I’ve followed the career of custom knife maker Pat Crawford for many years. And about 20 years ago – maybe longer, his son, Wes joined his dad making custom knives – and their custom knives are always in great demand. Today, we’ll look at the Crawford 1, designed by Wes Crawford, and produced by Cold Steel, in a very affordable version of one of Crawford’s custom folders.
Its nice to see a son following in his father’s footsteps, you don’t see this very often these days, for some reason. Another thing that is getting to be a rarity are custom knife makers – period! Certainly, making hand made knives is no easy task, I tried my hand at it once, and just didn’t have the patience or talent. Oh sure, I can “design” knives, but I can’t make them. I’ve known a few custom knife makers over the years, and have always been amazed at their talents, and how much work is involved in making knives – they are artists, no doubt about it. Each knife is a work of art, as well as a work of love, you aren’t just paying for a hunk of steel, you are paying for the talent involved in making a knife – a custom knife.
Many years ago, I used to collect (and design) custom knives, and found that it was a very expensive hobby. My entire collection was sold many, many years ago, when my family and I moved back to Oregon, after traveling all around the country, always looking for greener pastures. It was a tough decision to sell all those knives, but I have no regrets at all – other than selling off some of the knives that I personally designed and commissioned custom makers to produce for me. However, you do what is right for your family’s best interests.
Cold Steel is owned by my long-time friend, Lynn Thompson, and Lynn has had a long relationship with Pat and Wes Crawford over the years. We are fortunate that Cold Steel has collaborated with the Crawfords over the years to bring us some of their designs, in a very affordable package. I know I could never personally afford to own any of their custom, hand-made knives, but owning a well-made production knife designed by this father/son team is the second best thing. And we can thank Lynn Thompson for bringing some of these designs to us.Continue reading“Cold Steel Crawford 1, by Pat Cascio”