Farid's knife, bad?

[keninshiro]

Hi all! I know this will be a controversial topic so let us keep this one down and peaceful. I did some checking into Farid and found many forumites dislikes his work and the person himself? I was thinking about getting one of his knife, good idea or a bad choice? There have been comments about him ripping off Emerson's, Chris Revee's and some other's designs. But i have observed that many other makers too have adopted 'similar' designs made by the makers mentioned above but doesn't get the boot, why? I'm not fimiliar with Farid, and i'm not standing on either side but just hoping that someone will be able to tell me some 'inside' information that i do not know of? Thanks and keep cool.....breath in....breath out.....

 

[Professor]

I'm gonna jump headfirst into something I know absolutely nothing about... I've seen his knives advertised, and I think he's entitled to use the mono-lock design, as a number of American makers seem to share the design freely enough. I will have to question the quality and structural integrity of the knives however; I read somewhere that the integral locks and handle scales are some type of alloy that's NOT titanium. How does that work? Can one make a reliable, long lasting integral lock with an aluminum or zinc cousin? Just curious, as I cannot speak for the overall quality of his knives myself. As for his being a d**k on the phone to potential customers and the like, if it's true, it's certainly an unconventional way to conduct customer service.

[This message has been edited by Professor (edited 04 October 1999).]

 

[keninshiro]

Professor, i forgot to mention what type of knife i'm interested from Farid. His Utility out-door fixed blade with chisel grind(and yes, it does ressemble a Emerson Ashely fighter) is the piece i'm interested in. His folders are made of 440-C (entirely!), it was published in 'Tactical Magazine' some time ago. Any other comments, anyone?

 

[grnamin]

I saw Farid and his work at last year's New York Custom Knife Show. One thing that stood out was the fact that his folders looked very much like Sebenzas, but with the integral lock portion flipped around so that the machined section that allows for bending of the lock was outside. The handle is also a lot beefier than on a Sebenza; unnecessarily beefier, IMHO.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

I've handled one of Farid's knives, and seen pictures. My flash opinion so far is to agree with Greg's statement: "handle is also a lot beefier ... unnecessarily beefier, IMHO." It seems to me like Farid's design strategy is: find the work of someone else that is selling well; now, make it much heavier and stronger, because stronger is always better.

Everything seems way overdone. Angles, looks, size, strength, weight.

Again, that's just a flash opinion, and so is probably a bit unfair. If I ever get to handle his knives I'll let you know.

 

[Ivan Campos]

Hi!

I have seen and handled farid´s work at the Blade Show and found the knives - both folders and fixed blades - quite sturdy and a bit heavy, but couldn´t identify any direct copy of a given knife of another maker. In a closed market like custom knives´ a certain level of influence from a certain maker´s degns into the work of qnother can surely be expected, in variing degrees, in my opinion.
Regarding this maker´s lack of politeness with customers, I really can´t complain about anything done against myself or any other person while I was around , though I have not spent much time with him maybe half an hour, overall.
Best regards

Ivan Campos