To customize or not to customize?

[bladeguy58]

I am going to play the devils advocate and see what your opinion is on taking an old knife and having it customized. I think I already know the answer, but I was thinking of taking one of my old Case Jacks and having Muskrat Man customize it and my specific question is do you think that makes the value go up or down. For me it would definately go up but about the rest of you? Obviously I would probably only do this for one that I wanted to make an EDC.
Thanks,
Richard

[Elvis]

Value up or down would depend on how much Kaleb did to it. A simple handle change might not bring out any more value dollars unless it's something like Mother-of-Pearl, Abalone or Mammoth Ivory or tooth, maybe stag. Turn him loose on filework and liner and bolster embellishment and you'd have a collector's piece worth more to anyone who likes embellished knives. If it were my knife, I'd just give him full reign and see what I got back. A customized EDC makes for a nice conversation starter every time you need to use it. Knife folks will notice for sure! Just my 2 cents, but thanks for asking.

[muskrat man]

Value fluctutation depends entirely on the buyer. someone who collects vintage case may think it is worth less, someone who collects embellished knives may feel the value has greatly increased. But the thing I always take into account, it's MY knife (or gun, car, boat ect) what do I want. If you are going to keep it you may has well have exactly what you want, once you're gone it really doesn't matter anymore. I recently had reservations about redoing a shotgun I had. It was an ithaca 37 magnum with a 30" ventilated rib full choke barrel and gloss finished wood. It was a beautiful gun but it shone like a diamond in the morning sun and a deer, turkey, or duck would see it gleaming long before they were in range and the 30" barrel was a nightmare to try and swing in tight brush for rabbit or woodcock. So what I had to do was make a decision. butcher this sparkling diamond into something that would actually be useful to me or let it sit locked away in the safe unused becuase it did not suit my needs.

I stripped the lacquer off the stocks, gave it a nice dark hand rubbed oil finish, had all the metal parkerized, and the barrel cut back to 21" and screw in chokes installed. Now it is a short, lightweight, easy to handle shotgun that the quarry doesn't see until it's already photo time. And with the interchangeable chokes I can pass shoot geese at 50 yards or bust a flushing timberdoodle in tight cover at 15, and still have something left to eat.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's your knife. You do what you want with it. If you'd like to carry it but want something shinier to show off that is out of the norm, by all means have it customized. Just do whatever makes it more appealing to you. Some may not like it, but a lot of folks wouldn't like what I did to a near mint 1978 Ithaca 37 magnum either. But they are not the ones toting it

[bladeguy58]

Thanks M-M,
Richard

[trail]

Once you got the knife back you would never want to sell it, and if you never sell it, it doesn't matter what it's worth to somebody else.

[Luckypaul777]

I can speak from experience; if you plan on customizing a knife; make sure it's what you like. Chances of getting your investment back; are very slim in my opinion. I have several embellished knives; cost of the knife, scales and depending on the embellishments; can easily turn a $100/$150 knife into a $450-$500 investment.

Paul