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Balzano Completes His Second Knife...
- Thread starter Scurvy092
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He ducked two people he was supposed to deliver knives to. Then he tried selling them on the floor. Then he got kicked out. Then he decided one of the buys who paid for this knife ($1500 btw) over a month ago that he wasn't worthy of owning it and he is now trying to 're-auction' it to get money so he can refund the original buyer.
Total Clown Shoes...
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I just read up on the comments on instagram. Wow, don't really know what to say about this dude. SMH
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Hey, I'm a little late to the party but I was trying to get the story on this for the podcast. He (Balzano) has totally disappeared from the internet. No instagram, no facebook, nothing. Anyone have the story?
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Thanks SO much! I got a copy of the now deleted Knife Thursday interview with Balzano. It was a good interview and it got me curious about all the drama. Then he was back for a while and it looked like he was making balisongs and some other stuff, now he is gone again. I'm excited to hear the story.
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Well he's presently in jail as far as I know, and he was already a felon so things are not looking good for him... but I don't want to spoil the story for Scurvy.
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Well I just talked on the phone with Sir Scurvy092 for about an hour. My gosh! I'll let him fill you in on specifics of the tale. One of the reasons I am so fascinated with this story is because I don't spend a lot of time on forums so I had no earthly idea who Paul Balzano was. One of the podcasts I listen to, Knife Thursday, has him on as a guest for S2E1. My computer downloaded the episode automatically and I didn't get around to listening it for a few days. I listened to it and, having no preconceptions of Balzano, he sounded like a good guest and most of the things he was saying sounded credible. Maybe a little exaggerated at times but at least within the realm of possibility. So I went to Knife Thursday's website for the show notes and the whole episode was taken down with a somewhat cryptic message. This lead me to do a bunch of research and learn a few of the problems that popped up for Mr. Balzano along the way. But then he was on Instagram and he was constantly posting videos of machines making knife parts, photos of knives that he had made, videos of guys flipping his balisongs etc. I was surfing through instagram tonight and couldn't find anything from him. He was gone. Then I went looking around the web. Also gone. So that is why I asked. I'll leave details to Scurvy092 and others who know better than I do.
My take away:
1) Never take money for a knife that you don't have ready to put into a box and ship either immediately or early the next morning. Have a tracking number. Give the tracking number to the customer immediately upon shipping. Save the receipt.
2) See rule #1. In my opinion, one of the things that got him into trouble is that he didn't have the money to finance a project so he took money from customers to finance the project. When stuff goes wrong, and it does, delays happen and customers are unhappy. Delays and problems especially pop up if you have no experience ever making a knife, running a grinder, assembling a folder etc. He should have financed through kickstarter (or similar service if rules prohibit) with a refund guarantee or something. If the customer never paid any money for the knife and it is either late or doesn't get made at all, you haven't done anything but get the customers hopes up and disappoint.
3) I thought his designs were very visually appealing. He would have been better off to do the design work and then collaborate with an actual maker with experience making folders for at least the first project if not the first few. The amount of moving parts and other things that have to be just right on a folder/flipper etc. is staggering. If any of that is screwed up you have a major problem. If you don't know how to troubleshoot those problems and get the knives working you are in deep doodoo. This doesn't even touch how high the standards are that you have to meet for a custom folder. Guys who buy high end custom folders have extraordinarily high standards and they know right away if something isn't freaking perfect.
Anyway I could say more but those are the three lessons that are burned into my brain.
PS - now knowing what I know about the story, the Knife Thursday interview is TOTALLY different listening back to it. Mr. Balzano has a really common tell.
My take away:
1) Never take money for a knife that you don't have ready to put into a box and ship either immediately or early the next morning. Have a tracking number. Give the tracking number to the customer immediately upon shipping. Save the receipt.
2) See rule #1. In my opinion, one of the things that got him into trouble is that he didn't have the money to finance a project so he took money from customers to finance the project. When stuff goes wrong, and it does, delays happen and customers are unhappy. Delays and problems especially pop up if you have no experience ever making a knife, running a grinder, assembling a folder etc. He should have financed through kickstarter (or similar service if rules prohibit) with a refund guarantee or something. If the customer never paid any money for the knife and it is either late or doesn't get made at all, you haven't done anything but get the customers hopes up and disappoint.
3) I thought his designs were very visually appealing. He would have been better off to do the design work and then collaborate with an actual maker with experience making folders for at least the first project if not the first few. The amount of moving parts and other things that have to be just right on a folder/flipper etc. is staggering. If any of that is screwed up you have a major problem. If you don't know how to troubleshoot those problems and get the knives working you are in deep doodoo. This doesn't even touch how high the standards are that you have to meet for a custom folder. Guys who buy high end custom folders have extraordinarily high standards and they know right away if something isn't freaking perfect.
Anyway I could say more but those are the three lessons that are burned into my brain.
PS - now knowing what I know about the story, the Knife Thursday interview is TOTALLY different listening back to it. Mr. Balzano has a really common tell.
Last edited:
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I was following Balzano on the USN for a while after he posted a "prototype" that turned out to be a digital rendering (or so everybody but himself claimed) of a knife that didn't exist. Supposedly he sent the "real" knife to his investor who oddly enough didn't want any of it publicized past the first couple of pictures.
He followed up several weeks (or maybe months?) later with some WIP pic of some VERY rough looking "parts" that in no way whatsoever resembled the levels of precision on his perfect prototype pics. I'm not sure that any knives were ever actually completed, or even if he was doing any of the work on them.
It's a shame. Seemed like he really hit the ground running and garnered a LOT of support almost instantly, even from some well known makers (before all this started hitting the fan).
He probably could have had a very quick rising and successful career as a knife maker if he'd just been up front and honest with people and kept all his ducks in a row.
He followed up several weeks (or maybe months?) later with some WIP pic of some VERY rough looking "parts" that in no way whatsoever resembled the levels of precision on his perfect prototype pics. I'm not sure that any knives were ever actually completed, or even if he was doing any of the work on them.
It's a shame. Seemed like he really hit the ground running and garnered a LOT of support almost instantly, even from some well known makers (before all this started hitting the fan).
He probably could have had a very quick rising and successful career as a knife maker if he'd just been up front and honest with people and kept all his ducks in a row.
OK, I'll try to keep this concise since as you can see above, it takes close to an hour to explain the whole story.
After the cluster smurf that was G6, Paulo did start delivering knives to people (though not right after the show as he promised). A lot of people were already soured watching the whole thing go down but Paulo was not interested in refunding anyone.
Here are some pictures of the delivered knives (Jim Skelton returned his and pulled the videos BTW).
Some vids of the action:
http://instagram.com/p/szi5atCNrU/
http://instagram.com/p/s0v1CDiNla/
http://instagram.com/p/s03PwLiNgP/
The quality on the knives was Horrific. The detent heights weren't right, the washers were the wrong thickness, they were a mess. Every one of them had issues except the proto (which was actually assembled by a professional).
Naturally when people pay $1200-$1500 for that kind of quality, they are upset. After a brief period of balking and refusing to admit there was anything wrong with the knives, he started issuing refunds to the people who wanted them. One of the guys who paid and didn't get a knife let him just keep the money.
At first he tried to pin it on everyone else stating he was getting out of the 'knife game' because of all the haters. Then he made a 180 and said he was sorry he let everyone down and that was the last anyone's heard of him.
Ultimately, everyone either got a knife or a refund but Paulo has serious issues (not just the legal ones) he needs to address. The guy can't ever admit he's wrong or that he messed up, he just kept over promising everything to everyone and digging himself deeper and deeper.
After the cluster smurf that was G6, Paulo did start delivering knives to people (though not right after the show as he promised). A lot of people were already soured watching the whole thing go down but Paulo was not interested in refunding anyone.
Here are some pictures of the delivered knives (Jim Skelton returned his and pulled the videos BTW).
Some vids of the action:
http://instagram.com/p/szi5atCNrU/
http://instagram.com/p/s0v1CDiNla/
http://instagram.com/p/s03PwLiNgP/
The quality on the knives was Horrific. The detent heights weren't right, the washers were the wrong thickness, they were a mess. Every one of them had issues except the proto (which was actually assembled by a professional).
Naturally when people pay $1200-$1500 for that kind of quality, they are upset. After a brief period of balking and refusing to admit there was anything wrong with the knives, he started issuing refunds to the people who wanted them. One of the guys who paid and didn't get a knife let him just keep the money.
At first he tried to pin it on everyone else stating he was getting out of the 'knife game' because of all the haters. Then he made a 180 and said he was sorry he let everyone down and that was the last anyone's heard of him.
Ultimately, everyone either got a knife or a refund but Paulo has serious issues (not just the legal ones) he needs to address. The guy can't ever admit he's wrong or that he messed up, he just kept over promising everything to everyone and digging himself deeper and deeper.
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- Jul 10, 2011
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OK, I'll try to keep this concise since as you can see above, it takes close to an hour to explain the whole story.
After the cluster smurf that was G6, Paulo did start delivering knives to people (though not right after the show as he promised). A lot of people were already soured watching the whole thing go down but Paulo was not interested in refunding anyone.
Here are some pictures of the delivered knives (Jim Skelton returned his and pulled the videos BTW).
Some vids of the action:
http://instagram.com/p/szi5atCNrU/
http://instagram.com/p/s0v1CDiNla/
http://instagram.com/p/s03PwLiNgP/
The quality on the knives was Horrific. The detent heights weren't right, the washers were the wrong thickness, they were a mess. Every one of them had issues except the proto (which was actually assembled by a professional).
Naturally when people pay $1200-$1500 for that kind of quality, they are upset. After a brief period of balking and refusing to admit there was anything wrong with the knives, he started issuing refunds to the people who wanted them. One of the guys who paid and didn't get a knife let him just keep the money.
At first he tried to pin it on everyone else stating he was getting out of the 'knife game' because of all the haters. Then he made a 180 and said he was sorry he let everyone down and that was the last anyone's heard of him.
Ultimately, everyone either got a knife or a refund but Paulo has serious issues (not just the legal ones) he needs to address. The guy can't ever admit he's wrong or that he messed up, he just kept over promising everything to everyone and digging himself deeper and deeper.
Did you see the posts about him getting arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm? I don't think he's going to be making knives for a very long time. Isn't there that 3 strike rule in California?
I would say the remaining people who have been screwed are never going to get restitution. But I sincerely doubt he will ever have the financial capacity to make knives again.
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http://www.glendaleca.gov/home/showdocument?id=16879
He has the audacity to tell the booking officers that his occupation is "knife maker". Paul Antonio Stec is his real name, by the way.
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- Jul 10, 2011
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Well it looks like Balzano somehow posted bail or bond for his "assault with a deadly weapon" arrest because he's back on Instagram now labeling himself as a "knife designer" willing to collaborate with makers. Still making the same hyperbolic claims about his own designs and manufacturing skills. Now Knife Thursday reposted the interview with him the previously had taken down, edited to remove a controversial part of the story. And the cycle continues...
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