Well, I just ordered my 1st Hideaway Knife, I chose the $79 utility claw in 440c stainless. I have 2 questions for you guys. First, has all of that stuff with customs cleared up? (I live in a state where the knife I ordered is legal.) And second, how does 440c stainless hold up? I know it is a good steel and all but I have never had a blade made of it.......Man, it is so hard just waiting for that little knife!!!!!
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Hideaway Knife
- Thread starter John79
- Start date
440C was the first good high carbon stainless. If it suffered anything in reputation, it was because so many makers in the 60's and 70's ground very blunt edges on it at the factory, making it duller compared to carbon steels, and hard to sharpen.
It's still pretty upscale compared to the 420 steels, and has good rust resistance, holds an edge well, and finishes nicely with today's methods. It seems on the verge of returning to the market in better knives, probably due to the price performance and manufacture issues compared to the "higher" grade steels. Maybe they won't mirror polish it so much this time around.
Not sure about the "customs" issue, HAKs are made in the US I thought, but there has been a change in ownership, and things are looking up. Lots of us will like to hear your experience to weigh how improvements are taking hold; HAK owners like me would like to get another if we're reassured things are getting better.
Please post back as you can and tell us what you like about it.
It's still pretty upscale compared to the 420 steels, and has good rust resistance, holds an edge well, and finishes nicely with today's methods. It seems on the verge of returning to the market in better knives, probably due to the price performance and manufacture issues compared to the "higher" grade steels. Maybe they won't mirror polish it so much this time around.
Not sure about the "customs" issue, HAKs are made in the US I thought, but there has been a change in ownership, and things are looking up. Lots of us will like to hear your experience to weigh how improvements are taking hold; HAK owners like me would like to get another if we're reassured things are getting better.
Please post back as you can and tell us what you like about it.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2006
- Messages
- 662
For what it's worth, I had a basic HAK, and the steel was so hard that it was impossible for me to sharpen with my SharpMaker. I had to use a fine file to get any sort of edge. Needless to say, I was not pleased. I hope this was an isolated incidence, but could not say for sure.
depending on who sharpened it, I can believe it
I had to resharpen (and regrind) several knives by other makers in the past.
when I sharpened the HAKs that I handled, I used a slackbelt on the edge and then finished it on a Sharpmaker instead of a buffer. That should allow anyone with a Sharpmaker to maintain the edge
What does this mean? Is there a good chance of my knife never getting to my home?!?!
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2005
- Messages
- 19,834
well, it appears many of the custom makers they have listed no longer grind blades for them.
and the owner has been having difficulty keeping up with orders.
in reading some of the most current posts, it seems they are doing much better. but receipt is still sporadic.
id give them a call.
Below is an email from the new owner, William. FWIW several of us custom makers will continue to grind knives as long as William takes care of his customers.
Here´s the email from the new owner.
Under new management
FS has been trying to cope with a serious illness in her family and can not perform the responsibilities of running a business and she has turned over all ownership, management, and communication responsibilities to me.
I have been involved in many aspects of the business for over 3 years, including sheathing, CAD and CAM, waterjet, and all order customization that gets done in the shop.
Priorities over the next several months - My first priority will be to determine which types of orders can be expedited that are currently in-process, as this will address many of the email questions the quickest. This includes all talonite pre-orders and any other groupings that can help the orders move faster. My second priority is to ship all available orders within 1-2 weeks of payment 80% of the time, and all custom-sheathing orders within 4 weeks of payment, and in parallel, training HideAway Shipping Associate Daniel and getting a third person to handle email questions and followups quickly and clearly.
This is a big opportunity for me to improve on a great product and for a worthwhile effort, as well as one that can make use of the skills I have developed. After main priorities are handled, next is a new model variation. If it can be completed effectively, it will be offered at a discount to LEO, military, firefighters and rescue, and previous Hideaway owners.
Emails for now are artemisweapons at yahoo.com and also frontsight9mm at yahoo.com. Daniel is being trained on how to answer the questions in both locations effectively.
I look forward to building back up to good customer service and making available excellent small edges.
William