Messer Meister wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:23 am
I think its important to understand collectors are their own bubble, while that bubble may be growing your average Joe still sees a $50 knife as a relatively expensive one. The higher end knives won't suffer as much from this, because $150 isn't really that much more comparatively expensive when its up from $130 or so (plus people willing to buy higher end knives tend to have more niche taste). The largest problem I see is for the low to mid range models in my (and I would imagine the average consumer's) bracket.
A friend saw my custom Mini Crooked River and the conversation went something like this:
"I like your knife. I really need to get a good knife."
"How much are you looking to spend?"
"About $50."
I gave some suggestions like the Tenacious, Raven 2, or a CIVIVI. He really liked the black Tenacious. I showed him the American Lawman, which is a little more expensive, but it has DLC coating, which he liked. His wife asked me what she should get him for Father's Day. She wanted to keep it under $100. She is getting him an American Lawman :D
The point is, I agree, most people view a $50 knife as expensive.
Personally, I think a knife over $150 is getting expensive. That's generally a price level where function is as solid as it can get for production knives, and you start to get into fancy materials or features you want to splurge on. I have a TRM Neutron coming in a couple days which was $200, but I splurged for the carbon fiber scales. On a side note, I am looking forward to TRM's Shadow lock (looks like an Axis) since I don't really like liner locks because my thumb is in the blade path.