Pictures for Reference:
$1,350 directly from maker. Thor damasteel blade. Black timascus clip and backspacer. Timascus inlays and pivot collars. black cerakote coating over titanium handles.
Maker Communication:
Communication was "odd", to say the least. I messaged him via instagram 3 times over the course of 3 months to try to get things moving. My DMs were not responded to in any capacity - not liked, not seen, not messaged. Throughout these 3 months, I began commenting on his posts of his knives (which also showed that he was actively making and posting). I would compliment the knife and also make note of "I'd like to commission a knife from you, I've DMed you!" He would frequently acknowledge my compliment but ignore the request for commission / acknowledgement of DM. Finally, around the 3 month mark, I left another comment on one of his posts, but I literally specified every single spec I wanted on the knife. Strangely enough, he acknowledged and responded to this one, and noted that he happened to have the EXACT configuration I wanted available for purhcase. He suddenly started messaging me, making no reference to my prior messages, and sent me pictures and video of the knife in question. I proceeded to send funds via PayPal, and, honestly, communication from that point on was strangely good in consideration of everything I previously noted. That being said, definitely one of the stranger encounters I've had regarding communication with a custom maker.
Build Quality
Aesthetics: For all intents and purposes, flawless. No flaws to note in cerakote finish, no scratches direct from maker, no strange etching to note on damasteel blade or timascus accents.
Action: Smooth, but "creaky" due to IKBS free-floating bearings in the pivot. I've noticed this as a trend with floating bearing knives - The bearings rub up against each other as the knife opens and closes, which can sometimes create an inconsistent action (particularly on the close) and is accompanied by an odd kind of "creaking" sound and feel. That being said, comments about bearings aside, the action was not particularly smooth. It was a very generic smooth, in that it wasn't gritty or stiff, but it wasn't "Glassy" smooth or "hydraulic". You could definitely feel the friction. In terms of the drop, I will speak more about something going on here in the fit and finish section, but it was... inconsistent and hard to tune. I believe the free-floating bearings were what added the inconsistency element. Without adjusting the pivot at all, sometimes the blade would swing shut, sometimes it would almost feel like it was lodged open. There were some pivot tolerance issues I'll discuss later that I believe were causing this. All this to say, when the 'perfect conditions' were met, the knife would swing shut after setting the blade to ~70% closed.
Fit and Finish: I have one primary issue regarding the pivot area that I need to mention. Assume anything I don't mention as a negative was simply fantastic. I fully disassembled and reassembled the knife and tinkered with it quite a bit in an attempt to solve a pivot issue and tune the action, so I became quite familiar with the internals and pecularities of this one. The knife uses a semi-hidden hardware setup, with torx screws being visible on the pivot, but the rest of the knife being held together by a single long screw fitted deep within a hole in the clip, making the screw not visible under 95% of circumstances (the 5% being you peering into the hole with a flashlight). There were no issues with regard to the knife's assembly being "finicky" - no need to perfectly orient screws or other parts to get the knife functioning properly. Now, the pivot area... The knife came with a substantial amount of blade play. It was immediately apparent that something was "wrong". The knife was creaky and I could physically squeeze the scales together using pressure from my fingers. What was interesting, however, was that unless I CRANKED the pivot (I mean REALLY, more torque than I've ever applied to any knife in my life), there was always blade play to note. However, the only way I could get that blade play to go away was to crank the pivot so tight that closing the knife was tighter than a slipjoint... certainly couldn't be done one-handed. It wasn't realistic to keep the knife like that. However, I believe the inconsistency of the action and oddities in terms of fit near the pivot were caused by uneven finishing of the surface in the pivot region of the blade. This was made apparent because the knife would slam shut only via gravity no matter how tight the pivot was as long as the knife was ~70% opened. However, beyond that 70% point, it was like surfaces were rubbing against each other within the pivot area. I've never experienced this before and it was quite bizarre. That being said, I "compromised" and loosened the pivot, accepting blade play in exchange for a usable action. This was bittersweet, as every other aspect of the knife was effectively flawless.
Ergonomics: Honestly, the entire knife is a hotspot unless your hands are the perfect size and your fingers are spaced the perfect distance to fit the knife. The handle has two separate "ledges" on the backside and three along the front side. These have the smallest chamfer you can imagine, technically making it so that they don't end at literally 90 degrees, but... effectively, 90 degrees. As such, it's almost impossible to hold the knife in any comfortable way. You can't even "Choke up" closer to the blade, as the rear flipper protrudes from the scales, creating yet another hotspot / ridge for your finger to land on up there near the pivot. Let's be honest, I don't know how many people are buying a knife like this to actually put meaningful use into it, but I thought it was worth mentioning in consideration of the fact that, honestly, the ergonomics were SO rough. I <literally> could not find a single comfortable position where holding and using the knife felt natural.
Final Thoughts
I haven't seen a single other person complain about these knives, so it seems like there is a good chance that if you were to pick one up, it'd likely be perfectly fine and you'd have no issues with it. For mine, though, I don't believe a knife "deserves" to be made pretty if it has meaningful mechanical flaws. I simply couldn't get past the issues with the pivot on this one, and it gave the feeling of "lipstick on a pig" to me when I looked at how beautiful the rest of the knife was and how much effort was put into making the knife LOOK good but not FEEL good. This is a custom piece, so it's hard to say if this issue can be expected to repeat across other blades, but I had to call it out here and it was ultimately why I didn't keep mine. That being said, if something like this doesn't bother you, you won't be disappointed with a single aspect of the rest of the knife (unless, again, you intend to use it, then I would point you to my criticisims of the ergonomics). In particular, if you are interested in this knife as "pocket jewelry" or an interesting talking piece, it will do the job. Would I have PROUDLY kept this knife had it not been for the pivot issue? Yes, undoubtedly. The knife's aesthetics were what drew me in initially, and I would have loved for it to be on display in my collection. However, nothing stays in my collection if it has a notable mechanical flaw, so away this went. Once I get to $1k+, I expect the knives to, at least, not have obvious issues like blade play.
$1,350 directly from maker. Thor damasteel blade. Black timascus clip and backspacer. Timascus inlays and pivot collars. black cerakote coating over titanium handles.
Maker Communication:
Communication was "odd", to say the least. I messaged him via instagram 3 times over the course of 3 months to try to get things moving. My DMs were not responded to in any capacity - not liked, not seen, not messaged. Throughout these 3 months, I began commenting on his posts of his knives (which also showed that he was actively making and posting). I would compliment the knife and also make note of "I'd like to commission a knife from you, I've DMed you!" He would frequently acknowledge my compliment but ignore the request for commission / acknowledgement of DM. Finally, around the 3 month mark, I left another comment on one of his posts, but I literally specified every single spec I wanted on the knife. Strangely enough, he acknowledged and responded to this one, and noted that he happened to have the EXACT configuration I wanted available for purhcase. He suddenly started messaging me, making no reference to my prior messages, and sent me pictures and video of the knife in question. I proceeded to send funds via PayPal, and, honestly, communication from that point on was strangely good in consideration of everything I previously noted. That being said, definitely one of the stranger encounters I've had regarding communication with a custom maker.
Build Quality
Aesthetics: For all intents and purposes, flawless. No flaws to note in cerakote finish, no scratches direct from maker, no strange etching to note on damasteel blade or timascus accents.
Action: Smooth, but "creaky" due to IKBS free-floating bearings in the pivot. I've noticed this as a trend with floating bearing knives - The bearings rub up against each other as the knife opens and closes, which can sometimes create an inconsistent action (particularly on the close) and is accompanied by an odd kind of "creaking" sound and feel. That being said, comments about bearings aside, the action was not particularly smooth. It was a very generic smooth, in that it wasn't gritty or stiff, but it wasn't "Glassy" smooth or "hydraulic". You could definitely feel the friction. In terms of the drop, I will speak more about something going on here in the fit and finish section, but it was... inconsistent and hard to tune. I believe the free-floating bearings were what added the inconsistency element. Without adjusting the pivot at all, sometimes the blade would swing shut, sometimes it would almost feel like it was lodged open. There were some pivot tolerance issues I'll discuss later that I believe were causing this. All this to say, when the 'perfect conditions' were met, the knife would swing shut after setting the blade to ~70% closed.
Fit and Finish: I have one primary issue regarding the pivot area that I need to mention. Assume anything I don't mention as a negative was simply fantastic. I fully disassembled and reassembled the knife and tinkered with it quite a bit in an attempt to solve a pivot issue and tune the action, so I became quite familiar with the internals and pecularities of this one. The knife uses a semi-hidden hardware setup, with torx screws being visible on the pivot, but the rest of the knife being held together by a single long screw fitted deep within a hole in the clip, making the screw not visible under 95% of circumstances (the 5% being you peering into the hole with a flashlight). There were no issues with regard to the knife's assembly being "finicky" - no need to perfectly orient screws or other parts to get the knife functioning properly. Now, the pivot area... The knife came with a substantial amount of blade play. It was immediately apparent that something was "wrong". The knife was creaky and I could physically squeeze the scales together using pressure from my fingers. What was interesting, however, was that unless I CRANKED the pivot (I mean REALLY, more torque than I've ever applied to any knife in my life), there was always blade play to note. However, the only way I could get that blade play to go away was to crank the pivot so tight that closing the knife was tighter than a slipjoint... certainly couldn't be done one-handed. It wasn't realistic to keep the knife like that. However, I believe the inconsistency of the action and oddities in terms of fit near the pivot were caused by uneven finishing of the surface in the pivot region of the blade. This was made apparent because the knife would slam shut only via gravity no matter how tight the pivot was as long as the knife was ~70% opened. However, beyond that 70% point, it was like surfaces were rubbing against each other within the pivot area. I've never experienced this before and it was quite bizarre. That being said, I "compromised" and loosened the pivot, accepting blade play in exchange for a usable action. This was bittersweet, as every other aspect of the knife was effectively flawless.
Ergonomics: Honestly, the entire knife is a hotspot unless your hands are the perfect size and your fingers are spaced the perfect distance to fit the knife. The handle has two separate "ledges" on the backside and three along the front side. These have the smallest chamfer you can imagine, technically making it so that they don't end at literally 90 degrees, but... effectively, 90 degrees. As such, it's almost impossible to hold the knife in any comfortable way. You can't even "Choke up" closer to the blade, as the rear flipper protrudes from the scales, creating yet another hotspot / ridge for your finger to land on up there near the pivot. Let's be honest, I don't know how many people are buying a knife like this to actually put meaningful use into it, but I thought it was worth mentioning in consideration of the fact that, honestly, the ergonomics were SO rough. I <literally> could not find a single comfortable position where holding and using the knife felt natural.
Final Thoughts
I haven't seen a single other person complain about these knives, so it seems like there is a good chance that if you were to pick one up, it'd likely be perfectly fine and you'd have no issues with it. For mine, though, I don't believe a knife "deserves" to be made pretty if it has meaningful mechanical flaws. I simply couldn't get past the issues with the pivot on this one, and it gave the feeling of "lipstick on a pig" to me when I looked at how beautiful the rest of the knife was and how much effort was put into making the knife LOOK good but not FEEL good. This is a custom piece, so it's hard to say if this issue can be expected to repeat across other blades, but I had to call it out here and it was ultimately why I didn't keep mine. That being said, if something like this doesn't bother you, you won't be disappointed with a single aspect of the rest of the knife (unless, again, you intend to use it, then I would point you to my criticisims of the ergonomics). In particular, if you are interested in this knife as "pocket jewelry" or an interesting talking piece, it will do the job. Would I have PROUDLY kept this knife had it not been for the pivot issue? Yes, undoubtedly. The knife's aesthetics were what drew me in initially, and I would have loved for it to be on display in my collection. However, nothing stays in my collection if it has a notable mechanical flaw, so away this went. Once I get to $1k+, I expect the knives to, at least, not have obvious issues like blade play.
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