I was wondering what constitutes a knife being considered a custom knife or a production knife. The obvious answers are that a custom knife is made by hand, by the maker, and production knives are produced by companies in an assembly line, type of environment. Some custom knife makers hire employees and/or apprentices which assist in the grinding, assembling and production of their blades. Not only that, they also farm out some of their work. When would a knifemaker's blades suddenly start being considered production? I was under the impression that many years ago Chris Reeve was considered a custom knifemaker; so why are Chris Reeve knives now considered production blades by many, and semi-production by others? Is it because CRK has grown?
Many production blades are being made for custom knifemakers, of the custom maker's design, using different materials than the custom blades, and mass produced by some other knife company - such as the many collaborations we now see between factories and custom knife maker's. One that comes to mind is Kit carson and his Model 4 that Outdoor edge cutlery is now producing a version of, called the Magna.
Lastly, could someone at CRK please let me know why they have limited their customers to only the buyers that can afford such expensive folders (I'm thinking of the Sebenzas), and not produced a more affordable version of the Sebenza; even if that meant using different metals and possibly even contracting another company to produce them? Realizing the high quality of CRK blades, I am sure CRK (like Kit Carson), could oversee and insure that a production version of their Sebenza folders would also be very high quality. Wouldn't it be great to have people that can't spend $300+ for a folder, suddenly be able to own a Sebenza? There will always be people that want, and can, buy the high end (custom?), Sebenzas. The increased sales of the production versions, would more than offset any loss in sales of the high end Sebenzas.
I personally would love to see a production version of the Sebenza line. For the way I see it, the current Sebenza line is of such high quality, AND PRICE, that I consider them to be custom, or semi-custom, blades.
That said, I better start saving up for another Sebenza, the best semi-production blades in the world.
Happy Trails...
ROMANS 6:23
Many production blades are being made for custom knifemakers, of the custom maker's design, using different materials than the custom blades, and mass produced by some other knife company - such as the many collaborations we now see between factories and custom knife maker's. One that comes to mind is Kit carson and his Model 4 that Outdoor edge cutlery is now producing a version of, called the Magna.
Lastly, could someone at CRK please let me know why they have limited their customers to only the buyers that can afford such expensive folders (I'm thinking of the Sebenzas), and not produced a more affordable version of the Sebenza; even if that meant using different metals and possibly even contracting another company to produce them? Realizing the high quality of CRK blades, I am sure CRK (like Kit Carson), could oversee and insure that a production version of their Sebenza folders would also be very high quality. Wouldn't it be great to have people that can't spend $300+ for a folder, suddenly be able to own a Sebenza? There will always be people that want, and can, buy the high end (custom?), Sebenzas. The increased sales of the production versions, would more than offset any loss in sales of the high end Sebenzas.
I personally would love to see a production version of the Sebenza line. For the way I see it, the current Sebenza line is of such high quality, AND PRICE, that I consider them to be custom, or semi-custom, blades.
That said, I better start saving up for another Sebenza, the best semi-production blades in the world.
Happy Trails...
ROMANS 6:23
