Recommendation? Dressy knife, sub $800

Olamic

 

higher end stuff I usually look at bladegallery or knifepurveyor

 

TBC

 

William henry

 

William Henry, premium materials and great designs.

 

Tony or Reese Bose, traditional, classy and functional---top shelf, may exceed your dollar amount though

 

I saw some William Henry knives at a Cartier shop a few days ago. I vote William Henry.

 

Arno Bernard Rinkhals. Lots of exotic inlays

 

If you email me I can give you a link for a WH vendor that was very easy to deal with and best price.
~ EMAIL HERE ~ Not allowed to post non BF vendor links.

Your $800.00 can get chewed up pretty fast with special materials AND quality craftsmanship - whether WH or others. Still, might be worth considering some custom makers. You can start here on the makers exchange.

 

Without going full-custom (and likely driving up the price), I gotta give the nod to Olamic. They have some classy designs and can work with darn near any exotic material you can think of.

 

One of the southwestern states mentioned quite a bit in the election has a custom knives site that is good for browsing.

 

But their prices are inconsistent. I saw a used WH with scratches - same model - on that site that I was able to buy brand new for 20% less and free delivery. To be fair the numbering showed the used one to be in the first 100. The one I bought was in the 700s out of 800. Maybe lower numbers in a series add value? There have been others examples. They do allow for counter offers though and I have scored a few for less that way from them. So- not a total diss - just a word that buyer needs to be alert.

 

South African knife maker's guild members;
Andre Thorburn, George Muller, JD Van Derventer, Theo Prinsloo, Trevor Burger, all making some quality knives.

Maybe even look for a used Rockstead?

 

Millit torrent!

 

Maria Stalina

 

Brown Knives. Look at the archives for each model.
No wood, bone or other natural materials but really nice micarta and carbon fiber.
You can get the current Cortex model less than 800.
He still does drops of the LHC-X model also at <700.
I’ve seen his stuff on the exchange here occasionally too.
Check MBK. You don’t get much more clean and classy, although simple, than Ray Laconico designs.

 

Also check out the maker's for sale area here. I find some great knives from makers I never would have heard of. 800 can still go a long way with customs.

 

I would 2nd the suggestion for Andre Thorburn. I can’t say enough about the quality of workmanship you get for the price you paid. The flipping action is spot-on too.

I have two William Henrys, purchased when they were fairly new and the knives were pretty reasonably priced. They aren’t unreasonably priced now, but I find that anything they make under $800 is rather boring.

 

Mnandi in Damascus all day