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Custom Knives by Alan Davis

Thought I would start a blog here to showcase the work of my favorite knifemaker. I stumbled across Alan Davis, a knifemaker from Boerne, Texas, in late 2012. I was blown away by his knife designs. Even more astounding was the fact that they were virtually all one of a kind creations. Alan didn't just make one or two patterns and then just outfit them with different materials. Each and every one was pretty much different. While he did have a few designs that people seemed to like and ask for, even those were made a little differently to make them unique. Alan works with all types of handle and blade material ... but does prefer Damascus blades. I currently own 67 of his knives (mainly his linerlock folders, do have a few frame locks, slip joints and fixed blades) and jokingly told Alan that I would love to have owned 100 of his knives before I die. Wasn't sure that would happen (while I sell many of his knives, I have been known to give a some away to close friends, so that they understand why I keep praising Alan's work!) ... but, that milestone was reached on April 19th, 2021, when I hit that 100 goal. He is the only maker who I would have no problem asking to make a knife for me and leaving everything (material/design) up to him ... and be confident that I would be thrilled with the results! I have done this twice .... and thrilled both times!

To start things off, here is one of my favorites that I picked up in 2014 (though I have so many I love, that picking favorites is a very difficult task!). It is a beautiful linerlock folder with amber Sambar stag scales and M3 composite bolsters. The blade measures 3.375" and is made from Damascus by Zoe Crist (in his Blackhawk pattern). Pocket clip is also Zoe's Damascus. Backspacer and liners are nuggetized and anodized a sort of plum color. All in all, a beautiful knife that feels super nice in the hand and is not too large or heavy to carry around clipped to your pocket all day. Hope you like it.

Stay tuned ....

Tags: Alan, David, Knives

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Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 24, 2017 at 4:32: (Update: This knife has been gifted)

Last Saturday, I posted one of Alan’s knives with some Damascus bolsters from Randy Haas in a dragon’s tooth pattern. Today, I will show one of Alan’s knives using that same Damascus for the blade. It is a smaller folder with some really nice, gnarly Mammoth bark scales and that nice HHH dragon’s tooth damascus blade … sized at 2.625”. It is really a great handle design as it slips right into your hand like it was made to be there.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 18, 2017 at 12:44: Two different guys Rick. JB is Jason Stout down in Tennessee. Johnny is out of New Braunfels, TX ... about 40 miles east of Alan.

Comment by Rick Propas on June 18, 2017 at 11:43: Dennis, is Johnny Stout J.B. Stout? I don't have any of his knives, but have admired them. Your latest looks very much like my Sambar Stag

Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 18, 2017 at 4:30: Thanks Jan. I post these here for y'all to enjoy ... just like I enjoy viewing the pictures other folks post. Alan's work is influenced quite a bit by one of his mentors ... Johnny Stout.

Comment by Jan Carter on June 17, 2017 at 19:34: I can tell I have missed a few, forgive me I have been playing with a 9 year old grandson that we have with us for the summer :)

If I had to choose 2 damascus makers to appreciate it would be these two. Of course i am beginning to think that Alan could use dinosaur droppings and make an astonishing knife. This man sure has talent

Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 17, 2017 at 4:38: Today’s Davis is a very nice spear point with some exceptionally attractive sambar stag scales. I hesitated on this one for just a little, due to the blade size and weight. But, Alan made a belt sheath to go with it (after carrying it in his pocket for a day … he too thought it was a tad heavy for pocket carry). The Alabama Damascus blade is 3.375”. Bolsters are HHH dragon’s tooth pattern Damascus.

Comment by Rick Propas on June 14, 2017 at 19:25: Wow! Wowwowwowwow is all I can say.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 10, 2017 at 4:30: Here’s a very special Davis from my collection … one that I almost didn’t buy. Alan told me that it is one of his favorite knives to date. Now, I have to admit … I love trailing point blades and equally love gnarly mammoth bark. The only thing that initially held me back buying it was that Alan went and jeweled this one up! After receiving it, however, I was really glad I decided to go ahead and add it. The blade, as I said, is a trailing point from some of HHH’s beautiful feather Damascus and is nicely sized at 3.185”. Bolsters are some of Rob Eggerling's mosaic Damascus. The mammoth bark has a really nice texture and feels wonderful holding it. Actually, the shape of the handle just melts right into your hand. Now, what initially gave me some pause is something that has actually grown on me. Alan adorned this one with 4 blue diamonds … one in the thumb stud and 3 in the hand carved and file-worked back spacer. You don’t see blue diamonds that often … especially in a knife … so, I guess it makes this one super special!

Comment by Rick Propas on June 3, 2017 at 15:13: For me, it's not just the choice of materials and the craftsmanship that draw me to Alan's work, it is also the detail work. I daresay that no one, short of those consciously crafting "art" knives," who pays more attention to the small details.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 3, 2017 at 4:26: (This knife has been gifted.)

Here’s a Davis with some nice dyed box elder scales that I love to stare at. I see different things in the wood each time I look at it. While I admittedly bought this knife for the wood, I also wanted to try out the blade. I have a number of knives made with D2 steel. For this knife, Alan chose some CPM-D2. While I haven’t done any abusive cutting with the 3.25" blade, it seems to hold an edge just as well as regular D2. Some have said that regular D2 is better at slicing and skinning. I guess where CPM-D2 shines is in edge retention in chopping and heavy cutting situations. Can’t really comment on that as I am often just too busy staring at the wood!