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- Aug 18, 2016
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Hey, just wanted to write a weview on the aforementioned company and the new rendition of their/his Companion 2 model.
So first up: The knife itself and the overall process of acquiring it.
With that out of the way: The Knife itself and post delivery contact with Brian
That said I have no other way to put it: Brian, you're despictable as a businessman.
That may sound harsh but if people carry you through two f*cking years, just to receive a thing they haven't signed up for as it is, then you damn better make sure that EVERYTHING is perfect in the eyes of the customer, rather than having the audacity to just ignore complaints.
In the end: If you're thinking about picking up a fixed blade: Get a white river caper - cheaper, way better made, actually cuts stuff. (But I still wan't to say that with a sheath I made myself and reground blade the knife is good)
So first up: The knife itself and the overall process of acquiring it.
In beginning of 2016 Brian Evans, the owner of Evans Knife and Tool, started a crowdfunding campaign for a new run of his praised Companion model neck knife. It was advertised as follows(These informations will be important later on):
The deadline was met on 03.05.16(EU format) with 38% overfunding.
The first update came on May 24th:
Ok, up until now everything is great. Brian sent out e-mails asking if people are interested in fancy scales and liners; I got in on some.
From somewhere arount that time, things started to go downhill. There was only one other update to the campaign on indiegogo(in 2017).
Brian said he'd meet up with the production company in Escanaba and take pictures. There were pictures of the facility and some cut blanks on facebook. Then something happened which I honestly don't recall, but the production company bailed.
After some time Bark River was selected as the new company. This brought a boatload of problems to the table. They allegedly weren't able to source the steel; they wanted more money from Brian, they didn't respond to anything, but didn't want to refund any money either... Yeah, I won't ever support that company with anything, that's for sure.
In the end Brian managed to get the money back from them, with nothing achieved, and his sheathmaker retired(some medical condition) some time around this point.
Somewhere along the way Brian got divorced which put additional stress on him, I understand that, but the fact that he was very slow in getting back to e-mails, updating his threads, and holding onto deadlines he set himself(e.g. "Update every two weeks even if there's nothing new"), still is inexcuseable in my eyes. Being an engineering student(not alien to the working world though) myself I know what it's like to have lots of stress etc. and not really being able to find time to do stuff. But updating a thread is a thing of 10 minutes. People started bailing, but lots of the supportes also said "fuck it, Brian will put through with this and so will we"; I was one of them, still being supportive even though the people bailing did so understandably.
I'll make the rest of the story quick:
A new shop was sourced, production started, production was delayed, but eventually continued. This was the last shop(don't recall the name, some aerospace manufacturer I believe). Eventually the delivery was scheduled to October 2017. The knives were eventually done start of December; I received mine at the end of 2017.
The process isn't 100% displayed here; some things I didn't remember or maybe mixed up(I think at some point White River was selected as machine shop); sorry for that. But everything can be read up on in the General Update Threads in the Evans Knife and Tool subforum.
The Evans Knife and Tool Companion!
From the Thread: "The Companion Gen 2 will be produced in Precision Plus's Escanaba, MI facility."
- CPM20CV
- 6" Overall Length
- 2.75" Cutting Edge
- 2.875" Tip to Scales
- Handle choices: Black G10, Jade G10, Carbon Fiber
- HaleStorm Custom Kydex sheath in your choice of colors
- Complete with ball chain, ready to wear
- Completely made in the United States!
From the Thread: "The Companion Gen 2 will be produced in Precision Plus's Escanaba, MI facility."
The first update came on May 24th:
Some updates for the first run of the Gen 2 Companions:
--The payment has been made to the production company.
--Production totals are being finalized.
--Extra Fancy Scales are being determined. Right now it is looking like we will have green canvas micarta, stag, mammoth ivory, buckeye burl, curly maple, Shadetree burlap, kevlar, and red firehose. Those will be subject to cost considerations, but that is pretty close to the final list. Extremely limited numbers of those scales.
--As of right now we have less than 25 knives left. If you know someone who wants one but is on the fence, tell them to come on down and order. Once they're gone, they're gone!
As always, if you have any questions, please get with me and we will straighten everything out.
--Brian
--The payment has been made to the production company.
--Production totals are being finalized.
--Extra Fancy Scales are being determined. Right now it is looking like we will have green canvas micarta, stag, mammoth ivory, buckeye burl, curly maple, Shadetree burlap, kevlar, and red firehose. Those will be subject to cost considerations, but that is pretty close to the final list. Extremely limited numbers of those scales.
--As of right now we have less than 25 knives left. If you know someone who wants one but is on the fence, tell them to come on down and order. Once they're gone, they're gone!
As always, if you have any questions, please get with me and we will straighten everything out.
--Brian
From somewhere arount that time, things started to go downhill. There was only one other update to the campaign on indiegogo(in 2017).
Brian said he'd meet up with the production company in Escanaba and take pictures. There were pictures of the facility and some cut blanks on facebook. Then something happened which I honestly don't recall, but the production company bailed.
After some time Bark River was selected as the new company. This brought a boatload of problems to the table. They allegedly weren't able to source the steel; they wanted more money from Brian, they didn't respond to anything, but didn't want to refund any money either... Yeah, I won't ever support that company with anything, that's for sure.
In the end Brian managed to get the money back from them, with nothing achieved, and his sheathmaker retired(some medical condition) some time around this point.
Somewhere along the way Brian got divorced which put additional stress on him, I understand that, but the fact that he was very slow in getting back to e-mails, updating his threads, and holding onto deadlines he set himself(e.g. "Update every two weeks even if there's nothing new"), still is inexcuseable in my eyes. Being an engineering student(not alien to the working world though) myself I know what it's like to have lots of stress etc. and not really being able to find time to do stuff. But updating a thread is a thing of 10 minutes. People started bailing, but lots of the supportes also said "fuck it, Brian will put through with this and so will we"; I was one of them, still being supportive even though the people bailing did so understandably.
I'll make the rest of the story quick:
A new shop was sourced, production started, production was delayed, but eventually continued. This was the last shop(don't recall the name, some aerospace manufacturer I believe). Eventually the delivery was scheduled to October 2017. The knives were eventually done start of December; I received mine at the end of 2017.
The process isn't 100% displayed here; some things I didn't remember or maybe mixed up(I think at some point White River was selected as machine shop); sorry for that. But everything can be read up on in the General Update Threads in the Evans Knife and Tool subforum.
With that out of the way: The Knife itself and post delivery contact with Brian
First off my little review of the knife, as already posted in Brians subforum:
"So, yeah, just got the knife from customs.
First off: the knife itself is nice. It has some good ergos, with smooth G10 and coarse micarta(even though this coarseness leads to the olive micarta to being more beige), and the polished edge is a nice touch. But that's about where it stops.
First off: the G10 liners
with them installed you get a really ugly edge between liners and tang. Yeah, definetly won't use those.
The finish has some flaws, all along the spine there are spots that look like some minor pitting, especially bad in the finger choil.
I tried to capture it, but was only capable to do it with limited success:
Next up: The grind
Yes, it's nicely polished, but I'd rather have gotten a coarse grind that's completely even on both sides and even though its polished it seems rather dull, but that's something one can fix. Oh and there's still polishing compound on the edge...
And with that, on to my last concern: the sheath
Brian, the sheath is laughable. It's rattling, it has some indentations from clamps or something(i guess?) and where you insert the knife it looks like it bumped against the belt grinder after being finished, and worst of all: it doesn't retain the knife for shit.
Yes, that is without the liners in place even though the sheath is probably made for use with liners; but even with liners installed it isn't much better.
It just feels like some taped together cardboard that's supposed to be a sheath. And that's all apart from the fact that the design isn't the one from the original run; you know, the one that was pictured on the indiegogo-page. You'll really have to make this right somehow Brian."
Additionally to the flaws mentioned here; some other things aren't as advertised(e.g. the blade isn't FFG but rather Sabre Ground like the Companion 1)
Other people came up with complaints ("I've seen hatchets that are ground thinner","sheath doesn't retain anything", "packaging of a gas station knife" etc.) and yet Brian hasn't reacted in any way. Here I'd like to point to his warranty where he states that if there's anything wrong with the knife he'll make it right.
Warranty:
With a fixed blade, the sheath is just as important as the knife itself and with the sheath that it comes with it's definetly not useable.
"So, yeah, just got the knife from customs.
First off: the knife itself is nice. It has some good ergos, with smooth G10 and coarse micarta(even though this coarseness leads to the olive micarta to being more beige), and the polished edge is a nice touch. But that's about where it stops.
First off: the G10 liners
with them installed you get a really ugly edge between liners and tang. Yeah, definetly won't use those.
The finish has some flaws, all along the spine there are spots that look like some minor pitting, especially bad in the finger choil.
I tried to capture it, but was only capable to do it with limited success:
Next up: The grind
Yes, it's nicely polished, but I'd rather have gotten a coarse grind that's completely even on both sides and even though its polished it seems rather dull, but that's something one can fix. Oh and there's still polishing compound on the edge...
And with that, on to my last concern: the sheath
Brian, the sheath is laughable. It's rattling, it has some indentations from clamps or something(i guess?) and where you insert the knife it looks like it bumped against the belt grinder after being finished, and worst of all: it doesn't retain the knife for shit.
It just feels like some taped together cardboard that's supposed to be a sheath. And that's all apart from the fact that the design isn't the one from the original run; you know, the one that was pictured on the indiegogo-page. You'll really have to make this right somehow Brian."
Additionally to the flaws mentioned here; some other things aren't as advertised(e.g. the blade isn't FFG but rather Sabre Ground like the Companion 1)
Other people came up with complaints ("I've seen hatchets that are ground thinner","sheath doesn't retain anything", "packaging of a gas station knife" etc.) and yet Brian hasn't reacted in any way. Here I'd like to point to his warranty where he states that if there's anything wrong with the knife he'll make it right.
Warranty:
It is my goal to have the best warranty of any knife you own. I already have the best customers in the world, I want to give back to all of you with the best warranty in the world.
To that end, this is my warranty:
If it breaks I will repair or replace it at no cost, for as long as I'm making knives.* No matter what.* The guarantee follows the knife.* I don't care if you're the fourth owner, the knife is still covered.* If it has my signature on the blade, it's covered.
Some people have criticized me for having such a lax warranty. They say I'll lose money. That my customers will abuse the system. I don't think so. I want my customers to feel like they can use their knives without fear. The name of my company isn't Evans Knife and Safe Queens. My knives are designed to be tools and to be used. I want you to have the confidence to use them and know that no matter what, I and my knives have your back.
That being said, please don't be dumb. Don't pry with a knife. It's a cutting instrument. If you need to cut apart a car or bust a cinder block, get a Hurst tool or cold chisel, don't use one of my knives. However, if you find yourself in a car that has been buried under a pile of cinder blocks and your leg is pinned, pry, cut, and bust away. Know that I'll take care of your knife. And know that you have some serious explaining to do as to how you find yourself in that situation. Which brings me to my next point.......
If you have a cool story/scar about how you broke your knife, I'd love to hear it. Hell, post it up even. If you were being dumb, I still want to hear about it. If you were being a downright idiot, I definitely want to hear about it, but fair warning, I may make fun of you. I'll still replace the knife, don't worry about that. Some people have to learn the hard way.
Bottom line. Use your knife. I'll take care of it if it ever doesn't take of you.
Thanks for being the best part of Evans Knife and Tool.
To that end, this is my warranty:
If it breaks I will repair or replace it at no cost, for as long as I'm making knives.* No matter what.* The guarantee follows the knife.* I don't care if you're the fourth owner, the knife is still covered.* If it has my signature on the blade, it's covered.
Some people have criticized me for having such a lax warranty. They say I'll lose money. That my customers will abuse the system. I don't think so. I want my customers to feel like they can use their knives without fear. The name of my company isn't Evans Knife and Safe Queens. My knives are designed to be tools and to be used. I want you to have the confidence to use them and know that no matter what, I and my knives have your back.
That being said, please don't be dumb. Don't pry with a knife. It's a cutting instrument. If you need to cut apart a car or bust a cinder block, get a Hurst tool or cold chisel, don't use one of my knives. However, if you find yourself in a car that has been buried under a pile of cinder blocks and your leg is pinned, pry, cut, and bust away. Know that I'll take care of your knife. And know that you have some serious explaining to do as to how you find yourself in that situation. Which brings me to my next point.......
If you have a cool story/scar about how you broke your knife, I'd love to hear it. Hell, post it up even. If you were being dumb, I still want to hear about it. If you were being a downright idiot, I definitely want to hear about it, but fair warning, I may make fun of you. I'll still replace the knife, don't worry about that. Some people have to learn the hard way.
Bottom line. Use your knife. I'll take care of it if it ever doesn't take of you.
Thanks for being the best part of Evans Knife and Tool.
That may sound harsh but if people carry you through two f*cking years, just to receive a thing they haven't signed up for as it is, then you damn better make sure that EVERYTHING is perfect in the eyes of the customer, rather than having the audacity to just ignore complaints.
In the end: If you're thinking about picking up a fixed blade: Get a white river caper - cheaper, way better made, actually cuts stuff. (But I still wan't to say that with a sheath I made myself and reground blade the knife is good)
