Ever notice how often you see articles about knives in gun magazines? I don’t think it’s coincidence…and I don’t think it’s a “weapons obsession” thing, either. Having been a police instructor since 1972 (and noticing the whole time that cops appreciate nice knives), and having been a trainer of armed citizens since 1981 and seeing the same syndrome in that sector, I have to say that it’s more an “appreciation of stuff that really WORKS kind of thing.

There are lots of great knives that are readily available at good prices. Why have a knife custom made? Sometimes, for some people, it’s simply about pride of ownership. My dad was a watchmaker, who sold and repaired Rolexes and even Patek Phillippes, but generally wore a simple Bulova on his wrist. I learned at his feet. I wear a Pulsar because my daughter gave it to me for my birthday years ago. My Hamilton is in the safe somewhere behind my collector Colts and Smith & Wessons.

Sometimes, for some other people (like me) a custom knife means that the thing was built exactly for the needs that you perceived. I’ve designed only two knives over all these years: the now-discontinued C-60 folder from Spyderco, and the fixed-blade “personal knife” I designed back in the day for the Masters of Defense project that was sold as the Razorback and, since MoD was acquired by Blackhawk, has morphed into the current Trocar model.

In the current (May/June 2009) issue of Backwoods Home magazine, I wrote a story on Jason Clark, a custom knifemaker in Florida. Unfortunately, that particular article isn’t on-line. You can find his website at http://clarkcustomknives.com. I’ve known Jason for more than a decade now, and I’ve watched his hobby grow into a business that makes some really nice products…and will make them for YOU, and YOUR particular needs.

When my chief of police bagged it last year after 35 years behind the badge, I asked Jason to make a custom knife for him as a retirement gift. The recipient loves it. Jason does impressive work.

My latest Jason Clark Custom Knife is a fixed-blade working tool. Slim and flat, it’s an homage to the Green River Patch Knife, with a tip that rises from the cutting edge to the spine like the prow of a Teddy Roosevelt-era battleship. There are double finger-grooves that allow the grasping hand to “choke up” for close, precise cutting, or just “grab and go” and get the necessary slicing done reflexively at high speed, depending on user need. Jason made an exquisitely fitted Kydex sheath for it with twin loops that snap over a belt for inside the waistband carry. It’s for cutting, not stabbing, but that serves my daily needs quite well, and if anything needs to be directly punctured and I don’t have remote control instrumentation handy for that, there’s always a folding knife in the right front pocket that’s shaped for such a task.

Best of all, Jason can custom-build a “knife like he built for Mas” for only a hundred bucks, plus shipping. When you sign your name, it’s a little cooler to do it with a Mont Blanc than with a Bic pen. When you check the time, it’s cooler to glance at a Movado wristwatch than at the LED readout on your cell phone. And when you have to “separate matter,” as Spyderco founder and CEO Sal Glesser so eloquently put it, it’s pretty damn cool to do it with a knife that was custom made to your particular specifications.

Which explains why so many of us get off on custom made knives. Touch bases with Jason before the Outside World discovers him, at which time you’ll have to wait a few years and pay a fortune to have him build your dream knife for you.

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