Hey,
So I put together a post with the pics of my custom collection as it stands so far. I hope that I've made good decisions.*
These are just the custom knives, not those first ones I got, that were "common" knives. Limited editions, but factory made, not hand made. *You can click on any of the pictures to see a full sized one.*
I would love to hear what you think of them, or if you have a favorite.*
Although, all of the prices are there. So you can see how nuts I got. But I think I made good choices.*
This is the first custom I bought, about 5-6 months ago. It is made by Tahar Raza, who is most well known for his Damascus. It's all 300 layer Damascus. It's an assisted flipper with mammoth ivory bark onset on the front and back.*
This next one is made by Theuns Prinsloo from South Africa. The handle has mammoth ivory, blued Gibeon meteorite, and mammoth molar. Titanium frame and backspacer with lots of beautiful filing work on it.*
Here we have a Custom Ultimate Godson by Pro-tech. Mastadon ivory, Robert Eggerling high carbon Damascus, with a 416 stainless steel frame (vs. the standard aluminum) hand engraved by Bruce Shaw
Pro-Tec Custom Godson. Again, 416 stainless handle, and some awesome brain coral inlays.*
Another one from Theuns Prinsloo, hand-rubbed satin blade, visible hamon. "Pink Ivory" wood scales with bronze spacer, anodized and filed titanium backspacer.
Brian Tighe Small Tighe Coon. *I love how he flutes the blade. It doesnt make for the most functional of knives, but it makes for a really cool unique knife. The frame is titanium. This one came with one of his woo presentation boxes.*
This next one is one of the most beautiful knives I have, IMO. It is made by Suchat Jangtanong. Robert Calcinore mosaic damascus blade and bolsters, and ivory scales with Mayan themed scrim by Panja Pojiew on both sides.*
The blade on this is super cool because Jangtanong ground the edge before doing the final acid etch and heat treating, so the Damascus pattern is visible around the actual cutting edge. And it's crazy sharp too.*
I'm gonna include pics of each side's scrim so you can see it better. The Mayan warrior is my favorite.
My other Tahar Raza blade and the first fixed blade knife I bought. It is made completely with his 300layer damascus. I just found this to be really unique. All three blades are double edged, the main blade is definitely some of the best Damascus I've seen from him. Main blade is 13 1/2" w/ Two 2 3/8" from guard to tip sharpened daggers mounted on the guard. 3/16" blade thickness and 1 3/4" blade depth. Awesome file work on blade spine, handle, and fittings. And the sheath is really beautiful too. Tahar made the sheath as well from what I know.*
Made by Shodui Takeda, blade is Aogami Super Steel (AS), ground on both sides. The handle is wrapped and lacquered, and he put some Kanji marks on the blade. This I a great knife. I love using it when eating steak or cutting up boxes and stuff. This knife is seriously RAZOR sharp. The grind angle is just SO narrow on this one. It's blade is just so tough and has noticeable flexibility too. I love this steel. Plus I just love how simple this knife is. He wrapped it with a sort of glittery burlap or something, and lacquered it. No crazy rare materials or intricate filework. It's obviously made to be used and used hard.*
My only Randal knife, though i hope to get a few more that i like in the future *The model is "Stanaback Special" has silver single hilt, and ironwood handle. Ive found that the vast majority of the knives from him that show up have micarta handles, and I just am not really in to micarta. So when I saw that it ha a natural handle I jumped on it. It's a serious blade... 1/4" thickness and 1 1/8" blade depth. Sharpened top edge.
Another Jangtanong. *I was so excited to see this one. *Its a perfect companion for my Mayan themed knife from him. *Same materials, calcinore mosaic damascus, elephant ivory, and the same really cool technique with the blade edge. This one has a Samurai theme. *He even inset ivory in the thumb stud and backspacer. Gold screws.*
This is a Terzuola TTF-5. Superconductor bolsters, and lightning strike carbon fiber scales. I guess the "lightning strike" carbon fiber has copper woven into it. It's pretty cool looking. 3 1/2" blade.*
You can see the weave of the copper in the carbon here.*
This one here is the absolute favorite of mine. Definitely the pride of my collection. I'm pretty much gonna be quoting what AZCK said about it here. It's a custom Reese Weiland Rastor, number 031.*
This Rastor D/A features a hand forged Chuck Hawes damascus blade with 3/16" thickness, it is 4 3/4" long, closed it is 6 1/4" long, and open it is 10 1/2" long and weighs 15.3 oz, ie. it's HUGE.*
Blued damascus double bolsters. The liners are anodized and jeweled. The pre ban ivory scales feature awesome colored scrimshaw by Gary Williams aka "Garbo". The scrim is a recreation of a scene from "The Swamp Monster" as illustrated by Frank Frazetta. The button release has a blacklip pearl inset. Stainless steel back spacer with excellent deep filework. Single thumb stud with black lip pearl insert.
This one shows just how much ivory is there and how high quality it is.*
This one IS chinese made, but made by a maker who follows the old traditions of making what japan calls "Tamahagne" steel. He makes his steel literally from scratch, picking the ore and coal rocks out by hand in order to make his steel.*
Zubeng knives are handmade by Master Rich Chen (Zubeng), who forges Tamahagane steel using the traditional methods of Japanese swordsmiths. The smelting, folding, forging, heat treating, and hand-polishing of the steel is a long and difficult process. This produces a blade that is extremely sharp and incredibly durable. Master Chen makes and uses this Tamahagane steel for all his swords and knives.*
This hunting knife features an extremely sharp Tamahagane blade that is ground on both sides and a wood handle with mosaic pins. 3/16" blade thickness and 1 1/8" blade depth. Full tang construction. The blade has been differentially heat treated by hand, has a very apparent hamon.*
This is going to be the knife that I use for camping and really hard cutting situations. There are a couple demonstrations on YouTube showing off how his steel performs. They were able to shred about 50 or 100 feet of 1" thick wound rope by feeding it to the guy wielding the knife. He chopped through it like he was chopping an onion. And then showed how it sliced through paper afterward like it was nothing. Another demonstration was showing the knife being able to literally cut over an inch into the edge of a car trunk, repeatedly. They also stabbed through a reinforced part of it multiple times, and it still cut through paper like nothing. I can't wait to really use it. It really does feel amazing in the hand. It's perfectly balanced. And the dyed wood is just gorgeous. The grain has so much depth. It's almost "3d" in effect. If only the Chinese would bother to stick to this kind of quality they might redeem their manufacturing reputation.*
I sincerely apologize about not having a picture I can link to for this knife. I bought the last one that they had. It is a William Henry knife made specifically for AG russell. Mine is number 3/25 made. It has mammoth ivory scales, the bolster has hand carved sterling silver inlays on the bolsters. The blade is ZPD-187 with a Rockwell hardness of fucking 67!!! I didn't even know that was possible.*
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...oth-ivory-carved-sterling-silver/p/WHB5-AG10/
(sorry for the long URL, I got the last knife so they pulled the page it was on.)
Again, I'm sorry for not having a direct link to the image.*
Corrie Schoeman Balisong Blued Mammoth Ivory Butterfly Knife (3.6" Damascus)
Corrie Schoeman is the maker of this balisong *he's from south africa and has apparently been making knives for 30 years *this one is brand new, april 2011 *
It has features blued Mammoth Ivory inlays and Damascus bolsters over a titanium frame. The liners and spacer are fileworked with Ruby insert on the spacer. The blade is Ettore Gianferrari Damascus steel with a beautifully fileworked spine.*
http://www.bladehq.com/item--Corrie-Schoeman-Balisong-Blued--9512
(this one is special to me too. It's my only balisong, and the ivory is just freaking GORGEOUS!)
The late Bob Sky made this knife. Sub-hilt fighter. Mirror polished blade, nickel silver fittings, elephant ivory handle, sharpened top edge. I don't know what year it was made, it will be arriving in the mail on Wednesday. It should have the year marked on the blade or tang.*
5/16" blade thickness and 2" blade depth.*
I feel very lucky to be able to own this gorgeous example of his work. I know that finding blades by him is getting harder and harder.*
I really hope that this works after all the work I put in to making this post. It took a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would to change this post from links to the info and pics to a list of my descriptions and the pics for the knives. *
Hopefully this will be more appropriate for the expectations of this forum.*
Thanks in advance everyone!
Michael
So I put together a post with the pics of my custom collection as it stands so far. I hope that I've made good decisions.*
These are just the custom knives, not those first ones I got, that were "common" knives. Limited editions, but factory made, not hand made. *You can click on any of the pictures to see a full sized one.*
I would love to hear what you think of them, or if you have a favorite.*
Although, all of the prices are there. So you can see how nuts I got. But I think I made good choices.*
This is the first custom I bought, about 5-6 months ago. It is made by Tahar Raza, who is most well known for his Damascus. It's all 300 layer Damascus. It's an assisted flipper with mammoth ivory bark onset on the front and back.*
This next one is made by Theuns Prinsloo from South Africa. The handle has mammoth ivory, blued Gibeon meteorite, and mammoth molar. Titanium frame and backspacer with lots of beautiful filing work on it.*
Here we have a Custom Ultimate Godson by Pro-tech. Mastadon ivory, Robert Eggerling high carbon Damascus, with a 416 stainless steel frame (vs. the standard aluminum) hand engraved by Bruce Shaw
Pro-Tec Custom Godson. Again, 416 stainless handle, and some awesome brain coral inlays.*
Another one from Theuns Prinsloo, hand-rubbed satin blade, visible hamon. "Pink Ivory" wood scales with bronze spacer, anodized and filed titanium backspacer.
Brian Tighe Small Tighe Coon. *I love how he flutes the blade. It doesnt make for the most functional of knives, but it makes for a really cool unique knife. The frame is titanium. This one came with one of his woo presentation boxes.*
This next one is one of the most beautiful knives I have, IMO. It is made by Suchat Jangtanong. Robert Calcinore mosaic damascus blade and bolsters, and ivory scales with Mayan themed scrim by Panja Pojiew on both sides.*
The blade on this is super cool because Jangtanong ground the edge before doing the final acid etch and heat treating, so the Damascus pattern is visible around the actual cutting edge. And it's crazy sharp too.*
I'm gonna include pics of each side's scrim so you can see it better. The Mayan warrior is my favorite.
My other Tahar Raza blade and the first fixed blade knife I bought. It is made completely with his 300layer damascus. I just found this to be really unique. All three blades are double edged, the main blade is definitely some of the best Damascus I've seen from him. Main blade is 13 1/2" w/ Two 2 3/8" from guard to tip sharpened daggers mounted on the guard. 3/16" blade thickness and 1 3/4" blade depth. Awesome file work on blade spine, handle, and fittings. And the sheath is really beautiful too. Tahar made the sheath as well from what I know.*
Made by Shodui Takeda, blade is Aogami Super Steel (AS), ground on both sides. The handle is wrapped and lacquered, and he put some Kanji marks on the blade. This I a great knife. I love using it when eating steak or cutting up boxes and stuff. This knife is seriously RAZOR sharp. The grind angle is just SO narrow on this one. It's blade is just so tough and has noticeable flexibility too. I love this steel. Plus I just love how simple this knife is. He wrapped it with a sort of glittery burlap or something, and lacquered it. No crazy rare materials or intricate filework. It's obviously made to be used and used hard.*
My only Randal knife, though i hope to get a few more that i like in the future *The model is "Stanaback Special" has silver single hilt, and ironwood handle. Ive found that the vast majority of the knives from him that show up have micarta handles, and I just am not really in to micarta. So when I saw that it ha a natural handle I jumped on it. It's a serious blade... 1/4" thickness and 1 1/8" blade depth. Sharpened top edge.
Another Jangtanong. *I was so excited to see this one. *Its a perfect companion for my Mayan themed knife from him. *Same materials, calcinore mosaic damascus, elephant ivory, and the same really cool technique with the blade edge. This one has a Samurai theme. *He even inset ivory in the thumb stud and backspacer. Gold screws.*
This is a Terzuola TTF-5. Superconductor bolsters, and lightning strike carbon fiber scales. I guess the "lightning strike" carbon fiber has copper woven into it. It's pretty cool looking. 3 1/2" blade.*
You can see the weave of the copper in the carbon here.*
This one here is the absolute favorite of mine. Definitely the pride of my collection. I'm pretty much gonna be quoting what AZCK said about it here. It's a custom Reese Weiland Rastor, number 031.*
This Rastor D/A features a hand forged Chuck Hawes damascus blade with 3/16" thickness, it is 4 3/4" long, closed it is 6 1/4" long, and open it is 10 1/2" long and weighs 15.3 oz, ie. it's HUGE.*
Blued damascus double bolsters. The liners are anodized and jeweled. The pre ban ivory scales feature awesome colored scrimshaw by Gary Williams aka "Garbo". The scrim is a recreation of a scene from "The Swamp Monster" as illustrated by Frank Frazetta. The button release has a blacklip pearl inset. Stainless steel back spacer with excellent deep filework. Single thumb stud with black lip pearl insert.
This one shows just how much ivory is there and how high quality it is.*
This one IS chinese made, but made by a maker who follows the old traditions of making what japan calls "Tamahagne" steel. He makes his steel literally from scratch, picking the ore and coal rocks out by hand in order to make his steel.*
Zubeng knives are handmade by Master Rich Chen (Zubeng), who forges Tamahagane steel using the traditional methods of Japanese swordsmiths. The smelting, folding, forging, heat treating, and hand-polishing of the steel is a long and difficult process. This produces a blade that is extremely sharp and incredibly durable. Master Chen makes and uses this Tamahagane steel for all his swords and knives.*
This hunting knife features an extremely sharp Tamahagane blade that is ground on both sides and a wood handle with mosaic pins. 3/16" blade thickness and 1 1/8" blade depth. Full tang construction. The blade has been differentially heat treated by hand, has a very apparent hamon.*
This is going to be the knife that I use for camping and really hard cutting situations. There are a couple demonstrations on YouTube showing off how his steel performs. They were able to shred about 50 or 100 feet of 1" thick wound rope by feeding it to the guy wielding the knife. He chopped through it like he was chopping an onion. And then showed how it sliced through paper afterward like it was nothing. Another demonstration was showing the knife being able to literally cut over an inch into the edge of a car trunk, repeatedly. They also stabbed through a reinforced part of it multiple times, and it still cut through paper like nothing. I can't wait to really use it. It really does feel amazing in the hand. It's perfectly balanced. And the dyed wood is just gorgeous. The grain has so much depth. It's almost "3d" in effect. If only the Chinese would bother to stick to this kind of quality they might redeem their manufacturing reputation.*
I sincerely apologize about not having a picture I can link to for this knife. I bought the last one that they had. It is a William Henry knife made specifically for AG russell. Mine is number 3/25 made. It has mammoth ivory scales, the bolster has hand carved sterling silver inlays on the bolsters. The blade is ZPD-187 with a Rockwell hardness of fucking 67!!! I didn't even know that was possible.*
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...oth-ivory-carved-sterling-silver/p/WHB5-AG10/
(sorry for the long URL, I got the last knife so they pulled the page it was on.)
Again, I'm sorry for not having a direct link to the image.*
Corrie Schoeman Balisong Blued Mammoth Ivory Butterfly Knife (3.6" Damascus)
Corrie Schoeman is the maker of this balisong *he's from south africa and has apparently been making knives for 30 years *this one is brand new, april 2011 *
It has features blued Mammoth Ivory inlays and Damascus bolsters over a titanium frame. The liners and spacer are fileworked with Ruby insert on the spacer. The blade is Ettore Gianferrari Damascus steel with a beautifully fileworked spine.*
http://www.bladehq.com/item--Corrie-Schoeman-Balisong-Blued--9512
(this one is special to me too. It's my only balisong, and the ivory is just freaking GORGEOUS!)
The late Bob Sky made this knife. Sub-hilt fighter. Mirror polished blade, nickel silver fittings, elephant ivory handle, sharpened top edge. I don't know what year it was made, it will be arriving in the mail on Wednesday. It should have the year marked on the blade or tang.*
5/16" blade thickness and 2" blade depth.*
I feel very lucky to be able to own this gorgeous example of his work. I know that finding blades by him is getting harder and harder.*
I really hope that this works after all the work I put in to making this post. It took a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would to change this post from links to the info and pics to a list of my descriptions and the pics for the knives. *
Hopefully this will be more appropriate for the expectations of this forum.*
Thanks in advance everyone!
Michael
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