Never meet your grail knives?

[Havok_SG]

ive been in the knife game for several years and really into it now for about a year. i have the privlidge of owning not 1 of my grails but 2. Todd Begg Full Custom Glimpses, on its a Brown micarta inlaid into g10 with a satin blade and the other is a Blue twill inlaid into g10, both knives are truly perfection. Its here where they differ. I wont carry the blue (its currently for sale due to this) its too pretty and perfect. The brown knife on the other hand is in my pocket several times a weel. Its the best action detent and feel in the hand of any knife ive handles. The blue is actually a slightly different knife, its thicker, different blade grind, and heavier. Its just that much different that i dont like it near as much. Do i agree with the never meet your "grail"? No somethimes they are exactgly as you dreamed they were, but not every custom knife is built the same as shown here. My next Grail (theres always a bigger fish) is a Peter Martin QSB. This will be an easier to know what im getting cause I actually know Peter personally, so i know exactly what im paying for.

My opinion is spend your money on what you can personally justify (at the end of the day it is just a knife) and some people collect for carry or display. If I dont carry it I sell it. But theres aways a knife worth displaying.

Jake

 

[RBid]

The term “grail” is so overused at this point that it barely rates as a signifier of specialness. When I see it, I read it as, “the love of my week”. As others have said, the pure form would be a special, nigh unattainable, heavily desired, more-than-expensive thing. Something you search for, feverishly.

No knife is quite that to me. There is a knife which may truly be an end all knife for me: a semi-custom Laconico Jasmine. I strongly suspect that, should I get one, and if it is what I think it will be in hand, I may get a second and be done buying. As it is, I haven’t wanted to buy anything since I got my Gemini, and that’s only the production version of the Jasmine. Of course, the hope that it lives up to expectation may be dashed by something as simple as the blade being too thick.

 

[USMCPOP]

I have a few "grail" knives, at least to me. Not that I've used them much, if at all. A couple Yao/Mien knives, three Thai knives.

The Yao/Mien are beautiful, thick with exotic hardwood handles, very finely made. Not a forge mark on them. I have two, $5 each. Hand carved hardwood sheaths. Beautiful convex profile, all done by forging and finished by hand on a water stone.

The Thai knives were a gift. Two incurved farmer knives and one like a small short sword. The latter has a handmade wooden sheath held together by rattan bands. Not as deluxe as the Yao knives, but the 70+ year old blacksmith gave me a warranty. "If you whack and it doesn't cut, bring it back." I guess that was his way of saying he would resharpen it for free. He did reforge, harden, temper and resharpen thick machetes for about a dollar back then.

They were all probably old leaf springs, but the old blacksmiths knew what they were doing. I would trust my life to any one of them.

 

[Sonnydaze]

I have already built more just like it for $600 as shown. People dig it.

...probably a better choice to buy one now for $600 than to wait two yrs and buy the same knife for $950...when your rep has spread a bit more...You've already come one heck of a long ways, my friend.
Six bills is NOT a bad price for that custom knife and that steel... Sorry that I'm a casual (read small knife) user.

 

[Sonnydaze]

I am well beyond the point of $1350 for a knife, but a few yrs ago I paid mid-$700's for two XM-18's...when they were rare and hot.
Very content with "mediocre" (smiley) stuff like large Sebbies and Spyderco Slysz Bowies...and a few small BUSSE's.

 

[JimMD]

Okay, so it's been something that has been a little on my mind, in part inspired by a few recent threads about "best this, best that" and to an extend the whole custom DDR debacle.
Most everybody around here has some (current) grail knife, and maybe some have actually bought their grail knives, and some moved on to others.
The question is, have those of you who obtained their special pieces been validated in their expectation of awesomeness or were there disappointments?
For me in particular the Shiro 111 3D CF is my personal grail knife, the thing is, it's about a ~1350$ knife, there about. I have a number of very nice knife with really good action, I am wondering if I would feel like it's worth it, if the action isn't THAT much better than a Reate that comes in at a third of the price? Should we (who are still itching for that special knife) have lower expecation or not look at it as a subjectively better knife but just as a more special piece?
It seems like calling something a grail knife to begin with sets somewhat unrealistic expectations that the final product needs to be essentially flawless to avoid disappointment. Maybe I am overthinking it? What's everybodys take on "grail knives" and actually obtaining them?

Two knives I have that met and surpassed my high expectations are the Koenig Arius and the Holt Specter. It’s hard to conceive of how they could be improved, for the type of knife that each is. Material upgrades are always possible, but in design, construction, detail, and function, not to mention service, I couldn’t ask for more.