Specific things you look for in a custom traditional

esnyx

esnyx

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Feb 10, 2014
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Hey friends,

So, as some of you may know, I'm venturing into my own full custom knives, and I was wondering, what makes a custom knife stand out in the crowd?? Anyone have any favorite makers? If so, what separates them from the others for you? Do you have a favorite custom that is just the ideal knife for you? If so, why? Let's get down to the nitty gritty with it!!


PS: If this is a repeat post, please send me the link to the old one and I'll refer to that.

All the best,

Your home grown knife maker, Evan
 
Personally I would say mosaic pins and shadow patterns much like some of your work I've seen from you in the past. Interesting scale materials that you don't see everyday are also a plus, saw some pretty different stuff at a gun show recently like compressed pine combs, armadillo shell and snakeskins and it got me thinking about some projects myself.
 
Me, I look for tight fit and finish, up-scale handles, I like traditional patterns. Swedges need to be symetrical, grinds really nice. Steven
 
The number one thing I look for with custom slipjoints is flexibility in a maker. The biggest draw with customs for me is having a knife made the way I want. I won't have to look at a knife and say to myself, "This knife would be perfect if it had a bollocks shield." Or "I wish this knife was 3.75" instead of 4.25"." It's going to be my knife, I want it my way. Occasionally I see a knife from a maker that's just right, but those instances are few and far between.

It's a pity so many makers only sell knives they want to make. I understand their reasons for doing so, but if I'm going to buy a knife that's someone else's ideal I might as well save myself some money and buy a production piece.

- Christian
 
First this is good news and I wish you the best.

Grinds, does this knife at least look like it will cut. ;)
Fit and finish.
Blades: dead center.
Is the trasition from handle material to cap/bolster smooth? Do you like the way it looks?
Backsprings: do they look like one piece of metal and is everything lined up and flush with the liners and eachother (if there is more than one backspring.)
Action is smooth and the blade(s) act as if they want to be open, closed or at 1/2 stop with authority. When the knife is open or at 1/2 are the backsprings nice and flush with the liners and eachother.
Are the grinds nice and even.
Is the master blade to handle ratio right. Good rule of thumb for me is the handle being no more than 1/2 an inch or so longer than the blade, but that varies to the pattern and style of knife also. (a fixed blade carving knife might have a handle 2.5 to 3 times or more longer than the blade.)

My favorite makers in no particular order:
Don Hanson III
Ken Erickson
Bill Ruple
Joel Chamblin
Richard Rogers
Eugene Shadley
Terry Davis
Mike Zscherny
Kerry Hampton
Shigeru Tozaki
Ryuichi Kawamura
Tom Overeynder
Tony Bose
Reese Bose
Jared Oeser
Joe Allen
Todd Davidson

There are qiote a few other makers I am following or whose work I own that deserve mention, but those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

Go at it with a passion and good luck.
 
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Oh man, I can only hope that you can add Evan S. Nicolaides to that list one day!

Passion is all I have for knives, I'll give it my all and see what I can do. Hopefully I can be proud enough of my beginnings to keep on with my work and not lose any steam! It's just too much fun!!
 
I like to see a variety of handle options, perfectly centered blades and if using steel liners I want to not be able to tell there are 3 pieces of metal sandwiched together.

I also like higher end stainless like BG-42, s30v, CPM154, and etc that are satin finished and not mirror polished.
 
Bastid summed it up well! I look for freatures that are out of the norm in production knives, and most important symmetry and fit and finish. Unique scales are a great bonus as well, for example I just ordered a custom with armadillo scales.
 
This advice comes from several makers I know... Make a knife to the best of your abilities, then find the most experienced knifemaker you can and let him/her see it in person. You will get a lot of feedback on all fronts and probably a fair amount of advice for cleaning up anything that's less than perfect. You'll also get good business advice on pricing, taking orders or closing books, etc.
 
kc custom said:
Specific things to look for in a custom traditional?
A clean solid build.
Ken.
Click to expand...

What Ken said. The other crucial element is the proportions of the knife; if I were offered two knives with patterns that I liked equally, I'd choose the knife with the best proportions and maybe a couple of bobbles in execution over a knife with perfect execution and slightly disproportionate blade to handle ratio. I also don't care for busy knives, so filework doesn't do anything for me, nor do elaborate bolster treatments. As far as steels for personal purchase, I prefer the non-stainless varieties. I'm pretty open minded when it comes to covers, with good stag being at the absolute top, followed by ebony or blackwood, then jigged bone, and micarta for shadow pattern knives.

James
 
I am new to knives but have dreamed of the many I see on the exchange. The number one thing that catches my eye is the cleanness (is cleanness a word) and over all symmetry. Does it look like it took a day to build or a month. A second thing I look for is if it is a recreation of something else. I personally prefer originality over a copy. I don't know nearly as much as the guys posted above, or even after this post, but I think Capitalizedliving gives some great advice. Kamagong has a great point w/ flexibility. A good brown appaloosa and a pitch black African Blackwood are my favorites. My only other suggestion is this, there is a balance of many variables to a great knife and because of this, have patience and grace on yourself and your work till you find it. You do great work from what I have seen and read. Don't give up your passion when it gets hard.
 
I agree with Christian here.
Aside from quality in the general sense of the word (from clean build to blade grinds to anything else), I think that a "real" custom knife is basically a one-of-a-kind knife.
That's great when it comes from the maker's will to express his art and vision, and take the challenge into something new.
And it's even better when it comes from the collaboration of the maker and the customer on a design or idea.
That's my opinion, and my personal experience made this opinion even stronger.
To be totally honest, I sometimes struggle to consider some modern folders as custom knives, cause the "flexibility" factor is none (aside from, maybe, handle material or steel)...but again, that's just me.
Good luck with your new path :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
Thank you for all the great advice and wonderful words everyone! I appreciate you all taking the time to give me such thought out responses. All good points and great perspectives! They will be taken into heavy consideration as I plan out and practice these next couple of months. Thanks for the support!

-Evan
 
Lots of great info here. Things I look for:

Proportions and design - whether a new pattern or a take on an old pattern, how does everything look. Is the handle a pleasing shape with nice lines, same for the blade, and then do they go together well and look appropriate both open and closed.

Fit and finish - Custom knives should have a much higher level of fit and finish than production knives. My ideal is for a tight fit between liners and backspring, centered blade, zero blade play, flush spring in all positions, pull just right for the type of knife it is (a small pen knife can have a 4, a backpocket I'd like to see at a 7 and everything else somewhere in between depending upon what it's intended use is). Now...and I think this is important, one must remember these are handmade knives and perfection is rarely if ever achieved if you're willing to look close enough. This was a lesson that took me a while to learn but I think it's an important one. I picked up a custom knife recently that had a slightly off center blade, the maker even told me himself when I started looking at it. Didn't take away from the fact that I love the design and the overall quality was incredibly high. I decided that, as a complete package the knife was excellent and was something I wanted even with the blade being slightly off center. I've also seen other knives from some of the biggest names in the game with blades a touch off center, blade play, tiny gaps in the back spring to liner fit if you hold them up to the light, etc. These guys give it their and what they are able to produce blows me away, but don't forget this is one guy in a small shop with a small room full of tools and machines able to create what is essentially usable art. Don't lose sight of that fact over some small perceived flaw in construction. I know Tony Bose has said something to this effect before, something about makers not becoming something when they enter the shop....I tried to find the quote but couldn't, so if someone knows it off hand please post it...it is one of the things that helped me look at things properly.

Style - do I like the pattern and the way the visual treatment was executed. I like a variety of knives but not all. I'm not huge on filework, I appreciate the skill but it's not likely something I will want on a knife for myself. I don't love MOP as a handle either. I do love stag, good bone, and even micarta or wood. I like bolsters and I like shadows. I don't really like wharncliffes. You get the idea....it has to fit into the style of knives I like for myself and that can be a broad range but it doesn't include everything.

Materials and construction - do I like the blade steel and way it's built (shadow vs bolsters and things like that)

I've been lucky to have a handful of customs pass through my hands recently and they've all been impressive in one way or another. There are tons of great makers out there right now doing some amazing things. The ones that I've experience recently that I've really like a lot are:

Ken Erickson
Reese Bose
Tony Bose
Bret Dowell
Dr. T
Shadley

There are others who I haven't gotten to check out in person yet but really would like to from what I've seen:
Pena
Hampton
Davidson
Oeser
Kawamura
(edit - forgot some....Dunlap, Coats, Lloyd....the list goes on)

Right now the custom knife that I'm carrying is a Ken Erickson. I really like his work, he has amazing variety and will take on just about any pattern...stuff you just don't see other people making in the custom arena. But, for me, it came down to just finding that perfect type of knife in his 3.5" spearpoint EDC pattern. I have two now, one in micarta and one in stag and the stag has moved into pocket duty displacing the micarta I have carried for months. Ken is a great person, a pleasure to work with, and he's relatively local to me here in Wisconsin. He also adds a small touch by making his own pouches for his knives, something I'm not seeing anyone else do. They are great pig skin velcro pouches and just add a really fantastic final touch to a handmade knife, so much better than the ubiquitous zipper pouch. It's a little thing, but it sets him apart in my mind.
 
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