Cliff, Chiro is exactly right in his reply to you. If a person wants something broken, he can break it. Any preadolescent can tell you that, and prove it as well. Give any 12-year-old a vise, a claw hammer, and a Masamune, and you'll end up with a broken sword, an unpayable insurance bill, and a kid with a price on his head. The standard testing described should not result in what the warranty terms functional failure; if it did, the knife couldn't leave the shop, because it would have already failed, and the failure would be quite visible. The destructive testing described is just that: destructive. When I perform these tests, it's to see for myself how much the knife will endure, and it's with prior knowledge that the knife will be at least partially destroyed. It's random quality control. If someone wants to do these same destructive things to the knife, by all means he should buy two, because there's no reason on earth that I or anyone else should guarantee any knife against such treatment. Knives cut materials softer than themselves. This is inherent in the very concept of the knife blade. If a person feels the need to attempt cutting harder materials (stone and ceramic, for example), or to pry with it, or to use it as a screwdriver, or to pick his nose with it, he must accept responsibility for the results of his actions, not claim that there is a design or material flaw and get a new knife from the maker. The knife is made (and usually bought) to be used as a cutting tool, and the fact that its design makes it also capable of prying or screwdriving doesn't change the fact that using it for such things is outside the scope of its obvious most suitable use, and may cause damage to the blade. (Note that wood-chopping is omitted here, because it's another form of cutting, so far as I'm concerned; chop wood all you want, guys. Watch out for nails, just like your Daddy probably told you in all good sense. If you do hit one, whine enough, and I'll try to fix it for ya; just don't piss me off in the process.) If the knife were best suited to anything other than cutting, it would be a multi-tool of some sort, with a pry-bar/screwdriver blade at the handle end, perhaps. It's not. It looks like a knife, generally acts like a knife, so it's probably a knife. Handle here, blade there. Cut stuff with it. I limit the warranty to one year because I have no control over the circumstances into which the knife will fall. I have no control over whose hands it will enter. The warranty is stated as it is not because I lack faith in my knives, but because I have no knowledge of the people who will eventually come to possess them or the intentions/intelligence with which said people will use them.
That stated, I will only point to the parallel situation in guns and other tools. Has anyone ever noticed that the companies producing some of the world's finest, most durable, and most proven pieces-- for example, Glock and Beretta, unless their policies have changed since I bought my last-- limit their warranties to 1-2 years, while the lesser makers, especially those who produce zinc pistols in the $50-$75 range, cannot possibly trumpet their "Lifetime Guarantee" more loudly? The same is true of many tools; several companies (notably one in particular) are famous for their lifetime guarantees, while the higher-dollar tools are guaranteed for, at most, five years. Having been, as a consumer, on both sides of both these coins, unfortunately, I trust far more deeply the guns and tools that come with the limited warranties. When I was 23, enemy-free, and pushed a pencil for a living, I was very impressed with lifetime guarantees. Now I'm 33, not quite as friendly, and I depend on any number of various tools for the continuance of my life. I've used and killed a lot of them, and I'm no longer convinced that "Lifetime Guarantee" equals quality; usually, in my experience, it equals a sales pitch that, given the inexpensive nature of the product's materials and the lack of work/money put into it, will result in little or no loss in the few instances of the guarantee's being activated. (There are, of course, exceptions, such as Smith & Wesson's "Lifetime Service Policy" and any handmaker's lifetime warranty; I trust both, for the most part.) This is a roundabout way of saying that I'm not dishonest or out to screw anyone, yet at the same time I'm not bending double at the waist and lubricating my nether orifices. I stand by my word, my warranty, my knives. The knives speak for themselves, have done so in myriad places and in wildly various hands, and need no defense. I've spoken my piece, and intend to respond publicly to this no further; if you gentlemen have specific questions, feel free to email me. I have nothing to hide, but my tongue, obviously, gets out of control, as does my temper (mostly martensite). I wish all of you the best, and I thank you for your interest in my work.
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Sean Perkins
perkinsknives.com
seanperkins@yahoo.com
[This message has been edited by Sean Perkins (edited 12 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Sean Perkins (edited 12 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Sean Perkins (edited 12 July 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Sean Perkins (edited 12 July 1999).]
