This is not a selling post I promise. I’ve been making knives as gifts for a little while. I’ve never made one to sell but I thought about it. Picture is the last one I made for a Christmas gift, I’m still learning so it’s not perfect and I still need to so finish work on the handle and edge.
I estimate I have 10$ in material. What would you guys price a knife like this at. I was going for a lightweight skinning knife.

I’ve only been doing this maybe 6 months here and there, if y’all have any general advice as well I am all ears!

Bro, that a hard question to answer, it's a supply and demand thing for me. I've been a knife maker over 20 years and full time about 10 years. An average year I make and sell over 300 a year and try to take off weekends. I can't sell anything less than $150.00 typically low-cost handle materials, like micarta or G-10. I've sold knives for $1,200.00 depends on materials and time. I have customers that have 30 or more of my knives. I started like you, making them for friends and family. Just grew from there. All of us makers never quit learning, plus materials are always changing and new suppliers sprout up all the time.

thank you for the insight! are all your knives custom ordered, or do you make ones that people can buy off the shelf?
with so many diffrent designs id like to try and master one blade type to start, so if you had any recommendation on like the most common bought or what style you sell the most of, id be intrested to see!

Yes, pricing your knives was pretty tough for me also. I attended a LOT of knife shows before i ever started making knives and saw the different price points and different levels of quality, so had a pretty good idea what knives went for. I started by making fixed blades and priced them a lot like Bob said, couldn't hardly make one for less than $150 with a leather sheath, but i have since moved to almost exclusively slip-joints. I talked to lots of slipjoint makers (big name and not so known names) and took notes on quality of their fit and finish vs price. I then priced my knives lower than most of them that i thought had the same quality as mine. As my quality improved, my prices have risen a bit, but I am still less expensive than many of the custom slipjoint makers with the same quality. I think i have found my happy medium where I feel that my knives are a bargain for the quality the customer receives and i make enough to make it worth my while. BUT, i am only a part time maker and my teaching/coaching pays the bills. I make knives as a side gig to help pay for my daughters college and my shop is a stress reliever from my day job!haha

I’ve made a lot in the last 40 or so years but only sold a couple when the wife had a garage sale. I have given them to friends. I enjoy it but, due to arthritis, get bad arthritic pain when I bend my back. No way I can stand straight up at a sander or grander. Yep, I’m officially old. Now, have made only 3 or 4 in the last year. Haven’t made a stainless in years. They just don’t take the edge that I try to prefer.

The last big order I had was from my wife. She wanted a dozen steak knife sets for family Christmas gifts. I bought the stainless blades from Jantz Supply and put craft wood handles on them. Never again.

My raw material is generally industrial high carbon steel hacksaw blades. I’m down to 3 so may be on the last trail.

Some of my knives are custom orders, but mostly sell on various mediums, I sell my knives right after making them. I make a all sorts of knives for different purposes, but I make this design a lot, it's been a good model for me. As you can see in the pictures, you just have to use various materials to keep things interesting.