How does a beginner go about pricing their knives?

R

Rancho5

Joined
Feb 10, 2015
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As someone who is just beginning this journey, I have some questions regarding the pricing of custom knives, particularly fixed blade. Economics 101 dictates that something is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, but if there are "general" guidelines on how to price a knife I'd love to have your opinions. Just when I think I've got it figured out, along comes a knife that I (a confessed ignorant beginner) consider a little sub-par (disproportionate, uneven and gangly) and the maker is asking quite a lot for it. I believe I am missing something so please help a beginner understand.

Is it the number of hours invested in the knife itself? If so, what if someone spends twenty hours on a knife, and it looks "awkward" because the maker just doesn't have "that touch" yet? Surely a person who has acquired "that touch" can create a beautiful piece in less time that the aforementioned maker.

Obviously the better you get, the more you can charge for your knives... fit & finish and skill are very noticeable. And materials make a difference too: Damascus, burl wood handles, filing, etc. But I'm talking more about general principles so that when the time comes for me to actually charge someone for my work (after I've given away plenty of knives to friends and family to spread the word), potential buyers don't laugh in my face and I'm dead in the water before I start. Or charge so little that I sell tons and make nothing back but material cost.

I searched and couldn't find anything in the stickies on this, and if it's in The Counts Standard Reply and I missed it, which I've done before, I'm entitled to any flaming you see fit :)

BTW, I absolutely LOVE the idea of a Standard Reply. It reminds me of a teacher in high school who had this huge rubber stamp made for yearbooks. "Dear_____, it was great teaching you in ________ class. You were one of the _______ students I had the privilege of teaching. Good luck at college/work (circle one) and make the Summer of ______ amazing!"

Thanks guys.
 
I've been struggling with this a bit myself as well since I'm a new maker too. I would say for those examples you'll run into about people charging what seems to be too much for an awkward knife, don't read too much into it. Remember, we can ask what we want for our product. I think the more relevant question would be, what do his knives actually sell for? if the price seems high and he's never sold one, then it's probably too high.

To the rest of your question, there are a few ways of doing things. One, I highly suggest you look up 3riverblades on YouTube. Scroll through his videos and you'll find one where he talks about pricing. He even provides a spreadsheet you can download to help you out. It's pretty thorough.

Now, if you want a simple, formulaic answer (which is always open for interpretation and should not be taken as a rule, as I'm sure I'd get yelled at if I claimed it was), take what you need (or want) to make per hour, figure out how many hours you've got in your knife, double the dollar value, and add your cost of supplies. The thought behind it is that you make your "per hour" paycheck, the doubled "per hour" amount covers things like belts, electricity, grinder wear, etc..., and cost of materials compensates you for the cost of steel, handle, and sheath materials. So if I want to make $10 per hour and I've got 5 hours in my knife along with $15 of steel, handle scales, and kydex, my formula would look like this:

($10 x 5) x 2 + $15 = $115

Then, if nothing sells at that price, you can drop it. From there you have see if you turn a profit or at least cover your expenses and if not, start looking at improving efficiency. Of course, if it sells like crazy and you have a year long wait list, look at upping the price a little so you can produce less (which helps maintain quality) and still make the same, if not more, profit.

Some makers get to command more because of experience or because of their name (brand). You and I don't have that luxury yet so I wouldn't worry about that kind of pricing or adding anything like that to the formula yet ;). Once you have more time and recognition in your product, you'll have a much better handle on your numbers (hours, supplies, other costs, etc...) and will have a pricing formula that works for you and your situation. Hope this all helps!
 
This may or may not help, but it's something I've learned from years of retail sales. Never shop out of your own pocket. You'll be surprised what bad knives get compared to gorgeous knives. For me it comes down to educating your customers and building a relationship
 
No problem discussing how to go about selling a knife or how to determine your costs and labor when figuring a price. What we don't want is a photo of a drop point hunter with the question, "What can I get for this?", or, "Is this worth $100?"
 
It is hard for sure especially if not familiar with the custom market, like I was not at all before I started only about a year ago.
Do some research and look at what comparable knives are going for on here and other sites.
I at first started alot lower than I probably should have but I was unsure of where I stood after a few sales and getting flooded with I want one I quickly realized I was under priced and started charging more and the request tapper ed off.
 
This is my opinion on this. I have bought and sold over 1500 custom fixed blade knives and currently have 200+ in my collection. I have had dozens made to my specs. Except for the very well established custom knife makers or collectable knives (because of supply and demand ) I can tell immediately if a knife is worth what the maker is asking. If a maker posts a knife for sale on the forums who is just starting out or not well known I look at the knife and if I know I can have a similar knife made elsewhere or is being sold elsewhere for less then I will not consider it. I am usually pretty close with my opinion based on how long it takes for the knife to sell and how many price drops the maker has before it does sell. I would take a close look at what other knives are selling for that are at your skill level with similar materials and use that as my guide for pricing. If you just have a small shop and have to send your blanks out for heat treat and it takes you 15-20 hours to make a knife it is going to be hard to compete with someone who has a well equipped shop and does everything in house and can crank a knife out in 3-4 hours time.
 
Strive to make each knife better than the last.

Price your product low at first while you are in the hobby / starting stages to get your knives into peoples hands. You certainly won't be making an "Economics" profit at this point . . . you are doing it for enjoyment to to earn a few dollars more than your material costs. Do this for a while to better your skills and recognition, and put any extra cash into better equipment and tools. If your work is good, then demand will grow. At that point, gradually increase prices to keep your workload at a comfortable level, yet to where you still have slightly more demand than you can handle. It's better to turn down work, than to have no demand.

In then end, you have to play it by ear and be flexible.
 
chriscosta1987 said:
For me it comes down to educating your customers and building a relationship
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I have found this to be of paramount importance.
logem said:
Strive to make each knife better than the last.
Click to expand...

I have found these two quotes to be of paramount importance.

And what was shared with me in 1996 as a starting price formula.
Sell each knife for enough to cover all the materials to making three more.

One of the knife sales proceeds goes to the wife/rent, One for future machinery & One to make three more knives. That's Steel, Handle woods or synthetics, consumables like belts, sandpaper, electricity etc.

I used that formula for about two years until I started to get a local name for myself. and them moved my prices up to what I wanted.

Also I started with just hand files, sandpaper and a cheap little drill press.
 
Pricing your knives is very difficult. You have to have an understanding of what the market will bear, and where you fit into the market. I charged $12/hour plus expenses for my first batch of knives. That was basically $100/knife. I was very nervous setting the price. Nowadays, I tell the apprentices when their knives are sellable, and help them set their prices. They all come and ask the question you asked above. Its one of the best things we do for them IMO. What a weight off your shoulders to have someone say this one doesn't make the cut, or this one will sell quickly at $x.xx and might sell, but slower at $X.xx.

There is a trick that most new makers miss out on. The trick is to make small knives. 3 - 4" blades are the easiest to sell. Most new guys in my shop are dying to make BIG knives. I do not even allow it. I always assign the Pukko first. That is a simple, no frills design (leave out any fancy horse head carvings). Its easier to finish small knives as well and you get a lot more grinding and handle shaping practice on them. (Repetition.) So, make small knives, and be sure to charge for your labor. If you can't sell them that way, then just keep practicing till you can.
 
That's exactly they approach I decided to have after watching the Blade Forums Knifemakers for sale area for over a year before posting my first knife. Focus on small, lower cost knives which tend to sell quickly to start with to get the experience and build up a solid customer base before moving to bigger more complex projects(or folders which is what I really want to do). And don't sell anything now you don't think is quite up to your standards because you don't want any subpar knives out there with your name on them imo. I'm way too slow still to price anything by an hourly rate. Nobody would pay those prices;)
 
Here's my story - hope it is helpful. I'm in my first year of knife making. After about 4 months I went on a hunting trip with about 10 friends and took a few knives; a guy actually wanted to buy one. I was very pleased that someone would want one of my knives and sold it for $50, which was enough to cover my direct costs of materials plus about $10. (Steel, wood, brass, sanding belts.) Of course there was nothing there to allow for utilities, depreciation and all the stuff a real business would need to account for. Since then I've sold about a dozen more, all for higher prices. But here's my situation; I really viewed this as a hobby, I had a fully functional shop long before I thought about making a knife, bought no new tools (I even already had a Sears 2 x 42), did my own HT with an improvised forge, so I was happy. Even now, while my prices are considerably higher, my goal is to clear enough money to buy the basic materials mentioned above so I can keep making knives and improving each one. I will never need to support myself with this income producing hobby.

This of course would never work for many of you but it does for me. As time goes on and I get better I would expect to charge more of course. All that said, I am still unsure how I will report all this to the IRS at the end of the year but I am keeping scrupulous records so whatever I decide is the right thing to do I will be able to do.

Right now my basic price is $85 for wooden handled knives (unless someone wanted some really expensive wood) and $100 for antler/bone. I have what I call a "friends and family discount" of $10 (and most of my sales are still in that category.) Extra charges for Damascus of course, and for jimping and any other "extra" feature.

And I will be still figuring all this out as I go along. Hope there is something here of use to someone.
 
My usual rant here, sorry. Never under price your knives for sale on a public forum! If you think you can't get what you believe they are worth then sell or give them to friends and family and get your skills up. As hobby makers some of us think it's cool to just get back the $50 in material so they can buy more to make more. Well, of course do what you want but at least think of the full time makers. for whom I have a great deal of respect, and realize that you are now competing against them. "Hey, J.Schmo's knife is only $50 so why does XC Lent think he should charge $200 more?" I'm oversimplifying it but you get the idea.

Mark
 
Col Defender said:
I really viewed this as a hobby, I had a fully functional shop long before I thought about making a knife, bought no new tools (I even already had a Sears 2 x 42), did my own HT with an improvised forge, so I was happy. Even now, while my prices are considerably higher, my goal is to clear enough money to buy the basic materials mentioned above so I can keep making knives and improving each one. I will never need to support myself with this hobby
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This is kind of my situation too. Except the FULLY functioning shop. I've got plenty of tools, just not advanced ones like a mill, etc. What kind of forge did you build? I need to seriously look into what kind I'll be making.
 
Varga Knives said:
My usual rant here, sorry. Never under price your knives for sale on a public forum! If you think you can't get what you believe they are worth then sell or give them to friends and family and get your skills up. As hobby makers some of us think it's cool to just get back the $50 in material so they can buy more to make more. Well, of course do what you want but at least think of the full time makers. for whom I have a great deal of respect, and realize that you are now competing against them. "Hey, J.Schmo's knife is only $50 so why does XC Lent think he should charge $200 more?" I'm oversimplifying it but you get the idea.

Mark
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I do get the idea varga. Two points - first my knives are no longer $50. That was a one time thing. And the best answer I have for the difference in price between my knives and those made by XCLent costing $200 is that his knives are better than mine and worth more. But I'm working on it, trust me on that. Thanks for the advice.
 
Rancho5 said:
This is kind of my situation too. Except the FULLY functioning shop. I've got plenty of tools, just not advanced ones like a mill, etc. What kind of forge did you build? I need to seriously look into what kind I'll be making.
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I bought a Majestic two burner forge. Works well for me.
 
Col- wasn't meaning to call out anyone in particular and I don't even think it pertains to you. More for those content on breaking even on a quick forum sale.
 
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