I bought a James Noble knife...What now?

M

Medic7158

Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
2
I've gotten a lot of good information on this forum, this is the first time i've posted.

A little background first. I've been looking for a Woodlore type of "bushcraft" knife. Don't ask me why, i'm not a Ray Mears fanatic, I just love puukkos with their warm wood but i want something with a full tang instead of the skinny little things in most Finnish knives I don't however, have $400 or 10 years to spend on a true Allen Wood. So I went searching for a clone.

I sent Stephen Cox at SWC knives an email a while back asking for a quote and haven't received an answer as of yet. I understand his work is highly prized and he is very busy. So i began my search again.

I saw what i thought was an excellent looking clone on ebay. It LOOKED very nice with a well made sheath, it was supposedly hand made by the seller and he was only asking $125.00. I should have known something was wrong right away at that price, but i thought, "this guy's a new craftsman and just hasn't got the following yet to ask a ton for his stuff". So i bought one.

Afterwards i looked a little closer at the pictures and I noticed a JN stamped on the blade. After a little more digging i uncovered the story of James Noble, Tim Noble, James Niven....

So, my question (I know finally right?). Are these knives just copies of other people's work, but still decent quality? Because lots of people are copying the woodlore style of knife and to be honest the original is a copy of traditional puukkos. Or, are they actually pieces of Junk that i would find at a flea market for $10?

I hate that i have contributed to a shady dealer's buisness, but i didn't know. I'm just hoping to salvage something since i've already blown $125 on the thing. Should i just throw it away and call it a learning experience?
 
I don't know about the quality of his knives, and his business practices will keep me from finding out. I suppose you could contact him about returning it if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
 
It does somewhat leave a bad taste, but more importantly i'm concerned about the quality. I've read a lot of posts about him copying work and having multiple aliases, but nothing concerning the quality of the knife. I'm not so concerned about him copying a blade style as that is pretty hard to do. Almost every blade design imaginable has been done before, but if he's selling junk knives and called them "quality hand made blades", then i'm concerned.

I wonder if anyone could inspect it and give me a professional opinion?
 
His knives are imports(Asian) built to stolen design standards. The actual knife might be decent, but I'd test it for a few weeks before using it for real work.
 
He doesnt just copy someones idea, he blatantly steals their actual designs!
I know of at least a couple of makers here that have had to threaten him with legal action, sometimes multiple times, to get him to remove their designs from his site.
It wouldnt matter to me if it was the finest knife ever made, I would'nt support someone with such low morals, ethics and business practices. If i ended up in your boat i'd be contacting him for return or selling it off at a loss and call it lesson learned.
But thats me and this is only my opinion.
 
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I would try to return it if possible. If he won't take it back then sell it (I have done that with maker's which I later didn't care for). Or, take it camping and use/abuse it, if it survives a good field problem then use it for what it is worth.

You already have it, using it hard may be the best option given. Lesson learned (we all have them) and gives you a knife to work hard without hesitation.
 
Is he the guy from England that buys the blade blanks from places like Pakistan and put's the handles and hardware on?
 
I agree with Return it if possible - try hard, this guy is slick so be firm, use PayPal or Ebay for assistance in returning it and follow their rules.

Don't support folks like this, your money can be much better spent elsewhere.
 
Hillbillenigma said:
I agree with Return it if possible - try hard, this guy is slick so be firm, use PayPal or Ebay for assistance in returning it and follow their rules.

Don't support folks like this, your money can be much better spent elsewhere.
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If he is that shady then return it. Don't let him have the money and then pass on the piece of junk to some other unsuspecting buyer. That's almost just as bad. I'm sure he sold it as a hand built knife. If he is using blades that he bought and didn't say so in his auction then he misrepresented the knife. Contact Ebay and dispute the claim with paypal if you have to. Let him keep his junk. If people stop buying his wares then he will stop doing it if there is no money in it.
 
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