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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 Rick Propas on September 16, 2021 at 18:36: Dennis, thanks. I've had a couple of Prinslows, but never one that stayed with me, whereas I have just about all the Alans that I bought I still have. More than anything, though, I was just spitballing. Idle speculation. As it stands that is a very nice piece.

I don't know if I ever told you the story of running into a William Henry rep and showing him my favorite Davis knife which I was carrying, a stag with Damascus bolsters. He would have bought it on the spot had I been willing to sell it.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on September 16, 2021 at 8:23: Thanks Rick. While Alan has nitre blued many blades, not sure I have ever seen him give a copper wash to any of his Damascus blades. Hard to envision how a copper wash would look on this one, given the wide spacing of the twist pattern. I did have a knife with a copper washed blade .... gave it to a friend long ago. It was a Theuns Prinsloo knife. Here is a pic of it.

Looks great on this one with the thin pattern spacing.

Comment by Rick Propas on September 16, 2021 at 7:10: Nice piece! Well done!! It would be interesting to see the blade anodized to pick up the tone of the bolsters.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on September 16, 2021 at 2:45: Picked up another great looking Davis last week. This one has some great looking stag, textured copper bolsters and a Fat Carbon back spacer. Alan forged the 2.25" twist Damascus blade from 1080 and 15n20. This is my first knife that has some of his own forged Damascus.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on June 12, 2021 at 3:14: Knew I couldn't stop at 100!! Newest Davis arrived recently. It's a slip joint with incredibly nice, caramel brown, mammoth bark covers and a 2.75" CTS-XHP blade.

Comment by Dennis Hibar on April 20, 2021 at 15:11: Thanks Rick and Jan. When I made that "100" comment to Alan many years ago ... I thought I was making it in jest! Whudda thunk it?! Someone asked me what my plans are for # 200. Fortunately, I doubt I will live that long to even give it a second's thought!

Comment by Jan Carter on April 20, 2021 at 11:28: as always, … Alan dun good!!

Well that is an understatement! Not only has Alan become quite the knifemaker over the years but you have also become quite the designer. As the 100th this one fills the bill for EVERYTHING, congrats Dennis

Comment by Rick Propas on April 20, 2021 at 11:21: Dennis, that is a stunner. Congratulations!!

Comment by Dennis Hibar on April 20, 2021 at 10:29: I got my first Alan Davis knife in 2012 and started this blog in 2016 to showcase Alan's knives. Since the beginning, I was intrigued with his style and the fact that every knife he made was virtually a one of a kind. He didn’t seem to make just one or two patterns that he outfitted differently. Many of his knives (especially his earlier ones) also had a sort of rustic appearance that really appealed to me. Yesterday, nine years after my first Davis, the 100th that I have owned arrived in my mail call. I had been working with Alan on this one for quite some time. Normally, when I have him make me something, I just tell him to go wild and make something he thinks I will like. This time, I tried to put a little thought into what I might want for number 100. I decided to go with a black/white color scheme. So, sent him a mock-up of what I was looking for, along with the materials I wanted. Couldn’t have turned out better. Scales are some white giraffe bone with black striations. Bolsters are sculpted titanium that Alan blackened. The 3.25" blade is Damasteel in the Björkmans Twist pattern. The gold anodized liners are file-worked and textured. The back spacer is the first Alan designed in this pattern. It’s titanium and incorporates blackened and textured gold anodized sections. Super happy and, as always, … Alan dun good!!

Comment by Dennis Hibar on December 30, 2020 at 15:28: Got this one in yesterday. While it looks brand new, Alan made it as his personal carry knife in 2017. Naturally, he gave it a little spa treatment before sending it my way! Sized just right (for me) this slippie has a 2.875 inch blade made from Del Ealy's Damascus. And .... I really love the mammoth on this one.