Sole Authorship vs. Custom vs. Handmade vs. Mid-Tech vs. Production vs. Mass Production etc. is indeed a sticky wicket if you get carried away with definitions.
Indeed. I make custom cabinets for clients from time to time (much cheaper to buy from the big box stores...). When I make one, I go down and buy the correct plywood type, size, grade, and veneer for the carcass, interior, etc. I hand pick the boards to plane down, size and sand for rails, stiles, door frames, etc. I cut the edge treatments on the trims to give the wood dimension, and cut every single part to fit, all from my own design.
I assemble all of my cut parts, fill and sand as necessary. I apply a colorant (stain or dye) if requested, then clear coat with a brush or spray applied finish, mixed for the project, or use a high performance hard enamel instead.
I would expect nothing less from someone claiming they made a handmade knife to be anything less. All parts fabricated under their direct, hands on cutting, grinding, sizing, fitting, staining of scales, fit, finish, and polish.
As is the case with most American "handmade" knives sold en masse, they are
hand assembled using dedicated machines from mountains of stamped parts.
To continue with that analogy, there are those that buy KD cabinets (KD = knockdown) in a box and assemble the pieces. All fine and good. But like a kit, their cabinet is far from being handmade, it is only hand assembled. Yes, they can spend more time on fit and finish than a large factory might, but still, the parts were in the box. They didn't assemble the materials from a lumber yard, nor did they cut all the pieces, profile the trim parts, fit hardware or perform any of the other hand processes.
Constructing items from fabricated parts makes things hand assembled, not handmade. To drive this point home, you can buy a Rough Rider kit (and others) that has all the parts in it to make a folding knife as seen in the CASE video from "How it's Made". Parts are pretty close to the finish size, all holes punched, and pins roughly sized. These parts came off their assembly line. So if
you take that pile of parts and make a knife, does it make that knife handmade? Not to me. Nor does it make the same knife made in the factory by a guy that assembles pieces all day long as his job a knife maker. He is an assembler. He may be a great assembler and turn out a great finished product, but he isn't a knife maker.
As always, just my 0.02.
Robert
