Expensive Knives.

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Andy T

Settler
Sep 8, 2010
899
27
Stoke on Trent.
I can understand people wanting a top end knife, especially one where they have had a hand in it's design. It does make it a bit special, but if its going to be a user instead of a drawer ornament i also think it's important to know how to use it properley, otherwise you may as well just buy a potato peeler.
 

shaggystu

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 10, 2003
4,345
33
Derbyshire
.......I'm wondering why something like a Woodlore is better, than lets, say, a Helle Sigmund.

i've just googled helle sigmund and the first price i came across was £130, so you could get two or three helle's for the price of a woodlore, which makes the woodlore look expensive, but then again you could get 25 or so hultafors for the price of one helle, which makes the helle look really expensive. and all we've really talked about here are factory made utility knives, so we've not even got close to properly expensive, for that you need to look at full custom jobs with wonderfully exotic materials and made by someone in america or germany, then you start getting in to serious money (the first example that sprung to mind - http://www.jimmylile.com/knives.html). knives are subject to all the same rules of economics that every other consumer good is, and we live in a world where value and price ceased to have any direct correlation a long time ago, things are worth exactly what people are willing to pay for them, no more, no less.

cheers

stuart
 

The Big Lebowski

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 11, 2010
2,320
6
Sunny Wales!
Nothing gives me more satisfaction than watching someone clonk a woodlore through some knotted wood.

'Tis a very rare site indeed :D
 

Johnnyboy1971

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 24, 2010
4,155
26
52
Yorkshire
I have battoned with my woodlore and yes i chipped it but hey ho its a tool to be used. I have used many knives and a lot of them are way better than the woodlore. I found they didnt suit my needs but i still have two of them.
I was lucky enough to get one of the WS micarta ones when they first came on the market, i also have ( thanks to K9) one of the original Alan Wood woodlores.
Both of these get used but i much prefer the one i had made by FGYT and one by Hillbill, both of which are much easier to use and maintain and the build quality/fit and finish is superior.

I also had one of the SWC knives before he started making for woodlore, it was appauling quality and finish and when i tried to contact SWC there was no reply whatsoever after several emails and letters sent.
 

Silverback 1

Native
Jun 27, 2009
1,216
0
64
WEST YORKSHIRE
I also had one of the SWC knives before he started making for woodlore, it was appauling quality and finish and when i tried to contact SWC there was no reply whatsoever after several emails and letters sent

The new 30 year SWC Woodlore knife is on sale for £450, they have had to up the ante for an actual Woodlore to £485 to compensate, it is getting to the point where O1 Tool steel and stabilised wood or micarta is a better investment than gold or diamonds!
Stephen Wade Cox is a bit of an enigma, even King Raymond has bother tracking him down, and he can do the business.
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,811
1,537
51
Wiltshire
I have several fancy knives, I will admit bar one, (My Japanese laminated; You can trust them to do a good job...Often at an affordable price.) I have traded for them all. I really cannot afford them.

with cars my worry is deprechiation. (I am funny, yes) so the Mondeo and Aston Martin would be pretty much equal in my eyes.

Aston Martin better for pulling blokes. (Yes, I am a shallow bird.)
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
I just googled the Woodlore. I can see paying extra for some knives; but $450 for a STEAK KNIFE!? For less than that (Far, Far less than that) I can get a German made Puma White Hunter.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
$450? try $782 or £485 in real money :p

Just had another look at the website and you're right; it was in GBP rather than $. However I'm finding used ones (in good condition) on e-bay for under $400. Even that is way too much for that knife.
 

MartinK9

Life Member
Dec 4, 2008
6,549
528
Leicestershire
Nothing gives me more satisfaction than watching someone clonk a woodlore through some knotted wood.

'Tis a very rare site indeed :D

JP 25th:

batonningjp.jpg



WS:

battoningwithws2.jpg




SWC:

mebattoningwithswc2.jpg


I now rest and let others prep my wood for me. :)
 

cbr6fs

Native
Mar 30, 2011
1,620
0
Athens, Greece
i wouldn't buy an expensive knife myself simply because i can't afford one as i live on a very small budget, i can understand why people do though its their choice, the trouble with buying high-end/priced goods (of anything) when on a tight budget is that i have found i am almost scared to use the item and use it delicately for fear of damaging it expecting it to last forever whereas with a budget item i knock it about without thought as its more easily replaced should it be damaged.

I can understand that, for me though i chose my knife maker carefully so i'm confident that if in the future i do have problems with the knife he will sort it out for me.

We are all different and it's a good job as the world would be a boring place.

"Expensive" is relative, i used to think parts for my old Elan were expensive till i bought a Porsche :banghead:
I though nearly £600 for a knife was expensive till i joined some blade sites.

If people use and enjoy their purchases then i think there is no loose.

What gets me is when people buy things just to own them, then shut them away.
I realise it's different personality types but i do think it's a real shame when someone designs, produces and sells a knife and it's never used as one.

It's the same with cars.
You see guys buying old cars, shutting them up in the garage and polishing them.
Problem is when they do eventually use them and inevitably break them, there is no longer a support infrastructure in place to produce and sell spares and no one with experience on how to repair them.

I was helping a guy out a while ago and in his garage was a DB6 with a dented wing.
When i asked he said he'd been on the internet and ebay but couldn't find a new wing :lmao:

I sat and explained to the guy that there is no pattern for a DB6 wing, they're ALL hand made from start to finish.
If people used their classic cars and crashed them, then there would be hundreds of panel beaters around the country with the skills to fabricate a wing out of a flat sheet of metal.
As it is, most cars are shut away so the few that still have this skill are dying out.


It's the same with custom knife manufacturing.
Unless we start supporting these custom knife makers instead of buying mass produced knives the vast majority will be gone within 2 generations.
 

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,809
1,481
Stourton,UK
Unless we start supporting these custom knife makers instead of buying mass produced knives the vast majority will be gone within 2 generations.

Too true. UK knifemakers are a rare breed, despite the surge within the last 8 years or so.

The 30th anniversary knife made by SWC isn't a Woodlore remember, it's the Ray Mears Bushcraft Knife. The Woodlore is only made by Alan Wood.
 

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