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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 July 16, 2018 at 21:04: Here's one of Alan's special orders (no, not mine!) that was recently featured in Blade Magazine:

Comment by Dennis Hibar on April 22, 2018 at 17:35: And the size is perfect Jan! This one will be seeing lots of pocket time. Alan doesn't do many small slip joints like this ... was glad to stumble across it shortly after he put it up for sale.

Comment by Jan Carter on April 21, 2018 at 18:10: The hamon on that blade is outstanding!

Comment by Dennis Hibar on April 21, 2018 at 17:51: I couldn't resist this little pocket buddy. This small slip joint arrived in the mail today and sports amber-dyed Sambar stag covers and a 2.25" 1095 blade with hamon. Pull is about a 5 and it has great walk and talk.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on April 10, 2018 at 15:12: Thanks Jan. I'm just glad Alan decided to part with it. I thought for sure he would keep it for himself.

Comment by Jan Carter on April 10, 2018 at 9:23: Dennis,

That mammoth is outstanding! I have to say the texture on the bolsters speaks to me, you know I prefer subtle when it comes to embellishments on a knife. Congrats on another fantastic addition to a special collection

Comment by Dennis Hibar on April 10, 2018 at 5:04: Time for another addition. This beauty arrived yesterday and is another special one for me. It is one of only a handful of lock backs that Alan has made (6, to be precise). He told me that he feel this is the finest one he's made to date and, after receiving it, have no doubts about that. The covers on this one are some outrageously beautiful Mammoth bark ivory that are very well matched. The CPM 154 spear blade measures 3.125" from tip to bolsters. The bolsters are 416 SS with some very nice texturing. This is a seriously nice piece and very glad it found its way to my collection.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on March 10, 2018 at 4:45: Thanks Jan ... I almost passed on this one. Glad I didn't!!

Comment by Jan Carter on March 9, 2018 at 17:53: The blade is indeed the very first thing to catch your eye on this knife Dennis. It is aptly named as it seriously looks like weather patterns for a storm! Once you have the chance to look beyond that steel the build stands out! The spine on that blade is substantial but the narrowing of it is where the beauty comes in. I love that he does not blur that straight beautiful line with file work. Although I am not normally a file work person I find I like many of Mr. Davis's as he uses it so subtlety.

Another fantastic knife Dennis and Thank you for sharing!

Comment by Dennis Hibar on March 9, 2018 at 17:11: Time to add another new Davis! It's another gent's folder. This one features some Mammoth bark ivory scales with some really nice coloring ... ranging from blue to green to caramel. Bolsters are from some of Mike Sakmar's mokume. What really attracted me to this one was the blade. It is 2.875" and is some of Rob Thomas' Typhoon pattern Damascus. BUT, it is unlike any of Rob's Typhoon I've seen before. It's really eye catching (no pun intended, because the pattern almost looks line it has a series of eyeballs in it!). Of course, Alan dressed up the knife with some of his outstanding back spacer file work and anodizing.