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Jeff in TX
Posts: 2,641 Senior Member
Cost of custom slashy's versus custom rifles
Jeff in TX
Posts: 2,641 Senior Member
The great thing about having a best friend for almost 50 years, we can get into some lively discussions. For the past couple of years he's been on the custom knife kick. He's got a few that go into the $2500.00 range. Too much for my blood!
Today, I said I understand but I don't understand. The cost of some of these knives are into the $3 to $4K range, pushing the same cost of custom rifles. When I look at a custom rifle, you have custom stock, trigger, action and barrel. All of the machining, fitting, cambering to make a sub .5 MOA rifle. Then I look at a custom knife for the same price. I understand the hours that go into creating it from scratch, I struggle with equating the price of a $3 to $K knife to that of a custom rifle.
Thoughts
Today, I said I understand but I don't understand. The cost of some of these knives are into the $3 to $4K range, pushing the same cost of custom rifles. When I look at a custom rifle, you have custom stock, trigger, action and barrel. All of the machining, fitting, cambering to make a sub .5 MOA rifle. Then I look at a custom knife for the same price. I understand the hours that go into creating it from scratch, I struggle with equating the price of a $3 to $K knife to that of a custom rifle.
Thoughts
Distance is not an issue, but the wind can make it interesting!
John 3: 1-21
John 3: 1-21
Replies
Compared to a custom rifle, how many makers fabricate the barrel, action, and trigger? I imagine most carve dead tree for the stock, but how many make a synthetic stock? How much hand labor goes into one of those?
Now compare that with some Wilson Combat, Colt, or Knights Armament AR-15s. How much labor goes into building one of those?
In the end, things are worth what they can be sold for. Which sounds simple, but people assign different values to different things....
Yes, we actually talked about the 1911 prices. Stock 1911 verses a Les Bauer, Wilson combat and so on. A $650 stock 1911 verses a custom 1911 for $2500 to $4K plus.
I guess it's all relative at the end of the day. I see it but struggle with $2500 plus for a knife. My buddy tells me I'm not being objective! Could be, but it was a great debate today!
John 3: 1-21
Personally, I would rather have a custom bolt action over all of them, but if I spend more than a grand for any sort of firearm or knife... it's gonna be babied and a not used as intended. I am way more "service grade."
Same with guns I own; all are middle tier and all perform better than I. I only own 2 knives outside of kitchen knives an Old Timer sharp finger and a Spyderco dragonfly both have served me well for many years and do what knives are supposed to do extremely well.
I appreciate great craftsmanship it is art, however function, reliability, simplicity, and durability are all that matter to me. I am not an art buyer.
I would bet that most Randall’s that are sold on eBay for close to a grand nowadays have never seen a day in the field but they are desirable though in no way unique or even scarce. They are still great using knives.
Then there are makers like Stek who are award winners and front page of knife magazines. The one I gave my son for graduation from graduate school doubled in value in the short time I owned it. That knife is really just for looking at, it sits on his desk at home and every one you see is a one of a kind so they easily command 4 figures for the larger blades.
Makers like Winkler have a great reputation as using tools but desirability has caused BIG shortages and production schedules are way backed up, up to 6 months and more for some models. Then add their tomahawk being featured in Terminal List and now try to find one at MSRP which is already $800.
And finally you have the old masters like Loveless who broke ground with their designs and quality, inspiring many other bladesmiths since then. Their original work is with stupid money.
So yeah there are many factors but like any kind of art not everything needs to make sense. There is ZERO tangible reason why a Picasso is worth millions…
It’s a °IIIII° thing 😎
Minimum number of parts in a 1911 (series 70) is 52, a Glock only has 34 and a series 80 1911 has 58.
(At least per a quick google search)
John 3: 1-21
As for comparing them to custom rifles. . .yes, I've had a number of those built up and am glad I did, but I've seen quite a few OEM deer rifles shoot in the half-MOA zone with nothing more than careful handloading and torquing their screws down properly. With the custom rifle, you can say it's your ideal combination of mechanical features, but again, often hard to say it's a better tool.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
I’ve had several knives built to exact specs of what I wanted, usually something that is totally unavailable in the production market like my slightly modified copy of the knife Tom Berenger carried in the movie The Last of the Dogmen. I sent a pic and my own drawing to my maker and asked for two mods, I wanted 1/3” D-2 stock and a slightly heavier belly. Now it’s a one of a kind that is highly functional.
But like the OP even when I’m going full custom or collectible it’s tough for me to justify a value of much over $500-$1K and even that is a BIG stretch and mostly reserved for knives I consider an investment and expect them to appreciate substantially like the Stek I mentioned before. And I ALWAYS buy WELL below market price on those or I won’t buy. I’m basically an opportunist. BUT, there are many with budgets way higher than mine so there is absolutely a market for that high end. As always bank account balance and priorities drive acceptable cost in the mind of a buyer.
In any case quality is just expected in a custom. No one can continuously sell $500-$1,000 knives that will not work as well as a $200 production blade.
It’s a °IIIII° thing 😎
It’s a °IIIII° thing 😎
John 3: 1-21
I’m pretty proud of this one. It’s the ONLY thing I ever posted here that got a “You Suck” from the Marshall. He was a knife guy too.
It’s a °IIIII° thing 😎
Thus far I've not got even close to that number
I'm not overly moved by damascus, and never want to own a knife (or anything) I'm not prepared to use as it was intended to.
I appreciate the art of them, but at the end of the day, a knife cuts, it's a beveled piece of metal with a handle on it. Spending thousands on one just doesn't compute with me.
An aside, but an acquaintance of mine is a maker, specialising in historical swords and damascus.
Some of his stuff goes for $10,000 plus.
He's taking a break from it at present, chief amongst other reasons, he's sick of making things that will never be used, forging, heat treating and sharpening and sanding and putting everything into a blade only for it to be a paper weight.
I thought it was interesting, as for me I'd be quite happy, had I the skill, to make paper weights for that kind of cash, but for him it has really started to chafe.