Southard Performance Series

I’m really pleased to offer the Southard Performance Series of knives. For years the only way to get one my customs has been to wait on a list till your order came up, or snag one at a show. Due to the handmade nature of my customs, I’ve never been able satisfy the demand for my work, which is a fantastic problem to have! However, I’ve always wanted to offer a product using the best of modern manufacturing techniques, with a healthy bit of handwork, in order to make a knife at an extremely high level of quality.

When I make a Southard Custom knife, I have to deal with a lot of materials, all of which have their own quirks, and idiosyncrasies: titanium warping and bowing, inconsistent thickness of materials and steel twisting during heat treat. It’s a nightmare! With the use of some modern manufacturing methods, a lot of these problems can be dealt with.

I’ve teamed up with some incredible machine shops, grinders, and heat treatment facilities in order to produce this knife and have removed some of the obstacles that make the custom knifemaking process so slow.  Even with this outside help, there is still quite a bit of work done in my own shop with my hands so that I can reach the level of fit and finish that I expect and my customer will appreciate. Through this process I’m able to create knives at a lower cost but with a great value.

Please check out my shop, to see if these are current available. I’m doing my best to keep up with demand.

Avo

The Avo is the first offering in the Southard Performance series. This project has been a long time in the works and after several years it’s a dream to finally see the work I’ve put in come to fruition.

The Avo features:

3.5” Blade length
7.8” over all length open
Carson Flipper
CTS-B75p (bg-42) blade steel with a stonewash finish
Small selection made from PSF-27 with a stonewash finish
titanium frame lock
titanium Hinderer over travel stop
titanium standoffs
titanium clip
stainless hardware
Ball bearing pivot and ceramic detent ball for the smoothest, and fastest action.

Made 100% in the USA