How Much is a $75,000 Knife Really Worth?

Does it need to be said this $75,000 pocketknife is a William Henry? Because it is. It’s so pricey, Forbes featured it here.

Comments on social media asked how it’s possible to know the price of a knife before it’s sold. Who’s to say it isn’t $50,000? After all, it’s not like a $75,000 knife is mass-produced. It’s unique.

Three things:

• High-buck knives are usually commissioned before they’re made.
• The market-rate for the materials and labor are easy to price out.
• Something’s price is always what someone else is willing to pay for it. That someone else might not be you.

Disruptive Model Emerges for Financing Knife Start-Ups

Knifemaking start-ups face a tougher time securing financing because of backers’ leeriness toward “weapons.” Crowdfunding, where companies appeal directly to consumers for backing via pre-orders, is one way around this. Kickstarter is the best example of this approach.

Bolstering this business model are affiliate programs that dole out a cut of pre-order sales. This is sometimes disguised as editorial on news sites. This sort of backdoor marketing offers a pay-as-you-go approach that is appealing to start-ups with limited advertising budgets.

There’s nothing wrong with this approach. It’s just different, and worth considering if you’re starting a knifemaking business.

Here’s an example from Business Insider.

Quoting “Crocodile Dundee” Lands Restaurant in Lawsuit

You know the line, but here’s the clip anyway:

Best not repeat that line in formal marketing if you want to avoid legal trouble. Australian restaurant Grill’d allegedly used the famous utterance on its knife sleeves. From The Daily Telegraph:

Hogan claims the “knife line” — as it’s referred to in the claim document — is valuable because it has been “heard by the many consumers in Australia who have seen the Crocodile Dundee movie” and “has been featured, mentioned or referred to on television, in print, on the internet, and in popular culture”. He claims Grill’d has used the line “without the licence of either of Rimfire or Mr Hogan”.

Read the full story here.

United Kingdom Sentencing More Minors for Knife Possession Crimes

I’ll let this quote from The Guardian article do the talking. Read it carefully if you don’t get it at first.

The number of 10- to 17-year-olds cautioned or sentenced for knife possession offences has risen by 16% since this time last year.

Read the full article here.

Video: The Knifemaker Supplying the World’s Greatest Chefs

Business Insider profiled Chelsea Miller, a knifemaker cranking out blades for “name” chefs around the world.

Have a News Tip? Submit it Here

Have big news? Tell BLADE with this form.