Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Custom Knives ?

Thinking of getting one , although i have several knives that will fillet or skin/gut any critter thus far .

What is the draw to them ? beauty ? unbeatable edge holding quality ? ergonomics ?

Beauty

Beauty.

I want all of the above. I have four that I bought in classified over last several years.

The draw is the illusion that you are possessing something personal, yours alone.

Reality is that they are no advantage over a decent butcher's knife.



Added, don't get me wrong, I am a sucker for nice knives...but I do not lie to myself.

Enjoying and appreciating the craftsmanship and time in creating a piece of art.

Buy the best you can afford. Some of the older knives by American knife makers can be argued to fall into this category too.

I’ve made a lot of knives for folks on here. I’d like to think it was “beauty” that first caught their eye...that’s one of my goals with each knife, certainly. But it goes much deeper than that. Utilizing good steel is job 1 for me. Good steel, heat treated and tempered properly. Only then can you expect to get the best performance from that blade. My most recent personal knife gutted, skinned, quartered an antelope then an elk. I cleaned it up a few days ago and put it away. It was still shaving hair and the edge had never been retouched once. Credit the steel for that ...

Lots of mass produced knives do NOT utilizethe same steel as we knife makers use. Most of it will be foreign (China) made steel. It won’t hold up.

Our handmade knives will certainly run more than the Walmart specials but you get much more for your $ with a handmade knife....some folks are perfectly happy with a Havelon knife. If so, I’m happy for you. But, there’s a pride of ownership experience that you’ll never get to see.

Lots of good makers work shown here....check us out.

S30V from Benchmade and Buck don’t hold a candle to an S30V blade from Ingram or May. The Ingram/May will take and hold an edge significantly better and are no more difficult to sharpen when they’ve been used.

Beauty and functionality.

If you want a very nice custom knife check in with our own michiganroadkill, he makes a great knife.

I really appreciate the craftsman ship and artistry involved but because I worry about losing it, I tend to lean towards something that works and I won't lose sleep over it if I lose it or it grows legs and walks off sometime.

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S30V from Benchmade and Buck don’t hold a candle to an S30V blade from Ingram or May. The Ingram/May will take and hold an edge significantly better and are no more difficult to sharpen when they’ve been used.
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Eggzackly my point. It’s all in the heat treat process. I do my own ht so I know what I’ve got. By the way, I have a Chris Reeve folder (two actually) and their blade steel, S30V and S35V, is as soft as butter...neither will hold an edge after opening the mail!

I didn't know that. I thought S30V was S30V.

You're comparing two factory made knives to custom knife makers.I know Charles May heat treats his own knives but I'm not sure about Gene Ingram.

Your opinion about Buck knives appears not to be founded upon fact,as Paul Bos has been heat treating Buck knives since 1970 and he is considered to be the Dean of the heat treatment process .

If you want to make a more fair comparison how about comparing Ingram and May to other custom makers.

Randall Made Knives forges their blades from bar stock and they're competitive with any other maker as far as cutting potential,durability and ease of sharpening.They also don't use any of the powder-made steels such as S-30V.

Does May forge his blades from bar stock?

Does Ingram forge his blades from bar stock?

If custom knives offered anything like all the edge holding hype some of them promise then every butcher would be using them .

As in any tool, look at what the pros use

I use a Spyderco made with chinese 8cr13mov 5 days a week had it a year and only touched it up once on a dmt sharpener. How a blades sharpened means whether it'll hold up or not. I don't hate buck knives but there are way better steels out there. You can holler that 420/440 are equal to m390 s30v etc. Till the cattle return it just ain't so.

"Forged from bar stock" does not yield a superior blade to the modern powder metallurgy process, for several reasons. First, the PM blades have finer grain structure than forged bar stock blades, which means they do indeed hold an edge better, in addition to being "tougher." Second, the alloy chemistry is better controlled, meaning you can get a more consistent heat treat from PM blades. Third, you can get alloys that simply aren't possible by other means.

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S30V from Benchmade and Buck don’t hold a candle to an S30V blade from Ingram or May. The Ingram/May will take and hold an edge significantly better and are no more difficult to sharpen when they’ve been used.
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I've a Bos HT S30V Buck Kaala that has been cutting hides, meat and against bones for years. If there is a difference in performance of the steel between the Kaala and an S30V Ingram. I've not noticed.

No, "every butcher" doesn't use custom knives because they are significantly more expensive and therefore don't provide a very cost-effective alternative vs. just sharpening a commercial blade.

I'd stick with a name brand that's sure to appreciate in value..

1. Beauty
2. Having a unique design, in many cases, having the exact features/components you choose. With commercial knives, you're stuck with whatever designs the manufacturer offers. With a custom, you can get whatever combination of blade and handle length, scale material(s), grind type, steel, shape, thickness, etc you want.
3. Pride in ownership from owning something unique and hand made out of quality materials
4. Edge retention from good steel and heat treat

Exactly the same reasons one would buy a custom rifle vs a factory rifle: to get exactly what you want instead of someone else making those decisions for you.