Our prices

The cost of a Schmiedeglut knife

How much does a handmade knife cost and how are the prices determined?

The following prices serve as an illustration and are intended as example guidelines. We reserve the right to adjust our pricing at any time.

Schmiedeglut stands for transparency and honest craftsmanship.

Our prices are calculated based on materials + labour time + 19% VAT

Materials include, for example:

Blade steel, Damascus steel
Handle materials, liners, pins
Abrasives, consumables
Tools, machine wear
Rent, electricity, water, fuel for the forge, heating

Labour costs depend on the level of difficulty

€65/hour for hand-forged Damascus knives and repairs/refurbishing of Schmiedeglut knives
€100/hour for Masterpiece knives
€150/hour for work on knives from other makers

plus 19% VAT

Example 1

Hunting / outdoor knife made from carbon steel with a handle made from, for example, desert ironwood

Labour time (7 hours)

Shaping the blade, applying the blade grind, hardening and tempering the blade (approx. 3 hours)
Silk-matte blade finish on the belt grinder (approx. 0.5 hours)
Preparing handle material, assembling the blade, shaping, and handle finishing (approx. 3 hours)
Sharpening the knife, quality control, minor refinements (approx. 0.5 hours)

The knife therefore costs:

Labour time: approx. €450.00
Materials: approx. €50
+19% tax: approx. €100
Sales price: approx. €600

Example 2

Damascus knife (similar to the results in the 3-day intensive Damascus knife course)

Kitchen knife made from hand-forged Damascus steel with 300 layers and a handle made from stabilised burl wood, AAA quality

Labour time (15.5 hours)

Building the Damascus billet, folding and forge-welding multiple times, producing 300 layers (approx. 4 hours)
Forging to size, normalising, annealing, etc. (approx. 2 hours)
Shaping the blade, applying the blade grind, hardening and tempering the blade (approx. 3 hours)
Hand-finishing the blade and etching treatment (approx. 3 hours)
Preparing handle material, assembling the blade, shaping, and finishing the handle (approx. 3 hours)
Sharpening the knife, quality control, minor refinements (approx. 0.5 hours)

The knife therefore costs:

Labour time: approx. €1,000
Materials: approx. €100
+19% tax: approx. €200
Sales price: €1,300

Example 3: Masterpiece Edition

Custom-made knife according to customer specifications

e.g. spider-web Damascus / mammoth ivory / mosaic pins / liners

Labour time (28.5 hours)

Developing the design together with the customer (approx. 1 hour)
Creating spider-web Damascus (approx. 8 hours)
Forging to size, normalising, annealing, etc. (approx. 2 hours)
Shaping the blade, applying the blade grind, hardening and tempering the blade (approx. 4 hours)
Blade finish, hand finish, polishing, etching treatment (approx. 4.5 hours)
Preparing handle material, assembling the blade, shaping, and finishing the handle (approx. 8 hours)
Sharpening the knife, quality control, minor refinements (approx. 1 hour)

The knife therefore costs:

Labour time: approx. €2,850
Materials: approx. €300
+19% tax: approx. €600
Sales price: €3,750

The "Unlimited" knives

Handmade knives with machine assistance

With our "Unlimited" knives, we offer you the quality of a handmade knife at a significantly lower price.

All work relevant to the quality of the knife is carried out by Schmiedeglut and our partners by hand (e.g. hardening, heat treatment, finishing, sharpening, assembly, quality control).

The remaining tasks, which involve simple repetitive work, are carried out with machine assistance (cutting out material, rough shaping, adding serrations, drilling holes, etc.).

The "Unlimited" knives can therefore be described as "predominantly handmade". The difference compared to our fully hand-forged knives is that not every step is carried out by us personally, and the shaping of blade and handle is supported by CNC technology.

Through this approach, we save around 50% labour time in production and pass these savings on to our customers. You will only notice the difference in the price, because the quality of all Schmiedeglut knives is identical to that of fully handmade custom pieces.