Ideas on a custom fixed blade?

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Glock26

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Nov 3, 2009
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Greetings! Time has come i have contacted my custom knife maker, he was a customer of ours before, I'm not sure what to tell him, I'm going to see him after the new years!
Firstly, i need a fixed blade for everyday carry. Something in total 6-8 inch range, with a kydex sheath with dual belt loops for hip carry or pocket carry, grips i want a rocky mountain style grips but i am open to options. And i want a 1/4 thick steel just for the heavy dutyness! From what my knife maker said he has some kind of new metal that will hold a edge!
What do you guys think, i told him i'm tired of supporting these huge knife companies (which i do not have a problem with) but it'll be something special to have a custom knife.

This knife will be an everyday carry knife, used for everything! Can you guys help me out with some notes:
This is what i got,
Black textured knife
6-8 inch total length
micarta, paracord, or rocky mountain style removable grips.
Specific sheath with twin belt loops for hip carry and pocket carry.
1/4 thickness
Exposed tang
That is about it?? What kind of metal should i suggest getting?

(I want something like the Strider MFS style looking knife)
 
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Glock26 said:
Greetings! Time has come i have contacted my custom knife maker, he was a customer of ours before, I'm not sure what to tell him, I'm going to see him after the new years!
Firstly, i need a fixed blade for everyday carry. Something in total 6-8 inch range, with a kydex sheath with dual belt loops for hip carry or pocket carry, grips i want a rocky mountain style grips but i am open to options. And i want a 1/4 thick steel just for the heavy dutyness! From what my knife maker said he has some kind of new metal that will hold a edge!
What do you guys think, i told him i'm tired of supporting these huge knife companies (which i do not have a problem with) but it'll be something special to have a custom knife.

This knife will be an everyday carry knife, used for everything!
Click to expand...

well first of all, if its going to be custom, it has to be badass. And I agree with supporting your local mom and pop stores :D
 
1 small thing:

If it's going to be a 1/4" thick, fully exposed tang knife that's 6-8" long, it'll probably be really handle-heavy when it comes to balance.

You can have him skeletonize the handle underneath for better balance, or if he's willing, see if he'll taper the tang.

Tapered tangs are a LOT more complex to do then drilling some hidden holes/skeletonizing the tang, but they look great when done right.
 
Okay
Well balanced, skeletonized full tang.

What do you mean by tapered tangs? I just want it clean looking like the busse's and rat's.

Also have in mind of a total 7 1/2 inches, 3 1/2 blade with 4 inches of grip.
 
Glock26 said:
Okay
Well balanced, skeletonized full tang.

What do you mean by tapered tangs? I just want it clean looking like the busse's and rat's.

Also have in mind of a total 7 1/2 inches, 3 1/2 blade with 4 inches of grip.
Click to expand...

Here's a quick picture of a knife with a full, tapered tang. (picture is from the top/spine of the knife)

If you look at the spine, like most knives as it goes toward the tip, it narrows to a point. However, as it goes towards the butt, it also narrows/tapers.

That's a tapered tang. Still a full-tang, but lighter and without a bunch of holes drilled through it to achieve decent balance.



3a833091.jpg
 
What do you suggest? Tapered or skeletonized, I like the look of a full tang skeletonized.
I have some sketches, but let me try to describe it, total length 7- 7.5', blade length 3.5' with a 1.5' at it's widest point(i want a fat blade), 1/4 thick steel, 4 inch grip with some type of grip either mircarta, rocky mountain textured i want the skeletonized to mill out my initials, and with a somewhat exposed tang shaped like an old 57' belair rear taillight, like the shape of a sharp 'C.'

For some reason with my sketches, the knife will look like a fat bass (Fish) or a shark. To illustrate, a thick wide blade, with the fins of the fish exposing a tail like exposed tang, not to sharp though. I also have the sheath sketched but the sheath looks like any sheath but with 1.75' belt loops for carry.
 
^ Everyone's different.

Knives are such a personal thing, you should just buy what you like.

Personally, I prefer tapered to skeletonized.

That's not to say I don't own any. One of my favorite production fixed-blade knives is the Bark River Bravo-1. However, when I found out just how much metal they must remove to get the balance correct, I kind of wish it was tapered instead:

Balance_Skeleton.jpg

(image not mine, linked from barkriverknives.com)


I'll never see it, as the handles cover the holes, but something about skeletonized tangs bothers me. I think it's just with a tapered tang, you can see exactly how much metal is under the handles. With skeletonized, you have to wonder. --Yes, it's an irrational feeling, LOL.
 
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I might have missed this, but you mentioned EDC and heavy dutyness. While getting your design right is important, what steel are you going with and what will the HT be? To me, that seems to be the most important question.
 
Hmm, so i may go with tapered to have a balanced weight for my intended EDC, steel wise i will be discussing it with my knife maker and what does HT mean?
After all, i need something with a good balance for cutting open cardboard packaging, opening up saran wrapped packages with detail etc. And something that is not shiny.
 
Heat Treatment. How is the steel going to be finished? And what steel are you going with?
 
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