Question for custom knife collectors

[Mark Williams]

From a collectors perspective, what are your opinions on cast knife components like bolsters and guards?Not from a supply house but custom castings done by the maker. Like them , hate them , dont care.

 

[knifenerd]

As long as the final finishing/fitting/etc. is done by the maker, I have no problem with custom casting.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

The only ones that I have seen have been some sand cast parts. They were ok I guess, but my preference is for carved rather than cast. I personally think carving gives the knife a more hand finished look.

 

[Gollnick]

Artists have been working in casting for a thousand years. Many of history's great artists have used casting techniques. There's nothing inherently wrong with casting.

Casting, like a lot of techniques and methods, can be done poorly or done well.

 

[Architect]

What Gollnick said - it is the execution that determines if the method is desireable, or a piece of junk.

Also, taking off from what Keith said, it should be integrated into overall design so that the entire piece has a coherent feel.