The True cost of a handmade knife

The truth is there is no magical number that applies to all knives.

I think it can best be described as the cost of materials plus labour and then profit margin. You may then add a cost for the design and the makers artistic worth.

So lets break this down. When I worked as a skilled worker in an engineering shop I was paid $45 p/h. So lets base the labour on this even though the work I did there was way below the skill level required for blade smithing.

Cost of materials this is going to vary depending on the size ,style etc. A small knife like my “Dew Claw” doesn’t have a lot of materials maybe $30, and the labour is probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 hours at best.  Given the equation above it should cost $930

Now lets look at the knife I am currently building the “Gentlemans Bowie”.

There is without adding in the sheath which it will be sold with $250 in materials, that’s cost price no profit. Currently I have north of 65 hours in the build and its got maybe 2 hours to finish it up so let’s say 67 hours. 

So labour alone puts it at $3015 then add cost of materials gives a total of $3265 now add in some profit even if I use a really low profit margin of 10% $3591.50 would be a fair price. 

But I dont sell the Dew Claw for $960 i sell it including shipping for $250 and the Gentlemans Bowie will not have a $3500 price tag, so i ask you when handmade knives get sold who is the winner.

What can you take away from this well Bladesmiths are stupid and we do the job because we love doing it. When you see a handmade knife for $600 it sounds expensive compared to the $60 knife at the camping store but when you compare the 2 you have a mass produced knife often made from questionable materials that will be lucky if its still serviceable in a years time. That was made almost entirely by computerised machines, on the flip side you have a knife of high quality materials made with care by the hands of a craftsman with care, and the kicker you can hand this knife down to your grand kids.