What has been your longest wait time on a knife order? After you received it, was it worth the wait? Would you wait 4-5 years for a knife if you could buy one immediately for double the price?

I personally feel bad when I tell someone my wait is 2-3 months, but I can imagine a maker with so many orders that they are backlogged for years. As long as they are resonably honest about the delivery time, it would not bother me at all. There are guys out there that make knives part time, but have enough work to keep a full time maker busy.

Have you ever ordered a knife from a "hot" maker, and by the time you got it, they weren't so hot anymore?

So far 3 years. Yes it was worth it. I have another knife that was ordered before the 3 year wait one and I still haven't got it

I have some knives on order for over 5 years with a certain tactical guy. They keep telling me next year. No I won't pay a penny over for one. I also have a couple of others in the two year range. Hartsfields are always two years and I always have at least one on order.

I really don't mind waiting, as I get new knives all the time. I
have some commissioned art that has been on order over 10 years. I helped the artist by buying 6 or 7 pieces to keep him going,but he's never done one that I've ordered.

I really don't worry about how hot a knifemaker is at the time it's ready. You can always say no.

Time to go order a knife or two, times flying by.

Win Heger
Preferred Edge

For me it was 1 year, and the knife was my very first custom. I was still wet behind the ears about the whole notion of custom knives and it just blew my mind that I would place an order for a knife, knowing good and well that it wouldn't be until the next year until I will get it in my hands.

That maker was Bob Terzuola, and yes, the wait was definitely worth it. I recall the day FedEx delivered it - we just had a big snowfall and the FedEx guy took the turn onto my street a little too fast and ended up sliding into my front yard. Guess who had to help dig the truck out before the package could be signed for?? LOL...true story though.

Anyway, some of the popular makers today have wait times of a few years, and based on their reputation and the caliber of knives they put out, the wait (suffreing?) would be worth it if I was into those type of knives.

I recall a friend of mine one time placed an order with George Herron. He was told something to the effect that "it will be ready next year or never" Unfortunately, he never got the knife....

I think my longest wait so far was for a sweet little neck knife from Ray Kirk. Ray is very easy to work with, and it was my first custom knife. It took a little longer than planned but he was working on a new damascus pattern especially for me and the first piece got ruined, so he had to make it form scratch over again. I was amazed when I was not charged any more for the loss of material. Happily amazed. I got the knife I wanted and the wait time was not too bad, in my opinion.

Right now I have a few knives on order that I have been told 6-8 months wait, but still in my eyes, that is not an unreasonable time from makers who are in demand.

I have a 11-12 months wait on my knives at the moment. This is based on the load of orders I have and counting in the sparetime I have after work. I am "out of work" at the moment so I work fulltime so I guess my wait is more like 3-5 months but to be sure I still give the long wait as I don´t know if I am in a job the next week.


On that damascus thing Paul.....It would be very unprofesional of a maker to charge extra just because he screwed up.

At the time it was my first custom knife and i was very new to the business and didn't really know what to expect. As I said i was happily surprised.

My longest wait for knives that I have already received has been about 6 months. That does not take into account the knives that I am waiting for from Kit Carson(have been waiting 12 months and have about 12 to go), and one that I just ordered from Ed Fowler that I was told could be as much as 7 years.

Do I mind waiting? Not at all. I would love to have the knives right away, but know that that is an unrealistic ideal. Seven years is a long time, but during that time I will get the chance to have many conversations with what I consider to be one of the most interesting people in this industry.

As long as I am keep in the loop even reasonable delays do not bother me. I know unforeseen things happen and that sometimes the is being hopeful with his delivery date. As far as I am concerned this date is an estimate, and as long as it is not to far off you will not find me complaining.

Normally I find the 5 day wait for USPS to deliver (plus customs delay) to be too long..

My longest wait currenty is just over 12 months for a Walter Brend Model 4.

Regards,

Ed

Wow,

You guys actually wait for knives? Why don't you just call the maker and get some.

I do that almost every day.

;)

Les

I ordered a custom almost 3 years ago from a rising maker who quoted 6-9 months wait. I haven't seen the knife even tho the maker has cranked out alot of work since then. I've had promises and excuses until I don't care if I get the knife or not. even tho it would be worth considerably more than the quoted price at this time.

Jeff,

You ordered the knife 3 years ago. Buddy, you have to be one of the few who didnt know his wait was in excess of 5 1/2 years! Actually, 3 years ago you should have been told it was a 18 month wait.

The good news is, at almost 3 years, your wait is about half over.

That is the reality of the situation.

Les

(Am I good or what! He didnt even mention the makers name....then again neither did I).

The longest wait was one year. And no, it wasn't worth it at all. I had purchased from this maker before, over the previous two or three years, and noticed that the quality of his work was improving (and prices increasing!). He had a few knives published in Blade magazine, and the Knives annuals when I ordered my first "to my specs" custom from him. He said 3 months. Which turned into 6 months. Which turned into some worried phone calls (as I deposited $100.00 for the knife). Finally saw him at the Chicago show a full year later where he sheepishly handed me "my" knife. The blade was 1 1/2" shorter than I had asked for it to be, it wasn't bead blasted, the grinds weren't symmetrical, and there was a huge grinding flaw (a straight grind that had a slight curve midway through). He said that it was paid in full with the $100.00 deposit that I had given him. I probably wouldn't have been so upset about the whole experience, except he had 4 pieces on the table that had intricate details and grinds priced in $500~$1,000 range. These four pieces were beautiful, and the attention to detail was incredible. Obviously, a guy like me wanting a $250.00 knife didn't deserve his best work. Haven't ordered from, or spoken to him since.

I've kept the knife as a reminder to myself. Too bad for the maker, because I have since started purchasing $500.00 knives (from other makers) :-)

--Bacon Boy

Ouch, that's not a nice story.
How about getting some really professional photographs taken and then posting it for sale all over the place. Maybe the maker will buy the knife back for $500 to $1,000 :lol:

Roger

Finally got a call from James Piorek after 5 years yesterday.