What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a knife?

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I think around $150 for my Spyderco G10 Manix2 in S30V steel when that was the thing. That is about my top end for a pocket knife. When you go higher than that you are getting into art, or ruggedness that my usage does not warrant. Let's be real. I open packages, letters, render cardboard boxes and cut the occasional string. Sometimes I cut my meat if the knife I am given is dull. I could get by with a slip joint for a small lock back, but hey, I do dig knives so I want something decent.
 
I think my THR knife remains the most expensive knife I ever bought thus far.


I am basically a $50 to $75 knife kind of a guy. And that's for a "nice" knife.
Oftentimes half of that is fine.
I like to keep my usable/lose-able knives at $20 or less.
 
Probably the RMJ forge Raider dagger, that I can't carry. Close second the Emerson NSAR, $300 out the door, and only available from them. I cut a fireman out of his turnouts, with a pair of trauma shears, they worked, but took too long. The NSAR works better, and has a safe point like the shears. Only other is the Strider EB-T must be 20 years ago, when he had a table at the NY knife show. Bought it as a rescue blade, it lives behind my blow out kit, behind my right hip, on my EMS bat belt. Never needed more.
Now if yous asked my most used or most common knives, that would be ESEE, from the Izula II that is my EDC, to the 5 that's on my bunker pants, as a rescue blade.

Regards, Jim
 
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$3000 on a Mad Dog Sword he never finished :( $2000 on his first Saxon Sword Prototype which I sold for $11500 which covered my $3000 loss on the one paid for and not received. :) Karma is a strange thing.
Never try to predict or more especially, control karma. Glad you came out whole.
 
$3000 on a Mad Dog Sword he never finished :( $2000 on his first Saxon Sword Prototype which I sold for $11500 which covered my $3000 loss on the one paid for and not received. :) Karma is a strange thing.
You know, I watched a well thought out video about the perils and the positive side of buying from custom knife makers. I’ve also read a number of horror stories about custom knife makers just not delivering.

Honestly I just don’t think I’ll ever buy true custom knives unless payment is due upon delivery.

Glad you got your money back in a round about way.
 
You know, I watched a well thought out video about the perils and the positive side of buying from custom knife makers. I’ve also read a number of horror stories about custom knife makers just not delivering.

Honestly I just don’t think I’ll ever buy true custom knives unless payment is due upon delivery.

Glad you got your money back in a round about way.
I marvel at watching this over the past 40 years or so.
Very much like junk bonds or a ponzi scheme - many of the trends have to be watched VERY closely to get out ahead of the dumping, if it occurs - as it usually does.

There's one maker in particular these days who has always made some of the best knives in their market-share and yet I gasp at the realized prices folk are getting for them on the secondary market as well as the direct prices from the maker.

When a fella scores reading the market or merely by luck - I cheer a little for him.:thumbup:

Todd.
 
Honestly I just don’t think I’ll ever buy true custom knives unless payment is due upon delivery.

I never asked for payment until the knife was done, nor should anyone unless they are real well known and respected. Even then I don't like it - I've paid for a holster up front and never got it and did the same with a custom knife that took way too long to deliver. Once some people are paid they lose all incentive to deliver.
 
Whether it was to support a knife maker you know, to support knife rights in general or in your state, or it’s just a design that really trips your trigger, what’s the most amount of money you’ve ever spent on a knife?

This is purely out of curiosity. Pictures are surely welcome as are the reasoning behind the purchase.

About $50. That's pretty much my limit on what I'm willing to pay for almost any knife. And, at $50, that includes my SAK One-Handed Trekker and my son's W.R. Case & Sons Mini Trapper.

I can envision paying more an historic collectible, such as an original M1 bayonet with original scabbard, etc. but even that has its limits, and that limit is probably well below market value.
 
You know, I watched a well thought out video about the perils and the positive side of buying from custom knife makers. I’ve also read a number of horror stories about custom knife makers just not delivering.

Honestly I just don’t think I’ll ever buy true custom knives unless payment is due upon delivery.

Glad you got your money back in a round about way.

That's one of the bad raps that have occurred over the years. Makers have varying struggles and when they begin to float funding into their personal uses before delivery that's a bad road to travel for exactly that. Conversely that has happened to buyers as well where they want delivery but come time they back out. When it is a custom build to their spec that has appeal outside the mainstream, it places a maker in a tough spot too. I have a left handed folder that remains with me for that reason. I cannot force them to pay and realize life happens. For the most part I viewed this as a gentleman's industry where a hand shake and stated word was good.
 
That's one of the bad raps that have occurred over the years. Makers have varying struggles and when they begin to float funding into their personal uses before delivery that's a bad road to travel for exactly that. Conversely that has happened to buyers as well where they want delivery but come time they back out. When it is a custom build to their spec that has appeal outside the mainstream, it places a maker in a tough spot too. I have a left handed folder that remains with me for that reason. I cannot force them to pay and realize life happens. For the most part I viewed this as a gentleman's industry where a hand shake and stated word was good.
That’s true about buyers backing out also. I imagine all it takes is for a maker to get burned a few times before they start wanting payment up front. Then next thing you know, life happens and delays lead to hurt feelings, resentment, and non delivery or non paying buyers.

I think HSO has the right idea about buying in person. It also gives you a chance to interact personally and establish contact with someone they can put a face with. In some cases that may help a custom order come to fruition. But certainly not always.

I guess the concept of not paying or not delivering just doesn’t even enter into my mind as a possibility. When I say I’m going to do something I do it. However I’ve never had something truly tragic happen, like unexpected medical bills or an accident, that has stopped me from following through on financial obligations. So I’ve been lucky and my experience skews my perception.
 
You know, I watched a well thought out video about the perils and the positive side of buying from custom knife makers. I’ve also read a number of horror stories about custom knife makers just not delivering.

Honestly I just don’t think I’ll ever buy true custom knives unless payment is due upon delivery.

Glad you got your money back in a round about way.

The best business practice for custom knife makers is hands down not to take a deposit unless the custom order requires special order of materials or customization that would make the knife difficult to sell to someone else.

Relatively few makers take deposits, fewer still prepayment in full, and of those latter, only a tiny fraction have the record of trustworthiness for me to pay in advance.

What happens a lot is that Instagram knifemakers doing the new hotness for the fanboy crowd suddenly get popular, and they start taking orders and deposits. But the orders and deposits pile up faster than they can do the work, and then something happens, and they're not able to fill orders in a timely manner, and then it all implodes. Instagram and Kickstarter are graveyards for people who took money for work they weren't ready to do.

Any experienced knifemaker will tell you that there's no knife harder to make than the one that's already been paid for.
 
I had a guy on my job who was into large high end auto knives, basically works of art. Inlays, beautiful damascus steel, jeweled, amazing file work, etc. He bought from several well known makers, with waiting lists and prepayment. We're talking sometimes thousands of dollars.

He had one prepaid knife on order with a well known maker and he waited, and waited, and waited. He saw him at a knife show selling knives, "oh, but yours isn't ready yet". And waited. He talked to him from time to time and was always given a song and dance. It went into years.

He hadn't gotten it before I retired, I don't know if he ever got it.
 
He had one prepaid knife on order with a well known maker and he waited, and waited, and waited. He saw him at a knife show selling knives, "oh, but yours isn't ready yet"

That's another bone of contention - making knives for shows and selling said knives instead of working on the orders. You really have to balance it so you don't anger your customer base who are waiting for knives. Some do it well, some do not.
 
That's another bone of contention - making knives for shows and selling said knives instead of working on the orders. You really have to balance it so you don't anger your customer base who are waiting for knives. Some do it well, some do not.
I imagine cash in hand from a knife or gun show means more to some of them than adding long term orders they are going to have a hard time filling.

Some months cash flow matters more to me than long term savings.
 
The best business practice for custom knife makers is hands down not to take a deposit unless the custom order requires special order of materials or customization that would make the knife difficult to sell to someone else.


Exactly, until the maker has to invest more than they would for a basic version of what they make there should be no reason to need a deposit. They shouldn't be at risk of the buyer not buying what was made for them if the maker is producing something everyone wants. OTOH, since custom knife makers often have someone order a knife with special features or materials and then back out a maker should always require the buyer to provide a deposit for the material cost and any additional time needed.

One other point since we're on this detour from the topic, any serious collector or maker can tell you endless stories about people who see a knife on the internet or in a magazine, contact the maker without knowing or understanding the difference between a flashy pakimascus un-heat-treated piece and the work of a skilled craftsman diligently trying to perfect a balanced, durable, ergonomic, beautiful tool and then expect the artisan to sell them 20 or 200 hours of their life for the price of the sweatshop piece with uneven grinds and the balance of a 2x4. Makers will also tell you stories about people demanding that the maker give them the piece because how great the non-buyer is or the suffering they've gone through or ... People are amazing, towards both ends of the spectrum.
 
The most money I have ever spent on a knife is a Dozier Straight Personal that I bought 20+ years ago. About $115.00 back then which was a lot of money at that time. I still have this knife and it's worth it's weight in gold to me.
 
The most money I have ever spent on a knife is a Dozier Straight Personal that I bought 20+ years ago. About $115.00 back then which was a lot of money at that time. I still have this knife and it's worth it's weight in gold to me.
It truly IS all relative. I spent 1/3 of a paycheck on a Gerber once in 1979.

THAT, was a lot of money for an Army Private.:)

Todd.
 
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