serious stuff that might run $50K? A minimal $200/month increase insurance equates to about $1.25/hour (160 hr month) and that's an increase that happens every year. You wonder why the employer only offers a $0.25/hr raise (That's a whopping $10/week.) when health insurance is one of their benefits?? If you are in the top 20%, insurance costs are a much lower % of the total cost package, but it is still substantial.

Most of us are one step away from financial ruin if there is a significant bump in the road. You wonder how to free up more money for knives?
 
RevDevil said:
Just an advanced heads up, steer clear of any political discussions as they tend to get threads about knives shut down. We have a Political Arena section for those that wish to discuss such matters.
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Understood.

Turned into a good thread though.
 
I frequent the shops quite a bit. About a month ago one of the most in-the-know-dealers told me to buy now because the prices on knives are about to skyrocket.
 
When I graduated from high school in 1977 a Buck 110 was 60 dollars up here in Canada. The next year I started working on a drilling rig for $6.10 per hour and that was a high paying job. Fast forward to 2015. The same job is about 30 dollars per hour and the same knife has dropped by 30%. I guess I don't see knife prices as being high at all. If you don't like the price don't buy but please don't compare prices today to the prices 40 years ago. They just aren't very high.
 
I disagree with the OP, there are plenty of good inexpensive options. But if you want filet mignon you've always had to pay the price. I can't think of anything I can't do with my $27 MUSA kershaw skyline but I'm still eyeing a ~$100 Benchmade.
 
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22-rimfire said:
I have noticed significant price increases over the last couple of years for knives that I might be interested in (relatively speaking). Prices have risen, even for non-super steel blades. Even Rough Riders have gone up in price if you buy retail. They seem inexpensive, but it is a relative kind of thing.

Powernoodle mentioned the 70's. I didn't buy $90 knives then. I thought Schrades were expensive then. Uncle Henry knives with their "if you loose it, we'll replace it guarantee" were scary expensive to me. I didn't own a Schrade until I ran into a knife "salesman" at a restaurant in Laredo TX and he sold me my first 250T for $20-$25. I always saw $50 price tags at stores. Carried that particular knife in the field for about 20 years for everything I did that required a larger blade. Things were different then. I didn't need 100 knives. I had two or three and that was at least one more than I really needed. Owned no fixed blades. Didn't see a need for one. And yes, I HAD to need it to buy it. Same applied to firearms and ammunition. I thought centerfire handgun ammo scary expensive for a few moments of fun.

I'd look at AG Russell's catalog and wonder who on earth bought knives for those prices regardless of the quality??

Run the clock forward and I still feel knives are expensive.... almost any knife except for the cheapest junk.

I make more money now.... but do I really...??? Honestly, I had more buying power then than I do now. Inflation. I could buy a Jag if I felt like it... now... not even possible. So, yes, I think knives are much more expensive now and are probably not worth the price regardless of whether the retail price is $250 and the street price $125-$140. But I do buy them.
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jill jackson said:
Last Buck 110 I had for 28 dollars from Walmart fell apart the first time I used it. It didn't do any worse than a 20 dollar Kershaw Lifter, though that was barely used and now won't lock up at all. I have a 50 year Buck 110 now but it was closer to 40 dollars and seems better made than the Walmart 28 dollar one.
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Same knifes came from W------- or the factory store. Only you get leather sheath from factory. I've never heard of a 110 falling apart but suppose could happen. I've bought over 30 110 from Walmart and give them away as door prizes for my work. All been perfect.
 
Buck 110 isn't a modern knife either. There's been many improvements since that model came out. They have a simple pinned threadless pivot, like a slip joint.
 
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22-rimfire said:
I have noticed significant price increases over the last couple of years for knives that I might be interested in (relatively speaking). Prices have risen, even for non-super steel blades. Even Rough Riders have gone up in price if you buy retail. They seem inexpensive, but it is a relative kind of thing.

Powernoodle mentioned the 70's. I didn't buy $90 knives then. I thought Schrades were expensive then. Uncle Henry knives with their "if you loose it, we'll replace it guarantee" were scary expensive to me. I didn't own a Schrade until I ran into a knife "salesman" at a restaurant in Laredo TX and he sold me my first 250T for $20-$25. I always saw $50 price tags at stores. Carried that particular knife in the field for about 20 years for everything I did that required a larger blade. Things were different then. I didn't need 100 knives. I had two or three and that was at least one more than I really needed. Owned no fixed blades. Didn't see a need for one. And yes, I HAD to need it to buy it. Same applied to firearms and ammunition. I thought centerfire handgun ammo scary expensive for a few moments of fun.

I'd look at AG Russell's catalog and wonder who on earth bought knives for those prices regardless of the quality??

Run the clock forward and I still feel knives are expensive.... almost any knife except for the cheapest junk.

I make more money now.... but do I really...??? Honestly, I had more buying power then than I do now. Inflation. I could buy a Jag if I felt like it... now... not even possible. So, yes, I think knives are much more expensive now and are probably not worth the price regardless of whether the retail price is $250 and the street price $125-$140. But I do buy them.
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Still outselling any other knife buck produces. Number one selling model after all these years.
 
Doesn't mean the 110 is strong just because it sells well and it weighs half a pound nearly, because it's not a strong knife at all.
 
The pivot pin is tiny and threadless, they will come apart. No matter if the lock did hold. There's more to it than just force in one direction.
 
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