I've gotten a bad bad case of throwing money towards owners, retailers, makers and any other person involving knives that I find interesting. I collected knives, stars, odd weapons, arrowheads, and coins as a child (5-11 yrs old or so) from flea markets and lost my collection years ago never to pick up the hobby again until 2 weeks ago.
Well times have really changed over the past 25-30 years and my old buck folder was my favorite back then with its large locking blade. Of course I just liked it so much because it was my longest/sharpest folder but now I haven't even glanced at a buck since randomly getting the idea to look at some knives back around Christmas. I had looked at a few BMs over the years at a little store that's next to a restaurant the wife and I frequent on special occasions. Other than looking at the BMs a few times a year I've just had a cheap but trusty Kershaw edc of some sort over the past 20 years.
So I was blown away by all the autos and higher end manual folders so much so that I've been glued to my IPhone which is constantly connected to an extension cord to supply me the juice I'm demanding. I've been bitten sharp, hard, and deep!!!! At first I was searching autos then realized I can only really purchase them from individuals or locally here in KY at very few retailers. And then the carry laws play another roll as to why I slowly started searching for manual folders more so than autos.
So here's how that went.
Bought a Lightning otf and Sog tac mini auto on day one. Then purchased a Microtech Socom auto followed by a Protech TR2.1x auto. While I was searching for a few collectible autos I stumbled across the Chris Reeve knives and just had to get a small Sebenza Insingo. Wow is all I can say about how my impressions quickly made me almost totally forget about autos when I started looking at the CRK models along with Strider, Hinderer, and Curtiss. Once the Sebenza made it to that magical box outside by the street I quickly opened it and thought wow this thing is so much sweeter than that big ole Buck I used to cherish so much.
So, what did I do next? I made a decision to either get a Curtiss or Hinderer then hunted and hunted until I found what I considered to be a good deal. Pulled the trigger on a XM-18 3.5 Slicer with a few extras and thought ok I'm through hunting for knives for a bit and need to hunt down accessories for the Slicer. But, no that's not what I did at all. That search lasted a few hours because there just aren't enough accessories available to purchase right now. Most everything is out of stock. So what did I do? I put myself in line for a custom from Jason Clark. I searched many many custom makers and decided to contact him first but with the long wait I'm now hunting personal customs and debating on who next to get in line with for my second built custom. There are a ton of makers that I would like to get in line with so no telling how long it will be before my next one.
Ok I think I've rambled long enough trying to explain just how bad I've gotten hooked so on to my real questions that will take my production finds to the next level.
I've seen many Hinderer's that have ano work done to them and understand that such work will void the warranty but will having someone ano the frame lock side harm the knife?
How many places do this type of work and who would some of you suggest?
I don't think I've seen a single XM-18 with ano on the female frame post which is visible on the frame side. Why haven't I seen this?
I've seen some custom scales for many knives and would like carbon fiber scales. Are there any places which people buy these from more often than another source?
Are there any one stop shops to send a knife and have it totally changed that is preferred?
Think that's enough questions jammed into a single thread and am sure some should and will be directed towards other areas of the forum but for now maybe I can get a better idea of what all can be done to a production knife while also keeping it functional like it was produced to be.
Well times have really changed over the past 25-30 years and my old buck folder was my favorite back then with its large locking blade. Of course I just liked it so much because it was my longest/sharpest folder but now I haven't even glanced at a buck since randomly getting the idea to look at some knives back around Christmas. I had looked at a few BMs over the years at a little store that's next to a restaurant the wife and I frequent on special occasions. Other than looking at the BMs a few times a year I've just had a cheap but trusty Kershaw edc of some sort over the past 20 years.
So I was blown away by all the autos and higher end manual folders so much so that I've been glued to my IPhone which is constantly connected to an extension cord to supply me the juice I'm demanding. I've been bitten sharp, hard, and deep!!!! At first I was searching autos then realized I can only really purchase them from individuals or locally here in KY at very few retailers. And then the carry laws play another roll as to why I slowly started searching for manual folders more so than autos.
So here's how that went.
Bought a Lightning otf and Sog tac mini auto on day one. Then purchased a Microtech Socom auto followed by a Protech TR2.1x auto. While I was searching for a few collectible autos I stumbled across the Chris Reeve knives and just had to get a small Sebenza Insingo. Wow is all I can say about how my impressions quickly made me almost totally forget about autos when I started looking at the CRK models along with Strider, Hinderer, and Curtiss. Once the Sebenza made it to that magical box outside by the street I quickly opened it and thought wow this thing is so much sweeter than that big ole Buck I used to cherish so much.
So, what did I do next? I made a decision to either get a Curtiss or Hinderer then hunted and hunted until I found what I considered to be a good deal. Pulled the trigger on a XM-18 3.5 Slicer with a few extras and thought ok I'm through hunting for knives for a bit and need to hunt down accessories for the Slicer. But, no that's not what I did at all. That search lasted a few hours because there just aren't enough accessories available to purchase right now. Most everything is out of stock. So what did I do? I put myself in line for a custom from Jason Clark. I searched many many custom makers and decided to contact him first but with the long wait I'm now hunting personal customs and debating on who next to get in line with for my second built custom. There are a ton of makers that I would like to get in line with so no telling how long it will be before my next one.
Ok I think I've rambled long enough trying to explain just how bad I've gotten hooked so on to my real questions that will take my production finds to the next level.
I've seen many Hinderer's that have ano work done to them and understand that such work will void the warranty but will having someone ano the frame lock side harm the knife?
How many places do this type of work and who would some of you suggest?
I don't think I've seen a single XM-18 with ano on the female frame post which is visible on the frame side. Why haven't I seen this?
I've seen some custom scales for many knives and would like carbon fiber scales. Are there any places which people buy these from more often than another source?
Are there any one stop shops to send a knife and have it totally changed that is preferred?
Think that's enough questions jammed into a single thread and am sure some should and will be directed towards other areas of the forum but for now maybe I can get a better idea of what all can be done to a production knife while also keeping it functional like it was produced to be.
