Custom vs Production

As you may know,i have an interest in "cutlery".

Production knives,whilst being well made and easily available,are a bit soulless and lack individuality.

For the price of a reasonable production knife you can get something like this:


8.5" industrial circular saw blade steel,wenge handle.

I made a sheath for it:




Unbelievable edge retention and cutting ability,you won't find this steel on a production item.The handle is designed to fit my hand,which it does perfectly....and it's a totally unique one off.

Thinking about an all round utility knife?

Think about a custom built one.

Ade, do you think you could produce a seax?

Not personally Dave,but i know a couple of fellas that have made seax blades lately....and would be more than happy to take on a comission

Ade, that is a work of art you should be proud of.

Sadly, my efforts fall somewhat short of yours. In fact I am still at the learning to sharpen existing knives stage.

I only hope to produce something like that one day. Well done mate

I have to give a lot of credit for this one to a bladesmith i know that turned my material choice and design into the blade you see.

...but i take full credit for the leatherwork

Anyone heard of ceramic bladed knives?

as an aside to Ade's great work, ceramic knives are used by many street gangs to 'fool' metal detectors.

In fact when the last Home Secretary (Judgmental Jacquie) gave South Yorkshire Police several hundred thousand pounds to install detectors in schools (daft waste of public money), and those stupid 'walk-abouts' in rough areas (accompanied by a dozen coppers).
anyway on the mean streets of certain areas in Sheffield, we asked many street kids how they would get past the detectors, they said, ceramic knives, or sharpened other non-metal objects.

as an extra Ade is a well respected member of my association and until recently was our Cornwal Rep..he is very talented inmaking weapons

Good post Dave,I know quite a few makers that use ceramics and other non-metallic materials...but they have started putting metal inserts in the knives to stop them being so "stealthy".I think there may have been a change in legislation regarding non-metallic knives,i'll nip over to Chris' Q&A and ask.



p.s.Ceramics are nice,but they're brittle and an absolute pig to sharpen!

When it comes to sharpening, ceramic knives are almost considered "throw away"


That said, I was looking for a discussion about the knives themselves.

Not how can these get misused, per past metal detectors

Hiya Ade,
Is that one of you know who's, it is a cracking piece of equipment. And as you know I'm quite partial to his work myself

D, Shadow wrote:Hiya Ade,
Is that one of you know who's, it is a cracking piece of equipment. And as you know I'm quite partial to his work myself

Sure is,it's one of my two "BoneSaws".You can have a play with 'em both on saturday

I may try and sneak one away in my bag, You gotta keep an eye on me