Anyone else feel the same ?

pitdog said:
It hit me yesterday that since spending time on this forum I have sowly been losing interest in production knives and gravitating more and more toward the custom makers !
I can't put my finger on why exactly, there just seems something a little more special in knowing who it was that produced your knife.
The Scrapyard released a new blade the other day and a while back I'd have given my right arm to have got one but this time after a short while thinking it over just thought 'Nah I'll leave it'.:eek:
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Whats a damn shame is that you don't have one of mine. Send me your address, and I'll make sure you get in on a passaround.:thumbup:
 
From a beginning maker's perspective, let me say a couple things.

First, we appreciate you folks very much. Your input and discussions mean a lot, and are a tremendous resource for me when designing and tweaking knives.

Second, I'm glad to hear of continuing, even growing interest in hand-made and small production knives. I think people are looking for quality over trends, and seem to enjoy supporting small businesses/independent makers. For this, I'm very grateful.
 
My interest in custom made knives has come for two reasons: One, I've really found a lot of things in knives over the years that I like, and many things I dislike. It's great to be able to talk to somebody and get exactly what you want made. In face, right now I'm not really planning on buying any knives because the knives I designed for myself work so well :O

Two, I get that knife from a great custom maker for a great price, often times even better than a comparable production knife, which is just crazy.

Where else can you buy one of these?

IMG_0130.jpg


And that for under a hundred bucks? I sure haven't found such a thing. And pitdog's recent Tiny Terror knife? Another cool design that you can't really find from a production company.

That being said, there are a few great production knife companies that make great products for good prices, RAT Cutlery being one that comes right to mind.
 
rocketbomb said:
My interest in custom made knives has come for two reasons: One, I've really found a lot of things in knives over the years that I like, and many things I dislike. It's great to be able to talk to somebody and get exactly what you want made. In face, right now I'm not really planning on buying any knives because the knives I designed for myself work so well :O

Two, I get that knife from a great custom maker for a great price, often times even better than a comparable production knife, which is just crazy.

Where else can you buy one of these?

IMG_0130.jpg


And that for under a hundred bucks? I sure haven't found such a thing. And pitdog's recent Tiny Terror knife? Another cool design that you can't really find from a production company.

That being said, there are a few great production knife companies that make great products for good prices, RAT Cutlery being one that comes right to mind.
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Well, you can buy one of those from BRKT. That looks identical to the TUSK. Granted, you probably wont be buying it for under $100...:D
 
Fiddleback said:
Whats a damn shame is that you don't have one of mine. Send me your address, and I'll make sure you get in on a passaround.:thumbup:
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I keep looking at your EDC models ( one day ! ) and even Mrs Pit likes your Bow Legged Joe Knecker's and she is not into knives !!!!:eek:
 
I am clearly biased towards customs as they form the majority of the knives I have. I don't think I will discount a knife because it is production but I am more likely to have my eye on customs. There are still a few production knives that I really like and will covet, the cream of the crop from my point of view.

For customs, trust in the maker is essential. This subforum gives a great venue for makers to show case their wares under real use conditions. You gain trust in a maker by seeing the knives in use by others, comments generated through passarounds and independent reviews. WSS tends to provide more real world application reviews that knife testing and reviews IMO. Or perhaps the knives show cased here tend to be more narrow in utility or function. I rarely find myself ever going to knife testing and reviews anymore.

I am a bit fascinated by the psychology of consumers on this topic. Go to general discussion and custom knives appear to be a taboo. I actually did a review on a Breeden there, one that garnered 3 pages of comments in 2-d here on W&SS actually had 0 hits and hardly any reads in general discussion.

I think new to the knife world people are intimidated by the process of communicating with makers. They lack the confidence to indicate what features they like and which they don't and the types of changes they make. They see technical choices (as opposed to the handle color combinations) like type of steel offered, type of grind etc as difficult paths to navigate rather than a course to the choice that is right for them. They have little in way of experience about a given maker and how to decide a good one from a bad one. They have no concept of maker specific price ranges - is that knife $1200 because of who made it or is $120? In the end, I think it takes a bit of time for everybody to jump into the world of custom knives. It takes time to figure out what it is you like and want from your blades and whether those criteria are met by production blades. It takes time to know what quality is and who (production or custom) actually produces quality products.

Has this forum contributed to a growing appeal to custom made knives? Yes, but mostly through education and increasing my knowledge to the points above. I feel now I can make evidence based choices to my decisions - even though that is still just rationalization - lord knows the last thing I really need is another knife :)
 
EMT_Lee said:
Well, you can buy one of those from BRKT. That looks identical to the TUSK. Granted, you probably wont be buying it for under $100...:D
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As another counterpoint, the dimensions are pretty different, and the handle shapes are also pretty different. But you are right, I forgot about the TUSK.
 
kgd said:
For customs, trust in the maker is essential. This subforum gives a great venue for makers to show case their wares under real use conditions. You gain trust in a maker by seeing the knives in use by others, comments generated through passarounds and independent reviews. WSS tends to provide more real world application reviews that knife testing and reviews IMO.
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A very good point my friend. :thumbup: :cool: :thumbup:

I would be less likely to trust the blades of some lesser known makers if not for the passarounds and reviews from trusted comrades.





"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike

Forest & Stream
 
I too, have crossed over to customs. I own one JK, and have one (my Hiker) that will be completed early next week.

Already I am thinking I need an E.W.O.K, and I really think I should have made this switch from production knives a lot sooner.
 
Todd A said:
I too, have crossed over to customs. I own one JK, and have one (my Hiker) that will be completed early next week.

Already I am thinking I need an E.W.O.K, and I really think I should have made this switch from production knives a lot sooner.
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You'll love the Hiker buddy !!!!!;):thumbup:
 
I just like knowing that an individual craftsman (or two) put their personal skill, pride, care, etc. into my knife or axe. It may or may not perform any better than some good production models but, as noted above, it feels like something with "soul" and is more satisfying to own and use.

DancesWithKnives
 
I never owned a custom knife prior to coming to these forums. You get so much more "soul" to your knife when you buy from a maker that will listen to you and have a converastion with you about how you want your knife and sheath to look.
 
Dude - I can get BRKT's knives brand new (well - someone had it as a drawer queen) for about 120 bucks - with sheath.

I am getting a few Walt blades in this week - he makes a hell of a knife for around that price.

Koster, Stomper, Breeden, Koyote, Brian Andrews, and many others have great knives for similar prices.

Why get production when I can know the maker of my knife - have him customize it, know when it ships, ask questions when I have them - and contact them with warranty help?

TF
 
I'm in full agreement with this thread. With the variety of makers on the board, their willingness to work with their customers and their competitive prices, there's not a whole lot of reason to stay with production knives. That said I do enjoy my RAT-3 knives and Moras. The Moras are still a huge bang for the buck.

My experience dealing with Stomper last month and my emails back and forth with Ray Laconico make me very happy to support these craftsmen. I also get a great variety of fantastic knives to play with after the whole custom process is through!
 
Not really.

I have noticed my preferences in knives have become much more refined. I also have much less (as in no) tolerance for cheap knives anymore. When I first came here, I thought an Estwing hatchet, Ontario RAT-7 and Ka-Bar Mule were the shizzle. LOL, how things change.

I had a custom knife all drawn up, my perfect Bushcraft knife. Then I stumbled on the BRKT Aurora, and it's nearly identical to what I had drawn up. They offer enough handles choices to pick exactly what I wanted, so that's what I went with, and haven't bought another Bushcraft type knife since.

The only customs I have are Himalayan Imports knives that I sent Yangdu the specs on what I want, and she had them made up. Although you can argue that all of theirs are customs -- for instance, I have 4 20" Chiruwa Ang Kholas, and they are all different enough they won't interchange sheaths, and that's with them all being made by the same kami (Bura).

There's also a certain few Busses I really like.

So, I guess other than HI, the production guys make what I want, or close enough to not need a custom.
 
Quite agreed with the opening post of this thread.
I know actually most of the production knives are made within a
small shop, maybe not so small like mine, but absolutely not like GM or Toyota.
But I feel something definite with works of Maker's seen here,
which I cannot see in most of the production knives.
 
You're doomed unless you do something immediately to stem your growing addition. Send me all your custom blades:D.
 
pitdog said:
It hit me yesterday that since spending time on this forum I have sowly been losing interest in production knives and gravitating more and more toward the custom makers !
I can't put my finger on why exactly, there just seems something a little more special in knowing who it was that produced your knife.
The Scrapyard released a new blade the other day and a while back I'd have given my right arm to have got one but this time after a short while thinking it over just thought 'Nah I'll leave it'.:eek:
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean Pit.. I have gone full circle in 18 mo. I have purchased 5 Busse blades and 4 Scrapyards and I only have two(2) left. I just realized their designs with the choils and thickness weren't for me. I really don't like large choppers any more, I prefer my GB Small Forest Axe for chopping. I do still have my beloved Scrapper 6 though. I am looking forward to aquiring more of the great blades in maker section.
 
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guys, for me it is exactly the point. handmade knives have their own soul like tonym said :thumbup:
i´m knifenut since a couple of years and now i´ve come to a point where i start my own business with handmade knives...:cool:

cheers
Arne
 
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