What's the difference between your knife and the big companies?

It's the same as anything... I don't smoke pipes, but I've seen gorgeous handmade pipes go for hundreds of dollars. I can go to any tobacco shop and buy a corncob pipe for a buck or two....People spend hundreds or thousands on handmade pens... I can get a dozen plastic ballpoints for a few bucks. Is furniture made of particle board good enough? Is getting online with a 486 adequate? Is "Not great, but it works" all anyone could hope for? Will the rhetorical questions ever stop? There are plenty of things that can get the task they were designed for done. Most of the knives in my modest collection would have some factory equivalent. The knives I buy, use and make will always feel, look, cut and hold an edge better. I like supporting my fellow makers, and I know that what I buy will be quality. I still buy factory knives here and there, but I generally consider them disposable. A good handmade knife will be here for generations. As far as repeatability of a design, I could care less. I have never made the same knife twice. I'll always try to improve on the previous version. Mass production assumes it's good enough.
 
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Mark Redmon said:
It's the same as anything... I don't smoke pipes, but I've seen gorgeous handmade pipes go for hundreds of dollars. I can go to any tobacco shop and buy a corncob pipe for a buck or two....People spend hundreds or thousands on handmade pens... I can get a dozen plastic ballpoints for a few bucks. Is furniture made of particle board good enough? Is getting online with a 486 adequate? Is "Not great, but it works" all anyone could hope for? Will the rhetorical questions ever stop? There are plenty of things that can get the task they were designed for done. Most of the knives in my modest collection would have some factory equivalent. The knives I buy, use and make will always feel, look, cut and hold an edge better. I like supporting my fellow makers, and I know that what I buy will be quality. I still buy factory knives here and there, but I generally consider them disposable. A good handmade knife will be here for generations. As far as repeatability of a design, I could care less. I have never made the same knife twice. I'll always try to improve on the previous version. Mass production assumes it's good enough.
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yep, I also don't buy many factory production knives at all. The one exception is some of Kershaw's knives. i have a 1050 folding field knife that i picked up from a pawn shop for like 20 bucks. i will have to say that even though its a production knife i love it very much. but thats not to say i love all kershaws knives. i sharpened a friends and the blade was crap. It's just one of those things where you get what you pay for, my 1050 has a listed retail of $250 bucks. a good example is a military knife i have, its a Mark 3 Mod 0 Combat Knife of the US Navy Seals. it has a 440A blade which is just crap, now thats not saying that 440A is crap but what I'm saying is that there heat treating is. It just comes down to that thy want to make knives as fast as thy can and if its good enough then why make it better if there selling. O and 440A might not be total crap steel but its getting close :rolleyes:. thy could have used say 440C even and there cost maybe would have gone up a few bucks but the knife would have been much better. but thats only assuming that thy would do a good heat treat job. i know people that can get good performance out of 440A and 440B but for production thy want simple.
 
You can't have a lifetime guarantee for a production knife, a life time free sharpening service, a custom sheath... But for most of the custom knives you'll get these and more.

You can't say to a production company, a knife factory that "I want a 13" camp knife, I want a simple carbon steel for it and the hardness will be 58 HRC". But we custom knife makers take those kind of orders. When I get this kind of order, I sketch a preliminary design for the customer. I ask his/her hand size, what kind of finish he/she wants, what kind of handle material required etc. Then I send that design work to him/her :

camper.jpg


Then we talk about this preliminary design. Customer makes some tweaks on the design, so I send some options on this design:

camper%20-%20ver1.jpg


And customer picks an option (in this case the "B" option), so I send him options on the bevel geometry:

camper%20-%20verB.jpg


Then customer selects an option... It goes on and on, until he is satisfied with the design. I explain the advantages and disadvantages of each option, and my personal favorites. This is an interactive process, and no production company can manage to offer this kind of service. Custom is custom, it is unique, satisfies each customer.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I also used to drive a 1981 Volkswagen rabbit. I didn't know much about cars or driving performance. I thought it was a good car, it drove okay.
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Sitting here at my PC picturing Nathan cruising around in his VW Rabbit :D, hair blowing in the wind :D ;)

Nathan the Machinist said:
I also skin deer with a very thin hollow ground skinning knife in hard D2. It drives circles around that old Buck.
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This I can vouch for. I've personally tested Nathans ultra thin skinner and it shines !! Awesome Blade !!

But I still can't get that picture of him in the Rabbit out of my mind :D LOL ;)



:thumbup:
 
David Wesner said:
Sitting here at my PC picturing Nathan cruising around in his VW Rabbit :D, hair blowing in the wind :D ;)



This I can vouch for. I've personally tested Nathans ultra thin skinner and it shines !! Awesome Blade !!

But I still can't get that picture of him in the Rabbit out of my mind :D LOL ;)



:thumbup:
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behold, in its 91 HP glory!

1977-vw-rabbit.jpg


(mine didn't actually look that nice)


And behold, it's HRC 54 (I'm guessing) glory!

119.jpg


(mine doesn't actually look that nice)
 
THe difference between my knives and the big sores is really simple.
I get...........

The Steel I want
The THICKNESS I want
The blade lenth I want
The handle material I want

AND

the overall style I want.

No question in that any knife made your way will outshine a product knife 9 out of 10 times by the buyer of that knife.
 
Just a little note about fit and finish. It has a lot to do with how much you know about knives. My nephew got a knife last year as a gift and was very pleased with it. To his eye, not knowing much about making knives, it was perfect. I took a look at it and pointed out at least half a dozen flaws, some minor some major. But even then to him it still looks ok.

Patrice
 
This to me is the great divide, and only the lucky ones get to see the other side. The custom knife side.

My custom knives are influenced by a desire to build each piece with three factors in mind, purpose, appearance and balance in hand. I want the finished product to look so good you just have to pick it up, to feel so good in your hand that you don’t' want to put it down and every time you use it, you have to say to yourself; “damn, I love that knife”!

I recently saw a knife in a sports magazine and I won't name the magazine or the company but there was a rave review. My first impression was its ugly, and expensive too, and the review didn't trill me at all. They went on to say that they had hacked into an Elk antler and it could still shave hair. When and if they meet all the requirements for the ABS Journeyman certification, well then they might have something but it would still be an ugly knife, that's too expensive! :D
 
a decent custom knife makes you feel good and confident ... and fills the customers needs ..
- factories just make stuff to sell and maintain profit's... make'em crappy and cheep so people use them like a throw away item.. .. ..

i know i had enough of it... 440 shiney break a tip off, won't hold an edge type knives...

with a custom, you can get what you want... and if that is a couple of bucks extra for dependability and craftsmanship... in my book, that is easily worth it...

no contest;)
 
johnnyKnives said:
I've been looking at the knives that a lot of you make and they are great. I know that some people make make a knife here and there, pass it down, etc. But what separates knives made by "normal" people and someone like Buck? Is it all marketing? They've been doing it longer? Mass production?

If you buy the same steel and make a great knife, isn't it the same as buying a knife from one of the big names?
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Blood, Sweat and Tears. Mostly Blood here.:D
 
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galadduin said:
You can't have a lifetime guarantee for a production knife, a life time free sharpening service, a custom sheath... But for most of the custom knives you'll get these and more.

You can't say to a production company, a knife factory that "I want a 13" camp knife, I want a simple carbon steel for it and the hardness will be 58 HRC". But we custom knife makers take those kind of orders. When I get this kind of order, I sketch a preliminary design for the customer. I ask his/her hand size, what kind of finish he/she wants, what kind of handle material required etc. Then I send that design work to him/her :

camper.jpg


Then we talk about this preliminary design. Customer makes some tweaks on the design, so I send some options on this design:

camper%20-%20ver1.jpg


And customer picks an option (in this case the "B" option), so I send him options on the bevel geometry:

camper%20-%20verB.jpg


Then customer selects an option... It goes on and on, until he is satisfied with the design. I explain the advantages and disadvantages of each option, and my personal favorites. This is an interactive process, and no production company can manage to offer this kind of service. Custom is custom, it is unique, satisfies each customer.
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Do you forge your knives or do you use blanks?
 
To me, a custom knife is made for the person ordering it. One of my customs went to a guy who gave me the specs he wanted. I drew it up, in colour, with sheath to scale. He said go. He got exactly what he wanted and was pleased. Others have said I want a Bowie style knife, this long . He was happy too.

You can go to a manufacturer, pick one that you like pay your money and you'll be happy. Just like you go to a Ford dealer and buy the Mustang (nice car) or you go to Chip Foose and order a custom, hand built beauty.

Your choice and your choice alone. My knives cost less than a Chip Foose custom car.
Best Regards
 
Ok here is an honest response to the thread. I went into a sporting goods store whole sales sports. I walked by the knife display and the salesman was to say the least ambitious say 55 to 60 years old . I began looking at the top end knife dont even know the company name of the blade but it doesnt matter.I asked 1 simple question What type of steel is it ??? His response was good steel . I wasnt happy with his response so I asked again . His responce was a good high carbon steel. I was dumb founded that some one was going to try and sell me a 250 dollar knife without knowing what type of steel it was. How could you BS people into a sale. Well I was actually mad and told my wife after I left that I was going back to straighten him out about his BS TTING people. Thats the true difference is that every knife maker know the steel they use and what can become of the steel .
 
I think Nathan is right on. I used to have the Buck 119 and loved that knife then moved up to a trailmaster after breaking my Buck and thought that was the best knife ever. Now I have a few custom bowies. The trailmaster and Buck are still good knives and I still carry a buck folder but the customs feel much better in the hand, cut better, and have incredible finishes. Of course they were made by people that know what they were doing. I think the trailmaster and buck will out perform the knives I'm making but I'm still young in my knife making.
 
SDS said:
Besides what has already been stated above by people much more knowledgeable than myself here is my two cents.

I enjoy looking at paintings sometimes. I'm not what you'd call an art snob but I enjoy something that someone created. Many pieces of art are available in posters or prints. ALthough the image is the same, the feeling you get from looking at it is not. It's a mass produced piece. It will still fill space on your wall and you can frame it to look nice, but it will never be a the same as a handpainted piece.

Pride of ownership. Fit and finish. Being made to my specs of materials of my choosing. These are some of the reasons I enjoy custom knives.

Factory knives are fine. There is certainly nothing wrong with them for most applications. I carry several factory blades. I just enjoy my hand made knives much more.

SDS
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A very good way of explaining the difference!
 
Its kinda hard to explain. You really need to have a custom to know how it feels. I just got a breeden 1-0, and all i can say it WOW. I have some great production knives, like a Fehrman FS, SOD, Dogfather, ect, but non of then just "fit" like the Breeden. I have him my hand measurements and everything, and the knife is just perfect.

Between my 200+ dollar fehrman in 3v and my less expensive Breeden in 01, I would probably pick the breeden all the time.
 
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