Looking for some guidance on custom makers..

Came across a custom site "American Kami", which sells a bunch of great looking large knives - but, unfortunately they all have that one sided design, which I do not like.

BSBll.jpg


BSBUR.JPG


But the blade designs are incredible.
 
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jac_solar said:
Hm, I thought I posted earlier - that's happened a couple of times on Bladeforums. I go to a thread where I thought I posted something, and it turns out that I didn't. Is someone deleting my messages, or is it a problem with the system?

Anyhow, I appreciate everyone's opinion on this -- even if it's to point out (correct) design problems. The reason I want such a large knife is because I want a large, ridiculous knife as a "display piece". I certainly don't expect to be able to use something like that efficiently at anything knife related, but I would still like a knife that has the correct heat treatment, materials, is very sturdy and could be used.

Even though I don't use knives, and I just collect them, I still want them to be functional - functionality is one of the most important reasons of why I enjoy collecting knives. Putting up a non-functional display sword for display seems to be kind of pointless - if it's just a representation of a sword, axe, etc, someone is after, it might as well be made of some sort of aluminium, rubber, plastic, wood, or even inflatable. But, I wonder.. do the people who put up fantasy design swords, knives and axes (The kinds with no heat treat, random steel and the likes.), think of them as weapons, or that they could be used as weapons?

Are there anyone who makes a 20 OAL, thick and wide bowie, by the way?
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Maybe try and find this knife???

Made by John Nelson Cooper


CooperKnivesA_zps6e208cb6.jpg



Mr. Cooper made Mr. Lenderman a large bowie knife weighing 19 (nineteen) pounds and over 39 (thirty-nine) inches long. Mr.Cooper made this large knife all by himself, grinding and holding up the heavy knife for 29 days straight not taking off any days for rest or relaxation. Everyday he worked from approximately 7:00am til 8:00pm, 13 (thirteen) hours per day some days longer. At this time of his life he was 74 years old. That's as tough as a Cooper Knife.
 
Pocketknifesheaths said:
Maybe try and find this knife???

Made by John Nelson Cooper


CooperKnivesA_zps6e208cb6.jpg



Mr. Cooper made Mr. Lenderman a large bowie knife weighing 19 (nineteen) pounds and over 39 (thirty-nine) inches long. Mr.Cooper made this large knife all by himself, grinding and holding up the heavy knife for 29 days straight not taking off any days for rest or relaxation. Everyday he worked from approximately 7:00am til 8:00pm, 13 (thirteen) hours per day some days longer. At this time of his life he was 74 years old. That's as tough as a Cooper Knife.
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lol. :P Is there a picture of that bowie somewhere?

But, anyhow, at some point it becomes too much. A bowie scaled up to 39 inches would have to be, at least, 10 inches wide.

Here's a guy who makes giant swords. He made the Buster sword from the Final Fantasy games, which weighs 54 lbs according to him.

[video=youtube;3yJ4DG6gu3A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yJ4DG6gu3A[/video]
 
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Jac

Overly thick knives is a trend that has been brought on by people that do not understand knives and how to use them

The most important characteristics of a big Bowie is proper heat treat and Distal taper

A knife that is .30 to .35 @ the guard and than tapers off rapidly toward the clip is going to exhibit power and speed which is a byproduct of proper balance

.35 is thick !!!

On a full tang knife the taper should go both ways as in a tapered tang and a blade that exhibits distal taper

When I go to shows and see knives that are 1/2 inch thick or full tang with no taper I dismiss them as boat anchors and novelties

Do some research before you plunk down your hard earned cash and you will be a happier and wiser fellow ..... Good luck :)
 
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Jac_solar,
You have respectfully asked for help and advice in finding a maker who may be able to make what you WANT. You have received more than your fair share of constructive and some not so constructive criticism on your design parameters. But so far, the community here seems to have missed the point of your post. You want this knife because you WANT it. I get it. I want a Lamborghini, even though I live in the wilds of Alaska many miles from even a country road. I still WANT one, and if I had that kind of cash, I would get one, even if I could never drive it.
I have made knives of nearly the scope you are asking for. The thickest one I ever made was 0.45" it was in reality, too heavy, but it worked , and for someone stronger than me it may have been great. If you made a knife on this grand scale, you would want a handle that was around 6" long, and that means a blade of at least 14", and that isn't really too unreasonable. The combination of that length, width, and thickness would truly be a monster, but certainly not that big a stretch from some of the knives we have all seen on here, especially if it were ground and tapered properly. But all this is beside the point; that you just want this knife because you WANT it. I am not volunteering to make it, but I do understand your request, and I wish you the beat of luck.

Adam.
 
hey that's a great post Adam.
 
DesRosiers said:
Jac_solar,
You have respectfully asked for help and advice in finding a maker who may be able to make what you WANT. You have received more than your fair share of constructive and some not so constructive criticism on your design parameters. But so far, the community here seems to have missed the point of your post. You want this knife because you WANT it. I get it. I want a Lamborghini, even though I live in the wilds of Alaska many miles from even a country road. I still WANT one, and if I had that kind of cash, I would get one, even if I could never drive it.
I have made knives of nearly the scope you are asking for. The thickest one I ever made was 0.45" it was in reality, too heavy, but it worked , and for someone stronger than me it may have been great. If you made a knife on this grand scale, you would want a handle that was around 6" long, and that means a blade of at least 14", and that isn't really too unreasonable. The combination of that length, width, and thickness would truly be a monster, but certainly not that big a stretch from some of the knives we have all seen on here, especially if it were ground and tapered properly. But all this is beside the point; that you just want this knife because you WANT it. I am not volunteering to make it, but I do understand your request, and I wish you the beat of luck.

Adam.
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Here ya go Adam :)

I walked out of the gym and your car was parked right up front covered in salt and in a handicap spot

Great car but a real jerk must own it but he does drive it in the snow

3A9F830F-BAF1-4DC3-A364-9E13F7DE0B0D.jpg
 
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IMHO, when you begin toying with those dimensions, you are really talking about a short sword. You can have it shaped like a Bowie, but it is still a short sword.
I once made a Bowie for a guy that was 2 1/2 X 18 X 3/8. Was it practical,?? No, but that is what he wanted.

http://brantonknives.com/newimages/knives/old/s/8.jpg

You can also check out their model 33-B at http://ruanaknives.com/bowies.aspx

That should also give you perhaps a low end on what it would cost to have something like that made.
 
Thanks Joe!
Well... Now that I know you can drive 'em in the snow, I might move it up on my priority list....
 
DesRosiers said:
Jac_solar,
You have respectfully asked for help and advice in finding a maker who may be able to make what you WANT. You have received more than your fair share of constructive and some not so constructive criticism on your design parameters. But so far, the community here seems to have missed the point of your post. You want this knife because you WANT it. I get it. I want a Lamborghini, even though I live in the wilds of Alaska many miles from even a country road. I still WANT one, and if I had that kind of cash, I would get one, even if I could never drive it.
I have made knives of nearly the scope you are asking for. The thickest one I ever made was 0.45" it was in reality, too heavy, but it worked , and for someone stronger than me it may have been great. If you made a knife on this grand scale, you would want a handle that was around 6" long, and that means a blade of at least 14", and that isn't really too unreasonable. The combination of that length, width, and thickness would truly be a monster, but certainly not that big a stretch from some of the knives we have all seen on here, especially if it were ground and tapered properly. But all this is beside the point; that you just want this knife because you WANT it. I am not volunteering to make it, but I do understand your request, and I wish you the beat of luck.

Adam.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Yeah, I do appreciate all the constructive criticism, even if my desired knife is not for practical purposes, or usage - it all seems to be well intended, or in the interest of making sure I know what I'm asking for.

JParanee said:
Jac

Overly thick knives is a trend that has been brought on by people that do not understand knives and how to use them

The most important characteristics of a big Bowie is proper heat treat and Distal taper

A knife that is .30 to .35 @ the guard and than tapers off rapidly toward the clip is going to exhibit power and speed which is a byproduct of proper balance

.35 is thick !!!

On a full tang knife the taper should go both ways as in a tapered tang and a blade that exhibits distal taper

When I go to shows and see knives that are 1/2 inch thick or full tang with no taper I dismiss them as boat anchors and novelties

Do some research before you plunk down your hard earned cash and you will be a happier and wiser fellow ..... Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Thank you. If I wanted a practical, or a knife for-usage, I'd probably not suggest the thickness or length, or at least ask for something a lot less specific - ie, basically just leave my design or ideas more open to interpretation, since the custom maker surely knows a lot more than me regarding knife making. :P

But yeah, I realize that I'm not well versed in the arts of knives, and won't pretend that I am -- but the proposed design is for a display knife, something I won't use, but with the correct proportions (Or at least as close as possible.), heat treat, grinds etc. of a proper knife, so that it could be used with some effort. Like the Lamborghini example by Adam. :) It does ignore some of the necessary functionality of a working knife such as some kind of balance, I guess, but as long as it has all the other functions of a practical heavy duty knife, I'm pleased (As in, it can be sharpened, take a lot of abuse and won't break, bend, etc.)

Lycosa said:
Daniel Fairly. Or go Busse Combat.
Daniel has a forum here on BF.
rolf
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I was looking at some of the custom knife stores, and came across some Busse knives - and they are quite close to what I'm looking for. I've looked at Busse knives before, and didn't think they made such "outrageous" designs. However, they seem to be quite hard to get ahold of -- almost as hard and expensive as getting as custom knife, if not more so.

Bobby Branton said:
IMHO, when you begin toying with those dimensions, you are really talking about a short sword. You can have it shaped like a Bowie, but it is still a short sword.
I once made a Bowie for a guy that was 2 1/2 X 18 X 3/8. Was it practical,?? No, but that is what he wanted.

http://brantonknives.com/newimages/knives/old/s/8.jpg

You can also check out their model 33-B at http://ruanaknives.com/bowies.aspx

That should also give you perhaps a low end on what it would cost to have something like that made.
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Wow, very nice stuff. And yeah, while it may not be what you meant, "shaped like a bowie, but it is still a short sword" is partly one of the reasons why I decided to ask for some guidance on who to ask for this -- I assume that making sure the proportions of such a large knife is quite hard; as in, making sure that it actually looks like a large bowie, and not a sword that "sort of looks like a bowie". While it may, in effect, be a short sword, at least it looks like a large, or correctly scaled up bowie.

The "design" I posted earlier is not meant to be correct - it's just an overview of what I want. The handle, guard, grinds, bevels, taper, etc, are probably way off. It's also why I didn't post any specific widths, handle or guard dimensions, since I wouldn't know where to start - the width in particular would have to be quite accurate and relative to the grinds and length, and since I want a somewhat wider than regular bowie, that probably makes it even more complicated.

I asked Quest Knives about this a few weeks ago -- specifically, I asked for a 20 inch overall, 1 inch thick blade, sawback bowie, with whatever steel and materials they were most comfortable with using. They replied saying that they may not be the best people to do this from a price perspective, and suggested a price of 450-600$ -- which, even though I'm not familiar with customs, I thought was quite low for such a knife. Keep in mind that I asked for a 1 inch thick knife here. I couldn't really find any previous work of theirs when it comes to larger knives, though, and since I'm so unfamiliar with the process of custom making a knife, I haven't really decided on this -- which is also why I thought it'd be a good idea to ask for advice on custom makers here.
 
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I see a lot of guys telling jac why his design won't work based on his specs. That's cool, but he came here to find a maker who could make him a large, even giant, Bowie. He wants a Bowie that's 20-23 inches OAL. Certainly, one of our fine makers could scale off smaller bowies they've made and give him some more accurate specs to work with in his quest. What if Andre the giant (I know he's dead) wanted a Bowie? I think this is more along the lines jac is looking for. I could be wrong.
 
JAMerolle said:
It will need to be a two handed grip handle it you plan on using.
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Thanks for the input, but I won't be using it. :) All though, the handle might almost be two handed in size, if correctly proportioned. I'm not sure..

Odog27 said:
I see a lot of guys telling jac why his design won't work based on his specs. That's cool, but he came here to find a maker who could make him a large, even giant, Bowie. He wants a Bowie that's 20-23 inches OAL. Certainly, one of our fine makers could scale off smaller bowies they've made and give him some more accurate specs to work with in his quest. What if Andre the giant (I know he's dead) wanted a Bowie? I think this is more along the lines jac is looking for. I could be wrong.
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Yep, I'm not looking to use it, or looking for a blade for practical purposes - I want a very large, ridiculous but awesome looking bowie for display purposes, but that is properly made (Correct heat treat, decent or good steel, beveling, grinds, etc.).
 
how much $ are you willing to spend on something like this?
 
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