Big John

R

Reggie Barker

Joined
Jan 26, 2005
Messages
146
I can tell you why Big John has not been every where and up to as much snuff as some think he should be. He puts his family and God first. He is taking care of several family members attends church and helps less fortunate people along the way. He has spent untold hours teaching and helping. He carries his family to the doctor. For those who think Big John is lacking you are wrong for I know better He is first class and a good man and friend and I will always stand beside him.
Reggie Barker
 
Reggie Barker said:
I can tell you why Big John has not been every where and up to as much snuff as some think he should be. He puts his family and God first. He is taking care of several family members attends church and helps less fortunate people along the way. He has spent untold hours teaching and helping. He carries his family to the doctor. For those who think Big John is lacking you are wrong for I know better He is first class and a good man and friend and I will always stand beside him.
Reggie Barker
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Reggie-that is great....no one said that they did not like John Fitch or wished him bad.

We all make choices in life, and if your choices are good for you and your family, but not so good for your CUSTOMERS than they should have no interest in doing BUSINESS with you.

Professional knifemaking is a business, first and foremost, not a hobby or second job, if that is what you choose , no one put a gun to your head. Business pays the bills, and keeps a roof over you and your family.

Broken promises are wrong, a man is only is good as his word, it has been that way forever, and it didn't do John any favors for you to bring this back up.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I met John at the '05 Blade Show and had a conversation with him. I found him to be a very fine individual, and have always heard folks speak highly of him, thus my surprise in seeing the negative information surface about him.
However if you are in business, you have added responsibility to treat your customers fairly and honestly. Seems he must be having some personnel problems as he obviously treated Keith very well and others he hasn't.

Reggie, it’s admirable and I see your desire to defend your friend, however not sure you are helping him in bringing this subject back up as he was clobered in the past thread. Sometimes it's best to leave sleeping dogs lie.
 
This and another thread like it seem to be addressing a bigger issue that knife makers are going to have to address....like it or not.

22 years ago when I first started selling knives, the second question after "how much" was "are they a voting member in the Guild"?

15 years ago when I first started selling ABS type knives the second question was "are they a Master Smith".

Today, no one asks if they are a voting member in the Guild. With well over 500 "Voting Members" being a voting member has become irrelevant.

Today with over 110 Master Smiths and an equal number of Journeyman Smiths (and the number increases every June). As I have stated before the ABS and its membership do a fantastic job of training knife makers. To the point that within 5 years there will be 150+ MS and 200 JS makers out there.

Threads that point out "Good, Bad or Ugly" will grow to have a greater influence on purchases. Therefore it is incumbent upon the makers to act in a more Business Like manner.

This includes, but it is not limited to keeping a line of communication open with their clients. As we have all seen on the GB&U forum on BF there have been numerous posts by those defending themselves. With that someone asks "if you have time to post here why is it you don't have time to answer the clients concerns?"

What many enjoy about customs knives is that your word and integrity do count for something. However, if you choose to ignore questions or do not address situations that you may feel are private. Ultimately you must answer to those who support you and your craft.

This is particularly true of ABS makers, as there is literally makers looking to take your place graduating monthly (sometimes weekly) for the ABS School in Old Washington AR. These may be students, friends, classmates or all of the aforementioned. Ultimately they are your competitors, while you may not notice or acknowledge this...the consumer does.

WWG
Always looking for the "next" maker.
 
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