A challenge for BladeForums! Carbon Fiber and Damascus folder for less than $200

D

Dekz

Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
1,392
I think this one will actually be a challenge for you guys. I haven't bought a new knife in quite a while now, because nothing is jumping out at me as something that I REALLY want.

Carbon Fiber and Damascus are the two materials that I love. Each is relatively easy to find, but both together is eluding me.

There are a lot of knives offered with carbon fiber handles, but the blades are just boring bead blasted silver. Most Damascus knives (especially in this price range) have a more traditional handle material like bone or wood (which I'm not a fan of).

I know that the budget is the real killer here, but I hope that something is out there.

Other than these three criteria, I'm not too picky. 2-4 inch blade is fine. Friction folder, slipjoint, or a locking blade. Thumb stud, hole, flipper, nail nick; doesn't matter.
 
On the British Blades forum Russell White is showing his slipjoint in CF and damascus in the "Makers Sales" section. With the current conversion pound to usd it comes to $198.58. Nice looking knife. Not sure if I'm allowed to link.
 
But, the exk1 with carbon fiber and damascus blade is not too expensive.
It will be hard to find something in his prices :/
 
Last edited:
Still not under $200 though.

The lesser known makers would be your best bet in these cases. They're willing to work with different stuff in most cases since they simply could use the clientele. Burger is not lesser known since his collab with Böker Plus.

I bet if you shop around a bit you'd be able to find a maker that could do it for that price. I certainly don't know any production models that'll cost that or bigger named makers that could do it for that price. It would simply not be worth their time.
 
Unless a maker is using cheap damascus, he willhave a fair bit of money invested in the steel alone.
 
That's a tough one. Try pricing damascus and carbon fiber on a knife supply store like Knife Kits or USA Knife or something sometime. Those are EXPENSIVE materials. Even making your own, there's a lot of labor involved. Stainless steel damascus is even more expensive. I'll be interested to see what else turns up in here.
 
Habbekuk said:
On the British Blades forum Russell White is showing his slipjoint in CF and damascus in the "Makers Sales" section. With the current conversion pound to usd it comes to $198.58. Nice looking knife. Not sure if I'm allowed to link.
Click to expand...

It's a beautiful knife, but just not quite the style that I like. I prefer a more "modern" look, and I particularly dislike swaybacks. Even still I'm tempted to pick that one up! Thank you so much for the suggestion though, now we know that it IS possible!

jdm61 said:
Unless a maker is using cheap damascus, he willhave a fair bit of money invested in the steel alone.
Click to expand...

Kershaw has Damascus knives for ~$50. Now I'm aware of the vast differences in the economies of scale here, obviously a small custom maker pays more for Damascus than they do.

But I'm definitely open to productions knives, you just don't ever seem to see this combination.

There are plenty of knives out there with Damascus blades for ~$50, and there are plenty of knives with Carbon Fiber handles for ~$100. So based purely on the cost of materials it is not unreasonable at all to sell a knife with both for $150. It just doesn't seem to exist.
 
Dekz said:
Kershaw has Damascus knives for ~$50. Now I'm aware of the vast differences in the economies of scale here, obviously a small custom maker pays more for Damascus than they do.
Click to expand...

That's what he said.....cheap damascus.
 
Dekz said:
Kershaw has Damascus knives for ~$50. Now I'm aware of the vast differences in the economies of scale here, obviously a small custom maker pays more for Damascus than they do.
Click to expand...

It's not just economies of scale. Damascus varies in price depending on content steels, layers and pattern.
 
I'm thinking that maybe my best option would be to just buy a knife with a Damascus blade and buy/make some carbon fiber scales for it.
 
Get a damascus skyline and get some 1/8" carbon fiber. Or a damascus barrage/salvo and make a cf non-locking scale.
 
Might be just a little above your preffered price range, but If you look around a bit you can find the Spyderco Caly 3, they make a sprint run in damascus with carbon fiber scales. Ive seen it priced at around $230.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top