Do you tell him or just walk away?

W

Will Leavitt

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Jul 28, 2006
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Lets say you're at a knife show and pick up a blade after being invited to by the maker. And lets say that you notice forging scale on the bottom of the ricasso (definately not on purpose) and you know the good reputation this maker has and blah blah blah... do you tell him? is there a polite way to tell him with all these people around?
 
I don't know about other makers but "I would greatly appreciate it,if it was done with concern". Then I would put the knife away and bring it to the next show minus the scale.
 
If it were me, I'd definately like to know. There are times that I'm too busy to breathe, and I know at times like these, I'm likely to miss something really small. If it's pointed out with concern and politeness, I'd love to hear it. If it's pointed out in a critiquing, snide, or holier-than-thou manner, I'd still like to know, but it sure would ruffle my feathers a bit.

--nathan
 
Will Leavitt said:
Lets say you're at a knife show and pick up a blade after being invited to by the maker. And lets say that you notice forging scale on the bottom of the ricasso (definately not on purpose) and you know the good reputation this maker has and blah blah blah... do you tell him? is there a polite way to tell him with all these people around?
Click to expand...

Is this a hypothetical question, or did this happen? I don't see how you can finish a knife with unnoticed forging scale on it. :confused:
 
Yes but discretion is definitely required....never in front of a potential customer of his....or any other maker.
 
To me, that's analogous to noticing someone has a booger hanging from their nose.

I believe proper etiquette requires that you cover your mouth, squint your eyes, point and giggle...
 
Depending on the maker, he might just tell you that it's the newest "in" thing and that you could only hope to leave such good looking forge scale on your own knives!
 
If you notice forging scale on a knife that THAT'S KNIFE maker didn't notice... then he needs to at best find some new glasses and at worst find a new hobby/profession.

That's like a custom car guy not noticing he left one of the fenders with dents and no paint.
 
Forget the forging scale under the recasso. That would be bad enough, but what about any problem dealing with workmen ship or even a scratch gotten at the show?

I went to a show in the late 70's with the intent of buying a particular makers knife. After several trips by his table and looking at most of his knives, he asked me what I saw that was bothering me. I told him that I was having trouble making up my mind. He pushed and I finally told him that it looked like, to me, his blades had laid down in the heat treatment. He started picking them up and he agreed. This guy was a well known maker at the time and still is. I wasn't a maker, just a collector. He asked, I didn't tell him in front of anyone, and he was great about it. I still felt like crap the whole rest of the day.

Two years ago I went to the Blade Show with the intent of purchasing a knife from one of two Mastersmiths. Both had knives for sale and both had the 2" grinder marks on the blade that were bad enough to make you sea sick. Not just on one knife, but on several. These are two great guys with great reputations and they make fantastic knives. I did not say a thing. I looked at the knives and complimented them on their work and walked away. I was at the show as a maker and a collector. I figured they knew what their knives looked like and if that was what they wanted on their table..... I felt like crap for the rest of the show.

We have had people intentionally scratch blades at shows, swap sheaths, drop knives and bleed on our table cloth from a cut he got from somebody else's knife. You have to watch knives all the time, check them often and not be afraid to take it off the table if you need to. I don't think I would mind if someone noticed something that was scratched and mentioned it to us. I would hope that he didn't try to draw a crowd prior to mentioning it though.:D

After all that, I wish that someone would come up with a rule, because I have tried it both ways and felt like crap both times.
 
Shoot straight, tell the truth gently and don't worry about how they respond...its not yer falt that it's that way...yes they may get mad but in the end they'll fix it and that will be for the good!
 
i'll tell u one thing...as a collector i would never tell a maker to his face i thought he had an issue with one of his knives.....i just wouldn't do it.....nick wheeler had a great post a little while ago....he was talking about asking greg neely to critique his knife.....greg asked HIM what was wrong with the knife.....i'm sure nick went thru a laundry list of things because we know how bad they are...lol(only kidding nick).....my point being....everyone knows what they are doing wrong......knowing how not to do it wrong is a whole nother ball game.....if it's a mere case of missing something.....i would hope u wouldn't miss something like scale not ground off...unless you were partially blind......ryan

p.s.-nick...that really was a great post about talking to greg and i learned alot from it.....thanks...ryan
 
It would depend on who the maker was. Is he a friend or a stranger. I would first introduce myself. if the maker seemed cordial then i would ask if the xxx was part of the design. Trying not to ruffle feathers. If they seemed like I was bothering them then i would walk away. Just to tell you how true Nicks statement is. When presenting for my JS one of the feedbacks was "SCRATCHES??" I was absolutely horrified. I had gone over each blade with a fine tooth comb. I had shown them to several people and nothing was said about scratches. Sure enough one of my blades had 2 parallel scratches on the blade. I missed them. I then started wearing reading glasses and wow I can see now. No knife is perfect and what one sees someone else may not.
 
Well I walked away, this person was swamped with potential customers. I kinda of know him but not very well and I have concerns about potential knife "political" type issues if he got mad with me. He sure had a lot of knives on his table though. I didn't bother looking through more than 3 or 4 of them.
 
The two guys at the Blade Show I mentioned were probably shocked when they saw the scratches. It was just not the kind of work they do at all. The Blade show lights are some of the worst I have seen for bringing out imperfections in a blade. We try to look at our knives under many different types of light prior to a show and then several times a day during the show. With the two of us looking with a critical eye at our knives it can still be hard to catch every thing. In the rush and excitement in getting ready for a show it is easy for something to slip by. I still take the approach that the maker knows what is on his table or he should.
 
If there is scale on the underside of the ricasso, the maker already knows about it. No need to tell him :)

Better than to tell a maker, would be to, ask a maker why. He may have a reason.

The 2" grind marks on a MS knife :confused: Now that's bad :eek:
 
Harry-


I was threatening last year to rent a Snorkelift so that I could zoom up to the ceiling and steal two of those lights from the Cobb Galleria and put them in my shop!!! ;)

They're hurrendous. I looked at my Js test knives under EVERY single light source I could think of around home (even took them over to my mom's tanning bed, lol) and could not see a single sanding striation that was out of place.

Lay them down on the table at Blade and all of a sudden I'm wondering who messed with my blade finish between Washington and Georgia :grumpy: ;)

Only problem is I'd have a hard time simulating those huge ceilings with my 10' ceilings here at home ;)
 
I have had this experience with a custom knife at a show. I don't remember what maker the knife was. some thing "uber stealth" lots of pointy bits and things on the blade to catch and hang up (think Dark ops only a little less over the top, but higher priced custom). I picked one up and for a second thought I got a finger full of blade, then I realized that the scales were not flush on the handle, the area where there was a finger notch was almost razor sharp, and way past the edge of the front of the metal of the tang. I checked several more of the knives and all had this uncomfortable overlap with sharp scales. (all the while the seller dressed in full battle fatigues and boots, patches all over the place etc) is spouting that they are the worlds best, high speed yadda yadda. I did not say anything (his attitude almost knocked me over from across the room).

Another similar situation, I was looking at a gun shop at a used 1911 Colt. It was a very beautiful gun, and the fit and wear looked like new. I noticed that the hammer would fall even when you weren't even touching the grip safety. The gun also had the lightest trigger I have ever felt in my whole life, including dedicated target .22's etc. While looking at it, with the hammer back I was not touching either the trigger or the grip safety and a slight shift in my hand dropped the hammer. (I thought I must have touched something, and I always check to see if I can lower the hammer with the trigger, but without depressing the grip safety, some thing dangerous I always check when looking at a used 1911, you never know what some "gun expert, weekend warrior" did to it, what with all the drop in parts available etc). I waited till no other customers were there and told the store owner. He basically told me he did not care how dangerous it was, it was used and sold as is, buy at your own risk, why would I put any money into it just to make it safe, guns are inherently dangerous (even thought the shop had a full time gunsmith). He put it back up on the used sale wall. I vowed to never buy anything from that shop. I shudder to think of some schmo carrying that thing locked and cocked and blowing a hole in his but.
 
Nick

I have thought about taking knives to Lowes, spreading them out in an isle and checking them over. They use the same lights that are used at the Blade Show. Or maybe a gym. There's a gym at a private school in town that has the same lights and I might not get arrested if I talk to the coach first. I think that the knives I present to the Knifemakers Guild for voting status this summer will have been either to Lowes or school. Those lights are the best for making a problem pop out at you.
 
I probably would tell them, in a way that nobody would notice. You never know when some person from a factory are at shows with the intentions of harming, if some guy like that would notice scale left on a hand-made blade, he/she probably would immediatly use that against hand made knives and make factory knives look better with more hype.

It would also harm the person's reputation if somebody else was to notice. If you tell the knifemaker, he/she could simply get the knife off the table. If the maker gets all angry at you, ignore it.
 
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