"I have heard the quality of Pakistani knives has greatly improved in recent years"

[tyr_shadowblade]

Hey, y'all. I know I have not posted much in a while, but I recently came across something I figured might be of interest to you.

I have heard that the quality of the knives coming out of Punjab, Pakistan have vastly improved in quality lately, and pics in the listings posted on eBay seemed to support that. Very good fit and finish, and the damascus blades look good, and customers have been posting they are happy with the product. I have also heard about "tin can damascus" that is not properly heat treated and will not hold an edge or will crack under light use. I decided to go with a non-damascus blade to check the quality for myself.

I like hawkbills and had been collecting sacatripas and pruners lately, so I purchased this beautiful custom pruner decorated in the traditional French Laguiole fashion. Please bear with me while I attempt to add pics. I realize rules prohibit linking to an eBay item for sale, but I already bought this one and am certainly not shilling for Pakistani blades.

Looks great, right? Turns out the photos were lifted from another site in the UK and what the seller was offering were crude approximations of the pictured item.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Here are a few pics of the knife I received from Punjab. (Sorry my Gold membership lapsed and I do not have a file hosting account, so these images are from the eBay messages site). Note that it is CLEARLY not the same knife. First, note that the brass decoration on the wood scale is inverted from the original, and the wood has been roughly gouged out with the hole filled with putty.

Now see how the opposite scale did not fit, so the gap was filled with putty.

This is only the beginning. It gets worse.

 

[Gehazi]

if there is money, be sure people are making cheap fakes of whatever is of value-- know your hobby !

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Now, let us examine the fitting of the blade itself. Instead of being centered, it is cockeyed, leaning at approximately a 20 degree angle, scraping against one liner while there is a 1/4" gap on the opposite side.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

It gets even worse. The delicate tip of the blade is resting directly on the steel backspring . . . and snaps into it hard under spring pressure. Point was completely squared off, but seemed bent rather than snapped, indicating the steel was not properly tempered. Pitting in the steel surface noted as well.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Here is a pic of a 1/4" wormhole or burn in the scale.

Of course the "Fly" logo is unfinished, but that's hardly worth mentioning at this point.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

But of course the icing on the cake is the GREAT attention to customer service! Every email via eBay messenger was promptly replied to!

I do not know if it would be appropriate to post the verbatim replies here since this is a review rather than GB&U, so I'll just list a brief summary of seller replies.

1. Apologizes. Assures me I will be fully compensated. Blames damages on DHL mishandling package. (knife was in a sheath in a small cardboard box with no packing material).

2. Tells me he will ship a replacement knife for $45, shipping included (paid 39.99 + 25.00 shipping = $65).

3. Tells me he will send a free knife for $25 (cost of shipping).

4. Tells me he will refund the 39.99 if I spend $25 to ship knife back to Pakistan (does not provide mailing address, address on DHL envelope is shipping hub).

5. I offer to settle for a 39.99 refund within 48 hours and tell him I will not file a claim or leave negative feedback if he does this.

6. Seller claims he sent the exact knife posted in listing and I am a liar trying to cheat him. I tell him I will post pics to prove it and do so. No response.

7. I file claim with eBay Buyer Protection for cost of knife plus shipping.

8. Seller accused me of "deliberately breaking the knife" and offers to settle for $25 (cost of shipping, he keeps the full 39.99).

9. I reply that since both parties have accused the other of criminal fraud, that the case be referred to eBay Fraud Investigation and I offer to mail the knife to their offices.

10. Seller replies that I am a crook and a liar.


This guy is completely nuts . . . but entertaining. I don't know whether to be mad at him or feel sorry for him. In the messaging I told him about the value of fit & finish to collectors and how much more difficult it is to assemble a slipjoint folder than a fixed blade knife. I also advised him to do as other sellers from Pakistan have done and ship in bulk to a distributor in the United States so people will not have to pay so much for shipping . . . and then he thanked me for the advice and offered to sell me fixed blades in bulk at a discount. I think something must be getting lost in translation.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Will try registering for imgur.com to post better pics. Thanks Morrow!

 

[Morrow]

imgur.com is your friend....it's free and an easy way to post images.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Good to hear from you again, tyr. Too bad the knife wasn't the one in the original pictures. That did look nice, sort of like a jazzed up Opinel pruner.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Alright . . . let's try this again . . . trying to make imgur work.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Hey, I figured out how to do tech stuff! Here are more pics.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Here is how crooked the blade is.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

The pointed tip is completely gone. This way out of the box, and the first thing I noticed (aside from how difficult it was to open).

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Nice wormhole or burn mark in the scale here.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Here is a glance inside, note the attention to fine detail fitting the scale to the liner with Bondo.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Soft tempered point molded completely around the steel backspring. This blade is under substantial spring pressure and snaps into place hard . . . point first.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

I am not even going to complain about the details of the Laguiole "fly" being incomplete at this point, just posting the pic. That is not light reflecting back, wing and abdomen segments are incomplete.

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Here is the last pic (unless I forgot one). It could've been a nice little knife if it was actually done right. "How bad could it possibly be?" I thought. You can literally hear the grit crunching at arm's length as you open and close the blade. Internals were gunked up with what appeared to be thick black grease and pocket lint. Inside, the brass liners are very roughly filed and not smoothed out at all. This knife-like object was slapped together in a hurry, has zero collectible value, is unsafe to use, and could not be resold or traded. I paid 39.99 (plus 25 shipping) for what appeared to be a very nicely finished custom knife, but what I got cannot even be used as a display piece or letter opener. "You can't polish a turd." :barf:

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

There are several eBay sellers offering Pakistani knives right now, mostly damascus. I was looking at one of the more popular sellers of Punjab damascus because there was a horn handled damascus hawkbill that caught my interest. Seller had three of them listed, stating that the photo you see is the exact knife you will receive. As you know, damascus patterns are as individual as a fingerprint . . . but the details of the pattern (and handle) in all three listings were identical. "How bad could it be" I was thinking . . . but I think I will pass on any future purchases of Pakistani cutlery as fraud seems to be part of these seller's business model. With a fixed blade it is a lot easier to pass off an inferior knockoff to an inexperienced customer only interested in a display item, but with a folder proper fit directly impacts function and there is more likely to be complaints.