What was your first true custom?

Joss

Joss

Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
7,351
And what happened to it?

Mine was a Tommy Lee bootknife, with a fossil ivory grip. I bought it in the mid- to late eighties at the Paris knife show, the SICAC. Tommy since then has retired, and I see his work pop up every once in a while (in fact, I have seen my knife in 2 separate occasions offered for sale, at a much higher price than I had sold it).

It was a nice knife, very pleasing to the eye and well made. I don't regret selling it because it wouldn't fit in my collection now.
 
NY Custom Knife Show at the Roosevelt Hotel, Fall, 1986, ATS-34 blade, mirror polish, 416 ss fighter guard, about 5.5" blade, well tapered tang, and highly figured cocobolo scales that looked like a mountain with a sunset. Maker is still active, from Aiken, SC, at the time.

I gave it to a very good friend of mine when I got out of the military in 1991.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Mark Lubrich forged Randall style knife in 1989 or so.
At the time thought it was perfect, but I was wrong.
 
Gil Hibben Tanto Survival Knife given to me mid '80's as an engagement present. 440C 9 1/4" blade. EDC'd it on patrol for quite a while until I found out that he only made one other one remotely like it, which he sold to Sylvester Stallone. Lost the girl, kept the knife.
 
Jim Downs spearpoint linerlock. Still have it.
 
Nordell puukko, at the November 2001 NY show. I also bought an Easler drop point and a Gaston drop point at the same show, but the Nordell was bought first.

Still have the Nordell and intend to use it one day. Both the Easler and the Gaston have been sold.
 
Fisk "Pit Boss", purchased for $525 sold for $750..... thought I was Donald Trump making "that much" on the sale... in hindsight it was idiotic to sell that knife. It was and is to the day the most "perfect" carry size fighter ive seen. Wish Jerry would make more just like it:cool:
 
Shadley swell center whittler with Red bone..purchaced from Gene at the NYCKS I think in 98...foolishly sold ..though I know the keeper and I'll bring her home one day
 
CD Childs, who used to be a local maker out here in the Northwest, now located somewhere on the East coast, displayed frequently at the OKCA show in Eugene.

When I first ran into him, he had several nice pieces made out of Cable Damascus. At the time, I was a relative newbie to collecting, let alone what actually went into knife making, but I had a sketchy idea of the differences between cable damascus, random pattern or mosaic damascus and forged steels.

I also had a cheap Taylor Aikuchi in my pocket that I had been carrying at work for years. Sweet little SS blade (of 440c IIRC) with SS bolsters and a blade about as long as my index finger - it was perfect for all the cardboard and prying I run into in my job. :eek:

But apparently I developed a bug, a bug to have a NICE one in my pocket! :D

So I showed it to Curtis and asked if he could duplicate it in Cable Damascus with black micarta scales and no bolsters...

Three weeks later it arrived, with a slight handle modification to the scales - a very dark random cable pattern melding into a wonderful sculpted black paper micarta handle.... A leather sheath with kydex insert, cut to hang per my specs, still hangs in my right rear pocket whenever I feel I can get away with a discreet fixed blade carry... Wouldn't sell it for anything! :D
 
A big broad-bladed Robert Hajovsky (Bob Sky) dagger with ivory micarta scales. Bought it circa 1983-ish. Sold it to Coop some long time ago now.

Roger
 
Mine was a Polkowski Bodyguard. However, is a knife really a custom if it is one of the maker's standard models? I asked Mr. Polkowski to polish the blade rather than sand blast it so my Bodyguard is all polished, G10 grips too. I still have it and carry it sometimes carry it concealed in an IWB sheath.
 
a simple ken steigerwalt lockback folder, around 1986. at that time i didn't even know what a custom knife is... i still own that folder.

brightred
 
Sam Cox, purchased at the Southeastern Wildlife Exhibition in 1988. Fighter, ironwood, bead blasted blade. Still have it!

Win
 
I can not remember what my first custom was!! i will have to think on this for a bit.
 
I have only been collecting custom knives for about five years. My first was a DDR Madd Maxx. When I made the decision to change from collecting tactical folders to bowies I sold the Madd Maxx to free up cash.

The treatment I received from Darrel is a big pat of why I am still collecting custom knives. If he had been a jerk I most likely would have gone back to production knives.
 
In '81 or '82,details fuzzy,I acquired a Merc' from Shiva Ki,Baton Rouge,it was 440C.
Traded for a guitar.:eek:
Interestingly,it or its twin is for sale at Steel Addiction Custom Knives as I type this.

Doug:)
 
Bagwell hunting knife in mid 80's. Took quite awhile to save up that much money back then but it was worth it. It began to teach me how much fun the other side of that fence could be cause I used that piece hard in the field.
 
My first custom is either a Dozier straight personal with ironwood handles or a Lamey Urban Bowie. Still have both, and still use both quite often.
 
The first real custom (made for me) knife that I tried to order was a M. W. Seguine in 1969. I’m still waiting on the brochure I paid for. Years later I did get one of his knives but it wasn’t made for me. The first one I received was made for me by Chubby Hueske in the late 1970’s. We corresponded and talked on the phone for several months working out the design. It is a great knife and just what I wanted. It was made by a guy that I wish I could have met and gotten to know. He asked for a picture of me with the knife and the first deer that I dressed with it. He said that he liked to collect pictures of the users of his knives. I sent him one. Most makers today would not put his knife on their table. The fit “n” finish just isn’t up to today’s standards by a long shot. I still have it, and like most of my knives, I’m going to keep it.
 
My first custom knife was a slipjoint made by Devin Thomas with firestorm damascus, stag scales and mokume bolsters. It had a very sad, untimely end when it was on a blade show trip in the same bag as some contact solution that leaked every where. I wish these kinds of memories wouldn't be brought up in threads like this.
 
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