Have you ever walked into an outdoor knife shop and got shocked by the prices? You are not the only one. Outdoor knives are not ordinary knives, and there’s a lot of processes and high-quality materials that go into their forging. They become even costlier when there’s knife customization involved or where hand forging is used.
If you have been thinking of getting an outdoor knife for your camping and hunting needs, here’s a breakdown of the reasons why they cost that much to help you make an informed decision. So stick around to the end and learn a thing or two.
Quality Blades
The blade is the most important part of the knife, and there’s a lot of attention that is paid to it. Blades found on outdoor knives are made using only the best materials, sometimes even a combination of several materials in a delicate balance that gives it strength and a very beautiful appearance. The skill that goes into pulling this off is not common, and this is part of the reason why these knives end up costing an arm and a leg since the labor is not cheap. The four main types of steel being used to make outdoor knife blades include the following:
- Carbon Steel
- Alloy Steel
- Tool Steel
- Stainless steel
Titanium and Carbon Fiber Handle
The handle is another part that determines the final price of an outdoor knife. On top of adding aesthetics, outdoor knife handles are designed to fit the hands and provide the best grip. This is important considering the type of work these knives are subjected to. Any small mistake and the hand could slip over the blade, causing injuries. It is therefore not a surprise to find expensive materials like titanium and carbon fiber being used to make handles on most of these outdoor knives.
Safety Features
Folding knives come with retractable blades, and fixed knives come with sheaths because safety is very important. Every year there are thousands of knife accidents reported, and most of them are caused by poor handling of the knives due to lack of safety features. Considering how sharp outdoor knives can be, a lack of safety features can be devastating, and this is why they come with all kinds of extra accessories that make using them much safer. These addons push the price further up.
Accessories
Outdoor knives also come with a lot of accessories, with most of them for maintenance. When buying a knife, they are accompanied by sharpeners, a sheath, storage back, some maintenance oils: things that will help you get the best out of them while ensuring that they are used for longer. All these cost money even when sold separately, and once they are combined with the knife itself, the cost doubles up. But it is worth it, especially if you are new to the knife world.
Quality Control
Every product undergoes some form of quality control before being released to the public. This is necessary to ensure that everything about the product works as it is intended to without causing harm. When it comes to outdoor knives, the quality control is even stricter, and there are several levels to it. The last thing any knife manufacturer would want to deal with is a total recall of all the knives they have ever made just because they skipped an important quality control step. The more quality control an outdoor knife is subjected to, the higher the final price.
Warranty
One reason why most outdoor knives have high-end prices is because of the warranty. Normally, the longer the warranty, the more expensive the product. A warranty is a guarantee from the knife manufacturer that they are willing to replace the product if it sustains any damage that’s a direct cause of the manufacturing process. Cheap ordinary knives don’t have warranties, and this is why most outdoor knives have this incentive attached to them. It is one of the reasons that attract buyers in the first place as they will have more confidence knowing they can return the product within a given time if things don’t pan out the way they want.
Overhead Costs
For the knife to leave the assembly line to end up in the hands of its owner, there are a lot of people involved, and all these combine to add to the overhead costs. These come in the form of the following:
- Distribution: The knives have to be transported from the manufacturing plant to the retailer or the client directly where custom fixed blades are concerned. This means fuel and the labor of distributing the knives has to be factored into the final price of the product.
- Employees: Forging knives is done by highly skilled people who have the experience and the expertise to produce identical products over and over again. These people don’t come cheap, and the more advanced the knife, the higher their salaries. This has to be transferred to the buyer one way or another.
- Packaging and Branding: The bigger the brand, the higher the cost of packaging. This eventually adds to the cost of the final product. In the case of packaging fixed knives, stranger packaging material has to be used, or you may end up with knives cutting through the packaging easily, and that will not be a good look.
Conclusion
Outdoor knives stay for a very long time, and this is because they are built to last. You may go five years without any need to buy a new knife, and this is why they cost a lot. There are many knife manufacturers around the world who price their products using their own metrics. But finding the best pocket knife brand will cost you. For more information on outdoor knives, make sure you visit our website (Shieldon knives) at any time of the day.
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