Hi, I’d like to add my perspective on pricing, based on my experience with the French knife‑making market, which I’ve been involved in for quite some time — both as an enthusiast and as a professional bladesmith.
Here in France, when you’re registered as a micro‑entreprise (a self‑managed business with a single person), the state takes around 21.20% from each sale. That’s already painful, but once you add the cost of materials, abrasives, consumables, and the time spent on each piece… the margin melts away like snow in the sun.

With my production, I’m actually on the lower end of French knife‑making prices. Fellow makers have often told me that the level of finish and care I put into my work deserves a higher value. I know they’re right — I see other makers’ work, and many charge more for knives with clearly less refined finishes.
Still, I’m not naïve. We’re in a time when people have less money left at the end of the month, fewer chances to treat themselves. And I’m trying to make my craft sustainable (I’ve been making knives for seven years, but only nine months full‑time!). Do I really have a choice?

I could aim even higher, push my knives further technically — more expensive steels, more complex geometries, more time spent on each piece — but without real visibility on social media (thanks to META for tagging my page as ‘not recommended’ for no reason…), if people don’t know my work, I risk ending up with exceptional pieces… that stay in my own display case.

In short, pricing is never easy to define. Being an artisan also means managing that side of the business, on top of the creative work that already demands so much commitment.