Using your customs

C

crada

Joined
Sep 25, 1999
Messages
11
Just curious--
How many of you actually use your valued customs? For special work? light? heavy? Just to admire (which is fine, too)?

It's a great feeling getting a new custom, so I usually enjoy looking at it for at least a week or so. After the honeymoon, I normally put mine to work (unless the top a grand).

Ken
 
Hi Crada,
I don't have an extensive collection of "Customs" yet, but I hvave seven (with 2 more being made now). I have follen into the pattern of wearing one "Custom" along with my Leatherman on a daily basis. The Leatherman does the hard work, and the "Custom de jour" can swiftly dispatch any vicious box tape or similar soft items needed. I think for me personally, this is a good answer to the problems posed by carrying a "custom".
Take care,
Brian

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Brian-The new knife in the Block, and definitely not the sharpest!
 
I have customs from Crawford, Elishewitz, Carson & Darrel R. - Pat, Kit & Darrel have all told me personally that I have to use their knives - they make them to be used & enjoyed, not looked at - and if they get a little beat up they will restore them to new. The point is they want them to be used and stand behind their work. Now, there are many "ART" knives being made that I wouldn't consider using - they are too fancy & expensive so I think you have to base using on the category/style of knife. I think most any maker of using/"tactical" knives would hope you would use them - Part of the enjoyment of a great knife is the pleasure resulting from its use - using a tool that is designed to perform & handle exceptionally well.
My thoughts!

Bill
 
You also need to consider the future value of the custom knife. In mint condition it might be worth a small fortune in a few years.

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"Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!"
 
I have wondered the same thing about customs. I own none, yet, but kind of feel like it'd be a waste if I never carried it. How could one decide if the knife will have future potential for high value? I think that I have decided to put my money into knives that I can use and put my money into stocks as an investment. But then again...

~Mitch
 
L6,
Good point - that's why I think you have to separate the tactical/user knife from the Art knife regarding usage - the tactical knife of today probably won't appreciate much over the next few years - there are too many very good to exceptional ones being made now so there will be many on the market. Whereas your high-end art knives should appreciate if they are kept in pristine mint condition. My feeling is that if the knife is not going to appreciate much, why not use and enjoy it and get your money's worth out of it. There are dealers/purveyers on the Forums here that could give you a better reading on the market and advice as to whether or not to use.

Bill
 
Anybody ever see the movie "This is Spinal Tap"? Remember the seen where Nigel is showing Marty all of his guitars. They get to that one where Nigel says:
"Look at this one, it still has the old tagger on it. Never been played or anything. Absolutely MINT"
Marty starts to point at the guitar and Nigel screams:
"Don't touch it"
Marty says:
"I was just looking at it"
Nigel replys:
"Don't even look at it"

I think theres a point where things with "custom knives" can get out of hand. After all a knife is just that, a knife. Which when you get down to it is a tool that is used to cut. Now that does'nt mean that you take your $800.00 knife and throw it in your tool box but I think using it as intended now and then is certainly within reason, and expected. "Art Knives" are of course a different story. Like the above example, you don't buy guitars to just look at, you buy them to play, first and foremost. Otherwise you might as well call yourself a "museum curator" and not a collector. Big difference IMHO.
 
Basically if I want to use and carry them I do. Price and pedigree does influence my decision. In my opinion it is possible to collect and not use a knife.

Examples:
Does a coin collecter handle his mint state coins? (If he does and is not careful the value of the coin drops by large multiples in most cases since the coin is no longer mint state.) Most likely that coin is encased (sometimes by a grading service) and is kept that way and enjoyed.

Does a Stamp collector use his stamps and ask his friends to mail them back so he can put them in his collection? Most likely no they place them in a book and enjoy them.


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"Life is too short to carry an ugly knife." Steve F.
 
If I won't use a custom,I will sell it or trade it.Anyone i have i use and carry,not abuse but use.I even carried my CQC6 that was bought on the secondary market,to me it just doesn't make any sense to buy a fine piece of steel and not use it.No drawer riders here !
 
Ken, thats a great question. As a custom maker of basically hunting and fishing kniives (I don't build collector pieces) I encourage all my customers to use their knife. They are built to use and to last. I get a great deal of satisfaction when a client comes back from a hunt and has good things to say about the performance of the knife. As you know most custom knives are pretty especially if they are handled in some of the beautiful exotic woods that are availble today, but a knife is a tool and should be used unless again it is a collector piece.
Steve
 
I encourage my customers to use my knives. If they go in a display case, they may or may not buy another knife from me. If they use them, they usaully come back for more. Sometimes for them, sometimes for a friend or relative, or maybe they will just send other knife users my way. Knives are made to cut with (atleast most of them). How can you truly appreciate them, if you don't use them?

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Lynn Griffith-Knifemaker

My website
GriffithKN@aol.com


 
Aesthetic appeal is something I look for, but mostly I want the thing to cut! Most of my favorite makers (Ralph, Elishewitz, Griffith, Reeve, Dozier) make serious cutting tools, no matter how lovely they appear. I don't own a knife that I wouldn't use.

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James Segura
San Francisco, CA


 
As usual, I agree with the Saint. I will not own a knife I wouldn't, or couldn't use. Even my customs see hard work. The knife I take hunting is a custom, and the knives I practice combatatives are customs. If it's pretty and I can't use it, I won't buy it.

Matt
 
Most of my customs are going toward the dress/carry catagory, and are intended to be used.
resonable use- reasonable care
I recently stated on a similar thread- what difference does it make, if you don't plan on selling them? If you are investing to resell, then you need to keep 'em mint.
I say, use 'em till we die and let somebody else worry about how much we devalued them.
 
I don't have any expensive customs but, I do have two customs from makers here in SC that I've used this year to skin deer. Each of these knives were under the $200 price point so IMHO they were intended to be used.

Really don't know if I could bring myself to use a knife that cost more than my mortgage payment
wink.gif
. Guess I could try...
 
Life is too short not to use a fine knife.

Its funny, but a person will wear a $5k Rolex (though it keeps no better time than a $29 Timex), yet will not carry a $700.00 knife that will function *much* better than its less expensive counterpart, not counting the esthetic, tactile (NOT tactical
smile.gif
) value.

And cars? Hoo boy....

Saved 10k on the car and 4k on the watch... hehehehehe, thats some knife!!

-Michael

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Chefget's Knife Page


 
I can't see how I could totally enjoy my knives if I couldn't use them. I use ALL my customs and they include my Ed Fowler Proghorn, my Griffith knives (these knives scream to be used), my Gleason (Corduroy-have 4 of them!) and my Bill Winn folder.

Funny thing is I have some Buck 532's that I haven't used yet though no knife in my house is safe.
smile.gif


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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

 
Great post. I have a very extensive collection of Striders, Emersons, and Mad Dogs. Most started out being carried, then I start seeing their value and the dilema begins. I've kind of compromised now. I still carry and beat the piss out of the Striders, and I've started carrying production Emersons instead of the customs. Every so often I'll feel like carrying one of the customs and it doesn't bother me. I think the only one that hasn't been carried alot is my Emerson Rhino.

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He who advances is sure of heaven-He who retreats of eternal damnation.
 
Guess I'm in the minority here 'cause I keep most of my customs in glass cases and even wash my filthy hands before I handle em! Their prices range from around $800 to $2400 and I have absolutely no desire to do anything to them that might leave behind even a hairline. I draw the line for users at around $500 or (hopefully) less. Tattoo, that Brian Tighe Pinnacle I bought from you is a good example of a user for me. I don't need to mess up a bunch of valuable knives. I believe that when it comes to high-end stuff, we have a "caretaker obligation" to keep them in perfect condition. I think it's wasteful to do otherwise. I understand that most of you agree that "art" knifes should be cared for, but when does a knife become "art?" Is it based solely on monetary value, or perhaps the intent of the maker? I've handled a few $500 knives that I'd really hate to use, even though they might serve quite well as a tool. How many users do you need anyway before you end up with a whole bunch of expensive scratched tools that all perform the same function? I'm not attacking anyone's views here; just stating my own.
 
I use most of my customs, the ones i dont use i wind up selling or trading (these seems to be a common thing).

The knives i make are all users, and so far everyone that i have sold to uses them...hard.



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"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"
Thomas Jefferson

 
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