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A knife described as "Three Bears" or "3M" is a serial knife under an old label, not a Custom Division piece. How the designs evolved has the full history and every release in the category. Custom Division The factory announced the Custom Division on 23 April 2014 as a line of familiar models built with new solutions…

A Custom Division (CD) knife is not a custom. A Sprint Run is not a Custom Division piece with a different label. A duck foot pivot on a "CD" listing is a reason to slow down, not to pay more. This page sets out the ladder once, with the factory's own bearing tiering as the spine.

Custom Division, 2014, and the F7 The Custom Division opened in April 2014 as a tier rather than a line: serial designs rebuilt with more finishing time on single-row roller bearings, in numbered runs. The F7 of 2016 sits outside the Division: a Sergey Shirogorov design made only as full customs, whose wider blade…

The winning knife was Sergey's custom Quantum, which the workshop then brought into the Custom Division, and the June 2019 announcement already named a Damasteel Sprint Run version, so the SR and the CD Quantum arrived together rather than in sequence. And the 2023 judges' remark that the Mini Quantum CD had "great…

It sits between serial production and Custom Division on the tier ladder, and buyers mix the two up constantly, partly because the workshop's own dealers have listed Quantum-family SRs under a Custom Division heading. This page is the register: what runs exist, what is known of each, and what a listing marked "SR"…

Against that, Quantum-family limited variants marked SR were listed by dealers in 2019 and 2020, under a "Quantum Sprint Run Custom Division" title, and collectors place early Quantum-era limited runs in 2019. If "first Sprint Run" means the first release the workshop named that way, it is the Stellar; if it means the…

Custom Division pieces carry markings inside. CD knives have markings on the inside of the scales and/or the backspacer, and CD production has carried continuous individual numbering since the division was announced in 2014. The bear-head mark dates from 2009. The "Shirogorov Knives" trademark with the bear head is…

The two tiers with the most misdescribed listings have their own question pages: the Custom Division FAQ and the full custom FAQ. Check Serial production Sprint Run Custom Division Full custom (Sergey) Collaboration Serial record Box and COA; knife usually unmarked NN/30 on box and COA (NN/3 for the Damasteel Quantum)…

Custom Division and full custom pieces carry finishes that do not survive rough cleaning. Anodized titanium takes a mild, pH-neutral cleaner, a soft microfiber cloth and light pressure; aggressive chemicals shift the color, and anodizing wears with handling in any case. Hand-rubbed and directional blade finishes are…

The Custom Division runs a single row of rollers, the SRRBS, on Custom Division F95s from 2014. The double-row rollers, the DRRBS, belong to Sergey Shirogorov's full customs and a few early Custom Division pieces such as the Hati 3D Seashell and the F95 3D Silk; the multi-row MRRBS stays on the full customs.

A Sprint Run is a small numbered batch of a new design, or of a production model in an unusual steel, with no catalog listing, usually about 30 pieces and as few as three for a material variant; a Custom Division run is the workshop's numbered limited tier, with Custom Division markings inside the knife.

A Custom Division knife is a serial design rebuilt to a higher standard in a small numbered run, by the Custom Division team inside the workshop, on single-row rollers. A full custom is a knife Sergey Shirogorov builds himself, one-off or a handful, on double- or multi-row rollers with the duck foot pivot.

The F7 of 2016 is a Sergey Shirogorov design made only as full customs, never as a serial or Custom Division model. 3 oz (about 133 to 150 g) by configuration, on 3D-milled titanium with carbon fiber options, on double-row rollers (DRRBS). Most F7s are frame locks with a steel insert.

A collaboration is a design from outside the workshop, built by the workshop: Dmitry Sinkevich (Pero, Bio, Jeans, Kami, Fat Strip, Fit Strip), RJ Martin (the Overkill family), Chris Reeve (the UniHati Custom Division run and the Hati CGG), Scott Cook (the Russian Lochsa), Tom Mayo (the Dr.

The F7 of 2016 has only ever been made as a full custom and, in 2024, became the model for the Custom Division's CDX; the F7 overview has the variants. The IceBreaker custom of 15 December 2014, a 5 mm ZDP-189 blade on the F95 base, flew on the 2018 round-the-world expedition and became the 100-piece IceBreaker of…

A full custom is a knife Sergey Shirogorov builds himself, one-off or a handful, with no catalog listing and no run; it exists because he made it. This page collects the pieces with a documented history. The full custom FAQ answers the buyer's questions, and the tier ladder places the tier against Custom Division.

5 mm across three rows on one F95 teardown; varies by model Loose SRRBS, Single-Row Roller Bearing System One row of cylindrical rollers each side, riding on line contact Custom Division; some collaboration projects with other craftsmen 17 rollers per side on a Custom Division F95, October 2014 Loose DRRBS, Double-Row…

ronze Anodization [technical] - Titanium anodized to a bronze or gold tone. No bronze is involved in the finish; a few pieces, such as the 111 Bronze CD, do use the metal. B/S/T [market] - Buy, sell, trade: the forum sections where knives change hands, each with its own posting rules.

ronidur 30 [technical] - High-nitrogen bearing steel from FAG (Germany); an earlier blade steel at 59–60 HRC and the screw steel on Custom Division knives. Cronidur 30EVO [technical] - Cronidur 30 with A. Balikoev's thermo-mechanical treatment (TMO), applied for edge wear resistance; 59–60 HRC.

The full-size Custom Division runs are the Quantum CD, the Blue CD, 50 pieces in S90V with complex anodized titanium, and the Quantum Bronze CD, 50 pieces in Vanadis 10 with bronze and carbon fiber, both on SRRBS with hand finishing and tighter tolerances. The Quantum Sprint Run is thirty numbered pieces in Damasteel…