Full custom FAQ

The top of the range: knives Sergey Shirogorov builds himself. This page answers the questions buyers ask about them; the Custom Division FAQ covers the numbered tier below, and the tier ladder has the full comparison.

Full customs

How does a full custom differ from a Custom Division 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 difference is who built it and how many exist, not how well it is finished. The Custom Division FAQ covers that tier question by question.

What is a Sergey Shirogorov full custom?

A knife Sergey builds himself: one-off or a handful, no catalog listing, double- or multi-row rollers (DRRBS or MRRBS), the duck foot pivot, and materials that vary piece by piece. Sergey’s custom MidiQ, the 2024 Best M.A.C.K. at Blade Show, is one; the Astrum Nebula, the full custom auctioned at Blade Show Atlanta in June 2025, is another.

How does a full custom reach a buyer?

Four routes: auctions attached to the major shows, the factory’s own auctions (a Baikal was lot 28 of the factory auction of 11 June 2015), dealer secondary listings, and the occasional show-floor sale. Several recent pieces have surfaced at the US events, whose calendar is on the events page. There is no order form at this tier, so a buyer watches the auctions rather than the shop.

What do they cost?

Dealer secondary listings and show-floor sales sit at the lower end of the tier’s range and auction results at the upper end, with the Blade Show Atlanta auction of June 2025 in the middle of it. What a given piece brings turns on the materials, the provenance and who is in the room. The range and the dated results sit in the price record.

How do I know a full custom is genuine?

The duck foot pivot is the tier’s own marker, and the double- or multi-row rollers back it up, though double-row rollers also appear on a few early Custom Division pieces. Ask for photographs of the open pivot and the bearings, the provenance from the first sale, and the maker’s own record where the seller has it. A piece with standard hardware and single-row rollers is not a full custom, whatever the listing calls it; read it against the Custom Division, Sprint Run and collaboration cues on the tier ladder.

What paperwork and marks come with a full custom?

On the Baikal, the best documented of them, Sergey’s signature inside the backstrap is the mark, and a piece comes with its box, an auction certificate where it sold at auction, and a bead. There is no catalog entry and no factory serial of the serial-tier kind; the maker’s own record and the provenance from the first sale are the documentation. Sergey Shirogorov’s full customs describes the pieces and what came with them.

Does Sergey take commissions?

No. Sergey Shirogorov does not take public commissions, so a full custom is bought where one surfaces rather than ordered: the show auctions, the factory’s own auctions, dealer secondary listings and the occasional show-floor sale. Sergey Shirogorov’s full customs has the pieces with their dates.

Should a full custom be carried?

Most owners treat them as collection pieces and cycle the action rather than cut with them, because the value is condition-sensitive and the piece cannot be replaced. That is a choice owners make at this tier rather than a restriction the factory imposes. Keep it with its documentation, store it apart from other knives, and if it needs work, ask the workshop or its US distributor before anyone else.