I think the best reason for buying a custom knife is that you get one ground to your liking with an excellent heat treat; both these factors can turn a knife from a simple tool to something that's a pure pleasure to use. I think performance is the top reason for anyone buying a custom. One of most frequent comments I get from my customers is," God, that thing is sharp! We just did (4,5,6) deer with it and it just kept cutting." It's supposed to. That's what happens when a knife is done right; something that factories can't or won't do because it costs money(can't sell it cheap at Walmart) and time. Once in a while a factory, Case for instance, will offer a knife in better steel and better fit and finish, which requires skilled labor to do, and the price goes up into the hundreds of dollars. They have to pay a craftsman rather than keep the ol' machine running. A second factor in buying custom is getting something that doesn't have 5000 exact same clones; although that can vary. I use a lot of natural handle materials, and even on the same model the difference in grain/contrast/wood type sets it apart from others. Factories who use the same materials make sure you may them what you'd pay me. Even some of my synthetic stuff is made by me and other makers (denim/canvas/burlap etc); part of the reason for doing that is to get away from the ubiquitous black plastic/micarta/glass look. The cost of one, Gene's prices aren't particularly high compared to others, is based on one person doing just about everything, except often the heat treat. This involves creating a design, buying the raw materials, buying the machinery/materials used to construct one(belts ain't cheap), making or paying another person to make the sheath(leather ain't cheap either), somehow advertising it(which can cost), and finally shipping it. The labor can run from 15 to 40 hours...try dividing the cost of your custom(made from "everyday" materials by the labor hours sometimes. I don't bother anymore; it's depressing. All this is done by one person. One skilled person. Oh, then paying the electricity bill that comes from running all those drills, grinders, band saws etc.....and(God help us) making a profit. Greedy devils. Never mind those car/mortgage/utility bills and so on that full time makers(which isn't me) have to make like every other person. Trust me on this, we don't charge enough for what we make. If I were to demand union machinists pay(among the other skills I've had to acquire), most folks couldn't afford one of my blades. So there's a compromise in many cases. Some makers do insist you pay that price and that explains, often..not always, the price of their knives. And so on. The bottom line is I aim my products at those who demand, and can afford, performance/durability/looks/individuality. Just like some people acquire a custom rifle, or custom furniture, or a high performance car. There are those who can't(or won't) spend(or actually save) their money to own these sort of objects, because after all you can buy 10-15 cheap blades from SMKW for the same price as a custom. As far as they're concerned it suits their needs and that's why the(few remaining) factories stay in business. Not to mention our foreign friends. Just be good at frequent sharpening and don't bend them too much, unless they're a quarter inch thick:).
