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20 Custom Knives Moms Want For Mother’s Day

May 11, 2017

20 Custom Knives Moms Want For Mother’s Day

Tim Lambkin of Chops Knives made this lightweight EDC knife with flame-anodized titanium scales. — 1. This everyday carry folding knife by Tim Lambkin is lightweight at 3.2 ounces. It measures 4 inches closed and is 3/8 inch thick. Tim welded the pattern, did the filework inside and out and flame-anodized the titanium scales to add the wow factor. The screws are the types used in hip replacements, anodized for color! The thumb stud is mother of pearl. Makers List Price: $900-$1000 Contact http://chopsknives.com, [email protected],903-926-7447. (Ericka Lambkin image)

Has a card, flowers and brunch become the routine for Mother’s Day? Maybe you’ve tried getting creative with gift-giving but it wasn’t well received, so you’re sticking with what works. Dull! Where’s your sense of adventure? What about giving the mothers in your life something sharp and pretty? Just like her! Let’s look at 20 custom knives moms want for Mother’s Day, or any day for that matter.

Isn’t that like giving a vacuum cleaner or an iron?

Yes and no. We’re not talking boxed sets of table cutlery or mass-produced blades, regardless of their quality and usefulness. We’re talking 100-percent hand-crafted custom knives. If you decide on a chef knife, for example, it could be construed as encouraging cooking, but the knife will be so beautiful, so smoothly made, so significant in her hand, she’ll overlook the “get cooking” aspect and start searching for things to julienne. You may find her looking for ways to display her knife not only as an easily accessible tool, but as a work of art. It’s not going to be tossed carelessly into a drawer, that’s for sure.

Hmmm. I’m not so sure.

Ok. What about knives for self-defense? Or engraved knives in pearlesence or vivid colors that mom will want to hold, admire and show off? Knives for shaving? The cowgirl in your life could use a custom livestock castration knife.

Excuse me!

Just look. These 20 custom knives will be well received by all types of mothers. Trust me. Now these knives take time to make, so if you see something you like, contact the maker and if he or she doesn’t have one ready, put in an order for a birthday or the holidays. It’ll be worth the wait. I promise.

Neck Knives

Neck knives are compact blades that are drawn in a downward motion from a sheath on a necklace-length lanyard or looped onto a bra like a gun holster. Moms can use this for self-defense or as an everyday carry knife. Various blade styles are frequently offered.

Pete Sloan allowed for laynard attachement with this design. — 3. Pete Sloan’s neck knife is made from 440C stainless steel with a cleaver-Wharncliffe blade design. The handle was crafted using stabilized pink curly maple. Maker’s List Price: $150. Contact www.sloancustomknives.com, [email protected], 731-225-9209 or message on Facebook at Sloan Custom Knives.

Travis Fleming made this trailing-point tanto bladed necker out of Nitro-V, a new AEBL from New Jersey Steel Baron. — 4. This neck knife by Travis Fleming has a trailing-point tanto blade design made from Nitro-V, an AEBL steel by New Jersey Steel Baron. A pink sheath completes the set. Makers List Price: $160. Contact [email protected] or message at Fleming’s Fabrications on Facebook.

Denny Furey of Furey's Urban Combat Knives makes a three-finger knife that's designed to ensure you don't fumble a knife when you need it most. — 5. Denny Furey makes these three-finger Quick Defense Knives with an index finger ring for sure pistol-grip draw from under a top or from between buttons on a blouse. The 2.5-inch blade is made of high carbon 1095 with a blued and polished finish. The handle is made out of Voodoo Resins with brass pins and lanyard tube. Makers List Price: $160, includes sheath. Contact [email protected], 405-642-2198 or message on Facebook at Furey’s Urban Combat Knives.

Pretty Knives

Sometimes it’s all about the eye candy. Holding something pretty, showing it off, is a luxury mom is unlikely to allow herself either in time or cost. But, hey, beautiful knives can also cut a piece of string or open a box, and every time she studies the engraving, the jewel- and pearl-like finishes, the intricate designs in the pattern-welded steel, she’ll be reminded of how much she is treasured.

Johnny Stout's wife has taken ownship of this knife and enjoys the reaction of friends when they see how beautiful it is. — 6. This Johnny Stout LeGrande Fine Folder has a 2 1/2-inch pattern-welded blade, gold lip mother of pearl handle scales, engraving by Alice Carter and a precious rubies inset in the backspacer and in the thumb stud. Closed, the knife measures 3 3/8 inches. Makers List Price: $3200. Contact http://stoutknives.com, [email protected] or 830-606-4067.

7. Karen Jones made the
3-inch blade on this Work Pony out of raindrop-patterned steel. The bolsters are green abalone, the spacers are brass and the scales are elk antler. The 7-inch knife is “made to be used and abused in real life. Pretty is as pretty does,” Karen added. Makers List Price: $250-$275. Contact [email protected], 682-777-1193 or message at ThunderHorse Blades on Facebook.

Devin Bliss is used to working with wood so the walnut in this 3.75-inch Bobcat knife is beautiful to look at and hold. — 8. This Devin Bliss Bobcat has a 3.75-inch blade made of 1095 steel, walnut handle with mosaic pins and silver wire inlay and a nickel silver bolster. Its overall length is 8 inches. Makers List Price: $560. Contact [email protected], 903-736-3052 or message at DB Custom Knives on Facebook.

Ben Kabisch made this knife for a nurse who worked at night. She wanted something pretty and concealable. — 9. Ben Kabisch made this for an emergency room nurse who works the night shift. She wanted something “cute, light and concealable.” The blade was made from 1084 carbon steel and the scales are an acrylic abalone. The blade is 3.5 inches and the overall length is 7.5 inches. Makers List Price: $175 Contact 940-733-6404 or message on Facebook at Ben Kabisch.

Raymon E. Hunt made this slip-joint folder with pattern-welded steel and pre-ban elephant ivory. — 10. This Raymon Earl Hunt Swayback Jack has a 2 3/4-inch Wharncliff-style blade, hand-finished and with a swedge. The handle scales are pre-ban elephant ivory with gold pins and stainless bolster. The inlaid engraving is by Bruce Christiansen. Maker’s list price: $1800 with sheath or purse pouch. Contact 214-507-0896, [email protected], or visit www.3hsknives.com.

Kitchen Knives

Whether the kitchen is in an urban apartment or at a campfire in the woods, chef knives that make food preparation more enjoyable, either by their ergonomics or their beauty, preferably both, are welcome gifts at Mother’s Day or on any holiday. This category also includes skinner/meat processing knives for the huntress in the family.

You can find these slim but hard-working skinners at Lindstrand Custom Knives on Facebook. — 12. Nichole Lindstrand’s Modoc model knives are made from 15N20 steel with a drop-point blade, ideal for skinning and processing game. Overall they measure 7.25 inches with a cutting edge of just under 3.5 inches. The handles on these two are made of olivewood and Bone Micarta with blue G10 liners and carbon fiber pins. The makers list price is $165. Contact [email protected], 530-515-6082 or message on Facebook at Lindstrand Custom Knives.

Carson Riley Marquis makes 7 1/2-inch kitchen/skinners that are ideal for smaller hands. — 13. These 7 1/2-inch kitchen/camp knives by Carson Riley Marquis are made with 1095 steel with a differential heat treatment, acid etched/stonewashed finish and hammered-texture flats with flat grinds. The handles are dyed and stabilized zebra wood bolsters with Ivory Paper Micarta laid atop and divided by Natural Linen Micarta. Pins and lanyard tube are also Natural Linen Micarta. These are right-sized for meat processing and food prep. Makers List Price: $195 each with leather sheath. Contact http://crmarquisknives.bigcartel.com, 903-316-2824 or on
Instagram @C.R.Marquis.Knives.

Todd Stracener made this Thai-inspired kitchen knife to be as beautiful as it is functional. — 14. This Thai-inspired kitchen knife by Todd Stracener is similar to a Japanese bunka. The 6 1/2-inch blade is made of 1095 steel and the handle is made of wenge wood with a resin inlay, The knife is 11 1/2 inches overall. $250. Contact on Instagram @thezeep or message on Facebook at Stracener Knives.

Everyday Carry Knives

Everyday carry, or EDC, knives are ones that you carry on your person or in your purse for both self-defense and general common use. They can be of the fixed-blade variety that you keep in a leather, Kydex or other molded-plastic sheath. Or they can be of the folding type and come with a clip that you can use on your pocket or inside a skirt or pant waistband. EDC makers strive for thin, small and light. They’re often tactical looking, but mom-friendly models come in everything from natural tones to bold and subtle colors.

Brian Nadeau is working on another knife at present, but www.knifelegends.com still has this particular knife. — 15. Brian Nadeau’s Cyclone Bowie Flipper has a 3.5-inch blade made of CPM S35VN steel. The pivot is constructed with a stainless ball thrust bearing with AEB-L lock. It has a textured, anodized-titanium frame and aggressive gimping for a secure grip in any weather. The pocket clip is 410 stainless steel. Makers list price: $995. Contact www.knifelegends.com, www.sharpbydesign.com or [email protected].

Shane Hill of Hill Knife Works made his cocobolo-handled knife for a lady who wanted to keep a knife in her vehicle. — 16. Shane Hill made this knife for a woman who wanted to have a knife in her car with her. The 3-inch drop-point hollow-ground blade is 1095 steel; the handle is make of cocobolo wood. Overall length of just short of 8 inches. Makers list price: $165. Contact [email protected] or message Hill Knife Works on Facebook.

Hawk Custom Knives offers 4 1/2-inch Mini Me skinners that make great purse-carry knives. — 17. These Mini Me knives by Charles Hawkins have 2-inch hollow-ground blades made of pattern-welded steel from Alabama Damascus Steel. The top one has an Alumilite resin and wood handle with carbon fiber bolsters. The bottom one has a terminate wood with box elder handle with Alumilite resin bolsters. Although these knives are technically skinners, at 4 1/2 inches overall and with a clip-on sheath, something tells me they’re more likely to be used as an everyday carry. Maker’s list price: $100-$125 each. Contact www.hawkcustomknives.com, 325-947-7875.

The Right Knife For The Job

To do the job right, you need the right tool. You wouldn’t use a router to mix cake batter, right? (I can tell you’ve thought about it though.) You wouldn’t use a flat brush to curl your bangs, right? OK, maybe. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Well, it’s the same with knives. Aside from a survival situation, you wouldn’t bushcraft with a paring knife or filet a fish with a tomahawk. Here are just a few of many specialized knives that might be perfect for a mom in your life.

Lost Wood Knives makes a dramtic-looking chopper for chores on the ranch or farm. — 18. Eland Green made this GOLIATH chopper from 5160 tool steel and left the flats black after the heat treatment. The handle is a wood-resin combination. This is a worker for the gardening mom or for chores around a camp, farm or ranch. Makers list price: $600. Call [email protected], 940-736-8333 or message on Facebook at Lost Wood Knives.

Rafter M Knives offers pretty and plain castration knives for women managing lifestock on the ranch. — 19. Becky McFall Rodriquez made this teardrop-handled livestock castration knife from a Travis Payne idea. Its 3-inch blade is acid-etched O1 tool steel. The handle is fashioned from blue-dyed box elder burl. The knife is 6-inches overall. When a lady’s doing dirty work, she should have a pretty tool. Makers list price $220-$250. Contact [email protected] or message on Facebook at Rafter M Custom Knives.

Wet shaving is making a comeback and this lady's straight razor is custom made to be and look sharp. — 20. Wet shaving is making a comeback, mainly for men, but also for women. Bruno van Dooren makes a 7/8-plus-inch wide round-point blade from O2 carbon steel with a half hollow grind. The length of the cutting edge is just under 2.5 inches. This shorter edge makes the razor more maneuverable for female shaving. The point is rounded to prevent accidentally poking through the skin. The scales are Kirinite Starlight Pink with Kirinite Glow in the Dark spacers. The pins and washer are brass. Makers list price is $325; pattern-welded or wootz steel versions are higher. Contact [email protected], www.snailforge.be or message on Facebook at Snailforge.

Bonus

Inside the heart of that special mom there lurks both a queen and a warrior princess, a diplomat and an avenger. She’s a lady with a hard edge and a soft inner core. She may be just the one to wield the Tactigal.

Tobin Nieto at Stonehaven Knife Works hand-forges what he calls his Tactigal, the perfect gift for the warrior mom. — Bonus: Tobin Nieto forged his Tactigal out of 1084 steel to an overall length of 8.75 inches. The blade is a 3.25-inch drop-point style. The pink underlay is 550 paracord while the black cord has had the inner strands removed to allow for a flat Mongolian-style cross wrap. Maker’s list price: $175 with sheath. Contact Stonehaven Knife Works on Facebook or on Instagram @stonehavenknifeworks.

Get Your 2017 BLADE Show Knife Before They’re Gone

The CRKT Homefront is the Official Knife of the 2017 BLADE Show. This is a highly collectable item and the run is limited to 300. At $70 you can save $29.99 off the $99.99 price, if you order now. The field-strip technology allows you to disassemble without tools. The Ken Onion design won Most Innovative Imported Design award at the 2016 BLADE Show. Here’s where to order your Official 2017 BLADE Show CRKT Homefront Knife.

Distal Taper Means Quick, Lightweight Knives

Steve Shackleford

August 1, 2017

Distal Taper Means Quick, Lightweight Knives

Distal taper Zieba — Michael Zieba applies distal taper to the blade of his Brooklyn Made folder. (SharpByCoop image)

Note the gradual distal taper of the blade from just above the bolster to the blade tip on Peter Swarz-Burt’s chef’s knife. (SharpByCoop image)

Distal taper makes knives feel more lightweight, quicker in the hand and easier to use. However, the concept affects more than just weight. It also distributes balance so the knife feels neither top nor bottom heavy. In other words, the knife is well-balanced so that it goes where you want it to and cuts how you want it to when you want it to. It looks cool, too.

How does distal taper work? It’s pretty simple, really. The maker removes steel, usually by grinding, from each side of the blade beginning at the ricasso, that is, from just forward of where the blade and handle meet, and ending at the blade’s tip. The effect is of the cross-section of the blade gradually thinning, or tapering, toward the tip. Less steel means less weight and, if removed properly, better balance for the knife. Some makers apply taper to the tang as well, beginning the tapering just below where the blade and handle meet and gradually thinning the tang toward the handle butt. However, in general, the concept is identified more with the tapering of the blade than the tang.

Distal taper is not a new concept. “From ancient times it was used to lighten and balance swords,” noted award-winning swordsmith Vince Evans. “If a sword was not distal tapered, all you would have was a crowbar with an edge.” BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member William Scagel, who forged knives during the first six decades of the 20th century, applied the concept to his knives, as did such premier makers as Cutlery Hall-Of-Famers Bob Loveless, Bill Moran and others. Moran was instrumental in making the teaching of bladesmithing the main mission of the American Bladesmith Society, and he made distal taper a focal point in his classes and recommended it to all of his students.

KNIFE TYPES

Distal taper drawings — At bottom is the distal taper flat grind and at top is the parallel flat grind. Each image includes both side and overhead views. As you can see, the angle is “blunter” with the parallel spine. The point will be thinner and not as strong with the distal-taper spine. However, unless you simply want to punch holes with your blade, the knife with the distal-taper spine will be more efficient at cutting and chopping (Jim Crowell drawings)

ABS master smith Tim Hancock said tapering is most important on larger, thick blades such as those in the 3/8-inch range that often are heavier and benefit from the weight reduction for quickness and ease of use. “The thinner the blade, the less important distal taper is,” Hancock said. “In fact, full-length distal taper on a bowie blade of a 3/16-inch thickness and an 8-inch length would leave the tip area so thin and weak that, in my opinion, it would be an inferior knife. To me, it’s a process of speed and strength. Some balance between the two must be considered to make a superior knife.” Conversely, ABS master smith Jim Crowell said, if done properly, even a blade with a thin spine can benefit from tapering. “The degree of taper won’t be as much as on a thicker spine—in fact, it will be very subtle—but even then it provides the most efficient cut,” he noted.

Larger hunting knives, camp knives, some bowies, fighters and knives used in cutting competitions where quickness and cutting ability are keys will benefit from being tapered. On the other hand, ABS master smith Mike Williams said he did not think distal taper was important for the rope cutting of the cutting competitions except for the balance of the knife itself. “It’s like using a fillet knife versus a butcher knife,” he continued. “When cutting rope you want the weight forward.” Since tapering removes steel toward the end of the blade, the process does not result in a knife with the weight forward such as a khukuri, for instance. Knives designed for cutting meat and paper will benefit from distal taper because it promotes a thinner edge that produces less drag, he observed.

According to ABS master smith Jarrell Lambert, reduced weight, quickness and balance are not the only benefits of tapering. He adds another: flexibility. He indicated distal taper gives the blade more of it and spreads the stress more evenly throughout the blade than one made of the same material but without distal taper.

Crowell added another benefit of tapering: greater edge penetration. “Distal taper allows the cutting edge to have a smaller degree of angle progressing down the blade, resulting in less drag and producing greater penetration into the medium with a said amount of energy,” he explained. “As a result, a blade with distal taper will always cut more efficiently than the same blade with a parallel spine.

“If you want weight in your blade, maybe for chopping, increase the width of the blade, but have a distal taper. This will provide the weight needed but also a lesser degree of angle on the edge. Consequently, you will have the best of both worlds.”

Knives Of The Year in New BLADE

Steve Shackleford

August 12, 2014

BLADE MAGAZINE 2014 OVERALL KNIFE OF THE YEAR@ went to the CRKT HI JINX. This flipper folder, designed by Ken Onion, sports a 3.320" blade made of Bohler-Uddeholm Sleipner. Made in a limited edition of 525 in Italy, the knife is already sold out and no more will be made. It had an MSRP of $500. — BLADE MAGAZINE 2014 OVERALL KNIFE OF THE YEAR@ went to the CRKT HI JINX. This flipper folder, designed by Ken Onion, sports a 3.320″ blade made of Bohler-Uddeholm Sleipner. Made in a limited edition of 525 in Italy, the knife is already sold out and no more will be made. It had an MSRP of $500.

The BLADE Magazine 2014 Knives Of The Year®, the top knives of the BLADE Show, the latest inductee into the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame© and much more highlight the new BLADE®, on newsstands NOW!

Gracing this issue’s cover is the Rat Worx MRX, winner of the first-ever BLADE Magazine People’s Choice Award, voted on by visitors to the BLADE website, blademag.com.

Other top Knife-Of-The-Year winners named at the 2014 BLADE Show include the CRKT/Ken Onion Hi Jinx, Kershaw’s Kershaw/Emerson CQC-7K, Shun Dual Core Kiritsuke and the Zero Tolerance/Rick Hinderer 0562, Spartan Blades’ Les George V1-14 Dagger and Les Halpern Nymph and others.

The BLADE Show was one of the most successful in recent memory and, in addition to the Knives Of The Year, also featured the winners of the custom knife judging competition, the introductions of many new factory knives, the first-ever induction of a woman—Goldie Russell—into the Cutlery Hall Of Fame and much more.

In the custom knife judging, the Tembo Bowie by Russ Andrews, David Lisch, Mike Quesenberry, Steven Rapp, Jim Small and Jane Tukarski took home both Best Of Show and Best Collaboration, and was auctioned off to raise money for the Elephant Protection Association.

Other knifemaker winners included Mike Williams, Stephanie Lemelin, Brian Nadeau, John White, Joe Szilaski, RJ Martin and more.

And among the factory knives that debuted at the show were the “Battlechef” from Olamic Cutlery, the Emerson Knives, Inc. “Vindicator,” the Chris Reeve Knives “Impofu,” the Winkler Knives “Operator” and many more.

In one of the more popular inductions ever, Goldie Russell entered the Cutlery Hall Of Fame for her many contributions to the knife industry, including her pivotal role as president of the American Knife & Tool Institute when it helped defeat a U.S. Customs proposal that would have defined all one-hand knives as switchblades/autos, thus making them illegal nationwide.