HTM takes a hit

If the knife costs more than like 200$ this guy goes into the review predetermined that the knife is flawed...But if its a Sog or another cheaper end knife that the average mall ninja can afford he lauds it as a best knife you can find has been my experience with this guy. Ended up unsubscribing to his channel as a result.
 
Damn_Animal said:
If the knife costs more than like 200$ this guy goes into the review predetermined that the knife is flawed...But if its a Sog or another cheaper end knife that the average mall ninja can afford he lauds it as a best knife you can find .
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He likes Emersons! But then again he's all about value, I've bought a number of things per his recommendations, and realized we have very different tastes. Ex: Kel Tec PF9, hated that damn gun.
 
Maybe some teenage boy will go and buy a knife on the basis on one review. He's just as likely to buy what his peers have or some action star uses because he find's it cooI. So be it. I for my part research knives pretty extensively before I buy them. A really valuable part of this for me is to see the knife on video, held in hand, opened and closed and shown next to well known knives in the same shot. Most of these knives I will never see in person unless I fork out the $ and order them. YT vids are a great help here.

As far as the statements made by reviewers go, I've come to know what qualities, criteria and bias to expect from the ones I watch frequently. It would take a handful of the better ones mentioning the same problem based on their own personal experience with a knife for me to consider it "statistically relevant." I would imagine that the majority of people who watch these videos take them with a grain of salt. If I pay for a magazine I expect it's reviews to be complete i.e. include customer service if a problem arose. As far as YT reviewers go, I am grateful to them. Yes, some are bumbling idiots and/or intolerable bores. Others are thorough, insightful and even witty. (Most, like most of us, are a bit of both.) In a world where most people think I'm a semi-maniac if they see I have even a small slip joint in my rucksack this Knife TV free of charge is great.

To write "HTM takes a hit" seems overly dramatic to me. Watching the review link in the OP actually made me consider buying this blade (I love aluminum handles, couldn't care less about tactical use and am looking for a heavier folder to replace one I gave away). I liked the story of the old German ladies in the Leica factory, great example, but to equate a Ferrari (or any Italian car) with quality, seems to me a very novel idea :)
 
Of the big players in the thumber world probably kershaw but im sure they each have hits and misses.

In my pocket currently a case swayback jack, on the coffee table DRT/DDR Raiden and CS arc angel - I do love Darrel's designs I think they are some of the best looking knives out there.
 
dbla said:
Despite the argument going on here, can someone comment on the tip of the blade protruding almost out of the handle? That's the ONLY thing he said that would concern me seriously...Last thing I wanna do is swing my hand down to hook my thumb on my pocket and slice it open.
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Hi dbla,
We shoot for max blade to handle on all knives.
We take a little heat from this functional design aspect at times.
If you are person that sticks their finger in the end of the knife for no reason then this may effect you.
If you are a person that uses the knife in real life then you may thank us for the max blade length to handle ratio.
This is Angel and Demon kind of issue...... that we stand behind.

If it is an issue with anyone we will take care of it.
Other than that we have about a 99 percent ratio that are thankful for the blade to handle ratio that we are able to put into our knives. We will take that as a positive any day.
 
Darrel Ralph said:
Hi dbla,
We shoot for max blade to handle on all knives.
We take a little heat from this functional design aspect at times.
If you are person that sticks their finger in the end of the knife for no reason then this may effect you.
If you are a person that uses the knife in real life then you may thank us for the max blade length to handle ratio.
This is Angel and Demon kind of issue...... that we stand behind.

If it is an issue with anyone we will take care of it.
Other than that we have about a 99 percent ratio that are thankful for the blade to handle ratio that we are able to put into our knives. We will take that as a positive any day.
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Darryl,

First of all thank you for personally jumping in here and providing some info to us. You don't need me to tell you that you are a very talented and gifted knife designer... My issue with the Gunhammers was simply that Knifecenter first shipped me the incorrect knife in the correct box... I have no idea who's fault that is, I don't know if a stockroom kid was playing with the knives and put them back in the wrong boxes... I have no clue. It's worth pointing out that the first Gunhammer I received had an extremely late lockup, once Knifecenter got me the correct knife, it had lock rock. At that point I was just tired of sending knives back and forth and waiting for knives... My other issue was simply that it wasn't left hand carry friendly, I would love to give a GunHammer another chance (I think you read my "thoughts" post that I made after I had received both knives), but I think it will be a little while until I can swing that. It's difficult for me to spend the coin on a 200$+ knife that doesn't work with my handedness... I'm willing to do it for a cool design (like the GH), but I need it to be perfect...I had the opportunity to pick up a GH a week or so ago, and if it hadn't been for these issues I would have done so.
 
Hi Guys,
Well this thread is a heated discussion.
This is a good thing.
I do believe that some of our design features were not understood in the review.
But, that being said, many magazine articles have glitches also because of interpretation and experience of the writer.

HTM is listening and learning everyday we are around.
We have but one simple goal, To become America's Premier Knife Company.
We have had our doors open just a little over three years.
In this time we have grown at a rapid fast track pace. We owe that to you, our customers.
We appreciate all comments of any style.

We have upped our QC and are working to not let this situation happen again.
We apologize to all for any mishaps.
We have replaced our QC person as of this time. We feel this will help maintain a better customer satisfaction level.
If anyone would like to post this on the utube video we would appreciate it.

I have also commented on other design functions of our knives that can be misconstrued sometimes.
 
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dbla said:
Darryl,

First of all thank you for personally jumping in here and providing some info to us. You don't need me to tell you that you are a very talented and gifted knife designer... My issue with the Gunhammers was simply that Knifecenter first shipped me the incorrect knife in the correct box... I have no idea who's fault that is, I don't know if a stockroom kid was playing with the knives and put them back in the wrong boxes... I have no clue. It's worth pointing out that the first Gunhammer I received had an extremely late lockup, once Knifecenter got me the correct knife, it had lock rock. At that point I was just tired of sending knives back and forth and waiting for knives... My other issue was simply that it wasn't left hand carry friendly, I would love to give a GunHammer another chance (I think you read my "thoughts" post that I made after I had received both knives), but I think it will be a little while until I can swing that. It's difficult for me to spend the coin on a 200$+ knife that doesn't work with my handedness... I'm willing to do it for a cool design (like the GH), but I need it to be perfect...I had the opportunity to pick up a GH a week or so ago, and if it hadn't been for these issues I would have done so.
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dbla,

The lock issue is exactly why our QC was let go.
I am know in the industry for solid lock up and about 1/3 - 1/2 lock up o the bar.
That takes attention to detail to make it happen.

There is NO excuse for QUALITY issues. We took action to fix our weak links. As some of you know people are gone from HTM. Please understand we are not serving up BS on a platter here. We are fixing the problems as we see fit.
We will deal with any fall out in the best manner possible and move forward.


As for knifecenter, I do not know what happen with the box issue.
We ship the product in marked boxes that are labeled.
I am sure they worked the issue out with you?

We appreciate your faith.
dbla
If you would like to discuss this future please email me personally at dralph@earthlink.net. I am here for your concerns and comments at all times.
DDR
 
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I for one am glad to hear that they have taken real steps to improve the QC problems of late. That takes some guts to admit that there was a problem and fix it promptly. I am excited for the S90V Gunhammer.
 
Additionally, the knives should come sharper now. This was one of the things I brought up with Darrel last time I spoke with him on the phone a few days ago. He expressed his embarrassment.
 
Either way, I don't give a damn about what issues have happened in the past.. The fact that we hear from Darrel himself about all of the concerns and matters that have been ongoing, and have been addressed by him, makes me a full and firm believer of his company and product.

As many of you may or may not know, this is my first Gunhammer, a semi-custom one at that.. and I'm excited as all hell to get my first knife from you all. Consider me a long time follower of your product from here on out to the future.

Oh yeah, and please make my knife so sharp that when the knife looks at what it's about to cut, that thing gets so scared, it cuts itself. :)
 
NM08SRT8 said:
Either way, I don't give a damn about what issues have happened in the past.. The fact that we hear from Darrel himself about all of the concerns and matters that have been ongoing, and have been addressed by him, makes me a full and firm believer of his company and product.
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Darrel does read these boards. He's mostly an invisible presence, like the Batman! Most of the forum stuff is relegated to me, though admittedly, I've been out of the loop the past 3 weeks or so. RL stuff. He chimes in from time to time just so people know he's there. However, he prefers spending most of his hours in the shop running the business making knives. Sometimes, it is funny though to get an email from him about a thread that's several weeks old that I'm well aware of.

Be careful about sharp knives. My good friend lopped off the pad of his finger.

EDIT: Also, apparently Darrel has a hard time picking up sarcasm on these forums as evidenced by his replying to Murdamook. lol
 
After watching Nutn say the Sebenza should be a $185 knife, I really think it is just a matter of a non-knife guy reviewing knives.

If you are one of those people who can't justify spending $35 on a knife because the $5 gas station knife cuts the same, then maybe a $300+ mid tech knife is a little over your head.
 
Darrel Ralph said:
Hi,
We use the back spacer as the lanyard. We decided to keep the frame streamline in this manner.
Just loop your lanyard around the back spacer and you are good to go.

Enjoy
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Hark Said
"Also, apparently Darrel has a hard time picking up sarcasm on these forums as evidenced by his replying to Murdamook." lol

Hark,
You are right....I reply as if the person that is new to knives as habit.
Sometimes the obvious need to be in the light for others to see.

LOL!!!!

Murdamook ..... good snark!

Guys
We need our own review team for HTM and DDR knives.
It needs to be honest and correct and bring to light the sweet features that are missed...
This ALL AMERICAN MADE knife brand needs support from our boots on the ground grass roots guys like you all.

BTW:
Recently it has come to my attention that there are knives in the community that use the term MADE IN THE USA.
Please understand that this is not always the case. Some parts are imported and then added to the product. There is an old (slang) in the industry. If it is 80 percent made in the USA we can use that phrase.
I can think of one company that was making automatics and STOPPED making them DEAD! They got busted and it was kept quite. They paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for what they did. They still to this day import parts for their knives and say MADE IN THE USA.


Please understand this..... HTM and DDR knives are made in the USA.... every part down to the SCREWS.
Do some checking and ask questions. See if you get a stutter.
At this time in our history.. we need to buy as many USA made products as possible. Our country needs us.
My Family tries very hard to buy AMERICAN.
It is not possible for every thing we buy, but we try first to buy American Made.
The politics are not an issue with me.... unions, labor and that part of it.
It is about our homeland! This is where WE live.
Last... when we use a steel for blades we let you know. We used M390 because we feel it is SPECIAL and one of the best world wide. We want you to have the best. We will continue to bring you what we feel is the best for our customers as long as it pushes the envelope of technology.

DDR
 
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It is nice to know that every part is American. I like that. I have no problem with things not made in America, but it's a real problem when they falsely claim that they are made in America.

It is good to know, Darrel, that you have stepped up the quality control. I know that we are on the verge of the most epic Gunhammer ever made, and that 36 of us want to have the highest quality American made knife that we can get.

I have the highest faith that you and your team at HTM will deliver a knife worthy of the most brutal scrutiny and it will pass with flying colors.

I for one will be doing a very thorough review on my S90V Gunhammer and I am sure others will be also.
 
Darrel Ralph said:
dbla,

The lock issue is exactly why our QC was let go.
I am know in the industry for solid lock up and about 1/3 - 1/2 lock up o the bar.
That takes attention to detail to make it happen.

There is NO excuse for QUALITY issues. We took action to fix our weak links. As some of you know people are gone from HTM. Please understand we are not serving up BS on a platter here. We are fixing the problems as we see fit.
We will deal with any fall out in the best manner possible and move forward.


As for knifecenter, I do not know what happen with the box issue.
We ship the product in marked boxes that are labeled.
I am sure they worked the issue out with you?

We appreciate your faith.
dbla
If you would like to discuss this future please email me personally at dralph@earthlink.net. I am here for your concerns and comments at all times.
DDR
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I've had some bad experiences with knife companies in the past. In one extraordinary instance, the company's owner flat out called me (as well as other customers) liars for bringing quality control issues to his attention. He couldn't accept, even for a second, that someone had a legitimate complaint about one of his products. His company is now dead to me.

Posts like this make me confident in HTM/DDR's reputation as a company. A willingness to address complaints and acknowledge shortcomings is the sign of a company (and a man) that values integrity.

It more than just the knives, people. It's about how the company treats you.
 
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