Pros and cons of small knife makers?

[NBrewster]

Hello KKF!

I was thinking of dipping my toes into the western knife maker world and have always been taken with the appearance of DP's knives. That said I've never seen one in the wild let alone use one. I have a couple of questions about buying and using knives from small shops:

1) What is the "usability" of knives from these makers? Are knives from producers like HF, Xerxes, DP, Comet etc. going to perform as well as a much less expensive but less beautiful "mass produced" Suisin? What are some of the pros and cons?

2) Do these knives hold up with 100s or 1000s of hours of use?

3) When buying knives from these makers do you approach it as buying functional art or do you think there is a performance benefit from some of the knives coming from low volume artisans?

 

[RDalman]

Hello KKF!

I was thinking of dipping my toes into the western knife maker world and have always been taken with the appearance of DP's knives. That said I've never seen one in the wild let alone use one. I have a couple of questions about buying and using knives from small shops:

1) What is the "usability" of knives from these makers? Are knives from producers like HF, Xerxes, DP, Comet etc. going to perform as well as a much less expensive but less beautiful "mass produced" Suisin? What are some of the pros and cons?

2) Do these knives hold up with 100s or 1000s of hours of use?

3) When buying knives from these makers do you approach it as buying functional art or do you think there is a performance benefit from some of the knives coming from low volume artisans?

This varies between makers. The ones you mention I think focus on useability/performance and make knives for pro use. But always do your homework and check for owners of their work to talk to, and see if you can find some reviews. There are art knifemakers too. And also makers that claim to make "performance" but really doesnt(atleast to folks around here).

 

[Corradobrit1]

Once you've swam around in the pool for a while you'll figure out who is putting lipstick on a pig and who can back up those pretty looks with steel that actually performs. The law of diminishing returns applies to the knife industry too.
I've been quite disappointed with a couple of knives I received from some of these western makers and returned them for one reason or another. Do your homework, talk to owners (not hard to find them after they've posted in the New Knives thread) and make informed decisions. If you do decide to spend big $ on an unknown smith just make sure you can return it if not completely happy.

 

[valgard]

Hello KKF!

I was thinking of dipping my toes into the western knife maker world and have always been taken with the appearance of DP's knives. That said I've never seen one in the wild let alone use one. I have a couple of questions about buying and using knives from small shops:

1) What is the "usability" of knives from these makers? Are knives from producers like HF, Xerxes, DP, Comet etc. going to perform as well as a much less expensive but less beautiful "mass produced" Suisin? What are some of the pros and cons?

2) Do these knives hold up with 100s or 1000s of hours of use?

3) When buying knives from these makers do you approach it as buying functional art or do you think there is a performance benefit from some of the knives coming from low volume artisans?

Can't speak for the other makers but I have had several Comets and HF (fr your list) and they make amazing performers. Nevertheless, you pay some for the very small volume and for the love put into fit and finish.

 

[Corradobrit1]

A couple of others not mentioned but offer better-than-average HT with some attention to F&F are Raquin and Catcheside. I would have no hesitation buying a knife from those guys in addition to the two mentioned by Valgard if the profile and specs appealed. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of Catchesides current forged geometry line although I do like the core steel he's using.

 

[Matus]

I love it when first 3 answers to this kind of question completely nail it. Well done guys!

My $0.02: only go for a custom knife once you have gad a chance to use several different well made Japanse knives of given design (gyuto, nakiri, etc.) and have a pretty good idea what you want and then choose a maker that you think (after some due diligence) does what you are after in a package that you like. If you do not quite know what you want there is a pretty high chance that after a few weeks (or even sooner) you realize that the knife - however well made - is not quite to your liking. This can cause unnecessary disappointment as often one needs to wait for quite a while for a custom order.

 

[JoBone]

Been wanted to support some more local blacksmiths, thanks for the write up.

I also like Carter Hopkins and Marko Tsourkan stuff.

Hoping to make it to the Atlanta show this year, I imagine my list will only grow after that.

 

[tgfencer]

Most small-scale and/or western makers talked about frequently here are guys who make knives to be used. Of course, fancy pants damascus or exotic handles/sayas will cost more and may make folks more inclined to turn knives into drawer queens, but functionality isn't going to be a problem.

The question of value for money versus more mass produced stuff is subjective It's worth keeping in mind that pricing isn't as straight forward as buying common brands of Japanese/German stuff. Each individual maker's economy of scale, cost of production, and attention to detail throughout the process are big factors in why you might be paying more from a small maker for a knife that has equal "usability" to a cheaper knife. Time is money, as they say, and lower productivity means higher prices (and presumably, although maybe not always, better quality).

As with all things, finding what you like can take some expensive experimentation. If you go down the road, start reasonable, maybe second hand. Save those big bucks for custom projects once you find a maker whose work and communication habits agree with you.
(In fact, for a custom build process, how you communicate and what expectations you have for communication from a maker in return are extremely important. I'd go so far as to say that even if you love someone's work, if you don't enjoy the communication process with them, don't order a knife and save both of you the grief, but maybe that's just me.)

A few threads worth perusing for research purposes:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/whos-your-favorite-western-knife-maker.39371/
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/favorite-custom-by-western-maker.41049/

 

[DevinT]

What about large knife makers?

Hoss

 

[WildBoar]

I'm interested to know the dividing line between large and small. # of people working there, or # of knives produced annually? I would guess Carter is large, but of course many of the knives are made by others (and marked as such). How about Bloodroot, since there are two of them? And I believe Kramer has 'assistants', so maybe he is larger? Not sure about Monolith's productions, but there are two (or maybe three) of them producing the knives.

 

[labor of love]

What about large knife makers?

Hoss

You holding?

 

[MrHiggins]

Another western maker to consider is Shi-Han. He makes knives that are definitely designed for real use, while still being very good looking. Quality is top notch.