Help Me Design the Knife You Want
Every knife I work on is a challenge and because I love what I do It's always exciting to push myself to step out of the box expand my craftsmanship.
How it Works.
It takes me roughly 5 days to make a knife start to finish . So I make 10 to 20 knives in a batch to be more productive . There are different stages in creating a knife ,during down time of scales being soaked , epoxy curing , or tempering the steel, other steps of the process can be worked. A batch of knives takes me anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks depending on complication of the knives . If you order a custom knife your knife will be worked into a batch or will be started in the next batch.
Handle Scales
So we’ve come up with a design, picked out a steel, now it’s on to handle material , style and pin type. A tang is the part of the steel on a blade that is attached to the handle. Full tang goes through the knife and takes on the shape of the handle. Hidden tang goes partially through handle and is usually not seen . Through tang goes through handle with out taking on shape and is either peened at end or capped with something that is screwed on to tang. If we do hidden or through tang we can stack materials and shape to a grip style. If we do full tang we are pinning the material to the tang on either side .Please take a look at the knives in the store to see examples of different scale materials and styles. Obviously the more involved we get into handle patterns and materials , more time and effort is needed get to a finished product. Each handle type has it’s pro’s and con’s .
Design
First we decide on a design. You can go with something you’ve seen in the shop , maybe you liked a blade style on one knife and a handle style of another and over all size of something else . If you’ve taken a good look at whats in the store you should be able to get a feel for what my range is at the present. You can also send me pictures of anything you’ve seen and I can use that for a base. I’ll draw it up send you a picture and you can give feed back on what you like and don’t like . We go from there and keep evolving the design.
Finished Look of the Steel and File Work
Every blade has a finished look , we can do a satin finish which is basically shinny but not mirror. We can do different etches with a pattern or no pattern and will have levels of a dark patina look. Cold bluing also gives the knife a dark patina look, and mirror finish is pretty much what it sounds like. All can give a great look to your knife and have their pro’s and con’s involved. We can also do differnt types of texturing to the steel to give it a more forged look. File work is the process of hand filing a pattern into the spine of the blade can give a real nice custom touch to your knife .
Steel
We pick the steel type based on the design we come up with , if your set on a specific steel type before we start please tell me in the beginning because it might put limitations on our design. I generally only work with high carbon steel because I like to heat treat everything in house. Right now I’m working with 5160, 1084, 15n20, 80crv2, 1095, spring steel , farrier rasps, and HC rail road spikes. I will be experimenting w different Damascus combo’s in the next few batches.
Kydex Sheath
I only make Kydex sheaths for my knives . Kydex is basically a thermo forming plastic that is heated to soften and custom molded to fit your knife or tool. We would pick out a color pattern for the kydex , hardware colors and a type of mount. If you are interested in a leather sheath , I have a friend who’s excellent with leather and sometimes takes on sheath projects. I can put you in touch with him and you can work out a separate business deal.
Pricing for a custom Knife
If we come up with a knife that is similar to something in my store or a mix of designs the price will be pretty close to that knife and just worked into a new batch. Maybe you want a different scale material and sheath pattern … If we add file work , texturing to a blade, a gut hook, segmented handle, bolsters or a guard , all would be up charges off something similar. Maybe we are special ordering materials or coming up with a completely new design all would be upcharges on a basic size comparison price .This is probably the best way I could describe the pricing. Everything would be discussed prior to the start of the build and agreed apon.