BHQ Excl. Lum Tanto?

Sal Glesser said:
Mine is a little off center. I think that's the nature of HAP 40. It's a thick blade in a narrow channel and HAP 40 is a very difficult steel to keep from warping. It's not as noticeable in smaller thinner blades. This is not an easy knife to make (at any cost). The natural G-10 is exceptional, also a difficult material to work with. Chamfers and reliefs are very good. Polished screws, stand offs and clip are beautiful. Polished skeletonized liners, perfectly matched to the scales with much weight removed. Grind lines are crisp. A beautiful job on a difficult grind on a very difficult san mai steel. Solid lock up on an arc ramp with perfect positioning. And bitching about the price? Why don't you ask your favorite custom maker what they would charge to make this knife out of a Hap 40 laminate? Then we can compare quality?

A drop of oil and some break in time also does wonders for quality construction.

I can see that if you are not satisfied with the knife, you might want to send it back, but I would not expect you to send it back after you mucked with it. And send your muck job to another poor customer?

I'm certainly keeping mine. If nothing else, for collector value. It's a beautiful example of the late Bob Lum's designing skill and the Seki makers's manufacturing skill. I guess if you look for positive, you see it, and if you look for negative, likewise.

sal
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Hello Sal. I agree with you. The blade alone makes it worth owning. I don’t have a problem with the blade being off-centered, but should it practically touch the other side? I am loathe to give this one up. Is there something that can be done to make its’ off-centeredness less extreme? Thank you.
 
Hi PStone,

Welcome to our forum. Sorry to see you go.

But you might just stick around for a while? Lotsa good info here. There is a lot to learn. And it's usually honest communication, even if you don't agree.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Mine is a little off center. I think that's the nature of HAP 40. It's a thick blade in a narrow channel and HAP 40 is a very difficult steel to keep from warping. It's not as noticeable in smaller thinner blades. This is not an easy knife to make (at any cost). The natural G-10 is exceptional, also a difficult material to work with. Chamfers and reliefs are very good. Polished screws, stand offs and clip are beautiful. Polished skeletonized liners, perfectly matched to the scales with much weight removed. Grind lines are crisp. A beautiful job on a difficult grind on a very difficult san mai steel. Solid lock up on an arc ramp with perfect positioning. And bitching about the price? Why don't you ask your favorite custom maker what they would charge to make this knife out of a Hap 40 laminate? Then we can compare quality?

A drop of oil and some break in time also does wonders for quality construction.

I can see that if you are not satisfied with the knife, you might want to send it back, but I would not expect you to send it back after you mucked with it. And send your muck job to another poor customer?

I'm certainly keeping mine. If nothing else, for collector value. It's a beautiful example of the late Bob Lum's designing skill and the Seki makers's manufacturing skill. I guess if you look for positive, you see it, and if you look for negative, likewise.

sal
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Thanks Sal! Mine are true gems, I’ve alsways wanted a Lum tanto and I couldn’t ever afford an aftermarket one. It’s everything I wanted it to be and more. Just the care of polish on the hardware makes it worth the costs besides the San mai. Thanks for being active in the discussion too! I had bought a second on a whim and it will be going in the pelican case for the long term. Definitely in love with them, I don’t think they will be going anywhere!
 
cigarrodog said:
Hello Sal. I agree with you. The blade alone makes it worth owning. I don’t have a problem with the blade being off-centered, but should it practically touch the other side? I am loathe to give this one up. Is there something that can be done to make its’ off-centeredness less extreme? Thank you.
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Hi Cigarrodog,

Practically touching the liner and touching the liner are different. As I said, if you're not happy, send it back. Our goal is to have happy customers. Bob's design has a thick part of the blade between the liners. Most of our knives are full flat or high hollow so it's not as easy to see. How many other makers do you know even trying to use Hap 40? It's a PITA to turn into a blade. Compare apples with apples. How many dealers do you know of that have the balls to commission such a project? BHQ always has the best interest of their customers in mind.

Also, with all of the complaints, I will probably not make another one.

sal
 
i will admit i was a lil disappointed at first.touched both of mine up with some oil and they are both nice and smooth now.one a lil off center but i can live with that.
 
Sal, please don't let a few complaints prevent you from making more blades like this. If this run was 1200 or even 600 this thread is a small minority that aren't happy. I am extremely happy with mine. It was very gritty out of the box but a little oil and compressed air and it is smooth as butter. I'm sure with as quickly as these sold bladehq won't have any problem moving the ones that are returned. I'll gladly take a few more.

Maybe we should start a poll to see what percentage are happy with theirs. I would bet that the vast majority are happy with the knife.
 
I like to learn little things like the HAP40 warping. I'm not at all concerned about the centering.
I was very disappointed with the oil wicking between the scales and liner. I'm not carrying it this weekend Just my thing. I plan to oil dip the entire knife for a uniform scale color. Till I do that it'll be shelved.

Thanks for the feedback Sal.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Cigarrodog,

Practically touching the liner and touching the liner are different. As I said, if you're not happy, send it back. Our goal is to have happy customers. Bob's design has a thick part of the blade between the liners. Most of our knives are full flat or high hollow so it's not as easy to see. How many other makers do you know even trying to use Hap 40? It's a PITA to turn into a blade. Compare apples with apples. How many dealers do you know of that have the balls to commission such a project? BHQ always has the best interest of their customers in mind.

Also, with all of the complaints, I will probably not make another one.

sal
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Hello again. For clarification’s sake, I only wanted to know if Spyderco or I could do anything to make the off-centeredness less extreme. That’s all. I have the other Lum Tanto(gray scaled), and even if the extreme off-centeredness could not be resolved, I will not give this one up. I’ll also acquire another from the secondary. That’s how cool this knife is. I’m a Spyderco devotee, collecting as many unique or discontinued Spydercos as my limited funds can afford. Please don’t stop coming up with gems like Bob Lum’s Tanto. You and Spyderco Rock.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Also, with all of the complaints, I will probably not make another one.

sal
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i was a compaliner on offset blade but otherwise a beautiful knife which i stated in this thread as well. lums designs were fantastic i see no reason to never do one of these tantos again. if its the hard to work with hap40.......so be it. use m4 or whatever steel works easier. its the knife design to me more than which steels. not like y'all dont already use lots of great steels.

it disappointing some of us got off on the wrong foot on this great knife but lets not call it quits on a future lum tanto.....please. thank you Sir.
 
Ji_Long said:
Sal, please don't let a few complaints prevent you from making more blades like this. If this run was 1200 or even 600 this thread is a small minority that aren't happy. I am extremely happy with mine. It was very gritty out of the box but a little oil and compressed air and it is smooth as butter. I'm sure with as quickly as these sold bladehq won't have any problem moving the ones that are returned. I'll gladly take a few more.

Maybe we should start a poll to see what percentage are happy with theirs. I would bet that the vast majority are happy with the knife.
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Ditto me on that I'm very happy with mine!
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi PStone,

Welcome to our forum. Sorry to see you go.

But you might just stick around for a while? Lotsa good info here. There is a lot to learn. And it's usually honest communication, even if you don't agree.

sal
Click to expand...


I am too. I was drawn to your brand because of the good things I heard. The high quality I discovered for myself. I was always a BUCK knife guy. Then in recent years, I noticed the quality from BUCK is declining more and more. The last straw was a vantage knife that I could literally file my nails with because the hollow grind was so rough and “unfinished”, and a blade so off center against the liner that I could hardly open the knife. Bought directly from buck.com. So I started trying other brands(OKC, Boker, kershaw, crkt) I wanted to try spyderco, but wasn’t ready to invest a ton of money into a brand I hadn’t experienced before. So I got a cheap o tenacious. It blows any of my other BUCKs away in quality,fit and finish, ergos, and price. And it was from China!! So I figured a USA made Spyderco was worth checking out. Enter the Native. Mind blown!! I went on to purchase a pm2, two manix 2s(S30v and s110v), a manix xl, a titanium native, a fluted carbon native, a maxamet native, a shaman, and an m4 manix from BHQ, a df2, a spydiechef, a superleaf(bought used), a pingo, a Tatanka, and just this week a ppt sprint and of course the lum hap40. Never have I had a complaint or any issue with any of my Spyderco’s. Until today. It’s not even about the knife. My issue is for you to say that a warped blade is not something to be “bitched” about because the knife has features that add collector value. That is absurd. I put every knife I own to work. Off center is different. That can be fixed. A warped blade is a safety risk, not something to be overlooked because of other features or details. I don’t even think my blade is warped. I thought “off center and does anyone else have this problem”. I never expected the president of the company to say the blade was warped and to enjoy the collector aspect of the knife. So I will be sending this back to bhq now that I’m paranoid it’s warped. And I will rethink my next $220 knife purchase.
 
I did not muck about with mine but I did clean it up, adjusted the tension on all the screws from its pivot to the scales and also lubricated the gap between the pivot screw and the scales as it was really dry. The loose scale torx screws and the dry nature of the pivot area are clear evidences that the QC on these units left a bit to desire at the factory's end. Further, I do not know as to how many units were produced and ordered by BHQ but the fact that they lasted barely over 15 minutes from the time when the went on sale, leads me to believe that we are not talking about thousands of these. While I do not wish to place a boatload of blames on the retailer, I also do not wish to give them a total free pass because they apparently failed to do proper QC sampling at their own end.

I will not send mine back as I had already stated because I went above and over the initial inspection and quite frankly when I decided to merely wipe down factory's coat of oil on the steel, I knew that was enough action to make this Lum-Tanto mine. Sal, over all this is a beautiful knife which merits keeping whether for collection and / or for use. I really appreciate your contributions and thoughts as I only wish to spend my hard earned money with businesses whose Principal(s) actively engage with and also contribute to their customers by care and education. This is the reason as to why Spyderco gets my folder satiation business and the Carothers get my fixed blade business. I just hope that you do not take constructive criticisms and feedback from the "good guys" who have no nefarious intentions to heart.

Thank you for being here, CS~
 
Everyone will come to their own interpretation of this, but to me Sal was suggesting we consider this in not black vs white, perfect vs fatally flawed terms. I have been wanting one of these for a long time, and in a steel more to my liking than VG10. Hap40 is a great choice. I am really appreciative of BHQs willingness to move this into reality. My only concern was to have a functional knife, I don't expect the Platonic perfect form of anything, much less a human manufactured object. I don't have mine yet, but if it opens and closes without a wrestling match, locks up securely, cuts well and holds a good edge (you know, that knife performance stuff) and is solidly constructed, I'll be plenty satisfied. My question was only, if it has a problem, will it be a problem that cust. serv. can fix. If not, that to me would be the only reason for me to return it. As always, respect to Sal for showing up and being responsive to the customer! And thanks again to Spyderco and BHQ for being response to the customer demand that led to producing these again!!
 
Hi PStone,

Thanx much for getting back to me and explaining your position, which I respect. And thanx for the support. I guess what I am saying is that this is probably the best that can be done with this steel and this model. I'm sure there was fallout and I'm sure BHQ wil eat a few. I realize this is an expensive knife, and believe me, I wish we could make more on it, but we always try to create fair pricing. This model is made in Seki with scales from the US and steel that is specially made for the project by Hitachi. It was challenging just to get this to the market. The alternative was not getting it to the market. Hope this doesn't sour you to the brand. We always extend our best effort to make out products as good as possible and to please our customers. Also, I don't think there will be any safety risks in using this knife.

Casinostocks,

Thanx for the input.

Hey Dogrunner,

If there is a problem, we will always try to fix it.

sal
 
It was a long day for me yesterday, but they all are. I checked my Lum this morning and noticed that the tip is perfectly centered. After further inspection I noticed that the blade is infact warped. The body screws are loose but when I slightly tighten then down, the warped blade moved over to the liner. I was considering keeping it but will probably email BladeHq and see what my options are. Not complaining or angry just sharing my experience.
 
Bummed i missed out on this one. It came and went before i could get anywhere near it. And i would be lying if i would say im not a little jealous (happy for some) for those who grabbed one. I felt like i was one of the bigger supporters of a Lum Tanto to come back out.
I say make some more Sal. Zdp, Sb, V-toku2, etc. It selling out in a matter of minutes, imo, shows off how popular this model is and can be. Pretty rare for a tanto to be such a big seller.
 
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