From the arcane world of knifemaking...

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BMK said:
In the final analysis the free market will be the arbiter of this discussion. I can report that to date, the free market has declared me the winner. Fortunately, everyone does not think like a the typical knifemaker. There are a fair number of people who want something made by someone with my background - exactly as my website reads. I wish I could say I am sorry that so many of you find this offensive. The fact that I don't specialize in grinding away steel is a matter of pride.
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I'm not thinking like a knifemaker... I'm thinking like an honest businessman that already owns a successful manufacturing business in a field completely seperate from knifemaking. I'm only interested in knifemaking as a hobby, and possibly as a business years down the road.

If I had production parts sold as such, and hand made parts that were either one-off or semi-custom, they would be advertised seperately.
 
BMK said:
Thank you for "sharing" your feelings. Since the knife did not exist until i made or assembled it, I made the knife. (period)
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So then, they aren't knives already when you buy the knife from your vendor?

Weird.

I thought they would cut stuff right from the get go...
They sure look sharpened already on the few sites I looked at.

Looks like they just need some dressing to make them more comfortable, and attractive.
Not to make them more of a knife than they already are.

Putting a handle on a knife doesn't "make" the knife, any more than putting clothes on a woman "makes" her a woman.
It just makes it/her more or less attractive.
She's a woman with or without those clothes and the blades I'm seeing at the vendors sites are just naked knives.
But, knives none the less.
 
Every other post on any survivalist forum or hunting forum I could find is filled with the same deception. When asked about his knife designs he has no problem taking crdit for them. No mention of just putting handles on. Not to be confused, this is in regards to the non chisos and baby chisos designs that he "simply" purchases. This is the only forum where he has been challenged on this topic. It is shameless trolling.

No response to the name thing yet........ kinda fishy to me.........
 
BMK said:
A knife that is engineered, created and or designed by a couch-bladesmith will always be very different from a knife that is engineered, created and/or designed by someone with extensive outdoor, survival and real world knife using experience. This fact is a hard pill to swallow (for some of you) but I think you will find that truth liberates.

Again, thank you for sharing your ideas and opinions. I look forward to reading more of your comments and ideas - keep them coming!
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I believe that if you are buying kit blades, then you have to give the manufacturer credit for that design and engineering.

Your military and firefighter experience is useful for the marketing, but you can't say that you "designed" and "engineered" it at all.

When you purchased the components, you can only make a buy or do not buy decision. You have no other input at all.

Calling everyone here a couch-bladesmith is downright insulting.
You have no idea of our skills or experiences, and that attitude is a real put off.
I 'm pretty sure if you went into the bush with Richard Marchand, you would learn a thing or two.

It's completely clear that this is all just spam for you and every post just puts your stats higher.

Sooner or later, you will learn that materials do matter.

Buyers do distinguish between kit and handmade.
There is probably a market for you in that, just disclose it better.
 
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But, I'm Barney Badass, I buy from a catalog way better than anyone else does.

It's all my real world experience that makes my catalog purchases better than yours.

My customers really appreciate it, and understand that no one without my experience could ever buy parts from a catalog as well as I can.

After all, I had to engineer how to turn that page, or click that mouse to see the pictures...
 
Just as an FYI; after reading all of this I went to his website to read what you guys already had. My anti-virus shows his site as suspicious and dangerous; there may be other things going on.

I have never seen another website do this.
 
BMK said:
Mitch,

Good point. Actually, the knife assembled itself after it decided which components it was to be made of. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. The credit belongs entirely to the knife. If I cant find a blade that fits my design envelope I simply make the blade. The Chisos and Baby Chisos are both blades I presently make. Again, i don't know why I would want to grind steel if a perfectly good blade can be procured easily - that would be silly.

btw - I looked at your website. Very nice and informative site. Your knives look to be of high quality - keep up the good work
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It's apparent that you did a very nice job adding handles to the blanks you purchased.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a kit knife if that is what you want to do. If you don't want to grind a blade, then don't. If you can find kit knife models that suit your needs, go for it.

However, to claim that assembling a kit knife makes you a knife maker is absurd. By this reasoning, me changing the tires on my truck means that I made the truck. To claim that a kit knife is a custom knife is deceptive.

No one cares that you assemble kit knives so long as you are honest about it.

No one cared that you made knives out of Sawzall blades until you made outlandish performance claims.

You would have received a completely different response from the forum if you had approached this thread differently.

Thanks for checking out my website and thanks for the positive comments.
 
AcridSaint said:
Johnathan - I'm not sure if Bob was every a firefighter... are you sure he could have designed a useable knife?
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Your absolutely right!

I'll just sharpen the edge of a soup can lid and throw my CQB in the trash!

I change the batteries in my own smoke alarms, so I'm qualified to design knives!
 
BMK said:
Maybe a better title for this thread would be: "How many "serious" knifemakers does it take to humor just one Bush Monkey?"
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Hahahaha Touché BMK. However, having said that, I will no longer be one of them. Goodbye:)
 
BMK,
I see that in almost every internet forum you post, once folks really sit dpwn and read your site, there is controversy. Your wording is very deceptive. Folks who do not know better, won't have a problem and I can't blame them for it... you do have beautiful, utilitarian knives on your site... what is to question outside of HOW they are made? That's where fellow knifemakers come into the picture. You have to be honest and crystal clear to gain the respect of your peers. I do consider you a knifemaker if you indeed make the blades you claim are from scratch. Fact is, you have customers in this industry and you have peers. Something isn't sitting right with fellow knifemakers and this is something you should recognize and try to resolve. You have a great opportunity to network among other makers and learn how to become a better craftsman. You can also gain some reputation within the community, which goes a long way should folks decide to do background checks. If you stay on your current path, I'm sure you will still sell knives to the general public, but you will alienate yourself from the very group that can legitimize you as a maker. Pretty soon (and especially if you gain popularity), your house of cards will come crumbling down... the sad part is that you don't seem to realize that you are laying the doomed framework with every post you make.

The best thing you can do is make a CLEAR and OBVIOUS separation between your kit knives and hand ground blades.

We need more makers in this industry and will help you if you let us.

Rick
 
BMK said:
Mitch,

Good point. Actually, the knife assembled itself after it decided which components it was to be made of. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. The credit belongs entirely to the knife. If I cant find a blade that fits my design envelope I simply make the blade. The Chisos and Baby Chisos are both blades I presently make. . . . .
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Sir, your site currently says the Chisos is available in 440C or O1 and the Baby Chisos is available in O1. Are these blades that you forge (smith) or grind (make) from bar stock?
 
Thanks for your question. I make the Chisos and Baby Chisos from 01 bar stock and I will offer them only in 01 in the near future. I grind them and do not forge them.
 
BMK said:
Mitch,

Good point. Actually, the knife assembled itself after it decided which components it was to be made of. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. The credit belongs entirely to the knife. If I cant find a blade that fits my design envelope I simply make the blade. The Chisos and Baby Chisos are both blades I presently make. Again, i don't know why I would want to grind steel if a perfectly good blade can be procured easily - that would be silly.

btw - I looked at your website. Very nice and informative site. Your knives look to be of high quality - keep up the good work
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BMK said:
Thanks for your question. I make the Chisos and Baby Chisos from 01 bar stock and I will offer them only in 01 in the near future. I grind them and do not forge them.
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what?
 
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