All About Pocket Knives

Hello all,
Just found and joined this site and am looking forward to a great time here.

I'll tell you a little about myself. I have been a custom knifemaker for almost 20 years. I have mostly made fixed blades but have dabbled a little in making linerlocks.

I make all blades and have never bought a kit knife in my life. I have done some minor repairs to factory knives in the past but very little.

Now, I'm looking at adding customizing factory knives and repairing to my knife business.

My question is this, do most of you just do it for yourselves or is there a market out there for customized factory knives?

Thanks and have a great evening!

Craig Blankenship

welcome craig. i sell some customized knives.....but i can't quit my day job! i do it for the satisfaction it gives and if i sell one or someone has a knife to be customized or repaired and i make a buck...wel, i just buy another knife. i would think it could add to your business. looking forward to seeing your work and exchanging ideas with you.

Yes, I believe their is a market out there for customized factory knives but I think you have to start out with a quality knife. I don't believe that there will be much of a market for a tricked out $10.00 Rough Rider or a Steel Warrior.

Making parts such as backsprings should be good - most folks don't have the equipment and not many knifemakers will make parts. I like linerlocks with titanium frames and many other variations.

Other things I've seen is replacing MOP handles, one guy I saw online charges $90.00 + the MOP cost. Offering to replace exotic materials that are damaged could be a good thing.

Another thing to do would be to offer annodizing of titanium or bluing of mosaic damascus for bolsters and blades - not everyone has the equipment.

It seems to me that there is an increased interest in slip joints and modification of slip joints. Just look at Michael Prater of Painted Pony, he stays incredibly busy as does the Yellowhorse family.

I think there are a lot of areas for custom work - on custom and production knives - BOTH!

Welcome to AAPK Craig!

Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to trading ideas with you all.

I had an old camillus in my junk drawer that had rusted pretty bad and was sharpened down quite a bit so I thought I'd try and see what I could do with it this afternoon. Got it apart and cleaned up a little with acetone but now am attacking the rust.

Started with 2000 grit sandpaper and wd-40. I can at least see the tang stamp now

Was thinking about soaking it in white vinegar overnight but the last time I tried that with an old rusted micrometer it came out the next morning in 2 pieces

What do you all do to get blades rust free?

This is definetely alot different than starting with raw materials and building as you go.

Thanks guys!

wouldn't happen to be related to a Eugene Blankenship would you? I do it for a living, if your prices are right you can get a little business, I do mostly custom fixed blades as you do though.

muskrat man wrote:wouldn't happen to be related to a Eugene Blankenship would you? I do it for a living, if your prices are right you can get a little business, I do mostly custom fixed blades as you do though.

Thanks Kaleb, that was the name I was trying to come up with last night - no luck though!

muskrat man wrote:wouldn't happen to be related to a Eugene Blankenship would you? I do it for a living, if your prices are right you can get a little business, I do mostly custom fixed blades as you do though.

Not that I'm aware of. Got to work a little on the knife again this afternoon after doing some tree clearing around some hayfields this morning on the farm. Rust was so bad that I just sand blasted the main blade, springs, and blasted the liners to clean all the crud off. Then thinned the blades down just a little with 400 grit belt on the grinder.

Hope to get to work on it some more later this week. I should have took pics before so I can show the after pic and have something to compare it too.

Oh well. Next time.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving all!

Hey Iam a day late & (stay a dollar short) but I wanted to welcome you to the site. Its always kewl to have knowledgable people glad you joined, I don't think sites & forums get any better than AAPK.
Leo