Custom knives same as semi production?

mmmotorcycle said:
I love collecting and using custom knives. Occasionally, I will design a knife for a knifemaker to build, by hand, on his own. My most treasured custom knife was not designed by me but by my dad and Lamont Coombs. It is a custom "one-of" and will never be made again.

Kyley, take a look a FULL custom knife! :thumbup:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=659558&highlight=Eagle+Scout+knife
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Hey bud, Congratulations on owning a knife you will treasure for life. But just like the KnifeMakers Guild I will tell you thats a beautiful 100% (possibly) HANDMADE knife, that also Happens to be CUSTOM.


TKC has a beautiful collection of HANDMADE knives by some of the best in the INDUSTRY. They may or MAY NOT be CUSTOM. you'd have to ask the maker of each knife if it was custom.

if a maker from the knifemakers guild Makes to ORDER a CUSTOM KNIFE for 1 individual by HAND and its so popular that he HANDMAKES FROM SCRATCH 100 copies.. ALL HANDMADE BY HIM.. and then he puts them in a booth at the knife show for sale he is selling 100% handmade knives. they are not custom anymore because they were made to sell, not made to order.. Thats the knifemakers guilds take on it.


Either way.. There is no question that somepeople take it to a higher level. They also take it to a higher cost that many cannot afford. No reason to dish out on quality cheap knifemakers just because we have quality expensive knifemakers. (not saying that anyone here is)



Well.. First day back at work.. Enjoy your week everyone.
 
Raisedby wolves said:
If you call a knife a "Custom" that was NOT 100% cut, ground, heat treated and finished, tip to handle by the same person, what do you call one that WAS???

They are obviously two different things.

A knife that is not 100% made by ONE person, is in a different category. Doesn't make it a bad blade, but it is NOT the same.

Considering this is probably the largest knife resource on the Web, why don't the makers here just come up with a nomenclature that you can agree on?

AS AN EXAMPLE

"Customized" means an existing production knife that was modified (Yellowhorse 110)

"Custom" means one that not a production blade and is less than 100% made by the same person.

"Handmade" means 100% made by ONE individual from a blank piece of metal.

Just a suggestion.

Carl-
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KnifeMakersGuild said:
From Article 1, Section 4. The KnifeMakers Guild

The Guild recognizes that the term “Handmade Knives” is difficult to define and subject to varying interpretations, but hold that, at a minimum, it requires that a maker personally grind, forge, or knap the blade, and honestly disclose how each component is produced.
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As I already Quoted above. The knifemakers guild (who has many members most americans wouldn't think to question) has already shown that custom is not related to how an item is made, or the quality of the item. The also agree that HandMade is not perfect either. I dont feel that the guild is an authority, but they are as good an authority as anyone, and at least they are sticking to the dictionary when they created their by-laws.

Using the word CUSTOM is a sales pitch, and nothing more. Using the term HandMade, is a guideline which requires each knifemaker to define on the item he makes.

Thats about as clear as it will get.
 
AS AN EXAMPLE

"Customized" means an existing production knife that was modified (Yellowhorse 110)

"Custom" means one that not a production blade and is less than 100% made by the same person.

"Handmade" means 100% made by ONE individual from a blank piece of metal.
Click to expand...

For gosh sakes, some people are being awfully picky (as happens on forums all the time). Hasn't anyone ever heard of a customized 57 Chevy, or a custom Van, or customized T-shirt, customize your new laptop?

It starts with a basic object and then changes into something unique to the individual's tastes.

I don't think the people who do the above customizations I mentioned, hand weave the T-Shirts, re-manufacture the 57 Chevy, or the Van, or design a new laptop. They just make the existing product unique, to an individual's tastes, and in some cases are "one-of-a-kind."

I customized a pair of sweatpants the other day by chopping the legs off of them - and no one else - anwhere owns another pair! :D
 
KyleyHarris said:
Hey bud, Congratulations on owning a knife you will treasure for life. But just like the KnifeMakers Guild I will tell you thats a beautiful 100% (possibly) HANDMADE knife, that also Happens to be CUSTOM.


TKC has a beautiful collection of HANDMADE knives by some of the best in the INDUSTRY. They may or MAY NOT be CUSTOM. you'd have to ask the maker of each knife if it was custom.

if a maker from the knifemakers guild Makes to ORDER a CUSTOM KNIFE for 1 individual by HAND and its so popular that he HANDMAKES FROM SCRATCH 100 copies.. ALL HANDMADE BY HIM.. and then he puts them in a booth at the knife show for sale he is selling 100% handmade knives. they are not custom anymore because they were made to sell, not made to order.. Thats the knifemakers guilds take on it.


Either way.. There is no question that somepeople take it to a higher level. They also take it to a higher cost that many cannot afford. No reason to dish out on quality cheap knifemakers just because we have quality expensive knifemakers. (not saying that anyone here is)



Well.. First day back at work.. Enjoy your week everyone.
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First, Lamont is a one man show. He does all the work from heat treating, grinding, finishing, handles, and even sheaths. Not just for my knife either. For every knife HE makes HE does ALL the work. His knives are completely custom and entirely handmade.

Suzanne has a collection of folders and fixed blades that, for the most part like nearly all collectors, are entirely unique. I have handled many of them and in nearly all cases, these makers will never make a similar knife again. Much like my single fixed blade from Lamont Coombs, Suz has an entire collection of complete handmade custom knives.

And as far as the Knifemakers Guild is concerned, not all great knifemakers are a part of that organization..... ;)

To be frank, if you think anything else, you are wrong. :)
 
cziv said:
For gosh sakes, some people are being awfully picky (as happens on forums all the time). Hasn't anyone ever heard of a customized 57 Chevy, or a custom Van, or customized T-shirt, customize your new laptop?

It starts with a basic object and then changes into something unique to the individual's tastes.

I don't think the people who do the above customizations I mentioned, hand weave the T-Shirts, re-manufacture the 57 Chevy, or the Van, or design a new laptop. They just make the existing product unique, to an individual's tastes, and in some cases are "one-of-a-kind."

I customized a pair of sweatpants the other day by chopping the legs off of them - and no one else - anwhere owns another pair! :D
Click to expand...



ya, it's called "modding"/modifying

you want to be a knifemaker, you have to atleast grind/forge the blade- after all that IS the heart of the knife.

if you gatther a bunch of premade parts togather and make it, it's a kit ( unless you have an assembly line with employees, then it's production)

the word "midtech" came about for a knife that the maker made the blade, but had other major parts farmed out . Nothing gimmecky there.

The word "custom" has been beaten to death,risen, then flogged again. I think most people think if it as something made to a customers specs. I want 30 knives made to my specs--I have 30 custom knives, personal to me.

You draw up a knife, and send it out to be made ( or have a maker make it as a collaboration) your a knife designer


....just say'in
 
Creepo said:
Oh and like a few others here, I've gotten in an argument with QuietBear (he trashed on a knife, though a cheap knife, that he hadn't even used one bit) and I noticed pretty fast there's no reasoning with him, pretty much all his arguments were based on something he probably had read somewhere. Just an armchair elitist that's taken it up a notch in my book.:jerkit:
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I agree with you 100%. There's no reasoning with him at all.
 
mmmotorcycle said:
First, Lamont is a one man show. He does all the work from heat treating, grinding, finishing, handles, and even sheaths. Not just for my knife either. For every knife HE makes HE does ALL the work. His knives are completely custom and entirely handmade.

Suzanne has a collection of folders and fixed blades that, for the most part like nearly all collectors, are entirely unique. I have handled many of them and in nearly all cases, these makers will never make a similar knife again. Much like my single fixed blade from Lamont Coombs, Suz has an entire collection of complete handmade custom knives.

And as far as the Knifemakers Guild is concerned, not all great knifemakers are a part of that organization..... ;)

To be frank, if you think anything else, you are wrong. :)
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Nope. I agree completely. Which is why I stated in my original quote of them that they ARE NOT AN AUTHORITY. just a group of people who defined one meaning using correct terminology. Lamont does all the work himself, which is quite admirable and obviously a great deal of hard work, and shows what he likes to do. But sorry.. if he outsources and heat-treats elsewhere from today onwards will you stop calling him a knifemaker? He is just doing it the way he chooses to do it.

Any knife made-to-order is completely custom. you are confusing this with Handmade. dont get confused, otherwise you are wrong. The reason most knifemakers, like cabinetmakers etc etc.. say they are custom knifemakers is because they make the knife to order which means they are able to do anything you like to the blade that is as yet, unmade. what you are referring to is Handmade, and nothing but hand made..

Uniqueness has nothing to do with customness.. This is a trend created by buyers, not sellers.
 
I'll jump in! I think Quietbearr should mind his own business. What is he trying to accomplish by putting Kyley down for his honest work? The blanks are produced for him and exclusively for his uses. It's not a kit available to the public. I don't think Kyley is trying to fool anyone or say he's the next Bob Dozier. He's just doing what he likes and I wish I could do the same. Everyone has to start somewhere and this method works for him.
 
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