Was browsing ebay yesterday and impulse bought a skinner from a company called CFK Cutlery. I only bought it because it was super cheap and looked like a decent enough blade. at $39 I figured it was worth a closer look at the very least. If nothing else it'll be re-gifted to the father in-law. I'm sure these aren't as "hand made" as the company would like you to believe, and I'm not expecting much as far as quality. It's a D2 blade with camel bone scales, not bad looking at all.

Anyway, do any of yall have any insight on CFK? They claim to be American made, and on another forum they mentioned his blanks were bought from texas knife makers supply. Anyone know anthing about them?

I bought one(CFK) for my nephew that was a Damascus tanto blade.. couldn't find a tanto blank to make him one myself...so I bought it for around 45. I saw the same blade later sell for about 100... with that said a knife is only worth what the buyer will pay for it. That is the way I look at it. When I look at steel, Damascus, stainless types, carbon types.... its all metal. Doesn't cost too much. When I look at my knife buying for ME.. I look at what I will be using it for. I do not stick a $100 knife in my deer when gutting or cleaning.. I use my 20-something Schrade rubber handled carbon blade for that.. bought it in the late 80s still does work. If I buy a knife from a custom maker I am buying it to collect or use in my kitchen or something, but never have I bought a 200+ dollar knife and used it like that. I cant see doing it. Sorry to be long.. anyway if you are happy with the knife and feel you got your moneys worth out of it and can use it and can re-use/re-sharpen it, then you should be happy about your purchase. People will beat up or make negative comments about Ebay knives or Pakistan knives... but it is you who are buying it, not them. I have some 200 dollar knives and some 35 dollar knives... some of my cheaper ones look better up close and have performed the similarly... As far as the American Made part, not sure. I think I have bought 2 total and was impressed at the quality and fitment of both. Hope I helped a little and enjoy your knife!

appreciate the feedback!

Here is a link to their website. They are an American company but buy German steel and blades are forged in England from the little I read. Also offers reviews.

http://www.customforgedknives.com/

Is their damascus real? Looks like it's just plain steel that's been etched

No first hand knowledge but I remembered there was a discussion on this guy and his knives that you can read here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showth...e-blanks/page20

The two I bought were real Damascus style, in that they were forged with layers. Now I don't know the origin of the metal, only what they type of metal it was by the listing. There again. I know that these are not custom made here in US type knives. The price does not reflect that and the starting prices are super low. After I received the first one, I thought it to be a decent build that was pretty sharp for factory and has held up. I really don't care about his hype and the stuff you read from that forum discussion.... because I knew what I was expecting before purchase. Where I would be mad would be to buy a CUSTOM knife and pay $500 for it with it being advertised as actually making the blank and spending hours and hours on it and he didn't. All the else is relative... being the materials and cost. What is a custom knife? I look at it this way... I can go buy a blank already made and put my heart and sweat into designing the handle to look the way I want and the finish too, then set it off with a nice sheath. Now, I go buy a blank piece of 1095 cut out the profile, grind and sand, heat treat and polish, add a handle and wal la... Custom knife, yes? The premade blanks all went through a similar process. To me these are all CUSTOM... not custom one of a kind.. there are those and I would say cost goes up. With those Ebay or Pakistan knives, you have to be careful for false advertising and such when it comes to what you pay and materials used. Sorry I rambled a bit again... The two I ended up with did not appear etched and I could see the layers.

They do have some decent looking knives. For 40 bucks I'll give it a shot.