In your opinion, what's the biggest money rip-off in terms of knife ?

I don't understand why people keep making these threads. They seem like negativity for negativity's sake to me.

They also don't make a lot of sense because people will pay for stuff they like, and most of us are already into luxury items (expensive knives).

If we were all truly price conscious, we'd be buying nothing but opinels and moraknivs.
 
marcinek said:
Agreed.

I mean if somebody donks up a knife sure it takes a hit.

But a skilled modifier is going to add value and add uniqueness to a knife.

Let's say a skilled scrimshander does his work. That lowers the vale of the knife?

Or custom engraving and/or inlay work on scales?

I don't where you claim is coming from.
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Mods on a knife are based on personal taste. So someone else has to dig what you did to it if you want to recover any money from those mods.
 
BumblingBear said:
I don't understand why people keep making these threads.
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I can't speak for each individual and their reasons for the threads but I believe this thread (and others like it) can be very helpful to those new to the hobby who may be taken in by various (fans, ads, general hype) claims. :thumbsup: I also believe one of the many good reasons BF is here is for just that purpose. :cool:
 
katanas said:
I can't speak for each individual and their reasons for the threads but I believe this thread (and others like it) can be very helpful to those new to the hobby who may be taken in by various (fans, ads, general hype) claims. :thumbsup: I also believe one of the many good reasons BF is here is for just that purpose. :cool:
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Threads about the pricing and value of knives may be valuable. On the other hand when the term "rip-off" is used it implies something dishonest or illegal is going on. If that is not the case then it's just meaningless drama, in fact about 6 pages worth so far. Ho-hum.
 
katanas said:
I can't speak for each individual and their reasons for the threads but I believe this thread (and others like it) can be very helpful to those new to the hobby who may be taken in by various (fans, ads, general hype) claims. :thumbsup: I also believe one of the many good reasons BF is here is for just that purpose. :cool:
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I kind of think that if someone doesn't do their research, they deserve to be taken for a ride. Also, the odds of a newbie being on BF in the first place, much less finding one thread out of many especially after this one gets buried is pretty low. To me, this thread seems like more of an excuse for people to complain about stuff they don't like.

...'cause let's face it, if we like something, we're willing to overpay for it. I've overpaid for many knives. I almost bought a ZT 0777 for an utterly ridiculous amount of money until I reminded myself I wouldn't carry it, and the Natrix XL is pretty much the same damn thing with worse materials (that I own but also don't carry). I wanted the 0777 for the history, and had to ask myself, "Is it worth a grand for a metal object to sit around a display case that nobody else will ever see, just for the sake of history?" My answer to myself was "no." Others' mmv.

*shrug*

But since we're all complaining about stuff we don't like, I guess I'll mention Skelton Bladeworks. I'm actually not a Jim hater, like at all. However, the prices he charges for relatively simple knives are the types of prices a settled, respected maker with proven blades charges, not a well-known reviewer.
 
BumblingBear said:
I kind of think that if someone doesn't do their research, they deserve to be taken for a ride. Also, the odds of a newbie being on BF in the first place, much less finding one thread out of many especially after this one gets buried is pretty low.
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Absolute nonsense! :rolleyes: By the way, BF IS research-DUH. ;)
 
GronK said:
when the term "rip-off" is used it implies something dishonest or illegal is going on.
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Perhaps, though that is not the way I took it and I also don't believe it was meant that way; more along the lines of "costs way more than it should" IMO.
 
katanas said:
Perhaps, though that is not the way I took it and I also don't believe it was meant that way; more along the lines of "costs way more than it should" IMO.
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Nothing costs more than it should. That's economics 101. It costs exactly what it should. Any more, and it will not sell. Any less and loss of maximum profit loss will quickly be found and corrected. Now is there marketing hype? Of course. Intangibles of pride of ownership or limited edition or "my grand dad had one just like it"? Sure. But everything costs exactly what is supposed to.

We care parse out what the OP means or what value threads like this have on some sort of empirical level, but it doesnt make the wording any less abrasive.
 
marcinek said:
Agreed.

I mean if somebody donks up a knife sure it takes a hit.

But a skilled modifier is going to add value and add uniqueness to a knife.

Let's say a skilled scrimshander does his work. That lowers the vale of the knife?

Or custom engraving and/or inlay work on scales?

I don't where you claim is coming from.
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EngravedSeb.jpg

Here's my CRK engraved Sebenza, the engraving cost me $160 so let's add some costs together

KA Sebenza $550
Hawk Clip $40
Engraving $160
for a total of $750

Is my Sebenza now worth $750

PirateJack.jpg

Here's my Pirate Jack

The knife cost me $450
REK improvements to include reannodizing, a regrind, lock futzing etc. $316
Total $766

If the knife is worth $766 let me know because I just traded it for an XM24 with a new price of $595

While I'll agree that some mods might add value most are to make a knife personal

To take it to the more to the extreme

IMG_20180628_172110.jpg

Here's my 1999 Jeep, at this point I have $34,000 not including the cost of the Jeep itself in it, being a clean framed TJ with a new engine I could probably get $12,000 retail out if it but it's mine and one of a kind.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Nothing costs more than it should. That's economics 101. It costs exactly what it should. Any more, and it will not sell.
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This is only true if we ignore the problem of economic externalities.

I would say that this is a completely off-topic comment but you can see the echos of our broken economic assumptions when people in this thread argue that expensive Chinese made knives shouldn't cost as much as they do - the implication being that Chinese labor and environmental destruction should be priced lower.

Largely speaking, our economic measures such as market valuation and GDP are a happy fantasy. Garret Hardin nicely summarized it as the double C/double P scam. Commonize costs and privatize profits. It's the failure to account for externalized commonized costs that are the problem.
 
katanas said:
You must have missed a class or two. :eek: Many things cost more than they should and therefore do not sell or do not sell as well as they might if properly priced (perhaps that was economics 102). ;)
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Then the market corrects, and they either cost exactly what they should, or they are no longer made. Which is exactly what Steely_Gunz said, but I guess you already skipped ahead to 102.
 
katanas said:
Yes, yes I did. :)
No, it isn't (Reading 1 "Dick and Jane") :rolleyes:
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I think it would be advisable keeping this on topic without the snark.

I'm am not pontificating an economics lesson beyond the most basic of levels of academic understanding. I'm not saying that things are not overpriced to YOU, but in the most basics of capitalism they are NOT overpriced if they sell. You or anyone else can tilt against this windmill all you want, but if I fill ten paper bags costing me $2 with dried dog waste I pick up from the park for free and I sell those ten bags of dog waste for $10 a bag as fertilizer, they are not overpriced. Now, you may think that's an awful high price for dog crap. You may not pay it. You may plead with your family not to buy Steely's Big Bag o' Flower Food, but the fact remains it is not overpriced no matter how much it's just a bunch of dog doo in a paper bag.

That is my point.
 
BumblingBear said:
I don't understand why people keep making these threads. They seem like negativity for negativity's sake to me.

They also don't make a lot of sense because people will pay for stuff they like, and most of us are already into luxury items (expensive knives).

If we were all truly price conscious, we'd be buying nothing but opinels and moraknivs.
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It's just another troll thread from the OP, think about the title...….
 
Knife Pimping is like Car Tuning, the right mods and the right buyer means you can break even, the more personalized the more likely you lose money down the line.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I think it would be advisable keeping this on topic without the snark.
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At my age and with my life experience I do not have to acquiesce to being spoken to as a child, even by a Mod. :mad: I have responded on topic in my posts and responded in kind to prodding. The fact that I disagree with your economic philosophy is my prerogative, just as your disagreement with mine is yours. :thumbsup: The bottom line seems to be that some products (knives) are overpriced for some people, whether the producer would have done better selling more for less is, I grant you, debatable. Pricing is a tricky business in any manufacturing/marketing process. Over and out!
 
I would agree that theknoves I like the most at the moment are all overpriced for one reason or another.
Sebenza and Inkosi for the materials used
Emerson CQC7 for the dit finish and action
Hinderer for the action and ergonomics
Spydercos for the material used on most
Bugout for the material, robustness etc ....

But at the end I like them so I think I find something in them that for me justifies / balances the price

I am less gentle with brands/models in which I don’t get the same feeling
 
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