help?

jester buddersworth said:
I live in Houston and my dad views it as a slap in his face to not own a knife
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Probably true, but you're really going to carry this $3,000 knife around? If it sits on a shelf, thats probably a slap in the face too.

Like I said, if you need to ask us, you've already made the wrong choice. At that price point, you need to determine what knife(s) you want. Do you even know whats out there at the $3,000 price mark? What about $1,000+? Hell, what about $500+? There's alot of very nice knives that are in the $500 and under range, customs too...

A thread like this would take years to give you all the options between $5 and $3,000. There's new custom knives being made everyday...

For $3,000, my suggestion is to find your favorite knife maker, and have him make something to your specifications. If you don't have a favorite knife maker(s), then you shouldn't be buying customs...
 
Jester, blues benders advice is very good. Fortunate to have that... Rationally, you are never going to get much of a better "tool" a knife, than say a paramilitay2, price range is $100. What more does one need, right. After getting a knife like a pm2 the returns on functionality, and quality are very diminished. In other words, you have 90 percent of the knife you'll ever need. Then what happens, for the next 10 percent, is that people spent hundreds (and thousands) more for each incremental percentage point... And the "100 percent" knife, the perfect knife, the Grail... Well, I've never found it, or seen it... Truthfully, for most task, a $3 box cutter is your 90 percent knife, in terms of simply functionality... However.... Back to your question... 3 grand for a knife?! I would get a jake Hobak custom.
 
jester buddersworth said:
I wish to nudge you to my comment where I state that I love cheap knives too. 3K is my LIMIT but I'm expecting 500 to 1K
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Yea, I saw that...

Take that $500-$1,000 and experiment with different knives. Moras, opinels, fixed blades, SAK's, traditional folders, flippers, manual folders, framelocks, linerlocks, blade steels, etc... there's alot to learn...

I didn't mean to come off strong, but I remember being 15 and making impulse decisions:D I wouldn't want you to buy a knife you might not like, and have a hard time getting your money back trying to sell it. I wanted to just give you food-for-thought and maybe help you understand what you should be looking for in a custom knife at that price point; something specific to your tastes:)
 
Blues Bender said:
Yea, I saw that...

Take that $500-$1,000 and experiment with different knives. Moras, opinels, fixed blades, SAK's, traditional folders, flippers, manual folders, framelocks, linerlocks, blade steels, etc... there's alot to learn...

I didn't mean to come off strong, but I remember being 15 and making impulse decisions:D I wouldn't want you to buy a knife you might not like, and have a hard time getting your money back trying to sell it. I wanted to just give you food-for-thought and maybe help you understand what you should be looking for in a custom knife at that price point; something specific to your tastes:)
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Agree completely. OP, if you currently do not have any knives I think it would be extremely difficult to find a custom maker and much less tell them what you want in a knife. You would need to look on the secondary market such as the exchange here. My advice would be start a small collection of different production knives from different brands and go from there. That way at least you will start learning whats comfortable for you and what you actually will be doing with the knife. You may spend some serious money on a custom right off the bat then realize that say a ParaMilitary 2 actually fits your needs much better. However, part of growing up is learning these things. Good Luck!
 
Really it's all up to you.

Some people, myself included, criticize certain custom knifemakers for producing knives that are very heavy & chunky, have worse cutting performance, and don't offer much advantage in the way of strength. Some criticize design and aesthetic decisions by certain custom knifemakers, and that is on an individual basis.

But if that Direware or Medford or Chaves, etc. etc speaks to you, then you should buy it, because you are in the lucky position of being able to buy what you like without the pressure of having worked & saved for your money.

That said, it happens to be a good time to buy Terzuolas if you find those knives to be attractive. I would personally recommend the knives of Jeff Harkins for the 2-3k range.

I would also recommend to avoid knifemakers that are at the peak of their hype and secondary market prices. Not to say those knives aren't good, but when you have a windfall of cash it's all too easy to want to be the cool kid and spend $5000+ on a knife that might not sell for $3000 a year or two from now. If you really like the knives wait until those prices have calmed down.

Avoid knifemakers that have a history of unsavory behavior and bad communication/service - Will Moon and Neil Blackwood come to mind.

Avoid knifemakers that require full payment up front.

When you purchase a custom that you're happy with, consider investing the rest of the money.
 
Seneca18 said:
Agree completely. OP, if you currently do not have any knives I think it would be extremely difficult to find a custom maker and much less tell them what you want in a knife. You would need to look on the secondary market such as the exchange here. My advice would be start a small collection of different production knives from different brands and go from there. That way at least you will start learning whats comfortable for you and what you actually will be doing with the knife. You may spend some serious money on a custom right off the bat then realize that say a ParaMilitary 2 actually fits your needs much better. However, part of growing up is learning these things. Good Luck!
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This. :thumbup:
 
Blues Bender gives some sage advice. Even if you have college and the car paid for, you could set aside most of the $20 to eventually make a down payment on a house. Between now and the time you need it, you might be able to grow it a little even (although interest rates are awful now).

If spending $3k on a knife, you would probably want to make sure it is the kind of custom knife that would appreciate in value over time and be a family heirloom. That would require a lot of research and even with a lot of research, there is no assurance.

I saw your post about spending $500 - $1,000. One way you might think about using that is to try a few different knives out. There are some great makers on this forum that have knives below $500 and you can also, sometimes, pick up a great second hand knife. In some cases, if you use the knife a little and don't really like it, you can re sell and try something else (although I recommend never expecting to get what you paid for it, so you won't be disappointed). If you use the total of $500 or so as a cap for what you might spend on knives over a period of time, you could try a few without getting too carried away and determine what type you like best.

The following knives aren't cheap, but generally fall below $500 (or at least some of their knives fall below this). I have only listed them because I like them (I carry some more than others but don't want to get into that here), others will likely have different ideas. I left out a lot of production knives like Kershaw or Spyderco below because you are probably aware of them.

Great Eastern Cutlery
Fiddleback Forge
Randall
Fallkniven
JK Handmade Knives
Backwoods Knives
Bark River
Blind Horse (LT Wright)
Herb Derr
Dan Koster
Chris Reeve

I know I have missed some in this price range, but hope this is helpful. Again, not to be annoying, but I really believe you will thank yourself later if you limit this to no more than $1k and put the rest away in such a way as you can't touch it for a few years.

Have fun with your research.
 
+1 for JK Handmade Knives! I can't say enough about this guy!

On a side note, if you go the Enzo route, you can buy the kit then you and your dad can make a project out it. It will tie in as much family into it as possible to hand down, as well as furthering the relationship between you and your Father.

A 3 family member start is a good one for an heirloom.
 
Strider knives. Chris Reeves. Winkler Knives. Busse Combat. Shirogorov Flipper. These range from $400-$1200. So look up these companies and find a knife you like. You can always sell a good knife down the road for what you paid if not more.
 
Your tastes will change as well as your interests in what you will use the knife for.

I agree with those who suggest that you wait.

In the mean time, buy a Sebenza and get the slab(s) marked with the info on the passed on loved one who made this possible, maybe the outside of the slab(s) if you prefer but put a permanent reminder on/in the the knife to remind you who made it possible for you to have it. If one of CRK's slab graphics portrays the person's life - all the better.

Don't blow a lot of money on something that you may fall out of love with in short order. Something like a Sebenza, personalized as suggested, will always be a useful part of you and a token of remembrance.
 
Jester what do you want to use it for? I mean do you want a heavy knife that is an overbuilt tank like a DSK tactical GF-1. Or a crusader forge knife....take your pick both are bricks with machetes attached....literally they are huge and heavy I own both. Don't wear slacks and carry them. They will pull your pants clean off by weight alone. Or a still big knife overbuilt knife, but a little lighter like a Direware, my favorite is my Hyper 90. The Thorburn knives are beautiful......great folders built well, you cannot go wrong there.. Peter Rassenti Makes a beautiful integral knife. The snafu is a sweet knife! Probably the best all around knife of the ones I listed. Or why just get one.....grab a couple mid techs that are high end.....then you can switch off. Some of my favorites, Curtiss f3, maybe a hinderer or a Strider. But again it really depends on what you want to use it for.
 
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