The Volume of Custom (Kitchen) Knifemakers

Miura knives
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Dave Martell

Dave Martell

Forum Founder
Founding Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Messages
14,272
Reaction score
1,514
Location
Airville, PA
Over the years I've watched carefully the changes, and growth, to the higher end kitchen knife market in the US.

The Foodie movement took off in the US. Home cooks were looking for better knives and the pro cooks started to feed the movement, literally.

The first major change I can recall was Messermeister (LOL), then Japanese (factory) knives like Global, Shun , & Misono, etc began to show up. Then some Japanese (village) blacksmiths like Watanabe, Takeda, & Carter (not exactly Japanese but he was living there for almost 20 yrs) came to the US market.

A few brave souls used the internet to locate unknown makers and send off postal money orders (to Japan) in the hopes of getting a knife. Lots of new Japanese makers were found during this time and the never ending quest to find the next great one was always afoot.

Vendors came in droves, and still continue to show up, all of the time. We have so many choices for high end kitchen knives today that it flat out amazes me compared to just 15 yrs ago.


Yesterday I stumbled upon a vendor who, among many other offerings, sells a whole slew of custom kitchen knives that come from makers all over the world. I knew of a few of the makers but what shocked me was to see over forty...(YES....40!!) custom makers that I never heard of. I would've been surprised to have found 5.... but 40?!?

So it would appear to this guy that the movement is still chugging away and that there's not going to be a shortage of new knives to try anytime soon. :wink:
 
It's a really impressive spread of blacksmiths out there, I personally jumped from global and MAC directly into a Bill Burke and that started my spiral into madness.
 
I appreciate the early adopters and initial money wasted to feed the spirit of exploration. I was very close to wasting money on a Global gyoto once upon a time.
 
I've noticed the same. When I came back to this forum after a long absence I was amazed with the number of makers (foreign and domestic) I never heard of. I also noticed the number of relatively new members contributing heavily to the forums. (Not that there is anything wrong with either.) As a result I'd be very reluctant to purchase a knife from an unfamiliar maker that is currently in vogue unless it's recommended by a user who has solid credibility. My problem is that unless you have several years of contributing to this forum I don't know who's opinion to trust.
 
The original owner of Messermeister was my wholesaler for F. Dick back when I was in the meat cutting knife business. He dropped F. Dick and started his own Messermeister line about the time I gave up on door to door butcher shops sales. He was a good guy now passed on.
 
Salty dog said:
I've noticed the same. When I came back to this forum after a long absence I was amazed with the number of makers (foreign and domestic) I never heard of. I also noticed the number of relatively new members contributing heavily to the forums. (Not that there is anything wrong with either.) As a result I'd be very reluctant to purchase a knife from an unfamiliar maker that is currently in vogue unless it's recommended by a user who has solid credibility. My problem is that unless you have several years of contributing to this forum I don't know who's opinion to trust.
Click to expand...

This is good advice folks should follow. "what's what" is not easy over the internet. Might be worth checking in advance how the seller handles a return if the wares are not to expectation.
 
Dave Martell said:
Over the years I've watched carefully the changes, and growth, to the higher end kitchen knife market in the US.

The Foodie movement took off in the US. Home cooks were looking for better knives and the pro cooks started to feed the movement, literally.

The first major change I can recall was Messermeister (LOL), then Japanese (factory) knives like Global, Shun , & Misono, etc began to show up. Then some Japanese (village) blacksmiths like Watanabe, Takeda, & Carter (not exactly Japanese but he was living there for almost 20 yrs) came to the US market.

A few brave souls used the internet to locate unknown makers and send off postal money orders (to Japan) in the hopes of getting a knife. Lots of new Japanese makers were found during this time and the never ending quest to find the next great one was always afoot.

Vendors came in droves, and still continue to show up, all of the time. We have so many choices for high end kitchen knives today that it flat out amazes me compared to just 15 yrs ago.


Yesterday I stumbled upon a vendor who, among many other offerings, sells a whole slew of custom kitchen knives that come from makers all over the world. I knew of a few of the makers but what shocked me was to see over forty...(YES....40!!) custom makers that I never heard of. I would've been surprised to have found 5.... but 40?!?

So it would appear to this guy that the movement is still chugging away and that there's not going to be a shortage of new knives to try anytime soon. :wink:
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing.....

To Dave's point. I believe variety and competition generate more options and overall improvement of the knowledge base. IMHO, the real question is if demand will keep up with the increase in supply of all these new makers... I hope it does... a nut can only have so many pointies and even then most of us wind up doing some kind of thinning of the herd every now and then.

To Salty's point, buy from the seasoned maker and buy the suggestion of the experienced user.... still at some point, i'm willing to take a chance, maybe i'm the early adopter buy you can find some real gems that way!
 
The move is still on the upswing.....

a) delivery time for some makers is 3 months, well known Master Craftsman.. wait time is 6 to 12 months

b) I see shortcuts being taken.... laser and also diamond diamond bit computer controlled engraving being used on hand-made knives. Personally i am against this for high end knives. Still prefer the engraving by hand from a craftsman. Some of them are beautifully executed.... not that I can read them anyway.... Pissed when my specially ordered crab knife specially made for me was laser engraved... No Joy..

c) Even the new young makers and factory knives .. has a 2-3 ,months lead time for delivery

d) and I suspect that China market has not taken off yet..

f) Makers from remote areas are being sought after...

g) demand is ahead of supply basically

h) Cross selling and buying from different areas by wholesalers for OEM .. Sakai, Echizen, Seki ,Tosa etc

g) What is interesting is that some of the big names do not make the knives anymore .. OEM the blades maybe.. still a little value add by either fixing handles, sharpening (rarely) and putting into the box with their brandname.

The lead time will only get worse as the small workshops are really not scaleable... Aging population and also not many young ones are drawn to traditional crafts.

So happy hunting and choose wisely whatever yr criteria may be and of course have fun whilst you are at it... Z
 
From the top of my head I can remember being an early adopter for Robin Dalman, Ian Haburn, Mert Tansu, Bladowski, Cooltoolme. Then I had experimental blade from Den Prendergast, the first "extra heavy" gyuto from Cris Anderson, and some stuff from local makers that are unknown to forum members.

That being said I think it's a lot of fun to be an early adopter and support new makers (or support making experimental stuff from old makers). In return you got some interesting experience and unique knives at a very good price.

Or you could spend an eternity waiting for that perfect Shige just to learn that Shigs are overrated :D

I tend to waste a lot of time in the recommended section of IG daily. TONS of new makers from all over the world there.
 
icanhaschzbrgr said:
I think it's a lot of fun to be an early adopter and support new makers (or support making experimental stuff from old makers). In return you got some interesting experience and unique knives at a very good price.

Or you could spend an eternity waiting for that perfect Shige just to learn that Shigs are overrated :D
Click to expand...

Double yes. For the money spent on a Shig these days, custom performance easily abounds.
 
If Shiges are overrated or not is a subjective matter.
I think I see things differently from you, SuperS: If I’m going to spend as much as a Shige cost these days, I’d buy a knife made with 50+ years of experience behind it over a knife from someone with a fraction of the experience in the field. It is supposed to look nice but it is also a tool. Some custom knives are good tools as well but some aren’t. I like the way a Shige works as a tool and some don’t. It is subjective.
- Kim
 
KimBronnum said:
If Shiges are overrated or not is a subjective matter.
I think I see things differently from you, SuperS: If I’m going to spend as much as a Shige cost these days, I’d buy a knife made with 50+ years of experience behind it over a knife from someone with a fraction of the experience in the field. It is supposed to look nice but it is also a tool. Some custom knives are good tools as well but some aren’t. I like the way a Shige works as a tool and some don’t. It is subjective.
- Kim
Click to expand...

Well said Kim! A lot of knives under the belt combined with respect in their field definitely brings a level of "guarantee" with it.

icanhaschzbrgr said:
From the top of my head I can remember being an early adopter for Robin Dalman, Ian Haburn, Mert Tansu, Bladowski, Cooltoolme. Then I had experimental blade from Den Prendergast, the first "extra heavy" gyuto from Cris Anderson, and some stuff from local makers that are unknown to forum members.

That being said I think it's a lot of fun to be an early adopter and support new makers (or support making experimental stuff from old makers). In return you got some interesting experience and unique knives at a very good price.
Click to expand...

+1 here as well and I would add that being able to chat with and get to know these 'newer' folks adds an element of 'support local' even though they may be very far from local. Just nice having the chance to kinda help the new guy/gal ... my $0.02
 
KimBronnum said:
If Shiges are overrated or not is a subjective matter.
I think I see things differently from you, SuperS: If I’m going to spend as much as a Shige cost these days, I’d buy a knife made with 50+ years of experience behind it over a knife from someone with a fraction of the experience in the field. It is supposed to look nice but it is also a tool. Some custom knives are good tools as well but some aren’t. I like the way a Shige works as a tool and some don’t. It is subjective.
- Kim
Click to expand...

Boom, someone gets it!
 
KimBronnum said:
If Shiges are overrated or not is a subjective matter.
I think I see things differently from you, SuperS: If I’m going to spend as much as a Shige cost these days, I’d buy a knife made with 50+ years of experience behind it over a knife from someone with a fraction of the experience in the field. It is supposed to look nice but it is also a tool. Some custom knives are good tools as well but some aren’t. I like the way a Shige works as a tool and some don’t. It is subjective.
- Kim
Click to expand...

Not that Shigs are overrated at all, maybe just overvalued in my opinion (for my non-professional use). They are an amazing example of craftsmanship with little competition in many aspects. At $400, I can overlook a couple personal irritations. If they check all your boxes, great! However, when you get to the $800-$1200 realm, there are plenty of options; many are custom that you can have adjusted to check as many boxes as possible. That's all. Honestly if a specific knife did check all my boxes, I'd probably miss it in the continual knife fever to always try something new or hold one more beautiful.
 
Also, I don't buy Fischer's dissing of carbon steels and, for example, AEB-L. In, for example, Devin's hands AEB-L is an amazing steel for knives. My 52100 carbon knives are amazing with the right heat treat. Blue and white steels in the right hands are great as etc etc. In sum I felt that while he has very strong opinions on many knife related issues, he didn't bring a lot of facts to the table and so he didn't convince me
 
gic said:
Also, I don't buy Fischer's dissing of carbon steels and, for example, AEB-L. In, for example, Devin's hands AEB-L is an amazing steel for knives. My 52100 carbon knives are amazing with the right heat treat. Blue and white steels in the right hands are great as etc etc. In sum I felt that while he has very strong opinions on many knife related issues, he didn't bring a lot of facts to the table and so he didn't convince me
Click to expand...

I agree that a lot of what he writes may not be the whole story. he writes a lot to justify mirror polishing and hollow ground edges, but he never says they are just two of ways to make a good knife. to say that AEB-L won't make a good blade because it was developed for razor blades does not make sense. I posted the link because the knives were nice to look at, not necessarily the best or most practical.
 
scott.livesey said:
here are some very high end blades. http://www.jayfisher.com/Chef's_Knives_Culinary_Kitchen_Cutlery.htm some don't look very practical, but all are borderline works of art.
Click to expand...

:eyebrow: Looks like an engraver learned how to code html and created an entire website to explore narcissism and possibly other mental illnesses he’s struggling with.

On the bright side, his rehandled eBay knives are allegedly being used for counterterrorism operations. I feel safer already.
 
I don't know enough about steel to comment on that aspect of Fisher's work, but as a retired graphic designer, I think his knife designs range from kind-of-interesting to downright tacky. Like the knife equivalent of a jewel-encrusted, fur-lined pink Cadillac. Something Elvis would buy in his Vegas period, if he was still around.

I'm not immune to pure decoration in a knife, like pattern weld Damascus, or fancy hardwood wa handles (both, in my most recent knife purchase). So I should be careful about throwing stones. Even so, I think there's a limit; beyond which you're in the realm of pure bling and room decoration. With knives like these, the metallurgy doesn't really matter, does it?
 
I'm still eagerly awaiting the publication of both his knifemaking book and his fiction novel series. :groucho:

I'm a fan of his in that he is seriously fanatical. And there actually is a lot of interesting information that he provides on his website. Like anything online, you need to investigate a number of sources to come to your own conclusions. I emailed him to thank him for some of the info on his site and he was very nice in his reply. I'm pretty sure he's a bit jaded dealing with the crazies online in addition to difficult customers.

Edited to add: I don't agree with his philosophy with respect to culinary knives, but that's cool, we don't always have to agree even if you're wrong. :biggrin:
 
"Welcome to the largest, most comprehensive page about the best fine handmade and custom chef's, kitchen, and culinary knives on the internet!"

you are fake news.

He certainly knows how to sell the sizzle but it's enough to make me a vegan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top