Actually, I'm going to be a little bit contrary here. Big surprise, huh? ;-)
Since getting back into collecting and making custom knives, one thing I can say is that I don't see many makers doing a better job than the production companies when it comes to getting more than one knife of the same design to come out with a completely even, and identical blade grind.
S**t happens. If you are grinding a blade by hand, and don't have your blades lazer blanked or otherwise cutout beforehand to identical specs, the grind will be similar, but quite often each knife will have its own quirks. Not mistakes, but subtle, and sometimes not so subtle differences.
That being said, I'm not looking for a custom maker to turn out cookie cutter perfect copies. I'm looking for something unique in each knife, and as long as the overall quality is there, I'm not going to be torqued off when I find these small differences.
Jason mentioned that he has found Benchmade Elishewitz Strikers that aren't ground alike? Look at a number of custom Shadows made over the years by Allen Elishewitz. In the same model many have radially different tip size and angles. The grind lines match, but each knife has its own personality.
And just because a custom knife isn't perfect doesn't mean that it doesnt' still work better. One thing a custom maker can, and will do, is continuously change their product to try and make it more efficient. You can't say the same of a production knife. One the design is set, its pretty much locked in for thousands of copies, since its too expensive to change the tooling. The custom makers 'toolings' to a large extent is his hands, and eyeballs, and feedback from his own experience and that of customers.
The trick sometimes is finding a maker that agrees with you in what you prefer in a blade. Some only do hollow grinds, or chisel grinds, or only want to grind a flat grind just so high, or so thin. If so, they're not the person to go to if you have an idea you want to try that runs contrary to their style. Fair enough, find someone else that will.
I also hope that when I buy a custom knife its going to be one that has a superior heat treatment. But, its a bit of a generalization to say that all, or even most custom makers do their own heat treating. Quite a few makers, especially those who specialize in stainless blades, and do small quantities, use a custom heat treating shop to do that part of the process. Paul Bos out in california heat treats blades for many makers, and the quality, if anything, is better than you could attain in your own shop, in part because they have vacuum furnaces, and cryogenic treatment equipment, and digital controls, etc. that most makes could not afford for thier own shop.
I make no bones about the fact that I have tool steel blades heat treated at a facility that specializes in tool steel heat treatment, and does literally tons every week for commercial industry, and stays in business because they can do it to standards more exacting than even my own, and my customers. If that's the route I need to go to keep quality up, so be it. The bottom line is turning out that final product so that it is a combination of the best of your skills and materials, and the whatever else it takes to make it right.
madpoet
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