Pics of Custom Knives

[Mojave]

Design from a RS member, turned out nice! Likely a stocking item. I call it the # 7 skinnerView attachment 873003View attachment 873004View attachment 873005

Canadian Mom Nessmuk dad!

 

[Slalomnorth]

Some recently finished work

 

[Shraggs]

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What steel and are they convex?

 

[Dixie]

What steel and are they convex?

Skinner is ABE-l and the CBK 4" is Magnacut. Both are Flat ground.
Skinner has the tang tapered.

 

[Mojave]

Some recently finished work
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Beautiful, why half tang?

 

[Slalomnorth]

Beautiful, why half tang?

Lighter weight, better balance, looks cool, saves on steel. They’re actually more work than a full tang though

 

[Mojave]

Lighter weight, better balance, looks cool, saves on steel. They’re actually more work than a full tang though

Yeah crazy more work. I have only made hidden tang knives using deer antlers. Or Puko Finn knives. Doing a laminate handle like that would drive me crazy.

 

[Slalomnorth]

Yeah crazy more work. I have only made hidden tang knives using deer antlers. Or Puko Finn knives. Doing a laminate handle like that would drive me crazy.

I’ve always wanted to do a strength test between hidden tangs and partial tangs but never have. My guess is a partial tang is stronger as long as you’re using synthetic handle material.

 

[mod7rem]

Here are 3 knives in MagnaCut that I recently bought from Clint Chisan. One is a Canadian Belt Knife design, and one is a lightweight he designed for me based on features of other knives that I liked. Benchmade Altitude Blade with a skeletized handle being a mix of Hogue Extrak and Argali Carbon knife

 

[Mojave]

Never seen a full size Canadian belt knife like thet looks perfect.

 

[Cdnance]

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here, but what is the advantage of a custom knife over an over the counter factory knife? Is it the fit and finish, quality of steel?
I haven’t ever even seen a custom knife in the field, let alone used one. I’m curious though!

 

[Nicaburns]

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here, but what is the advantage of a custom knife over an over the counter factory knife? Is it the fit and finish, quality of steel?
I haven’t ever even seen a custom knife in the field, let alone used one. I’m curious though!

For most people, it is the desire to get exactly what you want as well as supporting a craftsman vs a factory. Not too many things are still possible to have made by hand and knives are one of the more “attainable” ways to have something made by someone you know according to specs you choose. Life is too short to carry boring knives

 

[Slalomnorth]

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here, but what is the advantage of a custom knife over an over the counter factory knife? Is it the fit and finish, quality of steel?
I haven’t ever even seen a custom knife in the field, let alone used one. I’m curious though!

There’s a lot. Custom makers typically have superior heat treat protocols because production companies will usually do knives in large batches and shoot for (typically) much lower hardness because of cost. Also the slower cooling rates post heat treat will leave greater retained austenite translating to worse sharpen ability as well as lower hardness. Custom makers also typically can grind a knife much thinner so it cuts better, and in general use better grinding practices than a production company

 

[Slalomnorth]

Bird and trout, skinner Dan, and some belt knives. A mix of 10v and magnacut

 

[doc holiday13]

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I like those little stabby stabbies. What model are those?

 

[mod7rem]

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here, but what is the advantage of a custom knife over an over the counter factory knife? Is it the fit and finish, quality of steel?
I haven’t ever even seen a custom knife in the field, let alone used one. I’m curious though!

That’s a good question. I was actually never concerned with knives. I used the same Gerber GatorMate folding knife for about 20 years to process all the animals I was involved in, and even just used a basic V type field sharpener. Never gave knives a thought. But about 5 years ago I started wondering what all the fuss was about so I started buying and trying different knives on animals.
A Grohmann #1 Belt knife became one of my favorites, and I also wanted a lightweight knife for mountain backpack hunts so I owned a few different factory models.

The Grohmann isn’t pretty enough so that’s how I came to a custom Canadian Belt design and hybrid lightweight knife design by Chisan knives.

Hopefully I can stop buying knives now lol.

 

[Freewilly]

Bone Valley. Desert Ironwood burl.
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I love that sheath. Unique design

 

[Mojave]

That’s a good question. I was actually never concerned with knives. I used the same Gerber GatorMate folding knife for about 20 years to process all the animals I was involved in, and even just used a basic V type field sharpener. Never gave knives a thought. But about 5 years ago I started wondering what all the fuss was about so I started buying and trying different knives on animals.
A Grohmann #1 Belt knife became one of my favorites, and I also wanted a lightweight knife for mountain backpack hunts so I owned a few different factory models.

The Grohmann isn’t pretty enough so that’s how I came to a custom Canadian Belt design and hybrid lightweight knife design by Chisan knives.

Hopefully I can stop buying knives now lol.

You won't stop buying. It is an addiction.

I have the same one.

 

[Mojave]

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance here, but what is the advantage of a custom knife over an over the counter factory knife? Is it the fit and finish, quality of steel?
I haven’t ever even seen a custom knife in the field, let alone used one. I’m curious though!

The goal is something that fits your hand in a design you like. Everything else said on here can be true or BS depending on each maker.

Factory knives are mostly heavily made with a lot hands doing the work.

Custom knives are generally one offs.

You can get a custom knife to fit your hand. If you have a good smith.

Maybe the metal or hardness will be better.

Buyer beware. There are a lot of production $300 knives that are better than custom $300 knives.

I don't like attitude with makers, they are not rocket scientist saving the world. They get really busy and people think they will solve all lives problems. They just make a tool. Some of them are easy to deal with and others are just dreadful. Some guys get kind of an attitude about their products, or they don't answer request. Or they don't make good on an order. Or they make a crap product.

I am not going to trash a bunch of guys. I mostly quit buying American custom knives. I am enjoying buying hand made Puukkos in Finland, Norway and Sweden when I travel. 99% of them have only been out of the sheath a couple of times. I bought some neat ones in Finland last time, and I'll get myself a couple of new ones this year (probably next year too). Love Arctic Finland.

A knive is a tool. We have used knives in some form of fashion for our entire existence. I have some of my father's knives, and they mean something to me. I gave my 85 year old dad a top end $400 custom knife about 3 years ago. He will probably never use it. But he has it on his counter and messed with it. He says it reminds me of him.

They are a cheaper totally custom thing you can get for $200-20,000 that is hand made. You can't say that about most things.

 

[Slalomnorth]

The goal is something that fits your hand in a design you like. Everything else said on here can be true or BS depending on each maker.

Factory knives are mostly heavily made with a lot hands doing the work.

Custom knives are generally one offs.

You can get a custom knife to fit your hand. If you have a good smith.

Maybe the metal or hardness will be better.

Buyer beware. There are a lot of production $300 knives that are better than custom $300 knives.

I don't like attitude with makers, they are not rocket scientist saving the world. They get really busy and people think they will solve all lives problems. They just make a tool. Some of them are easy to deal with and others are just dreadful. Some guys get kind of an attitude about their products, or they don't answer request. Or they don't make good on an order. Or they make a crap product.

I am not going to trash a bunch of guys. I mostly quit buying American custom knives. I am enjoying buying hand made Puukkos in Finland, Norway and Sweden when I travel. 99% of them have only been out of the sheath a couple of times. I bought some neat ones in Finland last time, and I'll get myself a couple of new ones this year (probably next year too). Love Arctic Finland.

A knive is a tool. We have used knives in some form of fashion for our entire existence. I have some of my father's knives, and they mean something to me. I gave my 85 year old dad a top end $400 custom knife about 3 years ago. He will probably never use it. But he has it on his counter and messed with it. He says it reminds me of him.

They are a cheaper totally custom thing you can get for $200-20,000 that is hand made. You can't say that about most things.

You sound a bit jaded. Everyone has their own opinions and preferences. There is no right or wrong per say. That’s what makes the knife hobby fun. Do we need custom $350 10v knives at 66 HRC? No of course not, but that’s the point of a hobby. It’s fun to nitpick the attributes of different knives when it comes to steels, designs, geometries, heat treats, etc. It would kind of be like me saying my $150 dollar Samick sage recurve can kill an elk why would I ever bother with anything else. Well because I think handmade custom traditional bows are beautiful, cool, and have soul. Sounds like you’ve had some bad experiences with custom knives. That’s great you’ve found what you like. There is certainly big differences in custom vs production knives (of course there are tons of variables, exceptions, and could go both ways) but to say there’s not just isn’t true. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if there wasn’t a difference.