Is this a new trend? Customer provided materials

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I am wondering if this is a new trend, or maybe I just haven't noticed before this year.
Knife collectors providing their own handle materials for knives they are having made.

I am curious if this is a fairly new trend or if this is something normal.
I would also be curious to hear your thoughts from a collectors point of view as well as the knife maker.

I sell stabilized wood handle materials and here is what I have been seeing with my customers.

When I do a knife show, the majority of what is purchased is by knife makers at the show.
Only about 25% will be purchased by the collector who will be having a knife made. They are usually looking for a piece for a specific knife they are having made by one of the knife makers at the show.

Other than at the shows my material sales are from my website.
In the past years the proportions had been about the same. 75% to the knife maker and 25% to the collector.

This year things are a lot different.
Year to date it has been about 40% to the knife makers and 60% to the collector.
In the kitchen knives niche it is more like 25% to the maker and 75% to the end customer.

Hopefully some of the collectors and the makers will voice their opinions.
Not just with wood, but stag, ivory and other natural handle materials.

Thank you in advance for your input.
Mods, if this post is in the wrong place please feel free to move this and accept my apologies.
This was the only place I could think of where it would be seen by both the makers and the collectors.
 
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It's not new to me at all Mark. At every knife show I attend, I keep an eye open for a nice piece of ivory, stag or block of wood. And as you know, I have bought a number of block from you over time as well. Some collectors are even more involved than I am in securing premium handle material for future projects. Others are just happy to leave it all to the maker. I'd say that I provide the handle material for maye 30 - 40% of my custom orders.

Roger
 
I feel as if it is pretty common with what I have seen

I even send my own leather (different animal skins) to my leather smith
 
I also keep an eye out at shows for nice pieces of handle material - especially stag and ivory, since I have a pretty good stash of wood :p

I'd say I supply the handle material for about 25-30% of the knives I have on order

Bill
 
I have purchased and collected handle material for years.

I would caution new collectors to educate yourself a little on both handle materials and handle construction
before you start purchasing material for your knife handles.
If you are planning a knife where you want to chose the material, most knifemakers will help you find suitable handle material at a show.
 
From what I have seen, a number of collectors will jump on hard to get handle materials like big stag carvers, ivory and really primo ironwood burl and I am sure that there are a few out there that have stashes that might even rival that squirreled away by our friend Don Hanson III, at least in quality if not quantity.:D
 
I think that there is a trend whereby more collectors are taking more of a collaborative approach with their chosen knife makers.

With that being said, anyone got a good connection for some opalesque mother of pearl 4" x 1 1/2" x 1/4"? Or WAY better yet, some black lip, (yeah, right- I know!)? I've got a VERY custom collaborative project in mind...
 
I'm sure it's common - as mentioned - but what seems to be missed is your question regarding the INCREASED percentages in recent months/time.
Could be multi-fold reaasoning.
Maybe it's just becoming more common amongst the customers.
As well, over time, I find large inventories of my own materials and have them pro stabilized, where in years past, I spent a lot of time on handle material web sites and dealers at shows etc.
I have literally BOXES of stabilized materials for future use.
Truth is, when I find something to buy from a handle material dealer, I can expect to pay 20-30-40 dollars and up.
When I collect my own materials and hang them to dry for a year, and then send them off, even after shipping, I only have 7 dollars per block invested - depending on material.
So, maybe more customers buying, and more makers acquiring their own results in current percentages.
 
Lorien, good luck in your quest for the unobtainium.:D I have never seen 1/4" thick pearl....it's can get that thick, but is extremely rare, and super expensive. The material can be built up quite attractively with fiber spacer material.

Peter Gill got me interested in actively purchasing my own handle material about 6 or 7 years ago. I have a few exceptional woods(burls, stabilized koa), about 4 superb pieces of stag and one set of black lip pearl scales on hand.

Started this mostly so I could know what the material cost, what it looked like, and to have it on hand. Too many times during the years, a maker would have to obtain a material for an ordered knife and this resulted in lost time and money on the maker's part....this removes that roadblock from the process, and I enjoy getting something that would not otherwise be created.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
There were two times I ordered a knife with specified handle material I was disappointed because my idea of a nicely figured type of wood differed from the maker's idea of nicely figured, and I wasn't sent pics of the wood beforehand. So ever since I either buy a knife that's already made and unspoken for, or if I order something with a certain wood in mind I'll provide it. Though to be fair, there were four other times when I ordered knives without providing the wood and was thrilled with the result, but with those the makers had shown consistent past choices that matched with my tastes.
 
Mark all the scales I have purchased from you are for various projects with assorted makers. I have been purchasing my own handle material, Mokume, Damasteel and other materials for years.

That way I get EXACTLY what I want and the maker does not have to jump through hoops to please me.

Steven
 
Kohai999 said:
Lorien, good luck in your quest for the unobtainium.:D I have never seen 1/4" thick pearl....it's can get that thick, but is extremely rare, and super expensive. The material can be built up quite attractively with fiber spacer material.

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...

thank you for the information, Steven.
I think I need some help sourcing the right stuff here! (1/8" thick is probably good for this project) Maybe I should leave it up to the knife maker to find 'the right piece'!
 
On a related point, on most custom orders where I didn't actually provide the material myself, I still did play an active role in selecting the material used from the maker's stash. I've often had the maker shoot pictures of the various pieces of ivory, stag or wood blocks available and chosen from among those - or else decided I didn't like the selection and asked the maker to source something better (or else ended up doing so myself).
 
One thing that I have noticed the last couple of years with collectors buying handle material is that many times they buy it because it is available and may not be when they need it. More than once, I have seen folks like Peter and Kevin post pictures of stag that they scored at a show like the ECKS that is of a quality that you might not see for the next 3 or 4 shows, even Blade some years when you are able to go dumpster diving during the set up time on Thursday..
 
jdm61 said:
One thing that I have noticed the last couple of years with collectors buying handle material is that many times they buy it because it is available and may not be when they need it. More than once, I have seen folks like Peter and Kevin post pictures of stag that they scored at a show like the ECKS that is of a quality that you might not see for the next 3 or 4 shows, even Blade some years when you are able to go dumpster diving during the set up time on Thursday..
Click to expand...

I'd say that goes for almost all the handle material I've bought. Snag some primo stuff and figure out how to best put it to use afterward. The one exception I can think of was a piece of ivory I bought at Little Rock that ultimately wound up on a Mike Ruth Jr. knife. He had the near completed blade with him at the show, so it was easy for me to pick out something that would work.

Roger
 
Great steel demands great handle materials, and I am always on the lookout for top flight examples.

After seeing some crazy prices for mediocre materials at Blade, I am very glad that I have built up a small stash.
 
I've been buying choice handle materials and providing them to my favorite makers for so long, I cannot remember when I started. Like Roger mentioned, at every show I attend, a decent amount of my time is spent searching for choice handle materials. Someday, I'm gonna have to group all my woods and stag into viewable piles and take pics. There'll be some drooling going on. ;) :)
 
I have good customers that every year at the Blade show go on the hunt for specific materials to use on an ordered knife. Then I put name and info on it. They love it! Makes them really feel like more a part of the process.
GOD BLESS!
Michael
 
That's one of the great things about shopping from Mark. You always know exactly what you're gonna get. Some of the other places I've purchased wood, I had no idea how the wood was actually going to look. I think that's an advantage that really helps, especially if you're a collector who's looking for something in particular, or a knifemaker with a particular vision. I've been waiting for the right piece to pop up for one of my next damascus projects. It's nice to be able to match patterns. I wonder if other companies that don't allow you to buy exactly the piece shown would show the same kind of pattern. I bet the numbers would be much lower.
 
I enjoy utilizing all options when it comes to handle material. As a collector, I have always spent time at shows looking for something I like. In the back of my mind, I see myself making a few utility type knives at some point down the road. So, not all purchases are for possible custom orders. But, providing my own, surveying the makers stockpile, or asking the maker to choose all make me comfortable in the end. It is a part of the custom process I enjoy.

DHIII told me at my first Blade Show that investing in some good ivory is like having money in the bank. So, like Peter, I am glad I have been doing that for some time. Recent prices of ivory seem to be rather steep. So, it is nice to have an aged stash, be it ivory, wood or stag.

I think this year's CKCA knives by Charles Vestal are a prime example of collectors providing their own handle material. Maybe Charles can let us know how many out of the 15 boot knives he used his own inventory on. Less than half, I'll bet.

- Joe
 
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