Rambo Knives!!

[PRM]

the knife will be $750.00 each with the sheath. ~ Mark Knapp

I was intrigued by this knife and being a 1911 fan, I contacted Mark Knapp off of his website and inquired about the cost of the "working model" of this knife.

Guess I will have to buy an extra mag pouch and stay with my Buck.

 

[hso]

No surprise there, but in about a year or two the price will likely come down a couple of hundred. The one in the picture is worth much more to colletors.

 

[BRad704]

everything seems to be worth more to collectors... I suppose that's good and bad...

 

[hso]

Brad, I'm sure you understand, but other folks need to consider what Mr. Knapp has to do to make this knife. The frames from Caspian don't come cheap so he has a higher material cost right away. He then has to adapt the frames as a grip for the knife, craft the blade, build the knife from the grip/guard/blade and finish it. He's producing these one at a time by hand and isn't turning these out in a factory so the economy of scale factor is working in reverse. They're unique and each one is an individually crafted piece of work. Being unique and relatively rare the price is going to be higher than if they were being churned out by machine and then machine or even hand finished.

I also am skeptical of the strength of any knife with the grip welded to the blade and historically the storage handle knives that did this had a tendency to break at the weld and that's why Chris Reeve decided to make his hollow handle knives from a single piece of steel to avoid that problem.

When your knives start to become popular and the work becomes more than a hobby you'll find that refining and embellishing your knives will be more profitable than leaving them in just a field finish/dress. Those can be more enriching both artistically and financially to you.

 

[BRad704]

OH I completely understand all that... I just meant that you were right about collectors paying more for what they want and paying more for the "status" of something.

 

[mgregg85]

I'd much rather use a Cold Steel Bushman, they seem pretty tough. All the "rambo" knives i've seen look like flea market junk, weak handle/blade joint and junk stainless steel. Those huge serrations on the top of the blade are ugly to me too.

 

[messerist]

I was lucky to meet Jimmy Lile before his death and see one of his original Rambo knives. What a treat. It sad to see what passes for a copy of his work. Dittos on the Chris Reeve knife. Well made and functional.

 

[maximumdarkside]

To the original poster and the poster that commented on smokey mountain knife works, I worked for smkw, and those rambo knives are pure crap, had so many come in with warped or just plain dull blades, united is one of the cheapest and worst quality control oriented "collectors knife". Anyways if you want a good one similar to the rambo look at the TOPS brand, ESEE (they now own Rat Knives also), or cold steel. They are great products, and have a great warranty, as in we will replace it no matter what. For cold steel that applies to the fixed blades, not the folders.