Al Mar Knives email? I have a problem...

[ehhh]

I only see a phone # on their website. If they don't have an email I'll end up giving them a call I guess, but I figure it may be easier if I can send photos of my problem before paying for shipping and possibly having them say no to warranty service.

On to the problem:

I recently purchased a SERE 2000 (received today) and the false edge grind is angled on one side (instead of 90 degrees perpendicular), but what makes me really worry is that there is what seems like a very small crack in the blade. This knife is absolutely new in box, purchased from an ebay seller who was very nice and I got a decent deal on it, so I don't want to return it to him if I can get a new blade in the knife for free from AMK.

Is Al Mar Knives customer service good? Don't see much talk of them...

Here is a picture of the problem. I circled the very defined, but small crack in red. The blue circle seems like it could just be part of the satin finish, but it is much more defined than the rest of the lines when looking at the knife in person.

It's worse looking in person because you can see there is a bit of depth to the ding/crack/whatever, so it is definitely not just a scratch. I wish it was a scratch because I wouldn't mind a little scratch on the finish.
It seems like it could be a very fine fracture to me. I'm afraid this could result in a broken blade with much less side pressure than normally needed. While I don't plan to do any prying with it, I may need to use it like that in an emergency and I certainly wouldn't want it breaking.

Other than the minor grind issue and the crack, I really do like the knife. Aside from the glaring crack problem, the knife has far better fit and finish than my BM710HS (which has a tiny piece of G10 stuck between the liner and the G10 scale, .5mm off center blade and very slight side to side play).
The blade on the SERE is also about .5mm off center in the direction of the liner's pressure (at least it has an excuse..Axis locks don't put much if any side pressure), solid lockup, absolutely no play and seems to have much nicer fit overall. It is kind of thick (I wear it in my waistband) and heavy, but I like bigger folders and don't have much of a problem carrying it. Handle fills my grip nicely, which I like, but it could use some notches (forget what they're called) to improve grip with the thumb.

Anyways, any info about AMK customer service would be much appreciated and if they have a working email contact I would love to have it.
Thanks in advance!
-Jon

 

[DaveH]

Looks like a scratch to me. They won't be able to tell from the photo so you might as well either 1) send it back to the factory 2) send it back to the seller.

open it up and give it a good sideways whack on something (not your hand) and see what happens.

 

[ehhh]

I'll try to get a picture with a little depth to it, because holding it and examining it angled towards a light will cast a shadow which would suggest that it does have some depth. It isn't a gaping chasm in the middle of the blade or anything and is actually quite small (first I thought it was a little piece of lint until I wiped it).

Here are a couple pictures showing some depth.
This photo shows the deep scratch/crack very nicely ( :grumpy: )

This one doesn't have the crack in focus, but you can see the shadow it casts, showing that it does have a bit more depth than a cosmetic scratch.

You guys think it's something I should worry about or something AMK would replace the blade for? Anyone have personal experience sending stuff back to them for warranty work? I'm asking so many questions because if I want to return it to the seller and give up the good deal, I'll need to do it within 3 days. But if AMK has good warranty service, I'd rather send it to them and get it all fixed up than buy a new one. It's too late to call, so I guess I'll give em a ring tomorrow, but any info about them would be great.

Here's a picture of the funky false edge grind too:

http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/8445/falseedge1lj.jpg if pic doesn't show up.
Notice how one side has quite a bit of extra material that wasn't ground off. This doesn't bother me much, but if it'll help me get a replacement blade in there...