The good.....list the custom makers

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nbf

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As a new member to Blade Forums, I am amazed at the quality input and overall opinions of the members. Personally , I only purchase knives from custom makers as I support the local community and financially help them so they can keep on creating wonderful products. I would like a list of ONLY the "GOOD" custom makers who members have experience with ordering through. The knife style doesn't matter. There are many people like myself who enjoy hand made materials but are concerned about getting ripped off. This list would be a big help. Thank you in advance---Drew
 
David Clark is one of the best I've dealt with. I've had many customs made, but he is in league all to himself. If you want to commission your own design he is one of the best. I dealt with a couple dozen and they are all great.

A few more I've had the pleasure to deal with and in random order are... Gustavo Cecchini, Grimsmo Bros, Ramon Chavez, Todd Begg, Rick Barrett, Jason Guthrie, Andre Van Heerden, Ray Laconico, Elliott Williamson, Mick Strider and Chris Martin.
 
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My personal list of makers I've got knives from (direct from the maker) through Bladeforums, actual user name as it appears here followed by real name etc.:

- waterstoneblades (Matt)

- DanGraves

- HardEdgeKnives (Kelley Ward)

- rjfm1972 (RMOK Knives, Rick)

- Austin Goldman

- AF (Aaron Freeman)

- Hankins (Robert Hankins)

- Steve Vanderkolff

- SRG Knives (Justin)


That's it for me. All have been excellent to deal with. :thumbup:
 
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JK Knives (John Kiedaisch) I've ordered 3 knives from him and he has been extremely helpful and communicated very well. He is honest and down to earth. Couldn't ask for more.
 
I have experience with only one, Ken Coats. Although it was not ordered by me as such, it was was a knife made by him for sale here on BF. Extremely nice work, fit and finish. Recommended.
 
I have purchased a number of knives from Ray Laconico. Fantastic knives and Ray is great to deal with. Dan Graves is another as is Nick Wheeler.
 
Edit: okay so I don't want this to look like a list of the only makers I "trust". I have had nothing but great interactions with every maker on this site and I fully expect that trend to continue. The list of makers I wouldn't hesitate to buy from (if i had the cash!) is longer than the list of makers I have bought from and I think that speaks to the integrity of the guys here. So rather than give a list of makers I approve of I'm going to list the makers I've bought from and what in particular I liked about their work. I highly recommend the OP or anyone else to have a look at these guys' work and that of all of the other knife makers on this site.

Bacustomknives aka Bill Akers - uses some of the nicest damascus and most insane ( ;) ) handle scales I've ever seen. His fit and finish are excellent and his knives are probably the most comfortable I've ever held.
DPKnives - solid knives, excellent value for money and excellent to deal with
LucyCustomKnives (aka Overmountain Knife and Tool) - the small utility blade I bought from him has been one of my favourite cutters (it features on his website) and a great guy
DCLKnives - interesting and thoughtful designs, great handle ergonomics, very clean fit and finish and uses some interesting materials.
Marcin Bona - phenomenal fit and finish, awesome aesthetics and utilitarian designs. Also some of the most comfortable knives I've held
Matt Bailey - very nice fit and finish, great melding of materials and probably the sharpest knife I've bought. Also an absolutely great guy.
Austin Goldman - solid quality materials and an industry standard (Bos) heat treat at a very good price.
M.Presnell - solid work, utilitarian and thoughtful design and excellent value for money
Jason Wilder - I have one of his neckers and it's my current favourite knife. The ergos are great and the fit and finish is pretty much flawless. An absolute pleasure to use.
Dan Graves - Dan's pattern welded steel is really nice, very clean grinds, great matching with the handles, a real gentleman to deal with and unbelievable value
Bama - very clean grinds, incorporates stag handle scales very nicely, comfortable and good ergonomics.
G L Drew - comfortable, great looking, great grinds and rock solid. Everything you could ask for in a knife at any price, and a great guy to deal with.

I'm also eagerly awaiting a package from Kelley from HardEdgeKnives.
...and I know I'm forgetting someone
I've inconsistently used screen names or actual names but you will find them easily enough if you want.

There are certainly differences in quality, price and style but I think each of them makes a product worth at least as much they charge.

Enjoy
 
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AA Forge Knives (Adam Gray) - extremely talented maker with his own forum here. He makes both forged knives and stock-removal knives. I cannot say enough good things about him or his knives.

Gray Wolf Knives (Aaron Gray) - His knives are generally less costly, but very well done and among the sharpest tools you will find.

DP Knives (Doug Dart) - A great guy to work with, Doug makes beautiful knives that deserve much more attention than they seem to get.

JK Handmade Knives (John Kiedaisch) - John has his own forum here and is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His heat treat is fantastic: resulting in tools that can withstand incredible abuse. John is well known for making your design come to life. The handles, on his knives, are extremely comfortable in the hand.

While there are many makers who deserve your consideration, the above 4 are my favorite makers and I have purchased numerous knives directly from each of them. I highly recommend all four of them.
 
Three sisters forge(Jim Allen)
Olamic Cutlery (Eugene) not going to butcher his last name.
These are two I've dealt with personally and have nothing but good things to say about them and their products.
Mike and Sue over at Grayman knives are good people as well.
 
I know a list would be nice, but why not just use the forum to look for negative feed back before you buy?
Most scammers are pretty much talked about here if they have ripped someone off.

For me just because someone bought a knife from a maker and it went well, doesn't mean he could not rip off the next guy.
It's happened before. Also it looks bad to me to have a thread like this, kind of says knife makers are a bunch of crooks.
When really most all of them are stand up guys, just a few make them look bad.

Anyway here are a few that make slip joint knives, that are good guys.:)


Tony Bose
Reese Bose
Bill Ruple
Joel Chamblin
P.J. Tomes
Kerry Hampton
Rick Menefee
Brett Dowell
Todd Davison
Ken Erickson
Jerry Halfrich
Ray Cover Sr.
Hiroaki Ohta
Mike Alsdorf
Bill Vining
Ken Coats
Don Hanson III
Clifton Polk
Wes Davis
Joe Allen
J.B. Moore (James)
John Howser
Eugene Shadley
J. Normen
Tony Huffman
John Fraps
Tim Balda
Ryuichi Kawamura
C. Gray Taylor
Terry Davis
Jack Davenport
Joel Norfork
Rusty Preston
Dan Burke
Bailey
Don Marrow
Mike Zscherny
Rick Browne
Tim Britton
Keith Johnson
Richard Rogers
Johnny Stout
Jeff Claiborne
Bruce Bump
Tommy Gann
Enrique Pinea
Ray Smith
Ian VanReneen
Edie T. Elsmore
John Smith
Murray Sterling
W.B. "Bill" Stoddart
David Taylor
C. Tenny
L.J. Thompson
Arthur Washburn
Billy Watson
Wally Watts
Pat West
Ken Woosley
Michael F. Zima
Lin Rhea
Harvey Dean
Steve Dunn
Ryan Mythew - ? spelling?
A.C. Warren
Gary Crowder
Gene Wiseman
Claude Montjoy
Jeremy Steely
Jeff Mutz
Jim Dunlap
Jerald Nickels
T.R. Overeynder
Joe Kious
Jess Horn
Don Robinson
Jim Serven
Warren Osborne
Lowell Royster
H. K. Parker
Richard Plunkett
Paul Reynolds
Lynn Sampson
Ernie Self
Stan Shew
Toshiaki Shikayama
Bob Sims
Bill Simons
Michael J. Skellern
Jack Barrett
Lothar Berg
Larry Berely II
Robert Blasingame
Philip W. Booth
Dennis Bradley
Jerry D. Collett
George Copeland
Jim Corrado
Don Corwin
Chris Crawford
Al Crenshaw
Barry Davis
Dwayne Dushane
R.O. "Russ" Easler
R. Van Elkins
Kaj Embresten
Billy Foster
Tomonari Hamada
Yoshiaki Hattori
Harumi Hirayama
Steve Hoel
J. B. Hodge
John H. Holland
Roy Humenick
Bob jones
R.C. Knipstein
Ed Kramp
Yasushi Kabota
Paul Lebatard
James Lott
Mike Mann
Ty Montell
Ted Moore
Jack Mosher
Paul Myers
Hidetoshi Nakayama
Dan Nedved
Rick Nowland
Rod Olson
Doc Hagen
John Loyd
Craig Brewer
Beryl Driskill
Brent Cramer

Welcome to the forums......
 
Hi Al,
Thanks for the response. I guess you are correct in a way that I could just check for bad experiences but I wanted to highlight the good. I know there could be a good maker that just has a bad few months etc....but I don't like to harp on the negative. The list is really for me or anyone else to use who are new to this. Many of the members here like yourself work with standup guys and thats who I want to send business to. A forum community is very crucial for the information it carries. We all work hard for our money and have basically the same interests. Any help your list provides is worth it. I am not worried if a knife maker is offended, which they shouldn't be from this list. I worry about myself or someone here losing there hard earned money. Thank you for your short list :) Gives me much to look over. Thank you again.
Drew
 
Thanks you all for your replies. Now I have enough blade makers to look into to last me many years :)
Drew
 
Oh by the way. Just received a folder from Alan Davis. Very Very happy with the knife, contact and delivery. I learned about his work through this forum and the customer feedback.
 
I hate to side-step the thread but it is far easier to list the POS makers.

There are far too many good guy Makers, somewhere around 99% who I would trust (but still not pre-pay in full) to treat me fairly and honestly. I was about to compile a list but for fear of missing one of the good guys I stopped.
To the great Makers I thank you so very very much for keeping this great hobby of mine going strong.

To the dirtbag makers I thnk you very very much for keeping me on my toes!!!
 
nbf said:
Oh by the way. Just received a folder from Alan Davis. Very Very happy with the knife, contact and delivery. I learned about his work through this forum and the customer feedback.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised Alan wasn't mentioned sooner. I've never had the pleasure to deal with him personally but I'm a big fan of his knives. Great looking and working pieces. Had one for a short time but it was too pretty to use. Still regret trading it though.
 
It would be much easier to make a list of makers that lack certain 'characteristics' most people would find important when spending a large sum of money on a knife....

With that said, a search will accomplish the same thing.

+1 on Alan Davis, I own two of his knives, one he made me to my specs when I know he didn't have the time....not enough good I can say about Alan.
 
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