The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
In the current issue of Blade, Ed Fowler speaks of the idea of one maker altering and/or refinishing another's knives, he believes this to be highly unethical.
As Paul says, sometimes I agree with Ed Fowler, and sometimes I think he lays it on...
In this case, I'll say that as a maker, I would not work on or alter another maker's knife. Whether that's ethics or esthetics, or both, I'm not sure.
Again, as Paul says, once someone pays me for a knife, it's their's, and they can do with it what they want, including have someone else change it. I probably would shake my head, and it would no longer be my work, but I don't much see myself riding the high horse over it.
John
Probably most would agree that, in the context of a sale, deliberately failing to disclose that a knife has been refurbished or altered by anyone - including the original maker - is an ethical no-no.
I generally don't repair knives. Once in a while I'll put a new handle on a little old lady's fifty-year-old favorite kitchen knife, but that's rare and I don't charge anything for the 20 minutes of work.
I don't touch other makers work. I'll tell the client to return it to the maker and that my becoming involved will just lessen the value of the knife. And frankly, I don't have the time and they don't have the money. What I would have to charge for time and materials on a custom hand-made knife would be more than the average person would pay. No brag. Just fact.
I used to fret over the fact that customers weren't using my knives. In most cases they were oiled and put away. Then I realized that the piece now belonged to them. They paid good money to me and we were both happy. They can do anything they want with it. Sure, I would cringe if they re-fabricated it or abused it, but it's their knife. Period.
I have an aquaintance who buys expensive hand-mades and just tears them up. He prides himself on it. He always proclaims that "A knife is a tool!" "They're made to be used!" Then he chops or cuts something awful. So if a person wants to collect it, sell it, give it away, or destroy it, that's okay and I won't (these days) lose a wink of sleep over it. And in the end, whatever they decide to do with it, I will sleep well knowing that I did my part to the best of my ability.
Cheers,
Terry
Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS