Before moving to Huntsville we lived Jacksonville, AL. There is a knife manufacturer located there (
Bear & Son Cutlery :: Everyone respects a bear) and every year, just around the time of Thanksgiving, these folks would have a massive outdoor/indoor sale. Of course, all of the 'regular' knifes were available (some at greatly discounted prices) but also many of the experimental, prototype knifes were on sale. Some of this latter group were absolutely incredible - some strange, many absolute works of art, all well-made, one-of-a-kind, and certainly custom (and OBTAINABLE!). I remember that some of the Damascus blades available were an experimental alloy. In some of the earlier Thanksgiving sales (ten or so years ago), the sales booths extended throughout the manufacturing facility and the plant was in operation - it was incredible to see the machinery and labor involved in making these knifes.
This information certainly does nothing to ease the dilemma that you are in... maybe check to see if your location has knife manufacturers within driving distance and see if/how they deal with their prototypes???