custom fixed blades or custom folders? A poll....

Custom fixers, custom folders, both, neither?

  • Love me some custom fixed blades, but I stay away from custom folders.

  • Custom folders all day, every day, but not so much on the fixed blades.

  • Both, for sure both, the usual Bladeforums answer.

  • Customs just aren't my thing in either flavor.

Results are only viewable after voting.
If by "custom," you mean made to my specification, then I would say that I don't have much interest in custom knives or anything else. I could see the usefulness of a custom fit if we were talking about a men's suit or a knife handle, and I could see the usefulness for a knife that was task-specific and, therefore, had to be custom made. But, generally, I'm buying the knife maker, not the knife, and I prefer to let the knife maker make the knife without me interfering. I know a lot about sports cars, but I wouldn't tell Ferrari that the ride height on the 458 Italia is 1/4-in. too high.
 
I use my knives so I like to get them as inexpensively as possible.

however. I make them mine theough modifying them in some way or switching up to higher quality handle material or something like that.

I'll have a copper bugout one of these days.
 
BuckeyeBladeFan said:
The key to this for me is "money aside". Custom gives the knives a "soul". If you set aside price, there is fabulous work in custom folders that gives me more personal satisfaction than a production model ever could.

However, given the additional complexity in making a functional folder by hand, the price difference from production to custom in folders seems far greater than in fixed. And my experience has also shown fewer makers, longer wait times, more lotteries, less willing to customize (e.g., make their design and sell rather than accepting a custom order), etc than their fixed counterparts.

So, practically, I buy custom fixed blades far, far more frequently. But given an unlimited budget? Yeah, I would chase the folders too.
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Agreed with the above.

If I had lots of money I’d buy custom folders, but I’d still buy more custom fixies.
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
I use my knives so I like to get them as inexpensively as possible.

however. I make them mine theough modifying them in some way or switching up to higher quality handle material or something like that.

I'll have a copper bugout one of these days.
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I do the same thing!
My rarest knife is the one I have NOT tinkered with!
 
I voted 'both' I only have 2 customs , both fixed. I've just not bought a custom folder.
Yet.
 
Bankruptcy is always just around the corner; when you like guns & knives...
 
TRfromMT said:
Let's say they are not cost prohibitive for you. Money aside,
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I avoid doing this ...it can only lead to unhappiness , IMO . :(

I prefer to focus on knives and other things/goals that are actually within my reach . :)
 
No customs for me. Main reason is the cost. I'm totally content in the $50-140 range for folders or fixed. That is enough to get me a Cold Steel Recon S35VN, Spyderco Endura 20CV, Bareknuckle 20CV, ESEE fixed, or something similar.

I had a failed business 20 years ago and put myself in a hole financially. My retirement fund took a hit then. I have been working hard to put extra money into my retirement fund and get caught up.
 
I mean, I love both, and would probably own much more of both if money wasn’t an object. But there’s also a huge difference in pricing for both. A custom folder will typically be, at minimum ~$500. Where as a custom fixed blade can be acquired for less than a production one. So when I’m looking at customs, more often than not it’s a fixed blade because the pricing is more attractive.
 
I started with custom/handmade fixed, but when work started back up, I had to go back to folders.
I had midtech folders and sold them all.
Started, gently, into folders and found that there is a special quality about a handmade folder that you just don't get (for me, YMMV) in a high end/midtech.
One nice custom folder, IMO, can replace a drawer full of high end midtechs.
You go custom/handmade and you are playing in a different league, a really nice league.
There is a different kind of pride in ownership there.

While I don't go beating my knives up, I don't baby them either. The way I look at it, I own every scratch and dent.
Funny thing is, I kept most of my midtechs on the shelf.

Personally, I think once you get into something, the next level is to go custom; make it fit you.
I look at tons of custom knives and it takes a while to find one that I really like, like enough to purchase.
Once I get it, it's knife for life.
 
Years ago I started collecting custom fixed blade hunters. I bought them as finely crafted works of art and since I rarely have opportunities to hunt I never intended to use any of them. I buy folders to carry and use. Back then I wasn't aware of that many makers making custom folders, and I wouldn't want to spend that much on a knife that I could lose while carrying it. Today I don't know if I would be more interested in custom folders, budget willing of course. Again back then there were tactical fixed blades made but not so much the outdoors and bushcrafting knives. In more recent years I've bought some production fixed blades for things like EDC, survival and tactics. I bought them mainly so I would have a few that interested me in the collection. My collecting has settled down a lot but I still have a lot more custom fixed blades than any other category.
 
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