Who is Your personal favorite custom knife maker?

[hookahhabib]

I've really been enjoying the work of these guys lately:

John Gonzalez
Deryk Munroe
Dalibor Bergam

 

[Comprehensivist]

I'd think that qualifies if you two talked extensively beforehand and he made something specific that suited your exact needs. PW is not some Joe Schmo. I'm sure if you said you needed something and he couldn't provide it he'd tell you straight up and if you said you need something specific and he could do it then whatever final product he gave to you would surely suit whatever needs you mentioned.

I just wonder if something made beforehand that you (anyone) see and like and then buy qualifies as buying a custom knife. Who was it custom made for? That's what I'm curious about. Does Todd Begg make truly custom knives? Tim Britton? I don't know, but I see names like this and wonder if people confuse a custom maker with one who's not.

Then we get into the question of if someone makes the exact same design he sells all the time and puts a unique mosaic pin in the handle because you wanted it, does that make it a custom knife?

So many shades of gray. I'm just really curious as to what qualifies someone as a custom knife maker and if some of the makers mentioned are actually that. The OP mentioned Big Chris and Big Chris has said he doesn't take custom orders anymore, so he's not really a custom maker. His knives may be very high quality but if he's not a custom maker of his own accord, what is he? And is that what the OP was really talking about? The best independent, small batch, handmade knife maker? I can wrap my mind around that kind of question and it's a very valid one that I think people would probably like to see the answers to.

I think that many simply use "custom" knife to refer to a handmade knife. Most makers will allow you to choose handle material, edge thickness or make other requests even if it is not a never before seen model. I think that is why folks refer to handmade knives as custom. It may not be technically correct but I think that is the most common nomenclature. It seems to be for most people anyway, since everyone else who read the op posted pictures of their handmade knives. Not saying you are wrong with your opinion, you simply appear to be in the minority.

I don't think bodog is in the minority. Custom means custom. Hand-made means hand-made. Two different categories. If a maker doesn't allow you to specify every feature of a knife, he is NOT a custom maker. I am not disputing that hand-made knives aren't great in many cases, but they are not custom.

A lot of new makers produce marginal quality while they are developing their skills. When they finally get good, they get busy and stop taking custom orders. Either that, or their backlog delivery dates get insanely long. In my experience, there is a very short window of opportunity between when a maker gets good enough that you want to order from them and when the backlog gets too long that you look for someone else to fill your need. For example, I like Randall knives, but I am not waiting five plus years for a knife I want today but I may have different needs for that far in the future. If you are comfortable with that kind of wait, I am cool with that. I am just being realistic that my taste change over a long period of time and other nice opportunities show up all the time to fill any given niche in the knife world. I wish all my knives were custom made to my exact specs. Unfortunately, reality intrudes on our best intensions more times than not.

Good luck on your quest. I hope that you find a couple of great knives that serve your needs.

Phil

 

[leghog]

Not my only handmade knife, but my only custom made knife.

 

[slg98]

John of JK Knives makes fantastic knives at reasonable prices.

*Appalachia Special
*Element 01

 

[Surfingringo]

I don't think bodog is in the minority. Custom means custom.

I didn't say he was wrong, only that he was in the minority. That is not a knock. I just think that (right or wrong) the majority of people call their handmade knives customs. I am not saying that they (we) are correct or that they should call them that. I am only noting what I have observed.

If a maker doesn't allow you to specify every feature of a knife, he is NOT a custom maker.

This is not true. There are many custom makers (even by the most rigid standards of the definition) that will not do this. Any knife maker worth his salt is going to have his own style and his own standards and will not just build any kooky design born in someone else's fantasy. I get what you are saying but lets keep it real.

 

[bodog]

I didn't say he was wrong, only that he was in the minority. That is not a knock. I just think that (right or wrong) the majority of people call their handmade knives customs. I am not saying that they (we) are correct or that they should call them that. I am only noting what I have observed.



This is not true. There are many custom makers (even by the most rigid standards of the definition) that will not do this. Any knife maker worth his salt is going to have his own style and his own standards and will not just build any kooky design born in someone else's fantasy. I get what you are saying but lets keep it real.

I knew what you were saying. No harm, no foul. Food for thought, though. What's popular isn't always right and what's right isn't always popular. I believe the other guys arent wrong. Maybe one day the knife community will rise up against Merriam Webster and force them to change the word custom to mean something other than what it currently means. Until then, even if I'm the minority, custom made only means one thing. Any other use is incorrect. Is it all that important? Kind of. In a society where no one can write or spell or do anything at the level of a 3rd grade Bulgarian child, then maybe we should expect some semblance of accuracy when differentiating between a custom knife vs. a non-custom small batch knife. We're supposed to be educated in this stuff. We're, relative to society in general, the knife gurus. We should at least be accurate in how we label how a knife is made. It's not like it's hard. What's next, we start calling carbon fiber some kind of metal and when someone says that's completely incorrect tell that person he's in the minority? That doesn't make any sense. Carbon fiber isn't metal so it shouldn't be called that. It's pretty much common sense to call something what it is and to refrain from calling it what it's not.

I know you weren't trying to get into the debate. You were simply saying that most people consider the inaccurate description acceptable. You are probably right about them being wrong.

 

[Comprehensivist]

I didn't say he was wrong, only that he was in the minority. That is not a knock. I just think that (right or wrong) the majority of people call their handmade knives customs. I am not saying that they (we) are correct or that they should call them that. I am only noting what I have observed.



This is not true. There are many custom makers (even by the most rigid standards of the definition) that will not do this. Any knife maker worth his salt is going to have his own style and his own standards and will not just build any kooky design born in someone else's fantasy. I get what you are saying but lets keep it real.

I get your points and I don't disagree with them in the context that you posed. I wasn't thinking exotic fantasy knives in the context of my post. I pick knife makers because I like his or her style (or a certain model) and I want to choose features like handle materials, steel & thickness, & other small tweaks within reason to make it custom to me. That is what I was trying to convey.

Jarrett Fleming is an example of a maker I like who fits that description.

Thanks for your reply. I like your avatar by the way. Where did you catch that fish?

Best regards,

Phil

 

[MCM]

Who is Your personal favorite custom knife maker? WB.

 

[Surfingringo]

I get your points and I don't disagree with them in the context that you posed. I wasn't thinking exotic fantasy knives in the context of my post. I pick knife makers because I like his or her style (or a certain model) and I want to choose features like handle materials, steel & thickness, & other small tweaks within reason to make it custom to me. That is what I was trying to convey.

Jarrett Fleming is an example of a maker I like who fits that description.

Thanks for your reply. I like your avatar by the way. Where did you catch that fish?

Best regards,

Phil

Thanks Phil, thats a Cubera Snapper in Costa Rica. I do a lot of kayak fishing here.

Regarding the knives, yes, we are in agreement on the best way to order a custom. I was just questioning the rigidness on the "custom" definition because is seemed some folks earlier were almost implying that a custom maker is one who only creates original designs based on a customers requests. The way I look at it is if I choose a good knife maker, he's going to have certain models and designs that he makes for certain uses and he is going to consistently use those designs because they have proven themselves to work well. So if I want a fillet knife and call Phil Wilson and explain to him the kind of fish I am cleaning and the environment I'm in, he will probably suggest a 7.5" Punta Chivato in something like cpm154. The fact that he has made a hundred others just like it doesn't mean that it's not a custom (in my opinion). In that example I had him make a knife specifically for me and the type of work I am doing. It just so happens that the best knife for that is just like one that he's made many many times before for many other people. I might specify handle material or other features but I would not be ordering totally "original" design. So what if I called him and he said "yeah Lance, I'll make you a custom 7.5" punta chivato with the desert ironwood handle and brass fingerguard and medium flex, but it just so happens that I have one that I just completed yesterday with those exact specs. Would you rather buy that one or wait for me to make another?"

So what about the above example? Is one of those knives custom and the other not? I'm not trying to drag this dead horse through the mud but only trying to point out that there might be some grey area in these "definitions" and how they are used to describe handmade knives. An example like the above might also shed some light on why there is some lack of clarity on how the term custom is used. I don't know. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle where it so often resides.



Anyway, I reckon we've about got this one covered.

 

[Surfingringo]

Who is Your personal favorite custom knife maker? WB.

Is that the one I saw at Blade M?? That's one fancy pig sticker!!

 

[MCM]

Same one. Just got around to taking a few pic's.

 

[wuyeah]

I used to like Darrel Ralph but after a lot of reading around, now....cough, cough....

Barry Dawson is very nice. I don't think Barry making knives anymore.
Matt Diskin is very nice. I met him in person and loved his Fire series. Very friendly guy to talk to, very humble.

 

[Avantage]

Marcin Slysz
http://io.ua/23134982
http://io.ua/23134966

 

[sams]

Ron Lake
Jerry Rados

 

[twofish]

If you hunt or fish and use your knives Rick Menefee is the man...

twofish

 

[The Mastiff]

Phil Wilson
Big Chris
Koster

 

[K.O.D.]

Alan Davis, from what I've seen. I have a unique order in with him, should be very neat.

Only other custom I've owned was a Brian Tighe mini Tighe Rod. I love his designs, but the Ti handles turn me off. Carbon fiber (both sides) with button lock and I'd be sold.

 

[Bushcraft Forever]

Iz Turley
Ray Laconico
Pekka Tuominen
Brian Sargent

 

[Klutz]

JK Knives who can be found here on BF

 

[T. Erdelyi]

My local knife maker is my favorite, Bud Nealy lives about 20 minutes from my house, sold me my first custom also one of his first original 6 MCS systems knife a blued O1 Aikuchi.