I wonder how often...

Not had it happen directly to me yet but I am sure its fairly common, and certainly a hidden cost that the maker needs to take account of in one of two ways, or both:

  1. Factor in a material consumption rate - every manufacture does, they measure yield or material consumption in terms of %. eg, for every 100 knives you start and buy materials for how many do you finish? Lets say its 80, then the material counsumption is 100/80 = 125%. So before you add on your profit margin, multiply your material costs and some labour cost (depending on how far gone on average before you need to scrap) by 125%. Of course this can be more complex by looking at consumption on blades, bolsters, handle material etc.
  2. If the manufacturer has recurring problems with the material they should secure a returen/replacement agreement with the supplier, or change supplier.

Stephen
 
I've been told to bring a cheese cake I hope I have time. I am not taking request either I want to do one like I like so there.
Reggie:D
 
Some of the suppliers will stand behind their material and those are the ones that I prefer to deal with even if they are more expensive. A good relationship with a supplier is worth more than a couple of dollars. If we support them it will benefit all makers and customers.
 
george tichbourne said:
Some of the suppliers will stand behind their material and those are the ones that I prefer to deal with even if they are more expensive. A good relationship with a supplier is worth more than a couple of dollars. If we support them it will benefit all makers and customers.
Click to expand...

Are there suppliers that will stand behind natural products like ivory and MOP? If so, would you mind sharing the names of the ones you know about?
 
Man I hate when that happens...the knife on my banner has a handle I
ground off twice.......It wasnt an order, and it was my fault. It was a knife I made to submit for probation into the Knifemakers guild.......3rd time was a charm in this case.......it still sux when it happens...sorry for the both of you.
 
Those problems happen with steel too. You forge, grind, polish a blade, and suddenly realize there's an inclusion. Or it goes "cling!" in the quench...
 
Keith, suppliers like Downie, Culpepper, Janz, Sheffield and many more will allow returns if the material does not stand up to inspection when you recieve it. Some like Rade Hawkins have replaced blocks of material which show serious faults when slabbed out. None that I know of will replace pearl that has been broken during installation but that is the risk the maker accepts when using delicate materials.

Super Alloys has replaced nearly $1000 worth of 440C that showed a rolling fault when polished, no questions asked except for a polished sample for the mill to look at.

My heat treater has annealed and straightened blades that came back warped then rehardened them, that was years ago and I can't say with certainty that it wasn't my fault.

Building a supplier network like this is invaluable to any business.

At the same time if a supplier does not act properly I have no guilt about dropping him or her from my list if the problem persists or is unfixable.
 
Sometimes even simple materials don't cooperate. I know a lot of people on this board will bash Dale Reif, but I am not one of them. Once he took a matching fixe/folder set of tkcl knives he had made and tried to inlay small UD gold Eagle coins in the handles. He went through 6 sets of slabs and never got one that would work acceptably. Sent me back the knives (with plain handles as original) coins and wouldn;t charge me anything even though I offered to at least pay some materials and shipping.
 
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