Factory VS Custom

Knives can be bought from as little as 5 dollars to as much as thousands. This goes for both folders and fixed blades. The most expensive blades are invariably custom knives.
So what IS a custom knife?

A custom knife is a one-off. It's a knife that - ideally - is made entirely by hand. For that reason, there can never be two exact identical versions of it. No bladesmith can produce two knives that are exactly alike (and most don't even want to).
Because knives like these takes many hours to make, often over longer periods of time, and require huge amounts of skill and experience before they can be made expertly, they are expensive.
You only need to take the example of a factory-made car and a hand-built custom one to appreciate the difference.

So that explains the price difference. Knive factories - like car factories - design a knife once, set up a production line once, build a supply line, and press the button. From that moment on, very little human attention goes into the process, although crucially, the bit that does go into it is pretty vital.
A custom knife smith has the same expense every time: His time, multiplied by his skill and experience. On price, he cannot compete.

So is it worth it?
Well that depends on what you value in your knife. By the way, this debate is as old as factory knives themselves, but I do think I can show you the factors that are involved in knife pricing. And they're not all rational ones...

First the tangible criteria. For the example I will discuss a fixed blade knife with an 8" blade, the purpose of which (PoU) is survival/combat use. It will see hard use and must be able to withstand punishment and even abuse. How to select such a knife? There are a few criteria, but for the example they're not very relevant, because they would be the same regardless of wether we choose a factory-made knife, or a custom-made one. The question is, can a knife factory like Cold Steel, Spyderco or Benchmade make a knife that can do everything a custom knife can do, do it as long and as well? Even after years and years, will it still take an edge, still perform?

All custom knife smiths will tell you that it cannot. Read the article I link to for a detailed argument, but the core of it is that factory knives do not receive the amount of attention and thought that a custom knife does, and therefore is always inferior in quality.

I say this is an incorrect argument, and here's why: If it were correct, factory-made cars would always be inferior to custom-made ones. And factory-made watches would always be inferior to custom-made ones. Etc, etc. And they're not.
I can make the case that custom-made items run a greater risk of individual flaws, after all, once a production process has been perfected, the chance of errors are minute. The Japanese and Germans, and even Koreans have shown this to be true. So why would a person spend US $30,000 on a watch, when a $200 one tells the time just as accurately, is just as reliable and rugged, and will last just as long?

This question brings us to the less-than-rational motives for our purchases. I own a few high-end Swiss watches, and I bought them because I think they're beautiful, they're exquisitely made, and they afford me a certain status - I won't deny it - that my other watches don't. I also own Citizens, Casio's and Seiko's. The Japanese watches are even more accurate than the Breitling or the Omegas, they're as waterresistant, and they even have more features. I have no doubt that they will last a lifetime too. Rationally speaking, there was no reason to pay more than the $250 or so that my most expensive Citizen cost me. And yet I gladly paid thousands for my Breitling. Not rational, but I still did it.

Custom blade Jay Fisher puts it this way:

"I'm in this business to make the best knife I can for your money. Factories are in it to make the most money they can for the cheapest product."

This is a very disingenuous thing to say. He makes it sound like custom knife smiths only make knives 'cause they love you, and their trade, and companies like Benchmade, SOG, Cold Steel and Spyderco are only out to rip you off. Can we just stipulate here that Jay Smith likes to make a buck as much as anyone, and that the people who founded the above-mentioned companies take pride in their products and work too?

Custom knives are NOT better than good factory-made knives. In fact, even most high-end factory-made knives are not or hardly better than well-made inexpensive factory-made knives.
Don't believe me? Go to www.knifetests.com and check out how Youtube member Noss4 tortures knives to death. Some of the strongest and most durable knives cost less than $20. Some knives costing up to $400 don't last half as long as a 15 dollar Cold Steel GI Tanto. There is no way the best custom knife in the world will outlast the Busse-made knives that rank at the top at Knifetests.com, it can only hope to equal it (but the odds are against it).
This revelation shook even me a bit. I also own a few knives that are well over $200, and odds are I will buy others. Of course, the best-made knife in the world will cost more than the GI Tanto. However, paying more is no guarantee that your knife WILL indeed be better, chances are the reverse is true. But the real question we should ask ourselves is: Why do I want this knife? Don't kid yourself that it's the quality and durability that make a knife worth its price. 99% of all people don't need more than the $15 GI Tanto. There are many valid reasons to pay whatever you want to pay for a knife. But don't let custom knifemakers - or even producers of most high-end factory knives - fool you into believing their hype, that their knives are in fact worth 20x the price of a well-made inexpensive factory knife. You will end up wasting money and be disappointed. And in a scrap, you might even end up empty-handed, where a Cold Steel GI Tanto would have lasted.

So here's a challenge to Jay Fisher, or any other custom blade smith: If you can make a knife that significantly outperforms the Scrapyard Scrapper 6 (a $100 knife) I will reimburse the cost of the knife. And your reputation will be set for life.

The Sheepdog principle

Nutnfancy uses the term 'sheepdog' to refer to a person who considers guarding and protecting other citizens a personal responsibility. It applies to carriers of both knives and firearms.
This concept is completely alien to most Europeans, but this is more telling of the fact that there are only sheep in Europe, no sheepdogs, and that European governments have succeeded in monopolizing the legal carrying and use of weapons for purposes of self-defense.
In the U.S. too many people are unaware of the situation most Europeans are in. We are defenseless, unless we are willing to break the law ourselves just so we can defend ourselves and our loved ones and property.

Europe is proof of the age-old adage "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns." Of course, police have guns too, but they are rarely used to protect citizens; it's just impossible for police to always, or even just occasionally be present to catch criminals red-handed. People are mugged, raped, robbed and killed, and they are not allowed to arm themselves for self-defense. No guns, no knives, no pepperspray, no taser. Nothing.

In the U.S. most people still can, but because the citizenry there is to a large degree unaware of this right and privilege, or unwilling to make use of it, most choose not to, and even frown upon those who do.

I am a strong believer in personal responsibility, and fully endorse the concept of the sheepdog. In fact, I think every citizen should be taught from childhood how to protect themselves, and the skills and responsibility that go with it. Of course, for me, living in the Netherlands, it is too late to act on this. I am by law prohibited to carry a gun, even though I am more proficient at using one than 99% of all policemen. I cannot even carry a knife that might be effective for defensive purposes.
What I CAN do is urge Americans to make sure the liberties and rights they still enjoy are not lost. Governments always tend to enforce tighter and stricter control over their subjects, even at the cost of delivering them to the wolves.

The effectiveness of an armed citizenry is not subject to debate. Time after time, studies have proven that armed citizens stop more crimes than do police. Neither can it be denied that towns and counties that have no or lax gun laws are safer and suffer less crime than areas that prohibit guns. Washington D.C. is the best example of this.

In Europe, Nutnfancy's sheepdog has become extinct. Americans better make sure that doesn't happen in their country.