Well said Nick!!!!
The custom maker that does not test each knife before it is shipped will at some piont in time have a bad one slip thru & bite him/her in the back side of the lap. That's just life, Bad Steel, Off a bit(Don't take much)on heat treat, forgot to touch up the edge after final finish, or any number of distractions that make you miss something small but important.
In addition, the one who tests will continue to improve the quality of his knives. Every failure, and there will be some, has a reason, a pitfall to avoid in the future. If the maker improves, he moves forward, if not he moves further back, others that do improve will pass him by.
Even with all the testing, there are times when, no mater how much you have tested a particular knife, someone will say that it will not cut diddley squat.
All I can say is evaluate the source. Some folks have a special axe to grind. Case in point, Big John and the French Chef. John told him well over a year ago in a phone conversation that I overheard, "Hell No, you can't have those knives, I told you that when we first started to talk about this, It was no then and it's no now.". That was only one of many phone calls that got more heated as time passed. After months of delay and many phone calls to lots of other folks. The knives were finally shipped to Jerry Fisk as a neutral party, for further shipment to John. (Jerry wisely didn't open the package but just forwarded it on.)
As to the knives condition when they went to the Chef, I myself cut a free hanging 1" rope with each at least twice, cut a pine 2x4 at least once with each knife and just prior to their packageing for the mail, shaved hair (very fine hair) off my old arm with all three.
Now when they arrived back in my shop (that's where Big John does his work) the knives coindition was less that sterling. Edges turned on allmost the entire length of all three blades, some edge nicks in all three blades, gouges running from edge to spine on the Hog Body Bowie (visable in the Knife World pictures) that on close inspection had grit imbedded in the steel. Those gouges looked much like the ones I placed in a bowie years ago when I mistakenly tested it on a 2x6 that had been used as a concrete screed board and then washed clean(I thought). Fine sand sure raises hell with a blade.
Given the animosity between Big John and the Chef over who owned the knives, I'm surprised that the Knife World article was not more derogatory.
My advice to any young maker is if you submit any knives for testing, have them tested in your presence. If that is not possable, then test them yourself in front of several witnesses that can verify the results, and then and only then submit them for the test.
I only wish I had been smart enough then to steer John clear of that mess. I may have opend some old wounds, but I don't want anyone else to get tangled up in a mess like Big John did.
By the way, we just started (in October) on our second 600 ft roll of inch rope since Oct 1999. I only rope test blades with at least a 4 1/2 inch blade, Big John rope tests them down to around 3+ inches. I can safely say that I have not made more than twenty fixed blades in the last four years, so you know who cuts up the rope(and two dozen 2x4s each month). There is about 5 acres of brush thickets and hard woods behind the shop that also get regular attention from the big guy.
). - Charles
