Good custom knives?

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Cole#357.30

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I’ve been trying to find someone for the past year that would make a couple custom one-offs based upon my fathers designs. For pretext he’s an ex-Army Ranger who’s had a lifetime of experience in the outdoors and in most other practical fields. He’s very picky when it comes to many criteria because he’s a very high speed low drag individual who prefers for things to be fully optimized. From what I’ve gathered, he essentially is just wanting someone really competent to make him a few knives. Exceptional heat treat, good grinds, and above all else a great reputation. Although, this process has proved difficult because everyone I’ve reached out to that claims that they can do customs based of customer designs has declined or simply never responded. This surprised me because they are actually fairly simplistic. They sorta resemble something William Collins would make but less extravagant in a lot of cases. I would really appreciate any suggestions. Offers to sell various knives removed by staff as the member does not have the proper level of membership to offer any items for sale on this site.
 
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Cole#357.30 said:
… He’s very picky when it comes to many criteria because he’s a very high speed low drag individual who prefers for things to be fully optimized.…
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He sounds like a difficult customer to work with and perhaps not worth the effort. To begin with, we seldom encounter a genuinely new design; just about everything has been made by someone at some point. Also, if you know what you want then why not begin by telling us what it is? I am sure that the members here would be able to recommend makers who specialize in producing knives like the one that you want.

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
He sounds like a difficult customer to work with and perhaps not worth the effort. To begin with, we seldom encounter a genuinely new design; just about everything has been made by someone at some point. Also, if you know what you want then why not begin by telling us what it is? I am sure that the members here would be able to recommend makers who specialize in producing knives like the one that you want.

n2s
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I’d say he’s probably one of the least difficult people to work with due to his background. We’ve just asked a good amount of notable makers if they’d be willing to make the knives with a few specific details and the ones that responded said no. They only did their own designs or weren’t willing to do some of the aspects of the knife. This is understandable because it’s their business and some things aren’t worth it when it comes to time, money, and experience so we moved on. That’s why I’m trying to get information from Blade Forums. I used it once long ago but was drawn back for the encyclopedia of knife knowledge I’ve heard of. Thought it be a better place to ask than emailing some of the more known and busy knife makers. As for the knives themselves, I don’t believe they’ve been done in any recent history. I know this because I’ve looked far and wide. There were things that somewhat resembled them that actually inspired a lot of features, but nothing that was the same. I can post some pics but without doing so the best way to describe them would be like Williams Collins knives which I already reached out to. What we are looking for is someone who’s competent and simply willing to do it.
 
I agree with post #3.

Cole#357.30 said:
He’s very picky when it comes to many criteria because he’s a very high speed low drag individual who prefers for things to be fully optimized. From what I’ve gathered, he essentially is just wanting someone really competent to make him a few knives. Exceptional heat treat, good grinds, and above all else a great reputation.
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I wanted to recommend someone, but won't because of the way you write this. Might want to change your pitch.
 
ferider said:
I agree with post #3.



I wanted to recommend someone, but won't because of the way you write this. Might want to change your pitch.
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I appreciate you taking a look and responding to my thread but how would you prefer I change my pitch? I was just stating the pretenses of what he’s looking for, someone competent and simply willing to do it. The gentleman for post number three was just giving me some advice on why things might not be working and where I should look. If you don’t want to recommend anyone I understand that’s up to you take care friend.
 
Look, it's just a matter of wording .... custom knife makers do occasionally have customers that are unreasonably picky (for example, there was a maker's customer here recently complaining about the maker's logo not being etched deep enough). Not a maker, but I would think the normal custom maker will try to avoid such customers.

I am not saying at all that your father (or you) are like this. Me and @n2s are just saying that you make it sound like it. Nobody here will recommend you a maker (that we sometimes consider close to friends) with either average or bad heat treat or bad reputation.

Take care !
 
I did a web search for The person who you said WCK they look like "tracker" knives and bushcraft knives?

Lots of makers Here do those styles.
If you go through the makers sale area, you will find Many makers.

But like you said, many makers Only do their own work.
Some of us work with what customers want, and some are so busy, it's hard to get something from them.

*I'm not well known, nor competent and my rep is iffy.... :D

Not sure if this was moved Here, but I think you would get more notice in the General Area?
 
ferider said:
Look, it's just a matter of wording .... custom knife makers do occasionally have customers that are unreasonably picky (for example, there was a maker's customer here recently complaining about the maker's logo not being etched deep enough). Not a maker, but I would think the normal custom maker will try to avoid such customers.

I am not saying at all that your father (or you) are like this. Me and @n2s are just saying that you make it sound like it. Nobody here will recommend you a maker (that we sometimes consider close to friends) with either average or bad heat treat or bad reputation.

Take care !
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Completely understand brother I apologize for sounding that way I haven’t used the forum enough to know etiquette. I agree that fellow sounds like an asshole😂 Have had to deal with people like that in different lines of work.
 
Perhaps you should save yourself the aggravation and try get your Dad to look at some factory options such as https://winklerknives.com
Fabulous knives, great military provenance and excellent value.

Other than that you might want to google search for knifemakers that are near you and try and work with someone in your immediate area.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
I did a web search for The person who you said WCK they look like "tracker" knives and bushcraft knives?

Lots of makers Here do those styles.
If you go through the makers sale area, you will find Many makers.

But like you said, many makers Only do their own work.
Some of us work with what customers want, and some are so busy, it's hard to get something from them.

*I'm not well known, nor competent and my rep is iffy.... :D

Not sure if this was moved Here, but I think you would get more notice in the General Area?
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I think it was moved, got a message from a moderator that it had been because I was trying to sell some items without the appropriate subscription. Sorry I’m somewhat new😂 Appreciate your time and thanks for letting me know those makers are on here.
 
Steven65 said:
Perhaps you should save yourself the aggravation and try get your Dad to look at some factory options such as https://winklerknives.com
Fabulous knives, great military provenance and excellent value.

Other than that you might want to google search for knifemakers that are near you and try and work with someone in your immediate area.
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Thanks for the suggestions maybe I’ll have to try that.
 
If he is still interested in a custom, he could buy a Winkler or whatever seems to be close to what he likes. THEN, he could solicit a maker by saying, "I really like this Winkler (or whatever), but would like something similar but in THIS steel, this blade length and shape, and THIS handle material." A maker would then have an idea what he was getting into.

OR have him join BF and go to the Exchange (our sales) and search for custom fixed blades and see what is already made and for sale. They routinely come up. He can also see what custom makers appeal to him.
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
If he is still interested in a custom, he could buy a Winkler or whatever seems to be close to what he likes. THEN, he could solicit a maker by saying, "I really like this Winkler (or whatever), but would like something similar but in THIS steel, this blade length and shape, and THIS handle material." A maker would then have an idea what he was getting into.

OR have him join BF and go to the Exchange (our sales) and search for custom fixed blades and see what is already made and for sale. They routinely come up. He can also see what custom makers appeal to him.
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Great advice thank you.
 
It also might help to let people know what area you are in, maybe someone on here might know someone close to you.
 
Try posting the details of what’s wanted. Pics/drawings help too. List materials wished for. See who bites. No information on the actual designs gets you zero help.
 
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