Impeccable Knifemakers, who are they?

Greg Lightfoot is the only maker I have personally dealt with and ordered from, never asked me for a deposit.

I have many other customs, but those have been purchased directly from the maker at a show or from a purveyor.
 
I have knives from many different makers, unfortunately I have not met them all! However, of the makers I have personally dealt with on some level, which is not very many (be it a phone conversation, email, chat at a show or a dinner) here is my list of "impeccable" makers:

Darrel Ralph
Bob Terzuola
RJ Martin
 
I missed Darrel Ralph on my list. If it wasn't for the fine treatment that I received from him when ordering my first custom, I might not have ever ordered another one.
 
FIXED BLADES

Don Fogg,Bailey,Don Hanson,Big John Fitch,Jerome Anders.

Of course Harvey Dean,Tim Hancock and Jerry Fisk.:D

Boys from Brazil. Sfreddo and Luciano Dorneles.

Russ Andrews and Kevin Cashen and Burt Foster.

Doug :) And I love Shiva Ki's knives. :D
Edited to add: Filicietti. :eek: :D His knives not his p.o.s. ethics.:mad:
 
I have only really dealt with a few custom makers for a special order item, but they have all been great:

Tom Mayo
Darrell Ralph
Bill Buxton

All of them were very willing to talk with me before, during, and after the sale. None asked for any money up front on the knives I ordered. Bill had an incredibly fast delivery time, faster than any other custom maker I have ever talked to. Tom and Darrell were very upfront about the delivery times, and always responded to my emails in a timely fashion being honest about any delays that might have occured. That is very important to me. I can understand that this is a handmade product by one man, and if you want to get the best delays might happen. As long as the maker is upfront about what is going on I have no problem with that. Of course they all make a great user knife, which is what I am looking for.

Makers that I have bought from at shows and found to be great guys:

Aaron Frederick
Bob Dozier
 
I have only actually bought knives directly from 5 makers, of the 5, I would say 4 were very good to deal with, the 5th was just so-so, but not bad enough to justify mentioning his name, so I won't.

The 4 that were good are, Don Hanson, Bailey Bradshaw, Mike Williams and Rob Patton. I have to say however, that Don was the best to deal with, he truly goes way above and beyond what I would expect a maker to, and I give him my absolute highest recommendation, his knives and customer service are both remarkable, but Mike, Bailey and Rob were certainly very nice as well, and they too make amazing knives, it's just that Don is so good, it's hard to compete with him. :) The 5th unnamed maker wasn't horrible, and I am happy with what I got from him, but he was very late getting my knife finished, but of course that seems to be fairly common.
 
The question, as I interpret it, would be, is the work of a caliber so good that I cannot find anything to mess with or change?

The successful few:

Andrews, Russ
Busfield, Jack
Crowder, Robert
Fogg, Don
Gaston, Ron
Hanson, Royal (dec.)
Lake, Ron
Loerchner, Wolfgang(sp?)
Moulton, Dusty
Osborne, Warren
Smith, John W.
Walker, Michael

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
.... was not on my list. And for every reason Ari mentions above I would agree. Crazily, his work is THE most photographed maker I have in my photo portfolio from himself and other dealers (30+ images of different knives). Just as crazy is the fact I have not a knife in my collection by Don, and that is why he is absent. For no good reason, outside of me fondling his work regularly, I have not *needed* to purchase one... !

####

Royal Hanson? That's a new one on me.

Coop
 
Well I only own one custom knife, my Munroe Stormcrow.
I ordered directly from Deryk and Jana Munroe and the treatment I received matched the knife itself: simply amazing.


Coop,

Not to get off topic, but Sal Manaro is on my short-list and I can't seem to connect to his website any more. Do you know if he's still around?


Thanks,
B.
 
SharpByCoop said:
Royal Hanson? That's a new one on me.

Coop
Click to expand...

Coop, as a collector for 20 years, I might have more than a few new ones on you, it is a big world out there.:D

Take a look at Nordic Knives, they have a Hanson dagger for sale in "Knives by Makers".

Also, assuming that you have Weyer's Points of Interest III, he is featured on pages 112, 120, 121 and 124. He died of cancer, I think.

He was equally adept at folders or fixed blades, and was vastly ahead of his time in terms of fit, finish and mechanical precision.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Point of Interest III? Let me see......
















OK, it's been ten minutes and I'm only thumbing past page twenty. I'll get back to ya'...... :p

(Nice work. I see your point.)

Coop
 
I'd like to add one maker I somehow forgot when I posted the other day. Tom Mayo is "impeccable" in every sense of the word, as are his amazing knives. Don't know how I forgot him, I was tired when I posted I think, but his customer service is matched only by his knives, both are as good as it gets IMO.
 
The proly seems funny being a knife maker but here are a few that came to mind. some mentioned and some not yet.
All of the others mentioned so far are outstanding.
First thanks to all for the kind words.
No particular order here:

1. Kirby Lambert: His work is impeccable. His designs are his and they work. His FUNCTION is outstanding.
2. Dobruski the bali maker is outstanding in the fit and finish section.
3. Please don't take this one wrong but my step son Ryan Bailey is very far up there. Please understand after 5 years of my shoe in his a** he has finally made the grade in my book. It has taken 5 years for me to accept this. I did not make it easy for him either.
4. Ken Onion makes good knives.
5. David Broadwell I think was mentioned.
6. Jody Sampson "old skool" was left out. One of the Very best hollow grinders that has lived. He makes some of the wildest swords I have ever seen. I have NEVER met a knife maker that can hollow grind a kris blade free hand and make it right!
7. Walter Brend
8. J.L. Williams is moving right up into the slot also.
9. Harkins
10. T Davis the slip joint maker.
11. Jerry Fisk
12. Tom Overyender
13. Tom Anderson is very clean
14. Lightfoot

I'm sure there are many I have left out but these come to mind.
 
I need to add two that no one has mentioned so far - both definitely impeccable in my book. I have had several dealings with both.

Scott Sawby

Phil Boguszewski
 
I forgot to mention Sawby?!:foot:
Tommy Overyender is actually the teacher of two "Texas Greats" Osborne and Kious. Tom just became a full-time maker in the past year or two. He is a very kind and soft spoken gentleman.
 
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