There never seems to be a shortage of bad news, so I thought Id take this opportunity to share some GOOD news.
The good news is that there are still folks like knife maker Gene Ingram out there creating beautiful, functional, and high quality works of blade art that are affordable to most anyone. His fixed blades in D2 steel are a pleasure to hold and use. The fit and finish is top notch, and he is a real pleasure to do business with.
I recently acquired one of Genes small utility fixed blades (secondhand) on a different forum. I was immediately impressed with the elegant simplicity and overall quality of the knife. For some reason (Im still not sure how I got there), I found myself attempting to redefine the edge of this knife on my Sharpmaker diamond rods set at 30 degrees. Being a newby to the Sharpmaker diamond rods, it took me almost no time to create some ugly scratches near the tip of this previously near pristine blade (user error, not the fault of the Sharpmaker btw). Despite the fact that I intend to use this knife, I was disappointed in myself for mistreating this blade, and began to think in terms of damage control. I found Mr. Ingrams website, and called him up. I told him of the error of my ways and asked if he would consider letting me mail him my knife so that he might attempt to buff out the scratches and resharpen the blade. I also inquired about having him make a small leather sheath for this knife while he had it.
Mr. Ingram was receptive to my request and cheerfully agreed to address my concern. I shipped him my knife.
Now, heres some more good news. Yesterday, after barely over a week had passed, I got my knife back. It was scratch free, had a scary sharp
new edge, and was clean, oiled and nested in a custom-fitted leather sheath that begs to be worn. All of this (blade buffing, sharpening, new custom leather sheath, and priority shipping back to me) was done for about the cost of a basic oil change at Wally-world. Keep in mind, I did not even buy the knife from him in the first place, but had acquired it second-hand.
To me, that kind of customer service says a lot about the ethic of the blade smith. It says, imho, that Mr. Ingram must love his craft, value his customers, and has an old fashioned sense of personal attachment to his work that places integrity above profit.
Having been treated so well by him, I thought the least I could do was share this good news with other blade lovers. If you are considering a new fixed blade, do yourself a favor and check out his work.
Thank you Mr. Ingram.
The good news is that there are still folks like knife maker Gene Ingram out there creating beautiful, functional, and high quality works of blade art that are affordable to most anyone. His fixed blades in D2 steel are a pleasure to hold and use. The fit and finish is top notch, and he is a real pleasure to do business with.
I recently acquired one of Genes small utility fixed blades (secondhand) on a different forum. I was immediately impressed with the elegant simplicity and overall quality of the knife. For some reason (Im still not sure how I got there), I found myself attempting to redefine the edge of this knife on my Sharpmaker diamond rods set at 30 degrees. Being a newby to the Sharpmaker diamond rods, it took me almost no time to create some ugly scratches near the tip of this previously near pristine blade (user error, not the fault of the Sharpmaker btw). Despite the fact that I intend to use this knife, I was disappointed in myself for mistreating this blade, and began to think in terms of damage control. I found Mr. Ingrams website, and called him up. I told him of the error of my ways and asked if he would consider letting me mail him my knife so that he might attempt to buff out the scratches and resharpen the blade. I also inquired about having him make a small leather sheath for this knife while he had it.
Mr. Ingram was receptive to my request and cheerfully agreed to address my concern. I shipped him my knife.
Now, heres some more good news. Yesterday, after barely over a week had passed, I got my knife back. It was scratch free, had a scary sharp
new edge, and was clean, oiled and nested in a custom-fitted leather sheath that begs to be worn. All of this (blade buffing, sharpening, new custom leather sheath, and priority shipping back to me) was done for about the cost of a basic oil change at Wally-world. Keep in mind, I did not even buy the knife from him in the first place, but had acquired it second-hand.To me, that kind of customer service says a lot about the ethic of the blade smith. It says, imho, that Mr. Ingram must love his craft, value his customers, and has an old fashioned sense of personal attachment to his work that places integrity above profit.
Having been treated so well by him, I thought the least I could do was share this good news with other blade lovers. If you are considering a new fixed blade, do yourself a favor and check out his work.
Thank you Mr. Ingram.
.Can someone please give me Mr Ingram's web address.Thank you.
