I know Darkman is long gone from these forums, but the time has finally come to share my story with the good folks here.
On May 24, 2002 I shipped a SOCOM Elite and an LCC D/A to James for customization work. When I bought the SE on Blade Auction the black blade had a small scratch in the coating and I asked James to do a high polish job and he was supposed to put abalone scales on the LCC for me as well. As the project lagged on, Jim suggested beadblasting the LCC blade to remove the TiN coating and BC coating the blade and at one point offered to put a tritium dot in the thumbstud as his way of apologizing for the delays.
After several months of emailing Jim and asking for updates and projected completion dates on the project and gettingno where, after having been told that parts of the job were done, parts were started, etc. I finally got an email telling me that the high polish job was not a possibility. Jim claimed that he had stripped the black TiN off the blade, polished it up, but there were flaws in the steel that could not be polished out. He had recoated the blade with boron carbide and I had a sterile black blade SOCOM Elite...he stated on 10/20/02:
This was about 5 months after I had initially sent my knives to him for work. At the time that I finally received the SE back, I wrote to him and asked if it would be possible to have the screws and buttons blacked out as it would give a more even appearance to the knife...no problem, send it back. I did and included 4 stingray skins as trade for the work to have the screws, clip, and button blacked out.
I continued to try to get information for the next several months and finally had to resort to threatening to prosecute in order to receive my knives back. They were received back here on April 3, 2003. When I opened the box I was furious. The black out work on the SE had not been done, but that had been explained as having been the delay. Bodycote had discontinued doing small lot work of BC for individuals and he had been looking high and low for someone to BC the screws and button for me. The problem was that NOTHING had been done to the LCC. He had earlier claimed that he had done the abalone scales and that when the knife was fired in auto mode that the bolster over swung on the return and struck the scales causing them to crack....We needed to pick a new material for the scales that would be more durable. We discussed it and settled on malachite/azurite composite which we both agreed would look great. When the knives were finally returned, I inspected the LCC very closely. There was NO WAY that the scales had ever even been taken off. Not one screw had any handling marks from being removed. Jim even admitted in a subsequent phone call that he had lied about working on my knives. It seems that he had lumped me in with all the people who were bashing him on the forums and decided that he was just going to not do the work. He (despite the lack of any evidence) felt that I had "piled on" and attacked him. Of course, I didn't, because I was afraid of what would happen to my knives.
At this point, Jim owes me the $100 I paid him for the work which was not done and the return of the rayskins I sent him for additional work which again, was not completed. I'm not holding my breath, but I will continue to seek out ways to recoup my losses from Jim in every way provided by law.
Just a heads up to all the new folks...Jim went by the name "Darkman" here on the forums and his website is alpineforge.com. BEWARE!!
On May 24, 2002 I shipped a SOCOM Elite and an LCC D/A to James for customization work. When I bought the SE on Blade Auction the black blade had a small scratch in the coating and I asked James to do a high polish job and he was supposed to put abalone scales on the LCC for me as well. As the project lagged on, Jim suggested beadblasting the LCC blade to remove the TiN coating and BC coating the blade and at one point offered to put a tritium dot in the thumbstud as his way of apologizing for the delays.
After several months of emailing Jim and asking for updates and projected completion dates on the project and gettingno where, after having been told that parts of the job were done, parts were started, etc. I finally got an email telling me that the high polish job was not a possibility. Jim claimed that he had stripped the black TiN off the blade, polished it up, but there were flaws in the steel that could not be polished out. He had recoated the blade with boron carbide and I had a sterile black blade SOCOM Elite...he stated on 10/20/02:
This was about 5 months after I had initially sent my knives to him for work. At the time that I finally received the SE back, I wrote to him and asked if it would be possible to have the screws and buttons blacked out as it would give a more even appearance to the knife...no problem, send it back. I did and included 4 stingray skins as trade for the work to have the screws, clip, and button blacked out.
I continued to try to get information for the next several months and finally had to resort to threatening to prosecute in order to receive my knives back. They were received back here on April 3, 2003. When I opened the box I was furious. The black out work on the SE had not been done, but that had been explained as having been the delay. Bodycote had discontinued doing small lot work of BC for individuals and he had been looking high and low for someone to BC the screws and button for me. The problem was that NOTHING had been done to the LCC. He had earlier claimed that he had done the abalone scales and that when the knife was fired in auto mode that the bolster over swung on the return and struck the scales causing them to crack....We needed to pick a new material for the scales that would be more durable. We discussed it and settled on malachite/azurite composite which we both agreed would look great. When the knives were finally returned, I inspected the LCC very closely. There was NO WAY that the scales had ever even been taken off. Not one screw had any handling marks from being removed. Jim even admitted in a subsequent phone call that he had lied about working on my knives. It seems that he had lumped me in with all the people who were bashing him on the forums and decided that he was just going to not do the work. He (despite the lack of any evidence) felt that I had "piled on" and attacked him. Of course, I didn't, because I was afraid of what would happen to my knives.
At this point, Jim owes me the $100 I paid him for the work which was not done and the return of the rayskins I sent him for additional work which again, was not completed. I'm not holding my breath, but I will continue to seek out ways to recoup my losses from Jim in every way provided by law.
Just a heads up to all the new folks...Jim went by the name "Darkman" here on the forums and his website is alpineforge.com. BEWARE!!
