One bladed custom traditional folders. Why?

[Lansky1]

I'm guessing THIN-NESS. I'm gravitating towards single blade folders because they don't print very much in the pocket.

 

[joeradza]

You don't think so ?
I'm sure at least they're part of the market, but you're probably right and it likely influences very little.

Definitely part of the market. The aspect of custom knifemaking being small and fragmented makes it hard to put numbers to our theory/guess work. Sorry if I seemed to jump at you but "nope" seemed to pop into my head.

 

[JohnDF]

I'm sure the switch from moderns has an effect, they do like their higher end steels.
I also think there are traditional knife guys, like Alan, that just appreciate high quality.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I like single blades when I'm using them. A double blade single spring also suits me fine. I also carry double and triple springs. I like them all.

One of the issues I have, is with my multiple blade non flush or sunken joints, I round/break the edges of the points on the Back Square on each blade.

So when I am using one blade, the pointy back square on the other blades does not irritate my hand as much. With many customs, people are looking for a seamless fit between the spring and the back square, which necessitates very clean, straight pointy points on the back square.

I would not take my stones to a custom tonround those out. So for me, in use, a single blade does not have this problem. The blade is opened when using and flush with the tang, when closed, it is in a slip and not an issue.

 

[Chief]

Takes a lot more skill to make a multiblade slipjoint to custom tolerances than it does to make a single blade slipjoint to custom tolerances.

Center bottom is a Dowell, a little hard to read his stamp on an old photo with etched A2. A single blade slipjoint fits 99% of my cutting needs and fits in the pocket easier.

 

[JohnDF]

So nice... We need a Custom Knife Pile thread.

 

[Will Power]

Higher costs and longer waiting times, greater complexity in construction (might also suggest that there could be expensive breakages in the making of a multi-blade, not a pleasant scenario for a Custom maker) I also feel that many Custom makers favour developing a niche or particular skill, liking for certain patterns and dislike attempting the untried and untested. Who can blame them? Multi-blade knives, SAK excepted, are uncommon in Europe and this is also the case with Custom/Artisan makers. Whereas factory multi-blades have been popular in the US for over a century yet only very top Custom makers offer multis in the US, there are Japanese Custom makers who offer them, but at high cost.

A lot, but not all, factory multi blades have blade-rub, notably krinked patterns. Customers might not take kindly to blade-rub on a Custom yet it might almost be unavoidable, a slight mistake in tolerances and construction and there it goes...

Custom knives are usually expensive to very expensive but at the the same time I very much doubt that most custom makers actually earn a huge fortune from their demanding and exacting skills, this too might explain the preponderance of single blades.

 

[kamagong]

We had one. It might have been gutted in the Great PhotoBucket Ransom of 2017.

 

[Chui]

- interesting question Joe58 ..........the answer to which is ultimately, nobody is wrong and we're all correct

My personal preference is a single blade, and single blade folding knives no doubt came along before multi-bladed ones..........so perhaps being an older member, that's my natural tendency

Also, and dare I say it, don't single bladed folders have a tad more machismo to them

There are so many uses and so much pleasure derived from all the great multi-blade folders we have today as an evolution of the single blade folder that they're up there firmly shoulder to shoulder with their single blade bothers and sisters........we're all just so lucky to have so many choices and options

 

[solphilos]

One thing I discovered about myself is that if I start carrying knives with more than one layer then I figure I might as well carry an SAK. An additional blade is quite redundant, and for that additional layer I can have far more utility with SAK tools.

Still, 99% of the time my choice of carry comes down to the cover material more so than the number or even type of blades.