Buck Custom Shop Questions

[Lenny]

Few things I've been wondering about lately.
Does anybody know if there is a separate group of knife makers that assemble the customs, or are they just made on the regular line?
Also, I wonder how many custom knives are on order at any one time.
Just trying to get a handle on why it takes so long to get one.
Thanks all,
Lenny

 

[RAZORBLADES]

I know there is one person(Richard Rishel)who i believe is the custom shop knife builder,I could be wrong on that,but all my custom shop knives come with a coa with his signature on them.All are well built and fun to play with.

 

[Magnaminous_G]

It takes so long to get one because a single maker handles your order, from selection of materials (yes, they hand-pick the blade, scale material, etc.) to assembly and finishing. Yes, there is a separate team. I don't know how many of them, though.

You won't be disappointed in anything you get from the CKS, but if you are, send it back and have them remake it! I have three knives from the CKS, and they are all perfect.

 

[jb4570]

It takes so long to get one because a single maker handles your order, from selection of materials (yes, they hand-pick the blade, scale material, etc.) to assembly and finishing. Yes, there is a separate team. I don't know how many of them, though./QUOTE]

Read post #23 in this old thread!
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Do-You-Think-About-Stag/page2?highlight=stag
jb4570

 

[crazylikeafox]

I ordered a custom 110 last week. I can't wait for it to arrive.

 

[arty]

It took a month to get my 501. I would really like to get a 500 from the custom shop - I hope that they start to offer the 500 or the 112.

 

[David Martin]

It takes so long to get one because a single maker handles your order, from selection of materials (yes, they hand-pick the blade, scale material, etc.) to assembly and finishing. Yes, there is a separate team. I don't know how many of them, though./QUOTE]

Read post #23 in this old thread!
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Do-You-Think-About-Stag/page2?highlight=stag
jb4570

John, some people have not visited the Buck Knives plant, soo....
Even after watching them do the 'custom' knives I'm not sure how many employees do them. But I don't think it's in a seperate room and these employees are longer term with more experience. That said, all this may change once Leroy Remer sets it up and makes his changes. As he came from the Original Custom Shop and he may structure it around that order. DM

 

[RAZORBLADES]

i ordered a custom 110 last week. I can't wait for it to arrive.

sweet!

 

[jb4570]

John, some people have not visited the Buck Knives plant, soo....
Even after watching them do the 'custom' knives I'm not sure how many employees do them. But I don't think it's in a seperate room and these employees are longer term with more experience. That said, all this may change once Leroy Remer sets it up and makes his changes. As he came from the Original Custom Shop and he may structure it around that order. DM

Hi David,

I am one of those people who have never been to the plant. I was shocked to learn form those who had first hand knowledge that the current customs were built on the standard production line and not a separate area
jb4570

 

[Plumberdv]

John, some people have not visited the Buck Knives plant, soo....
Even after watching them do the 'custom' knives I'm not sure how many employees do them. But I don't think it's in a seperate room and these employees are longer term with more experience. That said, all this may change once Leroy Remer sets it up and makes his changes. As he came from the Original Custom Shop and he may structure it around that order. DM

Ok, DM. No teasing us now. What do you mean by that (in red above)? Have I missed something? Is Leroy going to be back at Buck or is he going to be doing their custom shop work?? Or is he going to somehow restructure it?

 

[Lenny]

It takes so long to get one because a single maker handles your order, from selection of materials (yes, they hand-pick the blade, scale material, etc.) to assembly and finishing. Yes, there is a separate team. I don't know how many of them, though./QUOTE]

Read post #23 in this old thread!
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Do-You-Think-About-Stag/page2?highlight=stag
jb4570

Well that explains a lot.
I wasn't going to bring this up, but here goes.
I've owned 4 Custom 110's throughout the years which I've sold for one reason or another.
2 were perfect; 2 (including one I received last month) had varying degrees of both horiz and vert blade play when locked up.
Both were sent back to Buck for fixing.
Both came back pretty much with the same blade play.
Now, all 4 of these knives were virtually perfect in fit, finish, and appearance, and the edges were perfectly
ground and razor sharp.
But blade lock-up seems to be hit or miss.
And if there's one thing I'm anal about with knives, it's blade play and centering when closed.
I just put in an order for another one last week, identical to the one I got last month.
I've been corresponding with Joe Houser and explained the situation to him.
He assured me he'd personally inspect the knife before it gets sent to me.
We'll see how that goes.
Now, in no way am I bashing Buck, but I feel that calling a knife "Custom", implies that a knife is made in a "Custom" shop,
with specially trained employees who put that little extra effort into assembling, adjusting, and finishing the knife than what is normally turned out on the mass production line.
Guess not!
I'll keep you all posted.
Lenny

 

[Plumberdv]

John, some people have not visited the Buck Knives plant, soo....
Even after watching them do the 'custom' knives I'm not sure how many employees do them. But I don't think it's in a seperate room and these employees are longer term with more experience. That said, all this may change once Leroy Remer sets it up and makes his changes. As he came from the Original Custom Shop and he may structure it around that order. DM

I got all excited about Leroy coming back to run Buck's custom shop but I wondered how I'd missed that news. I called David and it turns out that he meant that Leroy would be running the new BCCI Custom Shop (as announced in the Dec. 2012 newsletter) and not Buck's Custom Shop.

Great news in one way but a bummer in another. I guess that means that Buck will continue with the "production line" method of producing their "customs".

 

[David Martin]

Thanks, Dave for clearing this up. It's been a nice day here and I was making hay while the sun shines. Still, noting this wording causes me to think Buck will be working closely with Leroy, suppling him parts and such. Thus, members can have what they want. DM

 

[honestlyinsane]

gotta say , I am stiill waiting on my custom I ordered. For the money you pay you would think it would be a dedicated person or at least team that did customs only. Little disappointed , but all my knives (production) are perfect so my custom should be also.

 

[Plumberdv]

gotta say , I am stiill waiting on my custom I ordered. For the money you pay you would think it would be a dedicated person or at least team that did customs only. Little disappointed , but all my knives (production) are perfect so my custom should be also.

I'll probably be crucified for saying this, but I have quite a few knives from the custom shop (about a dozen or so) and I don't see much if any difference in the fit and finish between them and standard production models. That's not a shot at the custom shop, but rather a testiment to how well the standard models are made.:thumbup:

I hold more to the belief that what you are paying for when you order from the custom shop is the ability to choose components (within their limits) and mix and match them as you please. The finished products fit and finish, in my opinion, is not significantly better than the production line knives.

 

[Plumberdv]

gotta say , I am stiill waiting on my custom I ordered. For the money you pay you would think it would be a dedicated person or at least team that did customs only. Little disappointed , but all my knives (production) are perfect so my custom should be also.

I don't know what you ordered, but if you look at it, you'll see that in some cases the cost is very little higher than for a standard model. Say you order a 110 with the standard 420HC blade, brass bolsters, rivets and heritage walnut scales.

The price is only $73 as compared to the suggested list for a standard, production line 110 at $69. The $4 difference (if you add finger grooves, the difference is only $3) doesn't give Buck much of a $$$$ cushion to allow for a lot of personal attention to be given to the knife.

 

[honestlyinsane]

I ordered something I couldn't find. I order an Alpha Hunter Buffalo Horn scales and Mirrored Blade Engraved. So that is truly something custom for me and I really have no qualms about that.
As for your example we all no Msrp on there site is grossly inflated . You can buy a Normal 110 for $40 shipped easily. I find alot of stuff out there cheaper than the pro prices so I cannot imagine what dealers truly pay for there knives. Like I said before I have no qualms with any of this. I buy what I like I find the best value for it . If its worth it to me I buy it. Most of everything I buy will never get used and I view it like art. I am up to about 15 buck knives so far. The quality on all of them is great . Long Live Buck

 

[Plumberdv]

I ordered something I couldn't find. I order an Alpha Hunter Buffalo Horn scales and Mirrored Blade Engraved. So that is truly something custom for me and I really have no qualms about that.
As for your example we all no Msrp on there site is grossly inflated . You can buy a Normal 110 for $40 shipped easily. I find alot of stuff out there cheaper than the pro prices so I cannot imagine what dealers truly pay for there knives. Like I said before I have no qualms with any of this. I buy what I like I find the best value for it . If its worth it to me I buy it. Most of everything I buy will never get used and I view it like art. I am up to about 15 buck knives so far. The quality on all of them is great . Long Live Buck

A custom shop Alpha is something that's rarely seen here on the forum, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen pictures of one posted. I'll be interested in seeing yours when you get it.

I just used the MSRP example because that's what the average Joe would pay if he ordered direct from Buck. I'm not counting the Pro Shop discount either as that isn't something the average knife buyer has access to.

All I'm trying to say is that, given the price of $73, employee salary, overhead, etc. won't allow them to spend much extra time on each "custom" knife.

 

[Lenny]

I don't know about you all, but I'd gladly pay twice the current cost for a Custom 110 if it were built by a dedicated team that was specially trained and took more time for fit, finish, and adjustment.
Lenny

 

[Plumberdv]

I don't know about you all, but I'd gladly pay twice the current cost for a Custom 110 if it were built by a dedicated team that was specially trained and took more time for fit, finish, and adjustment.
Lenny

Same here and I've no doubt that the cost would at least double. I'll never order another one as it stands now, the newer one's I have are just not that impressive.