Anyone using Bob Dozier knives?I just ordered a caper and a skinner.I've heard nothing but good things but I'd like to hear some opinions!Thanks,Monashee

My son and I own a few and like them. Bob and Linda are good folks. He usually brings a bunch to the Blade show.

I've got an even dozen right now. Absolute best using knife I know of. And yes, I have other customs, but when I head to the woods, it's a Dozier of one sort or another that goes with me. Dozier's are "good in the woods."

They are the BEST I have ever used !!!!!!!!!! and I have use quite a few custom knives.
I have right 10 or so now ( sold a few to fund a new project)
but have a few more on order!!!!!!!!!

They are well made,but I can't like the blade configurations......................

I've used a Slim Outdoorsman for several years and love it....the steel is great but I find the Micarta scales to be a bit slippery so I removed same and replaced with the corrugated edge of dall sheep horns.....so damned pretty everyone tries to get it away from me....Bob sold me three blades without scales and my buddy made the dall sheep scales for it....silver rivets....we donated it to FNRA banquet and pulled $500 very quickly.....I need to get another ready before hunting season....

I can do a lot of skinning and butchering without any serious sharpening....

They all have too much belly,for my tastes,but the K-35 Gentleman's Knife ain't too horrid......................

The Canoe is my favorite Dozier pattern, slim and trim.

BS,
Specifically, what Dozier's have you used that you don't like?

Have handled numerous,that others had and never liked anything.

Too much belly,for what I do with a knife,but they may work well for slicing Pizza or cheese.

D2 is nice and only gets better in a practical pattern......................

See how ill informed I am, I didn't even know a knife needed so much belly to handle a pizza or a hunk of cheese. That's funny BS... and I do mean BS.

Just trying to fathom a purpose for the designs,which don't jive with what I prefer for dealing with Critters,Fish and Fowl.

Have always preferred svelte designs of utility.

Less is more,in both belly and length...................

This is an image of a $100-ish Cheese Knife.



I see substantial belly,at least that is the term I use to describe the relative depth of the blade. Utility is tossed out the door,with it.

Wusthof's version.




Another.



The cheapo version(s).




For some strange reason,I find much correlation in my initial analogy,despite Cheese Knives sharing a common theme.

Need I Google "Pizza Knives"?......................

Pizza Knives.

Russel Harrington's version.



FMP's version.





American metalcraft's version.






I personally view minimal utility,in all of 'em......................

Now...where were we?

The Dozier Gentleman's Knife is the only one amongst his offerings,that has the inherent utility I want in a knife.



That's a relative statement,because I don't like it enough to purchase,but they are well made and of good materials.........................

Since you are in a google mood, find me some replacement metal for the M7's...........

My take is that Bob Dozier deserves a lot of credit for bringing solid "using" knives made of superior materials to the attention and within the price range of the average outdoorsman. I've owned eight and still have two and think they serve well for what a thin high hollow ground 60ish RC D2 bladed knife is useful for. That said, there is no magic in them, nor any secrets anymore to heat treatment and I have numerous knives that will hold an edge measureably longer than any of the Doziers I've owned. And, while one may get a Dozier in alternate steels, grinds and handle materials the price can quickly escalate over 50% of the base - to me defeating the stated purpose behind Dozier knives.

Also, Bob is 65 now and doesn't do much of the grinding anymore, so if I did want a Dozier I'd go ahead and get one before he decides to retire just so I could say it was truly "Dozier Made."

Been giggling at my Google Prowess and thunk the above,rather humorous. MOGC seemed to wanna get goin',so I tried to accomodate.

Mebbe Brownell's could hook you up,with some old stock. I know Heritage Arms was makin' 600 floorplates,in several flavors,but don't know if they were doing Seven's.

ADL is the most painless,but I'm guessing it don't appeal to your senses.............................

I don't think anyone could slight Bob's contributions or workmanship.

Profiles is subjective.......................

I thought OPTICS were subjective.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Damn near mentioned same............................

I use a couple of Doziers a Straight personal and a modified personal but, like Stick many of the patterns don't appeal to me. Most of the Drop points are more of a spear point and many are too big for my tastes. But they are good knives and if you find a pattern you like, you're sure to be a fan!

Not really. Here's my take on it. A fellow comes here and is proud of his two new custom knives he just ordered and you somehow feel entitled to relegate them to the mundane and classless pizza and cheese duty. I don't see how that was justified. I asked out of curiousity which models you had used and intended the discussion to go in a comparison of models, the purposes, blade shapes, and what might better suit you. That sort of thing. You quickly changed that.

That's hardly the case................

I have been editing my first post, I decided not to be lead in that direction. Evidently, I wasn't quick enough, you posted as I was editing. Am I missing your point? It seemed clear enough.

I wasn't leading and feel I accurately portrayed my point...............

Clearly you're right about one thing:



Back to knives, other than the Gentleman's Knife have you looked at the Bird/Trout, Sweetwater, Canoe, K1 General Utility? Those are all small utility blades. Dozier also works in other steels such as S30V, though few find fault with his D2 blades.

I've handled several Dozier patterns and have gawked at all of 'em on Bob's site.

I come away thinking of them,as I do Randall's Hunters. They are nice,well done and constructed of very good materials,but the designs largely aren't very practical.

I've no D2 complaints,but I do think S30V is a superior material.

As to the "Ingram board" Thing,I'm not sure about that. He's well received and offers a pretty good diversity of wares,as well as being willing to craft from the hip,for the gent of that mindset.

For my taste in blades,Gene smokes Bob by a landslide,for a practical versatility in "using" profiles,geared to dead critters and such.

Unzipping a Deer,isn't how I'd quantify the effectiveness of a given blade profile's,relative utility.

I drive a few hundered blades and haven't quite realized THE perfect pattern yet,but I'm getting closer and Gene is a willing vehicle in that pursuit.

I give him two thumbs up,in all categories................

You make rebuttal difficult,if'n you edit/delete,every Post you hang.

Don't sweat bustin' my balls,or Genes.

Discussion is good.......................

Now I'm laughing... sorry about the edit. I just didn't want to offend anyone else, least of all a respected knifemaker such as Mr. Ingram. Nor do I want to engage in one of those internet drama "pissing matches." It's pretty subjective, and a Ford - Chevy kinda thing. I felt badly for the poster who started the thread to see his new prizes referred to as pizza cutters. Usually I submit to the rule that if you don't have anything good to say... And that seemed a slap in his face. Probably I should have stayed out of it and let him step up if he felt offended. And, I am a Dozier man and pretty brand loyal. To any following this thread I had made reference to another recent thread in which a poster mentioned this forum as an Ingram forum. I didn't say that in a derogatory way, just as an observation.

He asked for opinions....

Well I sure nuff got some opinions!!Knives are no different than guns,or trucks,or boats,everyone has their favorite.I bought the Doziers to work;I live in Central British Columbia,and the knives will see their share of moose,bear and deer.After this season I'll post MY opinion!Thanks to all!Regards,Monashee

Good Hunting and extry points for pictures..................

Monashee: Just got done using a Dozier Yukon Pro Skinner to slice up some peppers and onions for the venison sausage tonight. (Big hockey game tonight in Buffalo, NY) I couldn't find anything else to use it on as it only came in the mail this week from the Dozier shop. It is a fine piece of workmanship. I had the handle made like the K-8 for a better grip and looks. I also have a K-18 and a K-31 in stag. I am very happy with the edge retention on these baldes. I also anxiously wait for a #7S Ingram with stag slabs that should be here in July. Both Ingram and Dozier have been top notch people to deal with.

Go Sabres Go!!!I can't stand Carolina,they knocked out the Habs!!Good luck tonite!

Monashee,
Your gonna be a happy camper. I have a few customs and find Bob's heat treating to be excellent. They take and hold an edge like my custom S30V blades and much better than the other D2 custom and the factory D2 I have. Mine is a Slim Outdoorsman and as previously mentioned the only complaint I have is with wet and cold hands the indestructable micarta is slick and harder to hold than I would like. I find the hoizontal case to be the best use of plastic in the history of mankind, never in the way and always at hand, just brilliant. A couple of strokes on a Sharpmaker after a successful hunt and you could shave if you had to.

To no one in particular and just FWIW...

Linen micarta doesn't have to be slickery. The top knives in this pic are Doziers and came with the polished finish. A few minutes with a Dremel tool and medium flapper wheel raised the grain on the spine and bottom grip and took the slick off the flats.

The middle knife was ordered with the preferred 600 grit wet sandpaper finish from a maker world famous for his filet knives used in awful conditions and is the grippierest but most utilitarian looking. It's reeeaaaallll easy to maintain though...

Bottom knife has a beaded finish and is actually the most attractive and came pretty grippy, though a smidgen of work with sandpaper roughing the spine and grip bottom made it even better...

I'm interested in any particulars on the Fillet Maker,you'd care to share.........................

As most of ya'll here know, a custom maker will provide whatever finish you need on those handles if the knife is ordered directly from the maker. Many will take a knife of their making bought second hand/elsewhere and texture the handle to suit your needs.

Stick,
The maker is a guy named Phil Wilson from Northern California. Really interesting fella. Was a rocket scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Labs, into materials engineering, and an expert on heat treating. He was a consultant to Crucible on development of the CPM steels and wrote a series of articles on them for BLADE magazine, the one on S30V being particularly circulated on the internet. I first heard of him from a shark fisherman I met in Nova Scotia who swore he had done multiple HUGE sharks down to nothing with Wilson knives, and in researching I could find no one who owned one that didn�t get a woody talking about it�sooo when I took a job in Quebec where there would be tons of great Lake and Brown trout fishing combined with caribou I figured for a 90% fish/10% game knife a fillet maker might be worth a try. Couldn�t bring myself to go with the big sweeping trailing point though so went with what he calls his Bird and Trout. Mines 3-1/4� bladed, but it�s still made with the attributes of a fillet even though it�s a drop point � i.e. it is very, very thin flat ground (only .010 at the edge) and has a full distal taper designed to allow slight flex about an inch back from the tip. It�s S30V at 60 RC and is without exaggeration the sharpest knife I own, and since this is a Dozier thread in my tests it holds a cutting edge in the neighborhood of 40% longer than Dozier D2. Hellofaknife�

True on the initial order part - and it only took some of us once on the refurb part (and my earlier post was to those who complained the Dozier handles are too slick - and they friggin ARE - even his blasted ones) to figure out it was kinda silly to pay with shipping from $15-$35 for something you can do yourself for $0.20....

Stick,

His website.....

http://www.seamountknifeworks.com/index.htm

Wicked looking filet knives.

Appreciate the info men.

I'll be sniffing.......................

I can like his 3.5" B&T.

Anybody have a guess as to how much and how long,factoring S30V and Micarta scales?.............................

Mine took just shy of three months and was just north of two Ben Franklins. Communication was really good - I got a couple of emails and one phone update during that time. Course that was before the last steel price increases, and it goes without saying I can't speak for the man... which leads to:

seamount@bigplanet.com

as an alternate email if you get no joy from the "Contact Us" link on the website...

The internet sure gets smaller all the time. I made the statement above that Bob doesn't do much of the grinding anymore based on a post he'd made recently on BladeForums.

I was browsing the forum on the Dozier Knives website this morning, and reading Bob's comments on the thread MOGC started linking back to this one prompted me to revisit BladeForums and I find I did indeed misstate to some extent Bob's post, which says quote "Dan does most of the grinding on Ar. made knives but we all work in this shop. I grind all the mirror polished knives and the folders." ...

Since I'm only interested in the Arkansas Made Knives my mind must have leapt over the second sentence and I stand corrected - it appears if one wants a knife personally made by Bob (and not that anyone here has said such, it's just sort of a theme with some collectors I know to want the product from the "name" himself) ordering a polished knife or folder would do it...

That B & T looks mighty tempting!

I find Dozier's knives to be excellent but most are WAY too big. His "Arkansas Traveler" is a completely satisfactory knife and I have one of his "Dozier Personal" (K-28) knives on order.

It is unfortunate that if you order S30V the price skyrockets. But as others have said, he does a good job with his customary D2.

RS

JB,
I just e-mailed Seamount to see if we can come up with a mutually pleasing design for my purposes. I'll let the forum know how it goes.
Thanks for the link.
RS

I was gonna try to catch him the other side of the weekend and approach him about a deviation of his B&T.

Will try to get him on the horn................

From what I've read about him, he sure knows steels. I'd be inclined to take notice of what he recommends.

I just picked up a K-4 Straight Hunter friday with ironwood handles. Really nice blade. Bob is a pretty nice fella too. I find his horizontal kydex sheath to be really interesting. Bob explained how he came up with the idea. Saw him at that Atlanta Blade show.

Spent some time this afternoon wandering around the Cobb Centre myself. Bob's knives have really gone up in price of late. The Canoe, my favorite Dozier pattern, is now over $200 in D2. Bob is a nice guy....

I was only able to spend about 5 hours at BLADE this year, so I may be way off base, but attendance and sales seemed way down. That said, was still a good time and as usual in the "booth" arena Bob and Chris Reeve were surrounded...though William Henry was getting a lot of attention as well.

Highlight for me was the Cutting Championship where Burt Foster came in second by literally a couple of threads of rope - Burt is [color:"red"]THE [/color] bargain in custom knives right now!!!!!!

Links?....................

burtfoster.com

Obliged.....................

I don't think Burt's knives are your thing since he works in carbon steel...I need the properties of a forged blade for some of the chopping and hacking and prying tasks on our ranches and Burt's stuff is kick butt for that. I probably should have said above "Burt is THE bargain in forged custom knives right now!!!!!!" I'll post some pics of the little hunter he made me in differentually heat treated O-1 on another thread as it seems I've diverted this one twice now to Burt and Phil....

Last diversion, but will also add in the "THE bargain" category for stock removal guys IME it's still Gene and Geno (Ingram and Denning) by a landslide...

What is the typical price range for Burt Foster's knives? I went to his web site and there are no prices. I have no idea what prices he charges.

I have a price list from last December with most of the kniives on the site pictured and the prices run from $175 to $2900...should span most folks' budgets...