Saying that they are not heat treated correctly might not be the thing, but to say that they are not heat treat to the level that I would want my knives is a fact! The factories have to play on a different field than custom makers. They must decide the level of performance as compared to the costs they are willing to accept. Let's face it, factories exist for one purpose.......to make money. That is the goal of most custom makers too, with one great difference. Custom makers simply cannot afford to put out anything less than their very best, otherwise they won't be custom makers very long. I would also like to think that custom makers have a greater personal stake than the factories. (it's hard to point a finger at one individual if something is a little off on a factory knife) Maybe this is a bad analogy, but in my mind the factories would be saying "how little can I spend(in time and money) to get an ACCEPTABLE quality product that the public will buy, versus the custom maker saying "I'm gona make this the BEST I CAN....No matter what!" Of course, both the terms "acceptable" and "best" are relative as they apply to each factory or maker, and can mean different things, however the bottom line is still the same. You get what you pay for with either.
Think about this.......if you had a factory knife fail, could you expect to call the company and speak directly with the person who ground, heat treated, assembled, and finshed your knife? No. You would likely go through several persons before you spoke to someone in authority, but would likely never even know the name of the person who performed any of the above mentioned operations on your knife. Chances are that you would be offered a repair, or a new knife, which is exactly how it should be handled.
It's sort of an "Apples and Oranges" thing. For the most part the factories do all they can to provide great customer service, but it is a different thing to deal directly with the one who performed all the tasks associated with that piece, and who's name is on the product......that's where the personal stake comes into play more so with the custom maker.
Maybe a long winded explanation, but that's how I view the differences.
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Ed Caffrey "The Montana Bladesmith"
ABS Mastersmith
www.caffreyknives.com
[This message has been edited by Ed Caffrey (edited 02-11-2001).]
[This message has been edited by Ed Caffrey (edited 02-11-2001).]
