update on affordable customs?

diamdave

diamdave

Joined
Nov 29, 2001
Messages
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I asked this question a couple of years ago, but it seems as though prices, materials, etc have changed. Can you offer some names of affordable ($100-150) knifemakers out there? I used to buy from Gary Bradburn, don't know if he is still making knives, and I see Mickey Yurco has upped his prices a bit. Who else?
 
diamdave said:
Can you offer some names of affordable ($100-150) knifemakers out there?
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Maybe some makers can pay for food and living expenses handmaking knives of acceptible quality and going through the logistics of selling etc. at a price of $100 to $150, but at that price point one would almost need to be living in China! Surely there are a few who offer in that range.

Around the $500 range, Steven Garsson started a great thread on available affordable makers, great suggestions here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364445&highlight=affordable

Just to get something "functional", many factory knives have pretty good fit and finish etc. at the $100 to $150 mark, I'd almost feel like I wasn't paying someone for their time to buy a custom / hand made knife (with heat treat, the overhead in equipment, their time and materials involved) at that price point.

At any rate, actual bargain makers are outlined well in that thread of Steven's.

Frank H.
 
Frank:

I don't want any knifemaker to NOT make a living.

But in the past 4 years or so, makers like Greco, Bradburn, Yurco, May (as pointed out to me) Webb and others have managed to produce a quality product and, I presume, not go on welfare. So, I'm just looking for other talented knifemakers who might be able to do the same thing. That's all.
 
If ever there was a version of knives as "crack" this has got to be it.

I think he is charging $175.00, but check his website.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I have said this before and can't stress it enough, Dave Winston makes an outstanding knife and his prices are generally below 200.00. He also forges his own damascus, I have a few of his pieces and they exhibit top notch fit and finish for what he charges.
 
If you are looking at fixed blade knives there are quite a few in that range. GenO Denning is one of them. For folders, Greco is still around and makes three models, I think.
 
Kohai999 said:
If ever there was a version of knives as "crack" this has got to be it. I think he is charging $175.00, but check his website.
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Yessir, that's a great call Steven! Burt's site does still list that knife at that price, "what a bargain" at even several degrees higher in price:

http://www.burtfoster.com/

Here's the "blue collar hunter" model Steven referred to:
http://www.burtfoster.com/hunters/hunter_04.htm

Off the subject (and moving up in price), Burt's got a great pictoral on making Damascus, wow, lots of work, even with good equipment:
http://www.burtfoster.com/the_craft/making_damascus_knife/Making damascus hunter.htm

Frank H.
 
I have heard gene ingram makes rather good knives around the specified price range. I have a pocket wharncliffe due in feb '06
 
Del Blue, Jason Cutter, Thuens prinsloo, Stiann Prinsloo, Arno Bernard...all do nice work at a good price.
 
Frank-H said:
Maybe some makers can pay for food and living expenses handmaking knives of acceptible quality and going through the logistics of selling etc. at a price of $100 to $150, but at that price point one would almost need to be living in China! Surely there are a few who offer in that range.

Around the $500 range, Steven Garsson started a great thread on available affordable makers, great suggestions here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364445&highlight=affordable

Just to get something "functional", many factory knives have pretty good fit and finish etc. at the $100 to $150 mark, I'd almost feel like I wasn't paying someone for their time to buy a custom / hand made knife (with heat treat, the overhead in equipment, their time and materials involved) at that price point.

At any rate, actual bargain makers are outlined well in that thread of Steven's.

Frank H.
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Some of us can't afford the $500 "affordable" custom knives. For that end, there are apparently many makers who are willing and able to make cheaper knives in the $100-$200 range, maybe with a lower quality, but they market to those of us on a tighter budget. If they couldn't make a living selling those, they wouldn't sell them at that price.

I've detected in several threads in this forum a certain disdain for those of us who can't pay +$300 for a custom knife. Like we're somehow contributing to the destruction of the knifemaking art or something. It really is a little hurtful to me that some people (And I don't mean to pick on you, Frank, I know that you're sticking up for knifemakers, who admittedly seldom make fortunes) get offended when all some of us want is to find the best custom knife we can afford.
 
madcap_magician said:
Some of us can't afford the $500 "affordable" custom knives. For that end, there are apparently many makers who are willing and able to make cheaper knives in the $100-$200 range, maybe with a lower quality, but they market to those of us on a tighter budget. If they couldn't make a living selling those, they wouldn't sell them at that price.

I've detected in several threads in this forum a certain disdain for those of us who can't pay +$300 for a custom knife. Like we're somehow contributing to the destruction of the knifemaking art or something. It really is a little hurtful to me that some people (And I don't mean to pick on you, Frank, I know that you're sticking up for knifemakers, who admittedly seldom make fortunes) get offended when all some of us want is to find the best custom knife we can afford.
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There are many types of makers out there. If a maker is living solely off of $100 knives, than they must be selling LOTS of them. Logically, the only way to do that is to spend less time on each.

If you ask me, I'd spend $100 on a production knife before I'd buy a quickly made custom. Hard to beat the precision of a machine.
 
mad-cap, I appreciate your post... I realize I may have helped in making you feel that way, as I gave you a rather smart a$$ reply in a thread of yours. I had misunderstood what you were looking for... but then again, I'm a real smart-a$$ anyway ;) :)

Point being, I sure never intended to make you feel like you're not looking to spend "enough." I appreciate any and all interest, just as my fellow custom makers do. Everybody here has some similar interests... hell, that's why we're here.

I'm glad to hear about people buying/using/collecting whatever they like and can afford. Well, with the exception of Franklin Mint knives! :p :D

Just some of my perpetual and unnecessary $0.02 :D
 
Ed Caffrey a Mastersmith in the ABS,makes or used to make a small fixed blade knife called EBK.Came with a kydex sheath.It used to be around $125-150,-if I remember correctly.If he still makes them,that will be a vey nice knife to get.
Murray Carter, another mastersmith in the ABS makes some lower end fixed blade knives around $150 or so.Maybe price has gone up in recent days.
 
At $150 and under, you're probably looking at small fixed blades. I recall coming across tables at the Blade 2005 Show with quality knives in this range. Off the top of my head are these names:

Wayne Hendrix
Jerry Hendrix (no relation to Wayne)
Barry Dawson

I also managed to pick up a thin bladed, bamboo handled utility by Joe Cardova (Mastersmith) for $60.

At Blade 2004 I picked up a small/mid size hunter by Wes Byrd, a Journeyman Smith, for $150.

There were others too during both years, but I can't recall their names because they were new to me during the time and Blade is overwhelming enough as it is. But if you can make it to the Blade show, you'll be able to make contact with several custom makers that offer fixed blades in that range.

On the net, Arno Bernard's knives show up often and the smaller ones are within that range. I've handled his knives in person and they are quality in fit and finish. (I just don't like the look of the big logo he has on his blade...a quirk of mine).

If you can manage another $50, so the limit goes up to $200, it opens it up further:

Bob Dozier's baseline is $185 for a wide variety of knives. People don't mention the fit and finish as often as they should with his knives because their designs don't make those things apparent, but the quality as far as even grinds, tight fit, symmetry, etc., are all up there with the best. And the cutting performance is second to none.

Again at Blade, I came across Larry Page's table, and Sydney Moon's, both of whom had knives just at $200 or slightly below. And these were mid-sized hunters (3.5"-4" blades) with beautiful wood, nickel silver guards, mirror polish, and precise fit and finish.

Raymond Smith, a Mastersmith, has several styles for around $200. His version of the Marbles Woodcraft goes for under $200 last I saw.

And here, among makers who post for sale ads, are the aforementioned Gene Ingram, Charles May, and David Winston. There's also Al Alexander (aablades), Robert Appleby, Bob Ham, Ivan Campos, again all off the top of my head (I'm sure I'm missing some noteworthy ones).
 
Steven Roos said:
If you ask me, I'd spend $100 on a production knife before I'd buy a quickly made custom. Hard to beat the precision of a machine.
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From a simply functional standpoint, I'd have to agree, but I think a lot of the reason we're looking for cheaper customs is because we'd like to own something a little more unique than a one out of two hundred thousand Spyderco Manix. There really is something special about something made by human hands.

NickWheeler said:
mad-cap, I appreciate your post... I realize I may have helped in making you feel that way, as I gave you a rather smart a$$ reply in a thread of yours. I had misunderstood what you were looking for... but then again, I'm a real smart-a$$ anyway ;) :)

Point being, I sure never intended to make you feel like you're not looking to spend "enough." I appreciate any and all interest, just as my fellow custom makers do. Everybody here has some similar interests... hell, that's why we're here.

I'm glad to hear about people buying/using/collecting whatever they like and can afford. Well, with the exception of Franklin Mint knives! :p :D

Just some of my perpetual and unnecessary $0.02 :D
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No, that's ok, I misstated what I was looking for, evidently, as well, drawing a lot of confusion. After doing a little research, I saw that I was offering for what everyone THOUGHT I wanted was about 1/5 of the going price, rather than what I actually wanted, where my offer was much closer to realistic. I can understand why some makers or collectors might have been a little offended. It was just a matter of misunderstanding that never quite got cleared up. Somebody got upset at what I was trying to get and posted too quickly, then a few more people jumped on, and then I got there and didn't understand why everyone wanted to lynch me... but it's okay I think.
 
Ed Caffrey is an ABS Mastersmith and he makes a superb small fixed blade, typically with differentially heat treated 1080 blades, for $165. It's called the EBK and the page is here: http://www.caffreyknives.net/EBK Update Page.html

A couple pics from Ed's site:
Mar05EBKDP.jpg


EBK%20II.jpg


He doesn't take orders for those, they're available on a first come, first served basis.
 
Keep your eyes open. You'll find knives in many places. My first custom was $25 from an amish farmer at the market. It sees daily use in my kitchen, L6 sawblade steel, upsewpt small fixed blade, walnut handle, copper pins, sheath, the edge lasts forever. My second was a Sean Perkins I found on the internet for $50, A2 chisel convex grind, differential heat treat, sheath, good little hobby knife. Livesay used to sell a lot of small knives from 30 - 90 $. Bumping up a bit, you can get a Gary Crowder slipjoint for about $200. I've seen "no-name" single bladed slipjoints of good quality for $100 to $150 at knife shows. You have to either see and examine or be willing to gamble if using the internet, since quality at this level can be marginal and/or vary.
 
madcap_magician said:
Some of us can't afford the $500 "affordable" custom knives.
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I hear ya, and my apologies if the tone of anything I said sounded snobby etc. I've had times where I could afford $500 to $1,000 "easily", and right now isn't one of those times to tell you the truth, so I'm not speaking from a point of having a lot of money (right now).

This thread brought out more great options than I was aware of, that's a great thing! I think part of my perception re: where I choose to spend money on custom knives comes from my experiences with low / mid / high end on other things, pellet guns for instance.

I used to have a handful of various "pretty easy to afford" Crosman, Gamo etc. pelletguns, I'd not be happy with the accuracy or trigger or fit and finish but I'd buy something else new if "it didn't cost very much". Then finally I saved up and got a $300 used German high quality gun, and my collection rapidly got SMALLER but higher quality, and I enjoyed what I had a lot more, great triggers, great accuracy, great pride of ownership. (Gotta love those Weihrach's, FWB's and Walthers).

I had to sell many of those recently, and they brought good prices because they had good value, I lost money in a much bigger percentage on the lower end items that were cheaper to acquire. That all said, there's some great bargains revealed on this thread! Especially if a smaller knife is on the shopping list.

Being happy with what you have a year later etc I've found is at least as important a buying criteria than what it cost to have it today. If all that fits together, you found the right deal!

Frank H.
 
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