Is BudK a scam site/dishonest or just crappy products? Worried- I just ordered...

The Cold Steel polypropylene swords and other weapons are potentially dangerous themselves but at least won't cut anyone.

I agree with our members here who suggest the "first knife" offerings. You can also find knife kits -- made of wood. He can learn how a knife is made and works.
 
Start teaching him to use knives. Have him start helping you cut up food when you are cooking. You will right there with him, showing him the correct way to use knives and get help with making dinner. It will make him proud of himself that he helped make dinner too. My mom did this with me when I was growing up. One of the best things she taught me is to cut up a whole chicken, still do it now.

Us knife nuts have kids too, so don't hesitate to ask about kids and knives.

Let us know how things work out.

Ric
 
Nine years old.

9 years old.

Cub Scout age.

He should have training in safe use of a knife before he is given a folding knife - with the understanding that he follows the rules or loses the privilege of carrying the folding knife.

A sword? Really? :thumbdn: Unless it's wood or plastic.
 
Thomas Linton said:
Nine years old.

9 years old.

Cub Scout age.

He should have training in safe use of a knife before he is given a folding knife - with the understanding that he follows the rules or loses the privilege of carrying the folding knife.

A sword? Really? :thumbdn: Unless it's wood or plastic.
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I dunno man, at that age I had a 22 rifle and a 12ga single shot....no, I didn't get to run up and down the fields with them unsupervised....that didn't come till I was 12ish....I don't think 9 is too early to own a sword so long as there is adequate supervision..... parents have to understand there WILL be a strong desire on the childs behalf to Conan up some dead limbs and tall grass....but realistically, if Dad is pretty close by supervising, more power to em.

My own son turned 9 in July....and I had no issues letting him use the Condor Parang to hack up the jack o lantern in the back yard a few days after Halloween.....he can't lift and safely swing the ZT Swords yet but see.....that's supervision....we both had a lot of fun and no one was ever in danger.

/shrug
 
Well I bought one of BudKs green survival tents for 30.00, and the thing fell apart after I tried to set it up in the backyard , the stitching wasn't even sewn together right. I have multiple wallhanger swords from them all received around Christmas lol.
 
BudK no way!

Wish you would have asked here before ordering.
I also agree that a sword may not be the best first sharp item for a child. And especially because a cheaply made sword is probably super dangerous. Tosh.O damn near killed his camera man while testing out a sword that fell apart mid swing.

A good first knife would be a decently made small folder. I think I first cut my finger with a tiny 2 bladed buck folder as a child, but I definitely remember it. I am glad that memory is not a sword blade sticking out of some part of the house, car or a person.

Best of luck!
 
The Zieg said:
If he has a hankering for swords, at that age his first sword should be wooden. It is a time honored tradition for children and people learning to handle a sword to have a wooden sword for some time first.

Bokken, waster, etc.

Zieg
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This....
Real Sword masters start with blunt wooden training swords first.
*(if you don't know how to handle a sword properly, you shouldn't handle a sword).

Second, never poor quality tools... Being frugal is one thing, you certainly dont "need" tbe best thing out there, but regarding any type of tool, wrenches, screwdrivers, (blades included), buying poor quality will lead to disappointment, replacements, or worse, injuries...
--Ie. You don't need a snap-on ratchet, but craftsman or husky are 100x better then some no name $ special...

3rd, daggers are actually illegal in many states still so check your local knife laws, but also they are designed more to be weapon of sorts as opposed to a regular knife. A 9 year old imho has no reason owning a (real) dagger: a rubber training dagger however is a pretty cool gift idea for him...

Fourthly; regarding the budK purchases, contact your bank and dispute those charges, with documentation of your initial purchase you should have no trouble getting refunded for those additional purchases, putting the fallout on them, and get yourself a new card.

Lastly, a pretty awesome (I think) "knife" for your nine year old would be a swiss army one handed trekker... Gets the locking main blade for a "regular" knife, plus the additional saw blade, screw drivers, and stuffs to do other misc. tasks with, like disassembling (and disemboweling) his other toys, lol.
 
Also, someone else mentioned Imacasa machetes, Tramontina is another brand of machete, Condor was mentioned as well, who all make a quality affordable product that typically will arrive with a relatively dull edge. Sharp enough to chop a dead limb, but not sharp enough to slice a finger to the bone just from touch. (Most Cold Steel you may have the opposite, they are known to have razor sharp edges out of the box).
In relation to the size of a 9 year old boy, a 12" Machete is plenty big enough to be "sword like" in his little hands, as opposed to an actual mansized sword...
 
strategy9 said:
Also, someone else mentioned Imacasa machetes, Tramontina is another brand of machete, Condor was mentioned as well, who all make a quality affordable product that typically will arrive with a relatively dull edge. Sharp enough to chop a dead limb, but not sharp enough to slice a finger to the bone just from touch. (Most Cold Steel you may have the opposite, they are known to have razor sharp edges out of the box).
In relation to the size of a 9 year old boy, a 12" Machete is plenty big enough to be "sword like" in his little hands, as opposed to an actual mansized sword...
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I'm the one who mentioned Imacasa. Tram is good too, but I suggested Imacasa cause they have more "sword-like" options than Tram. Condor however most certainly does NOT arrive with a dull edge, their early stuff did but these days their stuff ships VERY sharp. Sharper than ANY of Cold Steel's machetes, even the newer ones which DO come sharpened.
 
For under a hundred bucks I would get him a condor hudson bay knife and a swiss army knife.
The hudson bay is pretty much a sword to a nine year old. The thick blade will stand up well to any abuse a nine year old will throw at it (when supervised).
 
I think starting out with a wooden trainer sword is a cool idea, especially because it is an historically authentic route as it is how swordsmen first hone their skills. Purpleheart Armoury make good wooden "wasters" in different authentic sizes. A wooden waster and a real pocket knife would be the ultimate cool gift, Knives Ship Free actually has a knives for kids program. Go to their website and check it out https://www.knivesshipfree.com/knives-for-kids/. Make sure to go all the way to the bottom of the page, as Derrick, the owner of the company, has a special deal on a good knife for kids. He's probably the nicest guy in the knife world today.

Good luck!
 
I bought my rambo giant United chopper from them with no issues and the best price on line.
 
if ever ordering from new site thats cheap google just the site name and scam such as "budk scam" and no matter what people say its you who decides if he gets a real sword. i for one ave had knives and such since i was young. my eight year old brother has a sword. it comes down to wether you think you raised him right.
 
I used to be a big fan of them when I was a kid. Their products are god awful, the worst of the worst. I remember having one of their $15 "katanas" when I was in 5th grade (my parents trusted me for some reason). The first thing I did when I took it out of the box was to chop into an old stump, and the sword immediately snapped in half at the handle.

As far as them overcharging you, just call your bank and say you'd like to dispute a fraudulent charge. That's a very simple thing to do. They can kill your current card immediately, wipe the fraudulent charges, and mail you a new card containing a different card number. In the meantime you can go to the bank immediately and get a temporary debit card. (I'm assuming you can do all of this through your bank--if not, it might be time for a new bank).
 
^ my bank doesn't issue temp cards... It's a localized bank, not a mega conglomerate, but they are a great bank...

That said, if the op's bank doesn't have that option, before cancelling the current card, she may want to finish some Christmas shopping, then dispute the fraudulent charges only and cancel the card after the other purchases are made; otherwise it may be 10 business days for a new card, and that puts you literally right before Christmas.
 
Google Hollow Earth Sword works. They make wooden swords that are similar in weight to steel swords. They can take a beating and while they could hurt, there's no chance of someone getting cut.
 
Bud K is about 30 minutes from where I live. Go by there a lot and they have some big nice warehouses and buildings but I always thought they sold cheap Chinese junk.i wouldn't buy from them.
 
The Mastiff said:
A lot of us have done business with Bud K somewhere in our past. They have been around for decades and never seemed like a fly by night rip off place to me. You are going through a lot of drama for something you could have just returned unopened. It sounds as if your call to customer service didn't go well. Any chance you could have accidentally had those other items in your cart before you hit the check out button?

I agree that fake swords can be more dangerous than most think. I think a first blade should be a small folder or fixed blade kept sharp enough to keep him/her from using so much force to cut something that it gets away from the user when a sharper blade will easily cut without needing a lot of force. You are right in keeping it away from the child and only given to him/her when needed and supervised until you are sure the kid can be counted on to be responsible. Earning trust a bit at a time with the reward of the trust being placed in them should be part of a kids learning from the parents. Things should be earned not given. That especially includes trust. Not learning that lesson hampers development of a healthy mind.

Good luck.

Joe
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No, there is no way it was in the cart. I even have a screen shot of my order confirmation page showing that I ordered a dragon medieval sword and it shows nothing else. My printer wasn't working, so I just took a screen shot with my phone. The problem is not with multiple items in the cart- it was that three separate transactions went through and I only made one. It also wasn't a case of accidently hitting the complete order button more than once because if that was the case it would all be for the exact same item, as it would be duplicate orders. One order was for two assault knives. I never even looked at assault knives, much less ordered them. At that point in time, I was only looking at wall hanger type swords, so it would be impossible for two items that I never even viewed to have magically jumped in my cart and checked themselves out. Why would I place three different orders within minutes of each other and have to pay shipping three different times?

In addition to that, they are insisting that they cannot cancel the fraudulent order because they claimed it shipped out at 8:14 AM the next morning (unlikely anyway since their website says they open at 8), but according to Fed Ex, a shipping label has only been created. No movement has been shown and it has not been dropped off. If they do ship it to me, I will send it back to them, but I e-mailed them asking for them to please send a pre-paid shipping label as I do not want to be out shipping charges for something I did not order and they will not.

It's great that others have had a good experience with them, but mine was definitely fishy. The reason I posted was not to cause drama but to try to decide whether I needed to head to the bank if they were a dishonest company or scam site to or to wait it out assuming it was just a website glitch that they would fix. Had I received responses showing that they were a reputable company, I would have waited it out and it would have been fine, but based on reviews and others statements, they do not have the best reputation. In addition, their response by e-mail made me uncomfortable and I believe dishonest based on the time stamp of their e-mail and the shipping label created, so I went ahead and let the bank know about the transaction. I also closed out my debit card so they cannot place any additional orders without my knowledge. I don't believe they have actually shipped the fraudulent order yet based on Fed-ex and I have let them know not to ship it, but if they do anyway, they will have to send a pre-paid label if they want it back.

Apparently this is not the first time it has happened because I read reviews with very similar incidents. It's partly my fault anyways for not doing my research first. If I go for a knife in the future for my son, I think I will stick with a well known manufacture from a reputable company unless someone from this forum specifically recommends a different brand or company. Perhaps the problem is with the employees and not the actual company and perhaps the likely dishonesty is the employee's choice, but either way, I will stick with others recommendations since I'm new. Honestly, I was more worried about not only the two faulty orders that went through but additional orders they could push through if the company was dishonest after having my debit card information. Perhaps the issue with the order was just a website glitch and not intentional, but the response from the employee was certainly fishy and very likely dishonest. Is it the fault of BudK company for a dishonest employee too lazy to void out a label for a faulty order and too dumb to realize that I can see the time stamp? Not necessarily the fault of the company as a whole. But I won't be ordering from them again, that's for sure.

Thanks for the recommendations. I think I may hold off on a knife for now, but will revisit again in the future when he is a bit older. Maybe a wooden sword like several mentioned. Looking at some different options. There are local fencing and kendo classes I might look into. We'll see...
 
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