When does a custom knifemaker stop being a custom knifemaker?

I think you can have a handmade knife that isn't custom, but I don't think you can legitimately call a knife that isn't handmade "custom." A knife from Benchmade's "custom" shop is still a production knife.
 
Mitchell Knives said:
"Custom" is often used as a synonym for "handmade".

People use these terms interchangeably, which can be confusing.

Further adding to this confusion is the fact than many "handmade" or "custom" knives are actually made overseas in sweat shops and peddled stateside by criminals posing as knife makers.

Few knife makers are willing to make a truly unique and custom knife.
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That is my take also. I tend to use the term "handmade" rather than custom. Many of the so called custom knife makers have a few models that they make over and over again because they sell. They are handmade but not necessarily custom to the a client/buyer.

I think the break point is where the knife maker water jets or CME's his blanks from bar steel to get the basic shape of a knife before they begin their refining which is mostly grinding and making a handle. Personally I don't see much difference when the purpose is to get a basic shape to start the process.

Remove the blank cutting via water jet or laser and even Bark River knives are handmade. But they make them in their "factory".
 
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To me "handmade" simply describes how an item is built whether it is one of a kind or a run of 30 "production" pieces. It is how they are cut, made, assembled.

Then you have "custom", something made to a persons unique design, whether that is the buyers or makers design, but it is one of a kind. It can be "handmade" or programmed and completely CNC'd, it is still a one of a kind "custom".
Or, you can "customize" something. Take a standard production or mid tech model and add options to make it sort of unique. It may or may not wind up being the only one with those options but is not a "custom".

My thought for what they are worth
 
To best of my knowledge, a custom knife maker ceases to be a custom knife maker only after he retires, dies, or stops making knives for some other reason.
 
The fine lines between a "custom" vs. a "one off" and a "designer" vs. a "maker" vs. a "manufacturer".

Technically, a maker is not a "custom" maker unless they are doing work to order, specifically based on a customer's requests... Anything else starts blurring those lines between designer and one-off and manufacturer...

A maker thinks up, designs, and manufacturers a one of a kind new knife all by himself, it's still not truly a "custom", although it is a one off, and even a prototype.

A customer calls a maker, and says "hey, I like this design you make, can I get one with a larger handle, a larger finger coil, in xyz handle material; he makes it, then that is a custom, because it was customized to a customer's request...

If I send CRK a graphic design I want, and they build it one of a kind to my liking, then it is truly "custom" Sebenza, but is Chris Reeves the a "custom maker", or is the company CRK a custom manufacturer?
And even then you still have the gray area of whether a custom Sebenza is truly a "custom knife", or just a "customized production knife" if the only thing changed was the graphic, much like Buck, Benchmade, Olamic, and a few other manufacturers offer, but not customizing the actual production model in any way...

End of the day though, does it really matter? If a knife is made and you like it, buy it, custom or not...
 
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