knife pricing

[tantrum86]

how does everyone here go about pricing knives if you yall were to sell them do you guys do it bye the hours of work invested in the knife material cost with an x percent mark up let me know it would really help me to standardize my pricing scale

[Woody]

Pricing is what the market will bear. Remember you can always let them beat you down on price but they won't let you raise the price if it's too low. If you don't hear a sharp intake of breath when they look at the price it isn't high ehough. If they look at it and fall over it's a bit too high. Look around at other similar knives, handmade not factory, in your area and see what they are selling for.

One way to get a feel for how much people are willing to spend is look at the paper under sporting goods and see what kind of firearms are offered for sale by their owners. If it is mostly bolt action Mosburg shotguns, single shot shotguns etc you live in a very frugal area and most sportsmen won't be willing to part with more than a pittance for a knife. If there are a lot of high dollar fancy guns etc those people are more willing to pay high dollar for a custom piece.

[Rich Hale]

Woody again has a lot of goood advice. Gun shows usually have a couple of knifemakers and You should attend and see what they have and what is selling. Go early in the day saturday and hang out all day. Make mental notes of twhat they have and later see if they have less and what type or stye has left. Speak wih them honestly about what you are doing and if can take a knife have them look it over. You can see how they react when they look at your work and that me of more value than what they say. There is a big show in Pasadena the first weekend in March. You need to attend if at all possible. The best makers will be there and it will give you an opportunity to see what folks bring to sell. Those choices are market driven. Jan At the Riviera in Vegas there is a huge show including knives. 16,17,and 18th. I price by materials used. I make similiar knves and know abouit how much time I have in each. Prices go up as materials prices increase. Ivory costs more than fancy woods. As Woody mentioned your area has a lot to do with what folks will pay. To wrap this up: If you get good and work a lot of hours a week you may make hunderds of dallars a year....of course that is gross not net.

[KYBOY]

Good advice on the area..My area for example only has a handful of people who would ever pay $300 for a knife...Let alone $400,$500 or $600+...Most of them would fall dead from a stroke if you priced them a knife at more than $100 :rolleyes:

[Frosty]

The main reason I gave up on making knives before I started is I discovered how much time is involved vs. what I could get for one. I lived in Anchorage at the time where disposable income was high and vain sportsmen were over abundant.

WHY would I spend 12-20 hrs. making something I could maybe get $400 for when I could build a 16' car hauler trailer in 8-10 hrs and pocket $1,000 profit?

The answer of course is because you LIKE making knives. I make and occasionally sell a bit of forged steel in direct competition with big box stores because I LIKE playing with fire and hitting things with hammers, not because it's a money maker.

Unfun things like the trailers keep your doors open so you CAN do what you like.

Frosty

[tantrum86]

thanks everyone frosty you have good point i climb wind turbines so i can make knives a big help so far has been the net and e-bay style web sites but in my area i get people coming into the shop with 40.00 bucks and want a pattern welded blade like the one on my hip and when i tell them thats not gonna cut it for 20+ hours of work they ask how much then and usaully about keel over when i give them an estimate. its a very limited market that we sell to

[Rich Hale]

Theer are a lot of collectors in CAl. They travel to AZ and Nevada to buy knives, And to shows all over youir state. Before you will be able to reach those folks you have to "make a name" for yourself. Are you knives marked clearly with your name? If not you need to do so. and where you lives is a plus, I use name, city and state on all of mine. And I think one of the hardest things to do is to not sell for less than you should get. And yes that may cut sales. But if you sell $50 knives that is all folks will pay. I never tell folks how much work it is for a knife or how long it takes. But maybe that is a good option. I have a rather standard price for a knife. If I make damascus for that knife I add a price per inch for the extra work. And no I do not deduct the price of the normal steel I use. Damascus for me is a high end knife and I either get a higher price or I keep it. I used to have to keep some so long I thought they lived here. That changed but not real fast.

[ThomasPowers]

Remember that when you see big name makers selling blades for big prices a *lot* of that price is the name; you may make one just as good but without the reputation don't expect to get the "Name Bonus" price.

[Woody]

When I started making knives someone told me "when you put a price on your services that extablishes what you are, try not to be a cheap one" . I do have two price scales, one is the friends of Woody pricing the other is you don't know Woody from Adam price.