Am I being too tough on CS

Sal Glesser said:
Hi Knifenut,

I don't think the problem is our customer service. I think that perhaps your expectations mught be too high. Perfection is not possible in the knife industry and you could end up quite frustrated to seek it. I have been a knife nut for 60 years and have yet to find the "perfect" knife. I have some that are close, and I paid dearly for them, but perhaps my eye is too keen? ;)

A very old Native that sounds like it's been badly abused would not be practical to "re-build". A custom knifemaker would have to spend quite a bit of time (at $50 / hr shop time). We couldn't replace an old abused knife without charging you for a new one. Sometimes knives just need to be retired. 440V was before S60V and we've been using S30V for a long time.

Regarding the bench stones; All flat stones that are flat have been ground flat with the same equipment. They all leave the same marks. They are not visible with other stones because the other stones are not fine enough to show with and they are friable, which means they begin to wear with the first stroke, which removes the grind lines. Our ultra is so fine and so hard, that these grind lines are visible albeit not really measurable.

sal
Click to expand...


Thanks sal, I don't mean to be a pain but having that keen eye can be a bad thing sometimes. I was asking the lady I spoke with about upgrading to the 8x3 UF stone, I'm sure I will hear back this upcoming week but do you think it would be possible.( I would gladly pay the difference)
 
Hi Knifenut,

The 3x8 is in my opinion the "perfect" ultra fine stone. It took many years to be able to make it (size and thickness). It will still show the grinding marks on the surface though.

The "lady" (Christina) you spoke with showed me your stone and told me of your complaints. We agreed that you probably didn't understand how the ultra fine ceramic stones are made.

sal
 
does dmt lapping work on the UFs? the surface is created by tumbling the fine stones, it would seem that removing the original surface would just leave you with a fine and not ultra fine
 
knifenut1013 said:
I sent a few things to spyderco warranty and repair and what I got back was not what I expected. I sent in a older native that had some blade play in all directions and needed a sharpening and what I got back was the knife in the same condition but with the tip re-sharpened. I also sent in a G-10 endura that had a aray of problems, tip sticking out of handle when closed, vertical blade play, G-10 did not line up with the pocket clip holes, and there was a bubble in the blade. They replaced the endura but kept my polished clip and the G-10 is not a very good match on this one either. The last item I sent in was a UF benchstone that had mill marks in the surface that are visible even when the stone is clean and it also did not have a flat surface, on one side you could feel where there was a bump. I am still waiting on the benchstone but I have been told that the mill marks were normal and the surface was flat to their spec.

I am not very happy with the returned product or what I have been told about the benchstone, I hate to be a perfectionist but IMO these items are not up to par. Does anyone else have mill marks in their benchstone?
Click to expand...

Are you being too critical? Yes, you are.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Knifenut,

The 3x8 is in my opinion the "perfect" ultra fine stone. It took many years to be able to make it (size and thickness). It will still show the grinding marks on the surface though.

The "lady" (Christina) you spoke with showed me your stone and told me of your complaints. We agreed that you probably didn't understand how the ultra fine ceramic stones are made.

sal
Click to expand...


Now that I have a better understanding I don't think the marks with bother me anymore. I thank you and your crew for the helpfulness and understanding and let Christina know I'm sorry if I was a pain in her azz. ;)


pvicenzi, thanks but if you read the rest of my posts you will see that I came to the realization of "that's just the way things are"
 
I'll let her know.

She's been with Spyderco for 18 years. She has a pretty good understanding of the product.

sal
 
Sal, I've heard it said that the UF stones are just Fine stones with a milled surface...but if I flick either with my finger they have distinctly different tones. Also those who have lapped their stones with a DMT Coarse Diasharp have still felt a big difference as well. They are indeed different grades, not just finishes, are they not?
 
Hi 42blades,

The base material is the same. The only difference is the milled surface. Of course it's a slow and expensive process and we have to use diamond grinders (which wear quickly).

I've wiped out more than one DMT stone lapping my fine stones before we made ultra fine stones.

I used to shave with a straight razor and I sharpened my razors on the ultra fine stones lapped with DMT stones. That's why I decided to make ultra fine stones.

sal
 
I've been shaving with a straight razor for years, and still do. The ultra fine ceramic is the bee's knee's for honing a razor. A lot of the razor guys would disagree with that, but I stand behind it. After the UF, a good stropping will be all that's needed, and the UF will only be needed every other month or so, assuming you rotate with 2 razors.

I've had limited success with waterstones, NO success with Belgian coticules, limited success with various Hand American strops loaded with diamond paste. My Norton waterstones (1K for re-beveling, 4K/8K for finishing) will get me to the same finish as the Spyderco UF, but with a lot more muss and fuss and time involved.

The Spyderco ceramics, unless you are re-profiling a large blade, are the most controllable stones that give the best feedback that I've ever used. For both knives and straight razors. I got mine from the factory outlet back in 2001 (Medium, Fine, and UF), and no noticeable wear on any of them yet.
 
I agree. I've been using mine for my razors as well, and while I know a lot of folks say you don't get any feedback from the ceramic all you need to do is get them wet with a little bit of water and dish soap and you get very good visuals as to where you're making hone contact.

Thanks for the info, Sal!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top