What companies produce a truly handmade knife?

Joe,

My father (Bill Wilson) owns Wilson Combat/Scattergun Technologies. I grew up with Wilson Combat, being a young man with income and no real expenses, i began collecting handmade knives. I then began making knives and we offered our current model 1 through Wilson Combat in 1996. In 2000, I left Wilson Combat and formed my handmade knife company Wilson Tactical.

In January of this year, I accepted a position at Wilson Combat as the Marketing/Product Development Director. I still own and operate Wilson Tactical as I always have. Basically, I split my long days in half between the 2companies.
 
Ryan, my good friend..good to see you here. Keep asking questions, you will get a lot of answers here.

Anthony Lombardo
Your knives are handmade, thats for sure. There is big discussion here about what the definition of "custom" versus "handmade" vs "benchmade" really is. Keep asking questions!
 
What about Fallkniven? Surely, the blades are handground given the appel seed profile, no?
 
I do not know the answer to your question but your dad's co. made me my favorite handgun. Good luck to you on the knives wishing you the best.
bowie019-1.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Thats what I figured. Good to see a second generation guy continuing in the family business, particular when you guys make stuff thatI really like:D Your familly were one of the early pioneers in rekindling the love affair with the 1911 and while I am not a collector or maker of many "tactical' type knives, your stuff strikes me as being good looking and fairly priced versions of that genre. Keep up the good work. and welcome aboard:thumbup:
 
RogerP said:
I'm not sure I'm following the question.

If you're talking "companies" you're talking production pieces, not "custom" knives, right? If so, you are in the wrong forum.

I have always found the term "hand made" to be one step away from completely meaningless. All knives are made using tools of some kind.

Roger
Click to expand...

The forum name is Custom & Handmade Knives...that would seem to include handmade production knives...of course one could start arguing semantics...perhaps for handmade production knives to be included, the forum name would have to be Custom or Handmade Knives...:)

Don't get excited though...I'm just musing...:D

Ryan...Wilson Tactical makes some fine looking knives, by the way.:thumbup:

Ray :)
 
Ryan P. Wilson said:
Yes, our folder components are CNC machined in the USA to get the necessary precision. They are finished and assembled in house.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm looking at it from the sole authorship perspective, but that statement, to me means "mid-tech". I suppose there are as many different ways to look at it, as there are people making knives.
 
The confusion for me is seeing the production companies offering non-standard "custom" models, Busse custom shop made.. or "variants" for example.

Some other high end production knives... Emerson, Chris Reeve,, ..i would be curious to hear how these knives are made, who makes them. AG Russell also.. for instance,... all of the regularly featured catalogue knives?


One thing that has always baffled me, the "William Henry" knife- collector.

Where is the incentive to choose these over what might be called more "authentic" custom knives? ..where do they find a collector base to keep such a company afloat?

It reminds me of popular artists who can profit, making prints of their paintings. Limited edition prints, signed and numbered. .
David
 
2knife said:
The confusion for me is seeing the production companies offering non-standard "custom" models, Busse custom shop made.. or "variants" for example.

Some other high end production knives... Emerson, Chris Reeve,, ..i would be curious to hear how these knives are made, who makes them. AG Russell also.. for instance,... all of the regularly featured catalogue knives?


One thing that has always baffled me, the "William Henry" knife- collector.

Where is the incentive to choose these over what might be called more "authentic" custom knives? ..where do they find a collector base to keep such a company afloat?
It reminds me of popular artists who can profit, making prints of their paintings. Limited edition prints, signed and numbered. .
David
Click to expand...

Don't know where they find their collector base, but they certainly do.
Their quarterly offering of "custom Wm Henry's" ranging from about $700 to $12,000 sell out practically instantly each quarter.
 
Most companies have to use all the available technology to make enough product to stay alive. Many makers are finding out they can only compete by using the same technology production companies use.

Truth is many of the so called handmade knives being sold today are anything but that because they are done like productions more and more. I think that will be more likely found than to find production companies working more like traditional makers.

I guess you'd have to ask the right questions first to know your answers about production companies and many makers as well for that matter.

IE, do you contract out parts to have them and your blade blanks cut out for your from an outside source?

Do you use robots to make your folder and fixed blade parts? (read CNC programmed machines)

Do you make knives in mass from whole sheets and cut out the parts using water jet or non water jet laser cutters?

Do you grind your own blades by hand?

Isn't this very question currently on the table at the Guild regarding their bylaws and changes many makers want to see so they can make their knives like production companies and show them at Guild shows?

STR
 
I know some individual custom makers that start out with laser or water-jet cut blanks, then grind out the the blade and make the handles from whatever given material, etc. Some offer many handle, pin, blade steel, grind options etc. Some do their own HT some sent it out. To me, the use of a computer controlled laser to cut out the silhouette is not much different that getting size specific bar-stock, to start out with. Neither items are knives yet. The use of hands on a grinder to bring the flats down to the edge, whether convex, flat or hollow ground, the prep that handle for dcales or the tang for a handle, then the gluing, the pinning, the shaping. To me that's hand made. Two names come to mind when I think of this process; Tom Krein and Bark River Knife and Tool. One is a maker, the other a company. Both IMO make hand made knives and custom knives.

The only prominent maker who truly makes a "hand made" knife to my knowledge is Tai Goo. No power tools, although in his case he uses his entire body.
 
There is a certain mystique to a individual maker or, as in the case of Randall or Ruana. a shop full of knife gnomes making your blade. From a collectors standpoint, sole authorship and doing it "manually" as much as possible, may be more important. For the user market, it may be more important how much control and participation the maker has in the fashioning of the knife, no matter what methods or machines he uses. I would be more attracted to tactical knifes where the maker or group of makers did as much of the work as humanly possible themselves. I know that many times, it makes more sense economically, technically and time wise to send stainless blades to someone like Paul Bos and I am ok with that. I'm neutral about laser and waterjet blamking as long as it is disclosed. But I would prefer for the maker/shop to do asmuch as possible in house as long as they did it WELL. That is one of the primary reasons to buy from a maker as opposed to a big cutlery company...personal involvement in the process.
 
Ryan,
It seems to me there are very few shops that still make knives like you do, in quantities large enough to serve a modest dealer base.

In the past, there were numerous small shops like Anza, Rigid, Morseth and others that made "bench-made" knives. They were finished by more than one person using consistent parts, patterns, and methods.

In recent years, early, hollow ground Strider knives were made in this fashion (Hand scribed and ground) and all Mad Dogs are made in the one-at-a time style, although to a set pattern or style.

In my opinion, automated blank cutting and CNC blade grinding (back and bevels) are what seperates the "bench-made" knives from the "factory knives" although the definition is fuzzy.

For instance, Chris Reeve KNives Inc. also makes what I consider to be "Bench made" fixed blade knives. The knives are uniformly processed in batches, but the blades are hand ground and heat treated in house. BUT the handles are obviously CNC machined and I am sure they also laser or water jet cut their blanks.

Automated blanking and/or grinding are really the major steps that defines "production" in my book. These processes are not feasible unless you make a lot of knives, but for larger quantities saves a LOT of money usually spent in hand labor and materials costs like belts and band-aids. It also adds uniformity, so knives will always fit in the right sheaths, and you always gets the most blanks out of a sheet of steel..etc..

Your fixed blade knives could be considered custom knives by some collectors here as they are made in the traditional fashion. If your knives pass through several different hands in the process, they could be considered "Bench-made" and still "Hand Made"-however, many established custom makers (Like Loveless) have helpers, partners, assistants etc, so again, the line is blurry.

Your folders would probably be considered "Mid-Tech" by most collectors here even though you hand grind the blades.

It is really important not to get wrapped up in the semantics becaue most of your customers probably don't really care. At the end of the day, quality and design are the most important factors to most knife buyers, not whether the blade comes off a Bader grinder (hand)or Berger (CNC grinder).
 
2knife said:
One thing that has always baffled me, the "William Henry" knife- collector.

Where is the incentive to choose these over what might be called more "authentic" custom knives? ..where do they find a collector base to keep such a company afloat?

David
Click to expand...

I have a friend that invests in collectibles such as coins, precious metals, gemstones and a few knives. He is pretty saavy and I would say invests wisely.

I was surprised when we were talking custom knives and he mentioned William Henry. I would say it was the advertising that got his interest as he doesn't go to knife shows or participate in knife related forums.

Peter
 
William Henry Knives are elegantly designed, beautifully finished, have unique handle treatments and have NO waiting. People LOVE that. Because of these variables, along with an element or rarity, they have become a collectible force in the knife business.

They are not sole-author custom knives, but they sure are custom quality and are nicer than many custom knive sin their price range. Some people do not care about semantics, they just care about the end result.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top