New to customs, Looking for advice and info!

TDE

TDE

Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
2,818
Hello guys and gals. We are here after David Dempsy(a super nice guy) suggested that this was a great place to be. Our first post on the Forums. We are currently diving into the Custom knives as one of our goals for 2003. We want to learn and meet nice folks and jump right in. Anyone with advice or just good old knife talking, please let me know.

Thanks to all. Paul:p
 
Hi and welcome Paul, good to see you here.

I would go to some knife shows and see first hand what i like, talk to the makers and other knife collectors, nothing like it and it's way fun to boot.

Buy the best you can afford, quality over quantity. It's easy to say stick with the top makers, but there are too many up and comers to say that to someone new IMO, so buy what you like, if you have good taste other's will like what you do and for gods sakes have fun.

James
 
Welcome Paul. So who are, "we"?

My advice is to spend as much time as possible reading this forum. There are a lot of top makers that spend time here and also a lot of very knowledgeable members and moderators.

The advice that James gave about taking in knife shows is right on the money. You get the chance to meet the makers and to handle their knives. You just can't beat that kind of experience.
 
My advice - spend time, not money. There's a lot to learn and this is a great place to gather information and to seek informed opinions. Going to knife shows, meeting the makers and seeing the knives in person - that can't be beat. But "diving in" has a bit of a sound of a bad idea. What's the rush?

Best regards,

Roger
 
Hi! Welcome to a very useful and enjoyable place to learn about all sorts of knives.

If you havent yet had the experience, the first time you hold an extremely fine, high-end custom knife in your hands and experience the materials, quality and workmanship involved in crafting one of these pieces of art, you will be very impressed, and, unfortunately, you'll want to buy LOTS of them, and quickly too!

While it is no doubt great to go to shows, many people dont have the ability to go to that many good shows, and so the net is a decent alternative. There are many fine dealers of custom knives, some of them take very detailed pictures, some dont, but you can always return the knife if it just doesnt appeal to you for whatever reason. The fact is, custom knives are usually much prettier in person than in the pictures. For example, its nearly impossible to capture how beautiful deep blued damascus steel is in a picture, and it has to be seen in person to be appreciated, and half of what makes a knife so special is the feel of it, the precision with which it operates, and this of course cannot be conveyed in pictures.

Some of the better dealers are:

Knifeart.com
True North Knives
Blade Gallery
Nordic Knives
Arizona Custom Knives
Blade Art
Gary Levine Knives
Robertson Custom Knives
Miami Nice Knives

This is a partial list, but a good place to start, and while i didnt give you the exact addresses of these websites, a quick word search on any decent search engine will turn them up fast enough.

Check out my picture gallery of custom knives by clicking on the link in my signature line, theyre not for sale, and most arent even mine, but they sure are nice to look at!

Good Luck and feel free to email with any questions.

Ari
 
For a first time buyer without a lot of before hand knowledge, I would suggest speaking with Les Robertson. Les is a knife dealer of the highest caliber and will give you honest and truthful advice before you purchase. Had I purchased from him from the beginning, I would have saved myself some money buying inappropriate knives for my needs and desires.

There are a lot of good makers too but, a great dealer will steer you straight through hype and hoopla to a great knife at a fair price.

Robertson Custom Cutlery
 
I second Sid's advice.Better yet buy Les's book.It is only $10.00 and I think he will sign it for you.
Randy





:)
 
You can read AG Russell's book The Cutting Edge each month to get an idea of what knives sell for. We list over 1,000 knives for sale each month. Just call and they will send you a copy. 800-255-9034 is the number. Good luck. Paul Basch
 
you have made a good start in coming to BF. There are a variety of other Forums also that are worth pursuing. BF offers mirc chat at night and there is a listserv called The Knife Collectors List.

http://is.dal.ca/~totalgsd/tkc-l/

A good idea would be to try to locate at a local bookstore, sporting goods store or on Amazaon.com the book Knives 2003 and then look for any back issues you can.

I'd also recommend that you look for a couple of magazines called Blade and Knives Illustrated. These are at many magazine stands or you could check on line. Blade is Krause Publications.

There are some books that you would be well advised to get.

These are Knives: Points of Interest by world famous photographer Jim Weyer. These books are on special #'s 1-4 for $100 and can be obtained directly from they Weyer's or from AG Russell who Paul has already mentioned. #5 I believe has not been bundled yet but I'm not positive.

contact the Weyers at law-weyerinternational@msn.com

a good link to lots of knife sites is

http://www.mijneigenfavorieten.nl/usaknivelinks/

this should give you a good start.
 
It sure is great to see Paul Basch taking part on this forum. There is no one that knows more about knives, both custom and production, than Paul. I would recommend highly that you get a subscription to The Cutting Edge. You will get to see the work of a huge number of makers and you will also learn what these makers knives are valued at.
 
Originally posted by Keith Montgomery It sure is great to see Paul Basch taking part on this forum.
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Great to see you here Paul Basch, all these years and this is the first time i have seen you post on any forum.

Hope to see a lot more of you dear freind, it's been decades knowing and buying knifes from you, gald your spreading the wealth.

Cheers!
James
 
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