Perhaps some examples of what I'm taking about...
Joe's dad works in a swamp as a park ranger. He is a very large man with big hands and sweaty palms.
Joe is a part time knifemaker. He wants to give his dad a knife for his birthday. He chooses to make it with an oversized handle to fit his big hands and gives it deep finger grooves to combat the sweaty palm syndrome. He also makes it from high grade stainless to ward off the forces of the moisture and gives it a high mirror polish to make it easier to find if he drops it in the guk.
This knife is made for a specific person who provided the performance specifications by simply being who and what he is. However, he's not a customer. He did not commission the work.
Who among us could deny that this is a custom knife?
By your definition, Ray, it's not. I just can't buy that. Few knives could be more custom than the one described.
How 'bout these:
Sam lives outside Fort Bragg. He makes tactical chute knives with the logo of the 82d Airborne Division on them and he markets them to those troops. Are these not made as custom knives for the paratroopers of that unit?
Dave is a fireman. He designed a knife with gas shut-off and O2 bottle wrenches built in. He offers them for sale to his fellow firemen as 'The Fireman's Friend'. Are these not custom made for firemen?
Let's say I get an order for a knife with very specific performance characterists and size restrictions. Let's say my customer is the Wichita Police Department. Is this a custom knife even if I make 1000 of them?
In that same vien, is an M-9 bayonete or a Marine Kabar a custom knife. They were made to detailed specs and a customer is involved.
Does the dictionary which you used to find your definition of custom also provide that the object must be unique or one-off?
This is fun!
I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just don't like the very narrow definition of what custom can mean.