What are you interested in purchasing?

Currently, most of my edged tool acquisitions are trending towards those that are crafted from materials which are impervious to corrosion from saltwater exposure.
 
I enjoy all kinds of cutlery but the small Fighters, smaller edc/‘pocket knives’, and of course BIG KNIVES!!!

Any kind of red highlights get my juices flowing!!!:D
 
Rusev said:
What you want is very hard to make. Kitchen knives are big, warp a lot, a lot of grinding is involved. 62Hrc will destroy 2 ceramic belts and a few finishing belts. A good knife means 3 days of work at least and that can't be affordable...
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You are completely right! I did qualify my post by stating that the price should account for labor and materials, but this is a great point.

Affordable is a relative term though. A Wustof 8" chef's knife is approximately $170 (depending on where you look). "Affordable" in this context may mean anywhere from $150 to $350. I just mean "affordable" in light of what is being offered. Burl, zirc, and all those other details are fine, but a D shaped magnolia handle (or sculpted G10), or whatever, with good steel, good grind, and a proper heat treat would blow the doors off that Wustof performance wise. (Edit: the classic Wustof is in less than the best steel, at 58HRC).

Perhaps it is just me, but as an avid home cook, if I was given the option between two knives within, e.g., $50 of each other, where one looks nice in a block, and the other looks a little simpler but is miles better at, you know, actually cutting stuff, my choice would have been very easy.

I think your comment probably explains why we don't see this more, but I still think there is room for cutlery that closes or eliminates the performance gap between off the shelf knives and performance customs, perhaps at the expense of some more basic materials.
 
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Unfortunately this is sales forum and this thread can't stay, moved to Custom & Handmade Knives forum.
 
As long as it's ~4.5 - 8" blade, has a comfortably large and well thought out handle, and is complementary in geometry, shape etc, to what I already have, I'm interested.

Now, I'm kind of tired of the steels most often used by makers these days (Magnacut included). Pick something cool ! For example, I have a single fixed blade in 10V. Love this one ....

My 2 cents.
 
Thanks for the replies, a lot of varied responses to consider for sure! It definitely seems like most of you are looking for knives that will be used instead of looked at, whether that be hunters, edcs, kitchen, etc. . Price range seems to vary for most of you, but as a maker, I think somewhere in the range of $250-$350 is where I can make a good working blade with sheath. Any cheaper, and I feel like I have to cut too many corners on fit/finish which would otherwise make buying a factory blade a better choice.

As far as the correct forum, my apologies for putting this in the Knife Exchange. I figured most guys who buy view that section more than the forums, so thought it would see more results. Thanks for keeping this up and moving to the correct section.
 
the last custom knife I picked up was by Stoil Manchev and before that a very long time passed since I bought a custom knife. When I was in the habit of picking up the odd custom knife, what usually drew me to them was design. Secondary to that was who made it?
Design is important to me because I can't stand a mess. A knife should have flow and that flow should be informed by its intended use
The maker is important because there's a bazillion knives out there with zero personality, and I need to see the personality of the maker come through in the design. I need to like that personality.
I don't like wacky stuff that's all about grabbing attention. I like the quiet professional knives who get the job done
 
RazorD said:
I can only speak for me, but the stuff I look for most are EDC pocket carry under 3”. That’s what sees the most carry time so that’s what I like to buy.
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Not to be a salesman... but check out the pocket edcs I make. Maybe one day down the road we can get one made for ya if interested!
 
SCTorrero said:
You are completely right! I did qualify my post by stating that the price should account for labor and materials, but this is a great point.

Affordable is a relative term though. A Wustof 8" chef's knife is approximately $170 (depending on where you look). "Affordable" in this context may mean anywhere from $150 to $350. I just mean "affordable" in light of what is being offered. Burl, zirc, and all those other details are fine, but a D shaped magnolia handle (or sculpted G10), or whatever, with good steel, good grind, and a proper heat treat would blow the doors off that Wustof performance wise. (Edit: the classic Wustof is in less than the best steel, at 58HRC).

Perhaps it is just me, but as an avid home cook, if I was given the option between two knives within, e.g., $50 of each other, where one looks nice in a block, and the other looks a little simpler but is miles better at, you know, actually cutting stuff, my choice would have been very easy.

I think your comment probably explains why we don't see this more, but I still think there is room for cutlery that closes or eliminates the performance gap between off the shelf knives and performance customs, perhaps at the expense of some more basic materials.
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It is interesting to me as i made exactly, what you describe for myself. AEB-l stainless with cryo - 62 Hrc. Black G10 with carbon fiber pins. 1200 p hand finished satin. 0.5 mm behind the edge to cleave chicken bones and fish - (also my wife uses it, so it needs to be tough). For 5 years i have sharpened it two times at 18 degrees. The rest of the time, a strop on a sharpening steel is enough to get it to slice tomatoes clean. I also have a version out of 1.4034 stainless at 56 Hrc. The edge is ground to 0 and the steel is very thin. I use it only to dice vegetables.
 
A nice Loveless drop point style 4" or 5" blade with a nice small nickel silver guard and sharpening choil, in green micarta or some beautiful sambar stag scales. It needs to be made of a good all-around steel as well, maybe Elmax.
 
A Loveless City Knife or Stiff Horn true to Bob’s design. There seem to be some “in the style of Loveless” being made and sold, but they are bastardizations of his designs. Paring knives in thin flexible steel. Not many good ones…”Hey honey look what I got for you”…But really don’t make them all for the “market” make some that are your designs, find your style.
 
Lorien said:
the last custom knife I picked up was by Stoil Manchev and before that a very long time passed since I bought a custom knife. When I was in the habit of picking up the odd custom knife, what usually drew me to them was design. Secondary to that was who made it?
Design is important to me because I can't stand a mess. A knife should have flow and that flow should be informed by its intended use
The maker is important because there's a bazillion knives out there with zero personality, and I need to see the personality of the maker come through in the design. I need to like that personality.
I don't like wacky stuff that's all about grabbing attention. I like the quiet professional knives who get the job done
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I’m a fan of Stoil’s work too. Curious to see a pick of the knife you got if you’re willing to share
 
chucklethal said:
I’m a fan of Stoil’s work too. Curious to see a pick of the knife you got if you’re willing to share
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I'm not sure how appropriate it is to post pictures in this thread, but in this case, the knife that I was most interested in purchasing recently, (8 months ago) is this one. For all the reasons I outlined in text.
MKl15hd.jpg


I made a pouch for it, too
RPwLyo5.jpg
 
Lorien said:
I'm not sure how appropriate it is to post pictures in this thread, but in this case, the knife that I was most interested in purchasing recently, (8 months ago) is this one. For all the reasons I outlined in text.
MKl15hd.jpg


I made a pouch for it, too
RPwLyo5.jpg
Click to expand...

I remember when you grabbed it because I was oooogling it myself!!!!!!
Its a beauty!
 
Thats a really nice folder... I like the refinement with the hand rubbed blade but its not too over the top where you're gonna be afraid to use it. Definitely will be checking out his work!
 
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