Having a WSK made by a local knifesmith

[chardin]

I've grown interested in the Wilderness Survival Knife concept, but was dissatisfied with the TOPS Tracker I ordered on a few counts. After examining my alternatives, I decided to give a local knifemaker a try, and get involved in the design at each stage.

I chose Mark Terrell of San Antonio. I explained the WSK concept and what I specifically wanted, and we've arrived at an agreement on the design. This is not a copy of the Tom Brown design; this is an implementation of the general concept, and it continues to evolve as we discuss things.

How many others have gone this route, and what did you emphasize on your version of the general concept?

Is there any interest in my discussing the design process as it proceeds?

[Jim Charles]

I think the design process could be interesting for someone that’s never gone through it. I usually make my knives and then sell them, but I recently went through this process with a customer on his 3 rd knife from me. It was frustrating in some respects because he wanted things that either didn’t make sense or added a tremendous amount of labor for little results…I thought. It was actually a great learning experience for me because it pushed me in new directions and forced me to develop new techniques to accomplish what he wanted. In the end he was more than pleased with the end product and I felt good about overcoming a couple more of my weak areas.