Custom Ganzaa questions (I'm a noob, but these are not noob questions)

[whitie]

I attended Blade this year for the first time. My knife bud is a busse fanatic (not a rabid fanatic like Mr. Jaxx of course, but a fanatic nonetheless), so I spent some time at the busse table. I know personal tastes vary, but I found the 3-pc handles to be dreadful.. can't recall seeing more than 2 that I liked. Several had wood grains going in cross directions - those looked ridiculous IMHO. A bunch were left unsold, so evidently I'm not the only one less than impressed. The 2-pc handles generally looked 10x better IMHO, although a few had wood grain going in cross directions.. I couldn't warm up to that look and never will.

A lot of makers with long wait lists like to splash their adoring public with non-ordered knives from time to time. It's an ego thing, and advertising I suppose, and many other makers do it. Generally, I avoid ordering from makers that do this

 

[ceiw]

Solid handles for me...can't seem to warm up to the split ones. I've seen them in person and they're not much different than the pics. Quality is the same though...once a Busse always a Busse.

 

[Balislinger]

I like the ganzaa concept. It creates excitement and it's fun. Plus, I don' t trust myself to get off my ass and actually order a custom. It's nice to see what the shop puts together when they are experimenting for no one in particular. That's when you see THEIR creativity come out, as opposed to something a buyer ordered.

 

[I'mGatMan!]

I agree with BaliSlinger. Though I'm not much of a collector, and therefore don't really buy art knives, I think the custom shop knives are often beautifully composed, and have drooled over many of them. I have owned a few custom shop knives, but I only have one safe-queen, and it is stunning.

However, when it comes to users, which mine mostly are, I prefer solid slabs, and pretty much want micarta. Too each his own, right?

I will say this, though: No one who has seen a mammoth-tooth Busse can knock the custom shop's work. All you need to do is look at the full mammoth cultie in KnifeHunter's Cultie thread, and you'll be forced to suck down some kool-aid.

Dayum Trevor...your wife's knife is jaw-dropping. How fitting, huh sir?

J

 

[Hauser]

You think the Busse Custom Shop has a backlog? Try ordering from Randall, or ordering an XM-18 from Rick Hinderer, who had to close the list due to overwhelming popularity and a serious backlog he wants to catch up on

Oh I know all about that, I have a spot in line at Plaza for the upcoming batch of XM-18's. The difference is that Rick isn't out there making and selling dozens of random knives while his customers wait even longer to get their orders, he literally seems to be doing everything possible to fill his orders which is one reason I'm happy to wait for my Hinderer.

I think I understand what you are saying, but since you don't have an order in for a custom blade I don't really see your complaint.

I thought I was clear, the reason I didn't go for a Busse custom was the long lead time involved, which I don't mind if it's due to backlog but frankly I can't rationalize if it's due to the custom shop churning out literally dozens of knives "on spec" which are immediately bought by "collectors" who too often seem to resell them immediately at egregious markups. It rubs me wrong but as hlee says, Jerry's free to run his business the way he wants and I'm free to not buy his products if I disagree with him. I can say with certainty that he would have taken a lot more of my money for my custom chopper order (probably $1500 or so) than he got from me when I settled for an FBM LE ($0 since the knife was second-hand).

Please don't take this as an insult, but I truly am of the opinion that some people like to complain. I'm not saying that you are one of those people, but your post comes awful close.

I doubt Jerry and co will lose too much sleep over my "complaint" that I'd like them to make it easier for me to give them a pile of money.

 

[ssunfish]

Well one last thought. A custom maker only has so much time in the game before hes retired by lack of interest in his knives (since he's not the "next big thing" anymore), he doesn't have his eyesight or dexterity he needs to feel confident or he gets health issues. If he only fills orders for the same knife over and over hes made a trap for himself that only serves the clients (And what if they just flip them so they are getting more profit than him by single virtue of being a middle man with deeper pockets at an advantageous time?) It makes it hard to build momentum and maintain enthusiasm under those conditions I would imagine.
Please look at Jay Fisher. He had to build his name over more than 20 years. I never really heard of him before 2005 except one page in the Gun Digest Book of Knives. When Jay Fisher makes something that hasn't been ordered hes doing what he did in the day when he could have many dozen knives to take to a show just staying busy and hoping for sales. Today when he does something independent of the customer list it is his rare chance to push his limits and grow. Life is about growth, a dead tree doesn't sprout new leaf-shoots. All of the knives he seemed to make all the custom decisions about like Bootes and Mercury Magnum have alot more neat aspects to them then ones resulting from a client's cold list of features they want and directions what not to pursue. Its akin to finding what you wanted when you had no idea you wanted it.
What of Allen Elishewitz? I heard he stopped taking orders and just makes knives, watches, and pens then sells what he can produce. Does Allen Elishewitz seem more honest and kinder to the customer to you? I'd rather work with someone who comes up with cool stuff I hadn't thought of and will still work with me at least one go round. :thumbup: (in this case it's moot as you can't work with someone who isn't taking orders) I think there should be a day when the knifemaker winds down the order list and hits the NOS for one last great statement to the knifemaking world of history that hes earned a place in..the definitive knives of that maker...but until then it should be enough independent projects to keep the work fresh and thus get more productive for the custom side.
Yes, we are talking Busse Combat knives not the one at a time custom makers in this thread...but thats my whole point: the custom stuff they did in this ganzaa didn't slow down production or make the custom order list lead times stretch out. And if you had a company that made the greatest knives you'd be dammned if you weren't gonna try new stuff and kick it up once in awhile! When you have a huge investment in machines you are losing money if they are not in operation. So Busse had some time to fit more work in to keep busy so the guys didn't get sent home with no work or pay one morning. That wasn't going to happen anyway. Don't worry about giving Busse a pile of your money.. they make more of the stuff everyday...but how many knives can you say you got from them that YOU specially wanted or designed..so far it sounds like none. Get the damn chopper and quit over-thinking this thing, the first swing you will have forgotten the thoughts of this thread as if they never existed. Knives are one way we have; thank goodness; to spend money that we don't resent or regret. You're gonna spend the time anyway: you'll be somewhere in ten months or fifteen years. I'd ask you what you think now, but I rather ask you what you DO now?