I don't get the whole custom vs production thing..

S

Scottcityman

Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
64
I just bought a custom (won't mention the name). It's great. Its cool to have a handmade knife. But nothing could be better than my xm-18. It's perfect. The only thing I'd like is one with a handground blade. (the blade on the new custom I just bought IS spectacular) The reason xm-18s go for so much money is because they are amazing.
 
So you have a production XM18 and wish it was a "custom" ie "hand ground" XM18. Yet you don't understand the whole "custom vs production thing".

Sounds like you have it figured out to me.

As a rule custom has more hand craftmanship and thus more individual uniqueness. It really depends on the talents of the maker vs the quality in the production process in regards to the finished product.

My idea of a true custom is something made just the way I invision.
 
Just saying I can live with a production frame and custom blade. Guess I'm not the knife snob I was looking to become. I really think the xm-18 is an amazing knife.
 
You know...I don't get the whole "skiing thing." I mean, lots of people LOVE to ski; they'll pay enormous sums of money on skiing vacations. I don't want to. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about why that is, I just do what I want. ;)
The XM-18 is a great knife. The Buck 110 is a great knife. I have some great custom knives. There's just oodles of greatness around us---woe is we.
 
I bought an xm-18 at sec. market prices. Mentioned it on the forums..got a lot of crap. "you can buy a hand made custom for that kind of money" ok fine. But I (and enough other people) like the xm-18 enough to drive the prices up. I guess I'm just saying "I don't care. If it's great it's great whether it's custom or not"
 
I can go along with that. Just keep in mind there are levels of excellence in production knives and in custom knives. Some ordinary manufacturers may have a flagship model they really do well. Some custom makers couldn't give me their knives, I'm just not into the style and their craftsmanship may need work.

We have manufacturers like Randall, Chris Reeve, Busse, and Strider, who all put out production knives that command custom prices, and are worth it to many of us. Some custom makers like Rick Hinderer and Darrel Ralph also turn out mid-tech or production models of their work that overlap with the best quality available in any category.

Attaching a word to the knife says nothing about its appeal to a broad market. "If it's great it's great whether it's custom or not"
 
Scottcityman said:
I bought an xm-18 at sec. market prices. Mentioned it on the forums..got a lot of crap. "you can buy a hand made custom for that kind of money" ok fine. But I (and enough other people) like the xm-18 enough to drive the prices up. I guess I'm just saying "I don't care. If it's great it's great whether it's custom or not"
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I get what you mean, I'm just saying don't worry about those who are giving you the crap. I mean, I love Fords---on many car forums, that will get me crap. Same would be true if I loved Honda or Bentley; SOMEWHERE there's somebody who hates what you like. You know what you like, so just bid the crap-givers good day and go on your merry way. :)

Oh, I love the XM-18 too. And customs. And pop tarts (and no, I DON'T prefer the taste of Toasters Strudel---speaking of things you couldn't give me)
 
i bought a custom knife and a production knife..both same size blade and both same blade material.
both have great hand feel and sharp cutting.
the custom blade was thirty bux more.

not sure if its worth it but its done.
 
When I was a wee lad growing up in the 40's and 50's there were very few custom (handmade) knife makers. I think that you could count the well known ones on one hand.
The top factory knives were Case, Marbles, Kabar, Schrade-Walden, Henckels, Puma and a few others.

Very few people ever heard of Randall until there was an article written in True magazine and one of his knives was used in a movie. Still, most folks thought you were crazy
to pay $19 for a knife.

Over the years I owned a lot of custom or handmade knives. Some were very good and some were very bad. I remember one with a 154CM blade that wasn't even heat treated.
I wrote to the maker and he never even replied. I bought some Ruana blade to be used as prizes. Some were pretty good and some were very bad. No quality control at all.

Many of the factory knives made today are as good or better then a lot of handmade knives. I have seen some knives made by master blade-smiths that are rather poor. The
blades may be heat treated well, but the craftsmanship is rather poor.

You pays your money and takes your chances.
 
Scottcityman said:
I bought an xm-18 at sec. market prices. Mentioned it on the forums..got a lot of crap. "you can buy a hand made custom for that kind of money" ok fine. But I (and enough other people) like the xm-18 enough to drive the prices up. I guess I'm just saying "I don't care. If it's great it's great whether it's custom or not"
Click to expand...
ahhhh...gotcha now bud.
 
I bought an xm-18 at sec. market prices. Mentioned it on the forums..got a lot of crap. "you can buy a hand made custom for that kind of money" ok fine. But I (and enough other people) like the xm-18 enough to drive the prices up. I guess I'm just saying "I don't care. If it's great it's great whether it's custom or not"

This post should be added to the 1st.

Mind reading was never one of my powers.

I don't like that you like the xm-18 enough to drive the prices up.
 
Congrats on your purchase. You just bought a knife that will not let you down. I love my productions and my customs even more...

I can’t remember the last time I told someone what I paid for one of my knives. If they want to see what I can carrying then I show them if they ask how much I paid sometimes I’ll tell them (if they really care) other times I won’t. I’m not buying my knives to show off their price tag; honestly I could care less what they are going for, because if I want one I’m buying it. I buy Hinderer’s because I believe in the product and because I want to support Rick Hinderer Knives.
 
Output said:
Congrats on your purchase. You just bought a knife that will not let you down. I love my productions and my customs even more...

I can’t remember the last time I told someone what I paid for one of my knives. If they want to see what I can carrying then I show them if they ask how much I paid sometimes I’ll tell them (if they really care) other times I won’t. I’m not buying my knives to show off their price tag; honestly I could care less what they are going for, because if I want one I’m buying it. I buy Hinderer’s because I believe in the product and because I want to support Rick Hinderer Knives.
Click to expand...


+1 on this
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I can go along with that. Just keep in mind there are levels of excellence in production knives and in custom knives. Some ordinary manufacturers may have a flagship model they really do well. Some custom makers couldn't give me their knives, I'm just not into the style and their craftsmanship may need work.

We have manufacturers like Randall, Chris Reeve, Busse, and Strider, who all put out production knives that command custom prices, and are worth it to many of us. Some custom makers like Rick Hinderer and Darrel Ralph also turn out mid-tech or production models of their work that overlap with the best quality available in any category.

Attaching a word to the knife says nothing about its appeal to a broad market. "If it's great it's great whether it's custom or not"
Click to expand...

I've owned Rick's productions and a custom XM-18. In terms of being a very well built, and well-made knife, the production XM-18 absolutely lives up to that. The custom XM-18 of course has a hand-ground blade with satin-finished flats, and some bead-blasting on the choil (which I never noticed on the productions), while the production XM-18 has the CNC flat-ground blade. In my opinion, the production blade is probably more suited for hard use, even.
 
I use it for everything from cutting up my 1 year olds fruit to twine, rope, and cardboard outside. Cut a few giant thistles. Slices right through everything. I do worry that if I drop $1200 on a custom I'll be hesitant to use it as much.
 
Honestly, I'd buy the custom XM-18 for the pride of owning a hand-ground folder. If you want the absolute best performing XM-18, the production that you have won't disappoint. Now with the customs there's a variety of grinds, which are better suited for certain things; I'm mostly talking spanto vs. spanto, you can't go wrong with the production folder, especially for for the tasks you mentioned. For me personally, I love having the custom, because Rick ground the blade, and his grinds are as good as they come.
 
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