What is a handmade custom knife?
Custom knves are lossely defined as knives made to specific design elements provided by the the knifemaker or his client. The blade steel, guard style, handle material can all be designated by the Customer. Custom knives can be thought of as one-off designs and not as mass produced in large quantities.
Fixed blade knives typically have these components. The size, shape, and materials used in the each component can be suited to the purpose of knife, personal preference, or aesthetics value.
The the major parts of the knife are (1) the blade, and (2) the handle. The blade can be simple or serrated or both. The handle, used to safely grip knife includes a portion of the steel blade called the tang.
The blade has a point (3) and an edge (4). The cross-section of the blade is called the grind (5). The spine of the blade is thicker steel running along the top of the blade (6). Some blades have a fuller(7), a groove made to stiffen and lighten the knife. The flat steel connecting the blade to the handle is called the Ricasso (8). The guard (9)protects the hand between the blade and the handle.
The end of the handles is the butt (10), some knives may have a hole for a lanyard (11).