I’ve spent the better part of three decades at the anvil, and I can tell you—great steel doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The makers below push me to grind straighter, heat-treat smarter, and dream wilder. Every one of them refuses to treat the word custom as a marketing label; it’s a promise etched into every spine and bolster they finish. Here are the ten workshops and artisans whose 2025 custom knives I’d trust on the bench, in the backcountry, or front-and-center in a collector’s case.
- Michael Walker — Inventor of the Modern Liner-Lock
Quick take: Michael Walker’s endlessly copied liner-lock turned the folding-knife world on its head in 1980, and he’s still filing new patents from his Taos, New Mexico studio today.
In typical Walker fashion, his 2025 showcase piece — a 3.5-inch Damascus folder with a ball-detent lock and Timascus bolsters — balances jewelry-grade fit with bank-vault lock-up. Collectors chase them for the engineering; users keep them for the telepathic ergonomics that come from a jeweler’s eye and a machinist’s hand. Even production partners like CRKT and Spyderco still lean on Walker’s mechanisms because they just work.
- Noblie Custom Knives
From its Edison, NJ atelier, Noblie turns out limited runs that balance rugged geometry with lavish engraving. Exotic woods, hand-cut scrimshaw, and deep-relief gold work are house signatures, yet every edge is tuned for real-world cutting—not shelf life.
Shop favorite: Custom Knife Blackwood Handle, Gems & 24 K Gold Accents (No. 1753). A 140 mm Damascus blade, 60 HRC, rides a blackwood handle studded with garnet and moissanite; even the hardware wears 24 k gold. Proof that function and opulence can share a sheath.
- Bob Kramer—Kitchen-Knife Legend
A former line cook turned ABS Master Smith, Bob forges chef’s knives that feel telepathic on the board. His pattern-welded geometry centers on balance, distal taper, and food-release.(Noblie)
Blade to know: the 8-inch Kramer by Zwilling EUROLINE Damascus Chef’s Knife—101-layer SG2 core, 63 HRC, honbazuke-finished, and fully cryo-hardened for stamina through a double shift.
- Enrique Peña—Modern Traditionalist
From Laredo, Texas, Peña reinvents slip-joints and liner locks with aerospace tolerances and a jeweler’s eye. His flippers disappear in a fifth pocket yet lock up like vault doors.(Noblie)
Standout: the X-Series Caballero Front Flipper—2.75-inch M390 drop-point, ceramic bearings, titanium frame-lock, 2.5 oz overall. It rides smoother than a barroom storyteller and slices like one, too.
- Ken Onion—Innovation Incarnate
Inventor of SpeedSafe and perpetual ergonomics tinkerer, Onion proves that production partnerships can still yield soul. His profiles beg to be used, not babied.(Noblie, Noblie)
Go-to folder: the CRKT Homefront Assisted—3.56″ 12C27 blade, 8.31″ OAL, field-strip construction you can break down bare-handed at camp. It’s the closest thing to modular steel I’ve handled.
- Ben Abbott—Ashgrove Forge
You know him from Forged in Fire victories; I know him as the guy who’ll pattern-weld seven bars before breakfast. Ben’s shop turns out historic seaxes, kitchen gyutos, and everything between—each forged, ground, and heat-treated by his own calloused hands.(Noblie)
Signature steel: his multi-bar Viking seax—layered twists around a high-carbon core, throwing sparks at 58–60 HRC. More history lesson than knife, yet still hungry for work.(Facebook)
- Audra Draper—Pioneer of Precision
The first woman to earn ABS Master Smith honors, Audra tempers every blade—and stereotype—in her Wyoming forge. Expect feather-Damascus hunters finished so clean you could shave on their flats.
Field choice: her 4-inch forged hunter in 52100, clay-backed for a visible hamon and paired with elk antler slabs. It splits rib cages and convention with equal grace. (Specs vary; each piece is sole authorship.)
- Alain Miville-Deschênes—Vestiges Forge
Self-taught since 1999, Alain fuses sculpture, jewelry, and metallurgy into knives that jump from canoe to gallery wall. Natural materials—burl, antler, ivory—frame hand-sculpted spines and bronze fittings.
Piece that wows me: his Vestiges Hunter—a 4-inch 440C drop-point with carved buffalo-horn scales and a hammered copper guard. Lightweight enough for Quebec backcountry but ornate enough for Paris auction houses.
- Antonio Fogarizzu—Sardinian Maestro
Raised amid Pattada’s switchblade lore, Antonio channels island tradition into liner-lock art knives laced with mosaic Damascus and gold inlay. Each piece nods to heritage while flirting with futurism.
Art knife to covet: a 3.8-inch mosaic-Damascus leaf-blade folder dressed in polished horn and 24 k scrollwork—proof that Mediterranean sunshine can be trapped in steel.
- Bertie Rietveld—Dragonskin Visionary
South Africa’s champion of sole authorship, Bertie forges his own “Dragonskin” Damascus, then inlays gemstone eyes and gold scales until every knife feels alive.
Crown jewel: the Dragonskin Bowie—10 ″ proprietary Damascus, 416 stainless frame, blackwood handle crowned with ruby cabochons. It’s less a knife than a myth that cuts.
Final Cuts
Whether you’re field-dressing elk, brunoising shallots, or just admiring a blur of temper colors under lamplight, the 2025 roster above delivers steel with soul. Pick any blade and you’ll hold not just a tool but a story—one you’ll add to with every grind mark, patina, and campfire scar you earn.
Stay sharp,
Josh Smith, Master Bladesmith
