Spyderco Chinook PH Back Lock Knife

Hi there, I applaud you for bringing up some things that generally aren't considered when we look at the straight up cost of materials vs price of the knife, specifically the costs of research and development, but I have to question the extent of the impact those costs have long term? When we're looking at a knife like this one, which costs more than double what many people feel the materials are worth, are we saying that R&D costs account for over 50% of the value? And if so (which, it just can't be...but for the sake of argument let's say it is), how long are the consumers expected to continue paying that premium? Eventually, at some point, enough knives have been sold to cover the full cost of R&D. Does Spyderco drop the price of a particular model once it reaches that point? Of course not. They continue selling at the same price, the model has paid for itself, the rest is pure profit. Best case scenario, you'd argue that all that extra money goes into their R&D for other projects, but again, that's all the more reason that 100% of that cost shouldn't be factored into each and every knife, as it's a cost of keeping your business running and your reputation strong. I don't know much about this particular knife, but look at some of their flagship knives that have been selling for decades, R&D was paid for AGES ago. In many cases nothing in the design has changed, materials haven't changed (or if they have, the price changed with them anyway), yet the prices keep rising year after year (and no, not just on par with general inflation). Add to that the fact that they re-use soooo many design aspects across different models, it's not like they're designing much of anything from scratch at this point. For example; this lockback is nothing new to them, all they had to do was decide this is the lock style they wanted to put on this knife. Outside of sprint runs they have their "go to" steels, and they just need to pick which one is best suited for each individual knife...they aren't prototyping and real world testing every blade in different steels every time, they already know what they think works for different styles and for different applications. In my opinion I do agree that you should expect to pay a premium for the costs associated with developing a tried and true brand......but it should be a nominal fee, not a 100%+ markup. If they need that much more money on every single sale for research and business costs then they're looking for investors, not customers. (and also, they need to rethink their business model at look at ways of reducing operating costs) Someone who HAS to have every new Spyderco might consider it an investment in keeping their favorite line going.....but the average person just looking for one or two good knives doesn't need to be donating extra money to future developments for something they will never benefit from. In short, you're right, Spyderco doesn't specialize in complicated high cost production builds. All the more reason that their models with flat stock FRN/G10 and VG10/S30V and simple lockback designs should never cost $100, much less $2-300...it's absurd. Especially when we're shown time and again by other companies that more elaborate designs, with higher end materials, can be made just as well for much, much less.

I picked up a Chinook 3 recently for a pretty good price (NIB for around 150) and have to say, they completely ruined the original "bowie-ish" essence with the Chinook 4 .... looks more like a Persian big-brother wannabe now. If they went more with the style of the Chinook 1, IMO anyhow, this would have been awesome. A FFG blade is great, I guess, but not on every single model. (same thing with the Police 3 & 4 ... the old-school "reinforced swedge" was the best blade design ... stabby, not slicey :)

LOL .. it's similar to the "butterfly tax" on Benchmade knives I guess ... slap a 'benchmade' logo on a cheesy, plastic handled knife and charge $150 or more :-) Hey , if nothing else, these US companies are giving a boost to the overseas clone market due to their ridiculous MAP policies, so at least someone is winning here ... just not us :-/