FAQs

Because I make my knives in batches the time can vary. If I already have a blank that’s been heat treated then it can be a few days. If you want a custom design with special handle materials that need to be ordered, it can be a month or more. If the knife is available on the website, then I will ship it out as soon as possible.

There are so many different kinds of knives and ways to customize them. I currently only make full tang knives and I only work with 1 steel at a time. The main thing to consider is what purpose you want the knife for and what kind of handle materials and finish you want on the blade. Consider what colors you want for pins and liners as well. The custom order form has more details on what’s possible.

When you consider that inflation will make anything look expensive and that the average person owns mass manufactured low-budget knives made overseas, you can see that it’s really just relatively expensive. Making things individually by hand and to order makes it more expensive. Like food in a Michelin Star restaurant vs fast food. There’s a lot more that goes into it. Ultimately a cheap knife will cut and fast food will make you feel full. But the cheap knife will go dull much faster, and the fast food can be pretty bad for your health.

That’s impossible to say, except, for a relatively long time. Compared to the budget stuff you find in department stores it’ll be a lot better. But it’s really dependent on a lot of factors. What’s you’re cutting, your technique, how well you maintain the edge, what grit it was sharpened to….. all these things play a role in how long a knife stays sharp. And then there’s levels to how sharp a knife can be as well.

Using correct technique and regular maintenance can help keep the knife stay sharp for a very long time.

When maintaining the knife with a strop or hone isn’t doing the trick, it might be time to sharpen it. Waterstones will work but need experience and skill, I recommend learning but definitely don’t try sharpening any expensive knives on them until you can get good results. Guided sharpeners are great and can range in price, always a good investment. The best way might be to send it to a local knife sharpening business but make sure they have good reviews. A lot of even professional sharpening businesses are almost criminal in how poorly they do things.

You can always send it to me to sharpen so long as you cover shipping costs. Belt sharpening I offer for free. To sharpen by hand on Waterstones I will charge extra depending on the knife.

There aren’t any discounts as I feel that my prices are quite fair. I’ve seen makers charge a lot more for some really garbage looking stuff. If you have a custom order and you’re ordering multiple knives I may knock down the price a little.

I have used S35VN and CPM-Magnacut in the past but don’t feel that they give enough of an advantage over AEB-L/Nitro-V to be worth the extra money I would have to charge to offer them. I do have plans to use steels like 4V, Cruwear, Magnacut, and S90V in the future for specific drops with specific heat treats. I believe high-end steels only really offer advantages when geared for very specific purposes. Getting the right combination of heat treat, geometry, and edge finish can yield great results but for most cases and general use it isn’t worth it.