Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades My first custom is on its way!

Well, I finally got notice yesterday from Dan Crotts that my first custom knife is ready to be shipped along with a knife that a friend of mine, Campfire member Pathfinder, ordered at the same time.

As per some of my PMs to you guys, I wanted a knife that may be a tad more suited to processing the animal from field to freezer, as I don't use a butcher. After telling Dan what my thoughts were, he recommended to me a model he calls his Brend Skinner, as the pattern was given him by Mr. Walter Brend, at the first knife show Dan ever attended in Chicago. I had already found myself admiring Tim Olt’s 5” Boner, and heard glowing reports from a few Campfire members, so this design made sense for me.

It's a 5" trailing edge, upswept blade in D2 steel with a flat grind. I asked Dan about other steels, as I was wide open to whatever, but he said for a straight up hunting knife he still likes D2. That's what they're known for, so that's what I went with.

Currently, I find myself using a Henckels 5.5" boning knife for much of my game work anyhow, so I went with a touch longer blade than most skinners. If you look at the angle of attack/belly, it is very similar to Pathfinder's semi skinner. Hopefully, it will slice nicely through flesh. My initial reaction is that I am very pleased.

Now to squirrel away some nickels for my next knife

Congrats! What sort of wait time does Crotts have?

This was ordered back in January. I was quoted 3-6 months. A couple months ago, I was told they are no longer taking orders, so as to catch up with backlog.

Nice!

He does some nice grinds.


Before putting his name on knives, he ground a ton for Dozier.

Nice man. Careful, this can get addictive! 😂👊🏻

First rate knives for sure