{"id":297,"date":"2009-06-06T12:50:07","date_gmt":"2009-06-06T16:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/2009\/06\/06\/about-custom-knives%e2%80%a6\/"},"modified":"2009-06-06T12:50:07","modified_gmt":"2009-06-06T16:50:07","slug":"about-custom-knives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/about-custom-knives\/","title":{"rendered":"ABOUT CUSTOM KNIVES\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever notice how often you see articles about knives in gun magazines? I don\u2019t think it\u2019s coincidence\u2026and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a \u201cweapons obsession\u201d thing, either. Having been a police instructor since 1972 (and noticing the whole time that cops appreciate nice knives), and having been a trainer of armed citizens since 1981 and seeing the same syndrome in that sector, I have to say that it\u2019s more an \u201cappreciation of stuff that really WORKS kind of thing.<\/p>\n

There are lots of great knives that are readily available at good prices. Why have a knife custom made? Sometimes, for some people, it\u2019s simply about pride of ownership. My dad was a watchmaker, who sold and repaired Rolexes and even Patek Phillippes, but generally wore a simple Bulova on his wrist. I learned at his feet. I wear a Pulsar because my daughter gave it to me for my birthday years ago. My Hamilton is in the safe somewhere behind my collector Colts and Smith & Wessons.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, for some other people (like me) a custom knife means that the thing was built exactly for the needs that you perceived. I\u2019ve designed only two knives over all these years: the now-discontinued C-60 folder from Spyderco, and the fixed-blade \u201cpersonal knife\u201d I designed back in the day for the Masters of Defense project that was sold as the Razorback and, since MoD was acquired by Blackhawk, has morphed into the current Trocar model.<\/p>\n

In the current (May\/June 2009) issue of Backwoods Home magazine, I wrote a story on Jason Clark, a custom knifemaker in Florida. Unfortunately, that particular article isn\u2019t on-line. You can find his website at http:\/\/clarkcustomknives.com<\/a>. I\u2019ve known Jason for more than a decade now, and I\u2019ve watched his hobby grow into a business that makes some really nice products\u2026and will make them for YOU, and YOUR particular needs.<\/p>\n

When my chief of police bagged it last year after 35 years behind the badge, I asked Jason to make a custom knife for him as a retirement gift. The recipient loves it. Jason does impressive work.<\/p>\n

My latest Jason Clark Custom Knife is a fixed-blade working tool. Slim and flat, it\u2019s an homage to the Green River Patch Knife, with a tip that rises from the cutting edge to the spine like the prow of a Teddy Roosevelt-era battleship. There are double finger-grooves that allow the grasping hand to \u201cchoke up\u201d for close, precise cutting, or just \u201cgrab and go\u201d and get the necessary slicing done reflexively at high speed, depending on user need. Jason made an exquisitely fitted Kydex sheath for it with twin loops that snap over a belt for inside the waistband carry. It\u2019s for cutting, not stabbing, but that serves my daily needs quite well, and if anything needs to be directly punctured and I don\u2019t have remote control instrumentation handy for that, there\u2019s always a folding knife in the right front pocket that\u2019s shaped for such a task.<\/p>\n

Best of all, Jason can custom-build a \u201cknife like he built for Mas\u201d for only a hundred bucks, plus shipping. When you sign your name, it\u2019s a little cooler to do it with a Mont Blanc than with a Bic pen. When you check the time, it\u2019s cooler to glance at a Movado wristwatch than at the LED readout on your cell phone. And when you have to \u201cseparate matter,\u201d as Spyderco founder and CEO Sal Glesser so eloquently put it, it\u2019s pretty damn cool to do it with a knife that was custom made to your particular specifications.<\/p>\n

Which explains why so many of us get off on custom made knives. Touch bases with Jason before the Outside World discovers him, at which time you\u2019ll have to wait a few years and pay a fortune to have him build your dream knife for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever notice how often you see articles about knives in gun magazines? I don\u2019t think it\u2019s coincidence\u2026and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a \u201cweapons obsession\u201d thing, either. Having been a police instructor since 1972 (and noticing the whole time that cops appreciate nice knives), and having been a trainer of armed citizens since 1981 and seeing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}