Where are Custom Handmade knives headed in 2016...? 2017

DEllis said:
I don't do a lot of "fighting" at all actually, with or without a knife. I did kill a mountain lion with one of my bowies(Damascus even) in a strange roadside dog kerfuffle, but that's another story.:eek:

This was the cat killer(also cleaned the trout in the pic with it)


My current backwoods EDC



I may be the odd man out, but I do use this size and style for almost everything........and they work quite nicely. Thin edge, good distal taper, the right balance, and enough length for leverage, and you'd be surprised what these "fantasy" knives can do in reality.

Plus, you never know when I might need to get in a fight!;):D

Much respect,
Darcy
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Nice knives. In Fort Fraser it appears that a bowie is not a fantasy blade at all. Hey, Idon'tknowsquat :) Kudos for building a fine useful knife that's good looking and even pretty.

What did you do with your mtn lion?
 
brownshoe said:
Nice knives. In Fort Fraser it appears that a bowie is not a fantasy blade at all. Hey, Idon'tknowsquat :) Kudos for building a fine useful knife that's good looking and even pretty.

What did you do with your mtn lion?
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Thanks for the kudos.
I wouldn't say you don't know squat, it's a good discussion and your input is as valid as mine. I just have a slightly different view about that class of knife based on my personal experience with them. Much education can be had in topics like this, especially if we conduct ourselves in a respectful manner.:)

As for the cat, I ate the hind quarters and backstraps..........and I have the hide in my freezer yet. I was going to get it tanned, probably will get around to it eventually. It was a small one.......really hungry(basically starving) and it was too dangerous to use a firearm to dispatch it in the commotion(too many chances for collateral damage) so I used the knife. I never set out to kill a lion with a bowie, it just worked out that way.

Darcy
 
Darcy, some people just live in a fantasy world;)...I'm in my shop now and my trusty bowie is at my side:). I think their very usefulness gives them staying power in the world of Glock and Smith & Wesson. Knowing that it was historically a devastating weapon and still could be used as such will continue to give it a slice of the market, imho.
 
That's true, Ben.
Not many folks around have been in a "knife fight", but I bet more people than myself have been in a situation where they wished they had their 1911 on em...or a good bowie. That situation doesn't come every day, but when it does I'd much rather have a bowie tucked in my pants than a Swiss Army Knife. But preferably a 1911.

Tad
 
Tad Lynch said:
That's true, Ben.
Not many folks around have been in a "knife fight", but I bet more people than myself have been in a situation where they wished they had their 1911 on em...or a good bowie. That situation doesn't come every day, but when it does I'd much rather have a bowie tucked in my pants than a Swiss Army Knife. But preferably a 1911.

Tad
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In full dress I'll carry my Glock in a shoulder holster and my bowie strong side IWB. I haven't timed my draw and shoot yet but I can usually go from concealed to cut with the bowie in .83 or .93 second...also from dead stop concealed to contact 21 feet away in 1.93 seconds. That's no fantasy but real world deadly effective. The bowie is still always loaded:D With sufficient training I see them in some ways more effective than the pistol at the ranges that statistics say these sort of things happen. Although to a lot of people they don't seem practical, there are a handful of us neanderthals that stand with our bowies...they do great for filleting fish too;)
 
asdf12345 said:
Do you think it's beginning to burst already?

Look at the sale forums... Ansos near makers price... GTC near makers price... Terzuolas going unsold at 800, 900, 1000 dollars... people selling their Lightfoots, Elishewitz, Kirby Lamberts, Pohan Leus, Marfiones below makers price... even makers thought untouchable like Southard and Sibert among others have taken a hit... you can't sell a folder by "Tuffthumbz" or "Will Moon" these days either. Lots of unsold knives and knives marked down to sell everywhere. Tons of seemingly stagnant inventory at the major custom knife online dealers.

If the bubble does burst who will be the losers? Do you think these price drops will continue? Will much of the greed spurred interest in these custom knives evaporate once knives begin to depreciate as soon as they are purchased? What does a situation like this mean for these dealers' unsold inventory and collectors who stand to lose thousands of dollars? What might that situation mean for the makers of these knives?
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I agree with parts of this.

However:

Anos and GTC already brought their prices up to match the high prices they were getting. Getting one at 'maker's price' now isn't far off what secondary prices were a short time ago.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE point me to these sub $1000 Terzuolas that are sitting unsold.

Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE show me the Kirby Lamberts that are being sold below maker's price. Just because Kirby's full dress knives sell for $1200+ and you see an old plain cf/g10 model sell for $800ish, doesn't mean they were below maker's price because those knives were $500-600 when he was making them.

Lightfoot, Leu, Marfione, Elishewitz etc never commanded a premium.

Tuffthumbz and Will Moon are two of the newer makers out there who got hyped so it would make sense that they would be the first ones to stagnate. Last in/first out.


I think the market is still strong but it's becoming more particular. There are a lot of makers out there competing for a finite set of dollars and to me it seems everyone wants to go up market and buy dressier knives from established makers. I still see more desirable $1800+ Terzuolas getting snatched up instantly, RJ Martin's still command a huge premium, dress Lamberts are always over $2000.

Again, maker's prices going up constitutes a portion of the perceived weakness because there's less 'meat on the bone' (I HATE that term) for sellers.
 
Ben Seward said:
Darcy, some people just live in a fantasy world;)...I'm in my shop now and my trusty bowie is at my side:). I think their very usefulness gives them staying power in the world of Glock and Smith & Wesson. Knowing that it was historically a devastating weapon and still could be used as such will continue to give it a slice of the market, imho.
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Exactly. A huge, wicked Bowie knife or a real sword is still an enormous force multiplier!
 
Scurvy092 said:
I agree with parts of this.

However:

Anos and GTC already brought their prices up to match the high prices they were getting. Getting one at 'maker's price' now isn't far off what secondary prices were a short time ago.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE point me to these sub $1000 Terzuolas that are sitting unsold.

Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE show me the Kirby Lamberts that are being sold below maker's price. Just because Kirby's full dress knives sell for $1200+ and you see an old plain cf/g10 model sell for $800ish, doesn't mean they were below maker's price because those knives were $500-600 when he was making them.

Lightfoot, Leu, Marfione, Elishewitz etc never commanded a premium.

Tuffthumbz and Will Moon are two of the newer makers out there who got hyped so it would make sense that they would be the first ones to stagnate. Last in/first out.


I think the market is still strong but it's becoming more particular. There are a lot of makers out there competing for a finite set of dollars and to me it seems everyone wants to go up market and buy dressier knives from established makers. I still see more desirable $1800+ Terzuolas getting snatched up instantly, RJ Martin's still command a huge premium, dress Lamberts are always over $2000.

Again, maker's prices going up constitutes a portion of the perceived weakness because there's less 'meat on the bone' (I HATE that term) for sellers.
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I apologize; I have not been a part of any discussions about makers raising their prices and as such I was unaware.

Someone on another forum just withdrew his TTF-6 after it went unsold for days at 640. There's currently an unused Century Starfighter over there for 850, and this is after some price drops. Nobody's touched it.

A really nice mint TTF-1 sold on the auction side for just over 900 a few days ago. A month or so ago a one-off injection molded CF ATCF didn't get sold until its price was dropped to around 800 or so. It was a used knife but still surprising.

Full Ti ATCFs are going untouched for just over 1000 all over the place.

Some of what you say about the market becoming more particular makes a lot of sense. It's very true that desirable configurations still bring in the premiums. It could be that the "buy one just to say you own one" craze has subsided.

On the other hand I am glad some of the older knives are becoming more affordable as people are less eager to purchase them just for the name. I'm not a fan of many of the newer trends in custom knives as they make the knives less suitable for everyday carry and use. Whoever thought that copper or brass bolsters was a good idea. Superconductor and mokume can tarnish within weeks and can look pretty unslightly in short order. Things like harpoon blades and compound grinds make a blade perform worse than if it didn't have these things. Proprietary sculpted pocket clips rely on the material's thickness to provide the proper tension. And my god, if I see another acid stonewash..
 
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Injection molded cf and full ti atcfs are like 10+ years old and sold for $300 new. A lot of the ttfs and the starfighters are not as desirable as the atcf/Athena/eagle rock.

I agree about the own one just to say you own one trend. That was the only thing digging up the price of those old Terzuolas. I know someone who owned one of those injection molded cf atcfs and he bought it for like 400 a year ago. Then everyone wanted to own a Terzuola and the prices on even heavily written stuff went through the roof.
 
For comparison, six years ago a full Ti ACTF was $575 shipped from Bob. Wait was 9 months for someone straight off the street.
 
Ah, this is why i love coming into this side of the forum. Great conversation.

The tactical market is high on a continual rise, with lots of money flying around. For selfish reasons i'm glad all of the extra attention/money is in that direction, it gives me more of a chance to get what i want from the handmade forged area :p Even when i think i can sneak in, i get side-swiped from a seasoned collector, hahaa. I allow myself one or two pieces a year if im lucky and have the funds.

Separate from the knives themselves, something that i think keeps the newer collectors biting for whatever is hot, is the ability to be in contact with the maker and other collectors more readily because of all the social-media sites(FB, IG, etc), as well as over on some other forums where they're much more in contact with their client base. Personally i still feel a little shy sometimes if i shoot out a message to certain handmade/ABS makers in regards to their knives, or a possible order as opposed to the other folks. It's not that they're not friendly, but i guess i hold them to a higher degree. I think something that would benefit this side of things would be more hammer-ins at/or during certain shows as well as have some Q&A's of some sort.

i too would love to see more smaller fixed blades coming out, in the Hunter 4"-5" size. I'll still try and gun for a fighter or bowie(i'll take my Knight fighter when i go out in the woods/camping, did hiking become fantasy play?), but practically 4"-5" works better in my current environment for a daily carry. It's getting late over in this part of the world and i've lost focus :yawn: I wish the custom forum at the other forum had better threads like this
 
The modern Bowie is, in my view, less a fantasy piece than a tool.....a celebration...

and a canvas for modest expression.
 
Lmao! Reality Ain't for everyone
Ben Seward said:
In full dress I'll carry my Glock in a shoulder holster and my bowie strong side IWB. I haven't timed my draw and shoot yet but I can usually go from concealed to cut with the bowie in .83 or .93 second...also from dead stop concealed to contact 21 feet away in 1.93 seconds. That's no fantasy but real world deadly effective. The bowie is still always loaded:D With sufficient training I see them in some ways more effective than the pistol at the ranges that statistics say these sort of things happen. Although to a lot of people they don't seem practical, there are a handful of us neanderthals that stand with our bowies...they do great for filleting fish too;)
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small fixed blade takedown edc...yes! photo essay here: bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1320405-Fusion-Style-Kotanto-full-process-photo-essay

fusion-fixed-blade-edc-kotanto-41.jpg


2015small-fixed-blade-edc-takedown-32.jpg


fusion-ainu-makiri-tanto-16.jpg
 
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