what makes a knife "custom?"

[Windwhistler]

I miss my forge! Having finally solved the whole carpal tunnel problem and eliminated most of my arthritis, I may, if I can find time, set one up again this spring! Tink,Tink,Tink

 

[McVeyMac]

To me a true custom knife is made by hand from start to finish. I have a Demko AD10 folder that was pretty much entirely hand made. The blade was hand ground, the filing was done by hand, the liners and lock fitted by hand. I'm not sure if some parts are precut, but I really don't think so. Hell, he even had the screws custom made.

A part of me tends to agree with this. But in the cited thread the difference between using an anvil and hammer verses a power hammer was brought to light in the forging process. Is the hammer and anvil made blade the hand made blade, and the power hammer forged blade not? This one statement has clearly changed the way I look at the use of machinery in the knife making process. But I fully agree that the line should be drawn somewhere. I am just not sure where? Clearly there are fine makers of knives that have incorporated modern machining techniques into their knives in order to make them better. But, are they art? I think that this is up to the individual customer to decide where the line is for them.