What is TOO expensive? A very different question for the individual.
I see loads of people recoiling in horror by the thought of paying over 50-100 bucks for a knife - let alone for full blown customs.
Further more, there are A LOT of super nice production knives on the market and they will perform most tasks that you ask of them.
I can see, why some wont dream of purchasing a custom knife with all the nice production knives out there.
That being said, there are other factors to be considered in purchasing a custom knife.
At least IMO.
The joy of owning a custom knife that came out right can simply not be overrated IMO.
Some makers work with you and let you voice the specs you want.
For some reason the knives, that I have asked a custom maker to make all came out better than expected.
I could not be happier with the knives and I wouldnt change an iota about any of them.
I like non-polished hard use working knives and thats exactly what I got.
Finding the right custom maker is a must.
Ive heard some horror stories, but must admit that I dont understand how some will simply say "Make me a knife" and only supply lose specs and then not communicate with the knifemaker, until the customer slaps down the funds and see the knife - only then to bitch about "Thats not what I wanted." What do you expect, if you dont put dont exact specs to a CUSTOM knifemaker (its sort of implied in the word, that you are dealing with a guy, who makes a product differing from stock knives).
Communication is all-important. You need to convey exactly what you want.
Ive been blessed in the respect, that Ive only ordered from guys who were VERY patient with me pestering them with specs and who were okay with some changes along the way in some instances.
Lon Humphrey is a great guy and knifemaker.
He happily jumped into the fray and were pleased to make me a hard use pig sticker.
Our communication included A LOT of emails and Lon happily worked with me all the way.
Further more he included some design details/changes which with his knife knowledge made the knife FAR better than expected.
First pic is Lon with the prize winning knife of his, that originally caught my attention and made me want one is Lon's knives very bad. Other knife Lon holds is a variation with some pig sticking changes. Notice more pointy blade, less belly and other changes making it perfect for sticking hogs.
That I originally wanted a lazy S shaped hand guard and that Lon instead insisting on making the Bowie pig sticker with a very special handguard consisting of two balls in the guard design only made the knife better.
Lon had seen the old guard design in some old knife litterature and as Im historically interested (not least in Bowie history), I couldnt be happier.
As Lon said, "one needs balls to go up against hogs with a knife,"LOL!
The knife is fantastic, PERFECT for pig sticking and I would not change an iota about it.
A custom knife will bring you joy working with it for a long time and be sure to bring a smile on your face every time you handle it
At least that is how it is for me. I couldnt possibly be happier with my custom knives and very much appreciate that the custom makers would make the knives for me. They are all great guys and their knives all rock!
Rob Scheppmann made one of his 'Hunter' knives for me with a few changes.
Id seen one of his larger knives and liked what I saw.
I originally wanted a heavily modded small skinning/hunting knife in a design, that I'd seen in a knife from another knifemaker, but Again with some changes.
We shot some emails back and forth and Rob suggested some design changes as well.
At some point a good ways into the process, Rob even made a metal mock-up of the knife outline and sent it to me in a mail, so you can see, that we were far along in the design phase of the knife; Rob had obviously spent some time on communication and also on the execution of the one-of-a-kind design, that I wanted.
Sending me a pic of the metal mock-up of the knife was were Rob made a move, that meant more work for him, as he had sent me the mock-up pic with one of his own hunting knife designs for comparison.
I freaked when I saw Rob knife, as that was IMO superior to what I oroginally had suggested.
I wanted to change my order, but agonized over it, as Rob had already by then spent time on the original design.
In the end, I knew I wouldnt be happy with my suggested knife after seeing the beautiful and well executed knife, that Rob sent along for comparison.
An email was sent to Rob asking if it was alright to change knife designs in midstream - if not Id stay with my original idea.
Rob was polite and nice to deal with as ever; he said 'no problem at all' and seamlessly made a new knife with some changes that I wanted (non-polished, slight change to the blade, butterscotch handle slabs etc).
The result is a great knife and perfect for the purpose at hand. Ive skinned quite a few deer with it and I could not ask for a nicer better knife for the purpose. A2, super sharp and long lasting edge.
Rob is great to deal with and makes a great hard use working knife.
At some point, I wanted a 'Bushcraft' knife and would like an amalgamation of features from various bushcraft knives. Not least the Skookum Bush Tool of which Im a great admirer.
I wanted details incoporated in the design from not only one knife, but severel other very nice bushcraft knives, that I had seen and liked individual details from.
For the knife I turned to my friend and knifemaker, Lars.
He makes some beautiful knives but had never made a bushcraft knife before, so he jumped at the chance and really spent a considerable amount of time on the design. There were several F2F meets, oceans of phone calls, emails and pics shot back and forth in the design phase.
Also a great guy to deal with and again, I could not be happier with the result.
The bushcraft knife came out exactly as I had envisioned it - only far better.
Its a laminated hard use knife. Even though it has a relatively thick blade made in the bushcraft spirit, it also is fine for skinning.
A great knife.
Bottom line: Custom knives dont have to cost a million and be safe queens. Fine for those who want that and have the funds for it - more power to them.
I just happen to like non-polished, no frills hard use working knives and have been lucky in the sense, that Ive asked some great guys who made exactly the knives, that I wanted. Thanks guys.
PHEW! This came out longer than I wanted it to - but its a subject close to my heart. Thanks for your patience and for reading.
