Diamond J Knives, What happened to them?

They're just lucky they screwed over such nice people. They took a lot of money and don't even have the decency to communicate there was a problem. I'd bet almost everyone would have waited if anyone bothered to talk to them.

Hooking up the guy at the top of the page free of charge and with an extra knife then nothing for 4 months seems like they're playing games.

Just enough but nothing really.
 
I know it's been said before and this isn't meant to put any blame at all on the buyers who have been ripped, but this post is so on target!

I refuse to take a dime from a customer until the knife is ready to ship. Pro makers far beyond my skill level don't take deposits, so why would anyone agree to send their hard earned cash to a newer maker like the Diamond J brothers?! If a guy cant afford to buy the materials needed to make a knife he has no business being in business.

St riderco said:
It still blows my mind that people send these small time makers large deposits for knives. If the maker is in any kind of decent "business" shape he should be more than capable of covering the materials cost of any knife ordered. And if he is confident in his work and the buyer doesnt pay upon completion he should be able to sell said knife easily here on the exchange. And then people continue to send makers money like this guy after all these posts!?!
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I haven't even bothered emailing him again, I am on gmail off and on throughout the day, for a while there I was seeing his account logged in very frequently, haven't seen that in a few weeks I'm guessing he wised up and stopped using it or logged out so it didn't automatically show any time he opened the internet. He never did explain the full story of why things were already in the dirt BEFORE the accident.

at least we didn't ALL get burned somebody came out okay. I learned a lesson, a couple actually. I'm supposed to be close to SD in August, i'll try to get time to stop by their address and see if anybodies there, let them put a face with the name not that it'll likely matter but at least look somebody in the face if you're gonna bend them over :D

It's hard not to be sympathetic, we're conditioned that way right, hear a sad story and feel bad for the person. But I think it's time to just be an asshole and say the whole situation sucks, and I think it was going that way before any accident they had. I'd prefer they be straight explain the truth of all of it (looking back before the "accident" I was getting the "we're waiting for steel" excuse for a month) and just say we're not gonna pay you. I have an uncle, nobody in the family really talks to him any more, but he'd borrow money from somebody, borrow tools etc., you'd ask for it and he'd just tell you straight out "you can't have it" "I'm not paying you". He'd even admit the air compressor (for example) was yours, but he wasn't giving it back to you. complete asshole, nobody likes him, but at least you know he's an asshole and know up front anything you're stupid enough to do with him you're gonna get burned.

Red
 
I hate to dig up an old thread but this is a real disappointment to me. I bought two knives early part of last year from him. I made up my mind to get another and see no recent work posted in the makers for sale area, then this.

What a shame. My heart goes out to you guys as it could have easily been me!
 
I'm kinda over it, even though I've had ridiculous difficulties over the past 3 1/2 years and, as a result, am down to a single production folder and one custom fixed blade, but it's really OK. So, in light of that, would anyone be willing to donate to my Marine Corps Marathon fundraising? Raising enough here to cover my hosing would make it completely OK, but apologies if I'm crossing any forum rules. If not, it can be found at:

(( we cannot allow soliciting ))
 
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Any word from Diamond J Knives?

I saw one listed in the For Sale Forum and realized how tainted that name is. Kind of felt bad for the guy stuck with it.
 
I got one of their knives just before this whole thing happened. I realized I couldn't get close to what I paid for it back if I ever tried to sell it. There's no warranty now and no market for their product. It's a nice knife, though, so I have no choice but to hang on to it :)
 
I sent them 240 dollars 5/31/2011 via paypal as a gift (huge mistake, although I probably wouldn't have filed a dispute in time anyways). Looking back at my messages the excuse due to accident with a drunk driver didn't come until August! in July the excuse was being out of town for a funeral for his grandfather. Supposedly they had already ground bevels on the blade way back then. I ended up asking for a refund, since the timing on giving it as a gift to my buddy was long past. Last I heard from Dan was around the 13th of January and at that time they'd be shipping some more blades in a week and would be sending me a check. Bastards. I'm gonna mail them a letter, don't know if it'll get a response. They don't use the gmail account at all now, and I sent an email to saccabs@yahoo.com, Melanie Mackenzie's paypal account which they used, also got no response there. I could use the 240 bucks, couldn't we all, I'm not hard up but I'm not a person with expendable money either. the bigger issue to me is them bailing on me and everybody else and playing games with excuses designed to make everybody feel sorry for them and let them slide.

Red
 
The whole thing probably saved me a lot of money. I have a really nice Crawford fixed blade (got at a recent show in Jersey) and a Spyderco Caly 3 and I'm done. No interest at all in ever buying another knife. I hope they're OK from all these car accidents and funerals. Still not sure who's more stupid - them or me.
 
Air said:
The whole thing probably saved me a lot of money. I have a really nice Crawford fixed blade (got at a recent show in Jersey) and a Spyderco Caly 3 and I'm done. No interest at all in ever buying another knife. I hope they're OK from all these car accidents and funerals. Still not sure who's more stupid - them or me.
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And there lies the collateral damage that now affects our industry, and maybe even me. One less collector or user, because you are disgusted with what happened.

As someone who is passionate and involved in this industry, I read this thread like the train wreck it is: Lies about car accidents (I did a Google news search immediately upon the news of the drunk driver thing. Absolutely no hits with the names of the brothers), and lies about deliveries.

I found the whole naming knives after girls to be a fanciful, short-sighted, flippant way to handle a smart new business. My radar went up when I first saw this, and the guys were touting them.

Now, not only have those who've lost their money without deliveries lose, those who actually received a knife and maybe trying to sell it, are finding the value has plummeted.

Everyone loses.

Diamond J Knives: you are a disgrace to the world in which I value so highly. I had to say it.

Coop
 
Apologies for the buzz-kill. I'm on my way to being back on my feet, but the past 4 years have been financial disaster. I've sold everything that I don't need either on ebay or at garage sales and have about 225 ebay transactions just to stay afloat. Again, I've since "reinvented" things and 2012 looks to be the year of the return to greatness (not there yet, but almost), but I've learned how to do more with less. So this ridiculous knife was part of return to grandeur only to be ****** in the ***.
On a positive note, though, I asked them to not name my knife after a girl or anything else.
So no disrespect to the knife community - quite the opposite really as this community is defined by mutual trust, concern for others and a very foregiving foundation of goodness. My comments are probably more about me than anything else.
But, just to balance out this post may I conclude by lovingly saying **** you. I say that only because I care.

Semper fi
 
Also got to add a bit here, after receiving my knife I was quite disappointed, no G10 liners as agreed, also after revisiting the original order realised no lanyard hole and the leather sheath was a pale shadow of the first knife's sheath I bought and very flimsy.
I was lucky - at least I got a knife albeit 2nd class.
Like Air,Land & Sea I have not bought another custom knife since this experience even though I have really itched for a couple, am sticking to production knives for the foreseeable future.
 
I am with Aussie on production knives, no offense to the custom makers, sometimes I see ones I really like, and occasionally they're at prices I could swing. I've just been soured as well. When I can afford another one I'm gonna go with an Esee probably, a big production company that is more likely to be around if I need a warranty, more likely to deliver, and has tens of thousands of sales instead of a couple dozen.

I sent an email the other day to all the contact emails I had for diamond J, it was not kind. the gist of it was sell your car, equipment, dog, whatever you need to so you can send me MY money and make things right. I made sure to point out I had worked for MY money and he had a chance to earn it and hadn't. Not surprisingly no reply. If I couldn't get my pound of steel I'd like a pound of flesh :)

Red
 
I wanted to give you all an update. i got an email from Dan on Friday apologizing and saying he'd put it in the post priority mail delivery confirmed, sure enough I received it today and already put it in the bank.

He's made right by me. I do not know all their circumstances but do believe him when he says they're going to keep working to make everything right with everybody. It takes a big man to apologize in this type of situation and would have been easier to just ignore my email.

I sincerely hope that they're able to keep fixing things one person at a time and some day are back on their feet.

Red
 
Glad you got what's coming to you, even if extensively belated. I hope Dan and Marce keep on this track.
 
I hate to dredge up these dregs of society but wondered if anyone ever heard back from them?

I see one of their knives for sale and felt really bad for the Seller. I wouldn’t touch their knives at any price along with several other makers I despise due to their unethical behavior.
 
braillediver said:
I hate to dredge up these dregs of society but wondered if anyone ever heard back from them?

I see one of their knives for sale and felt really bad for the Seller. I wouldn’t touch their knives at any price along with several other makers I despise due to their unethical behavior.
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It's pretty awful owning one of their knives and knowing the knife is now pretty much worthless if I ever try to sell it, not through any fault of the knife but because the makers scammed a bunch of people.
 
Oddly enough if one of their kitchen knives came up on the aftermarket I'd buy it. I have three Diamond J knives in my kitchen and use one particular knife virtually every day.

But I do see your point. Their knives are either gifts to non-knife people (or people who don't frequent this forum, at least) or users. Not much collector value there.
 
It looks like they are still maintaining their website just fine and making some knives. I have not heard anything from them at all, they seemed to have just dropped off. I was lucky they only got $80 of mine for "special materials" they said they needed.
 
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