How much to sell knife for

MarkF

Member
Wasn't sure where to post this question. I am new to knifemaking (as a hobby) and only have 8 knives under my belt. Have been giving them away to people that have helped me or given me stuff (14' band saw, anvil etc). Now someone that saw one of the ones I gave away wants to purchase one. I have no idea how much to charge.
Here is a pic of the one I made that they want one just like it.

Got interrupted while typing this and have a request from someone else to purchase a knife as well. Here are pics of that knife as well.
 

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Side note. The second knife (red background) is near sale quality. After making it I feel comfortable that I can make a sale quality knife and will not sell one that isn't.
 
I'll share with you the same advise I got when I first decided to sell my knives. Set the value of your knife at a price point where you could build three more knives just like it with the proceeds. Figure in the cost of materials as well as all the consumables such as abrasives, wood finishes, drill bits, bandsaw blades, . . . I found this gave me a a good starting point to price my own work. You can adjust the price a little as you see fit and as you sell more of your work, your prices can increase respectively as you develop you name. Hope this helps.
 
That was inline with what I was thinking except my problem is I have very little materials cost at this point, have bunch of wood traded knife for (cutoffs from local cabinet maker), files $2- 4 dollars, copper (roof flashing from house tear down) $0, leather (was given an entire hide $0. So actual materials and expendables cost would be around $10 per knife for the next 10 - 20 knives or so. I was thinking of charging around $75. I don't want to underprice as this establishes low value, and don't want to overprice. I also realize that I am no J Doyle, or RW Wilson and want to offer a good value for what i am able to produce.

I seem to be in a dead zone for knifemakers and no one else appears to be doing this in my area (SouthWest Florida), which might explain why I am getting such good feedback at this early stage in my knifemaking experience. Have 6 people that already said they would buy a sword from me when I start making those. Will be taking some blacksmithing and bladesmithing classes next month (have to drive 2+ hours).

The other big issue is time. I have a fulltime+ job (Operations Manger/Systems Engineer) for a medical transcription company (yeah, i'm a professional nerd) and not sure if I really want to create a big demand that I cannot meet. This is supposed to be a hobby.



I'll share with you the same advise I got when I first decided to sell my knives. Set the value of your knife at a price point where you could build three more knives just like it with the proceeds. Figure in the cost of materials as well as all the consumables such as abrasives, wood finishes, drill bits, bandsaw blades, . . . I found this gave me a a good starting point to price my own work. You can adjust the price a little as you see fit and as you sell more of your work, your prices can increase respectively as you develop you name. Hope this helps.
 
word of advice: you do not want to be the cheapest guy in town. that's the easiest way to become a slave to your hobby.

materials-wise, if you paid for all of your materials (don't forget shipping!) then the price of materials for an average knife is somewhere in the $50 range. that does not include time, but as a hobbyist you can afford to use the materials x 3 method. $150 sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Well, it's not. Trust me- you will work like a slave keeping up with demand for $200 knives.

I suggest starting at $150. As you get busier, raise your prices until you start losing a sale now and then. if nobody says no you are too cheap.


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Yup, I agree with John. $150 range would be the right place to start. That's actually very economical for a handmade knife. Even though the cost of your materials now is practically free, once you exhaust those reserves, you will have to start buying those products, and they are not cheep. Truly, the value of your product is what people are willing to pay for it. If people are not willing to pay your price, you are charging too much. If people would pay a lot more for your product, you are priced too low. The trick is finding that sweet spot somewhere in the middle.
 
if nobody says no you are too cheap
Good comment

Comments made as to the material you have on hand are spot on - don't consider you have $0 invested in material, but figure as if you had to purchase all the material.

Ken H>
 
I started building knives 2 1/2 years ago. Like you, I decided that I would not sell a knife that was not commercial quality. I sold my first knife about 5 months into my journey and I made a decision at that time that I would never sell a knife for less than $300 and I haven't. Anything less than that just isn't worth it. The other thing I don't do is take orders, as you say, it's a hobby and I just don't need the pressure. To date my most expensive sale has been $500 and I figure I made about $2.50 per hour on that knife. I am at the point where my hobby pays for itself plus some but unless you are Ed McCaffery, Bruce Bump or John Doyle you are never going to get either rich or famous doing this.

Wallace
 
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Thank you to everyone for the feedback.Great advice. Will start at the 150-200 range and go up as the knives get more detailed. Currently not doing any bolsters yet or hollow grinds. I used to be a goldsmith and as soon as I get better organized I'll start making some Mokume Gane for the bolsters.
 
I started selling early on too and pricing your stuff is harder than making it. At least for me, I hate pricing! My first knives were paracord wrapped handles and I sold them for $80. I still make them and still charge $80 for them, but now I have the blanks laser cut for that design, so my labor investment much smaller. For my other knives, I started at $120, after a couple more went to $150, after a few more went to $200. The one I'm making right now is sold for $260. As I get better, I just keep the price going up a little at time. Next one, will be $300. By the way, I've made some freebies and practice blades, but have 25 actual sold.

Now, not to sound like I'm a great maker or anything, but I have been to a couple national level shows and I've seen plenty of knives that were priced at $500 or more, that weren't any better than mine, at least in my opinion. They've had mismatched plunges lines, uneven grind lines, holes with gaps around pins, handles not symmetrical, etc.
 
Start 80-120 range.
Go up as you get better.
Don't take too many orders, they can be a PIA.
Just my suggestions. Dozier


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WOW. I hard to believe when all of those issues are easily avoided. I free hand (although for last knife I made a jig for grinding edge) grind. I ink the blank and then use calipers to scribe my guidelines and then grind to the lines. Same for the scales sans ink and use a rasp to shape then sand paper to finish. I tried to use grinder for the scales (thought it would be faster) and ended up spending more time trying to even the scales out and fixing overgrinds that it would have been faster to use the rasp.

Is it really handmade if your using jigs for every step of the process????

I made the jig for doing edges because I am using a 1x30 belt sander and the backplate is not long enough for me to hold knife straight by hand. REALLY need to build a 2x72 grinder.


Now, not to sound like I'm a great maker or anything, but I have been to a couple national level shows and I've seen plenty of knives that were priced at $500 or more, that weren't any better than mine, at least in my opinion. They've had mismatched plunges lines, uneven grind lines, holes with gaps around pins, handles not symmetrical, etc.
 
I've tried a jig, actually made one that worked pretty darn good, but its a crutch that you don't really need. If you force yourself to grind freehand and get good at it, it'll be faster and allow you to be more creative in the end. I'm still not that great freehand, getting better, but I still have a large pucker factor about half the time. Sometimes, I have to do a lot of handsanding to make up for the grinder errors. Me personally, I don't think its that big of a deal if you use a jig. I don't think its a big deal if you use a cnc. You're still making the knife and the quality at the end result is what counts.
 
I just sold my 2nd and 3rd ever knife I made for 750 each. It all depends on the blade and the customer. I am a firm believer that the value of art cannot be calculated.
 
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