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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 December 31, 2016 at 4:28: [Update: This one has been sold.]

While a little larger than I normally like to keep in my pocket, here’s a Davis that, nevertheless, gets plenty of pocket time. Alan built this one with blue-dyed sycamore scales and a 3.375” stone washed and parkerized 52100 blade. This is a great combo of materials and the blade shows very little wear and tear because of the finish. And … I have to say, this is one of the smoothest (and all of his knives are smooth) opening and closing knives in the collection.

Hope everyone has a very Happy New Year.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on December 24, 2016 at 4:28: It is Christmas Eve and felt the occasion deserved a really special Alan Davis. I missed buying this one when Alan finished it and put it up for sale. However, I eventually managed to pry it from the hands of the Davis collector who initially bought it! It is called Alan's Elk Scene folder. It features a 3.125" Doug Ponzio pattern Damascus blade in his Elk Scene pattern, Père David's stag scales and M3 composite bolsters. Père David's stag is somewhat rare. The deer originated in China and almost becoming extinct. Here's some info on it taken from Animal Diversity Web:

"The name that the Chinese gave these deer was "sze pu shiang". This means “none of the four.” The deer supposedly has a neck like a camel, a tail similar to that of a donkey, antlers of a deer, and hooves similar to a cow. However it didn’t resemble any of them more than the other (Harper, 1945).

In 1865, Père Armand David, a French missionary, discovered the deer in the Imperial Hunting Park (Nan Hai-tsu Park) near Peking they were believed to be the only surviving members of the species. About a dozen individuals from this group were imported to Europe. In 1894, a flood destroyed the Imperial Hunting Park and much of the herd was killed. Those that did survive were hunted by starving citizens during the Boxer Revolution in 1900. The Duke of Bedford gathered the remaining breeding population of 18 deer at his abbey in Europe and began to increase to population. During WWII the herd was moved because of the fear of extinction due to bombing.

In 1985 Père David's Deer was reintroduced to the Beijing Milu Park and a second group was released in 1986 in a site north of Shanghi called the Dafeng Milu Natural Reserve (Huffman, 2001). In 1997 an estimated 671 deer were surviving in the wild in China (Jiang et al., 2000)."

Comment by Dennis Hibar on December 18, 2016 at 6:19: Thanks for the comments. Yes, this is certainly a pretty piece. Like all my knives, I coat them with Renaissance Wax a couple times a year. And Jan .... unfortunately, see no edit button.

Comment by Jan Carter on December 17, 2016 at 18:19: Dennis,

At the bottom of each individual posting in here you should have an edit button. If you do not, never fear I do!

I love that on occasion you carry a few of these beauties. Especially the mammoth, like any form of ivory, they just get better with age and contact. I use a bit of peanut oil on my ivories every once in a while. Do you use anything on yours?

Comment by allanm on December 17, 2016 at 17:41: Nice knife Dennis, it would look good in any display case or pocket!

Comment by John Bamford on December 17, 2016 at 12:46: That is a dramatically beautiful knife Dennis !

What I really love is that slip joint though that is truly glorious !!! I missed it last week due to the winter bug that had me feeling low .

Comment by Dennis Hibar on December 17, 2016 at 4:43: Here’s another Davis from my collection ... a beautiful art knife Alan created. It had crosscut Mammoth scales, timascus bolsters, and a 2.875” Rob Calcinore Damascus blade that Alan blued. A pretty piece that really belongs in a frame, than a pocket!

*Note: This one has a new home and is no longer in the collection.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on December 10, 2016 at 4:07: [Update: This one has been sold.]

Here is my one and only slip joint made by Alan. Wish he would make more. This one has some very nice touches. Obviously, the ironwood covers are very eye-catching. Size is fairly manageable and the titanium liners cut down on the weight a little. The blade is from CPM-154 and is 2.75” long. Pull is a very comfortable 4-5. What I really like about this one is the texturing Alan did on the backspring and blade spine. Not only does it add a classy touch … but when the blade is open, it appears to seamlessly blend into the back spring.

Comment by Ricky Ray on December 3, 2016 at 8:31: I had to show off my new Alan Davis knife, compliments of Dennis!

Merry Christmas indeed! Thanks Dennis.