Knifemakers Guild / Shackleford / Terzuola

Michael Lovett said:
It's already there. And has been for quite some time. I personally know a knife maker that has his blades water jetted, as is the titanium frame, and g-10 scales, and carbon fiber scales. The blades are double disk ground. The clips are supplied after market, as are the screws, bushings, and bearing. He gives the locking bar and or the tang a light stoning with a gunsmiths trigger stone, bead blast the blade and liner, screws every thing together, and etches his logo, then sharpens. Quite literally all the hand work he does is the stoning of the lock, and the sharpening. Total time to build a "Custom folder, 15-20 minutes. There is much more work in a kit knife. But he gets north of 40.0U.S. for them. If he has the supplied parts in stock, he can produce up wards of 20 and more knives a day. The only thing missing at the moment is enough customers to by his production. Did I say Production? Hummmm!!! Or is it really hand made. Or at least hand screwed.:jerkit: Or is it just the customer the one being screwed. They can get the same technoligy form Benchmade. It may be a small factory, Or shop, but it is still a production piece. Pure and simple. It world be a great 125.00 to 175.00 knife!
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What knifemaker would that be Mike?

For that matter Shing, what factory are you talking about? Were you on the production floor? Some makers of kitchen cutlery are fairly automated – however even in that market, LOTS of handwork go into the knives. You're saying they dump parts in one hopper and folders come out the other end? I don't believe that. Let's have the name of this factory!

Or Mike, even better, what's the name of the waterjet cutting company that can cut out a blade blank complete with the 8 degree angled contact surface on the lockup face of the blade? That can cut the pivot hole reamed to size? And let's not even get into tapping the parts and locating the holes and countersinking!! Mike, what waterjet cutter countersinks after tapping!? I have a good deal of water jet experience and the machines I've seen can't cut anywhere near that well (the cut edges are slightly angled in a bad way due the the break out of the jet stream on the exit side), so the contours have to be cut oversize and machined to final tolerances ... see RJ's post above.

Mike if that were possible, that would be the way major knife companies like Spydeco made all their knives... but it's not possible and they don't.
 
I saw the programme "How its Made" a knife production line where machines blanked out the blades from metal strips, then ground on a automated grinder, heat treated on a conveyer and handles put on and rivetted all by machines. There were some human intervention such as packing the finished knives but not shaping any metal or any handles.

In almost every process where something is made from trainers to cars, there is a degree of human intervention but I don't think people would say a Ford car or a pair of Nikes would be called hand made even if the amount of hand work in a pair of trainers is more than on a "handmade" knife.

I think the danger for makers who use a lot of CNC and out sourcing is they can be done at much lower cost in China. An enterprising fellow could commision designs from a famous US maker and get it hand made in China to the same quality as a US maker at a fraction of the cost and sell it as a handmade knife from a US designer. He could even retain the designer as a consultant to add more autheticity.

We are all aware of how much of a premium a guitar or car owned by a famous person could fetch compared to exactly the same thing owned by an unknown person.
 
I don't think that the top custom knife makers have much to worry about being replaced by low wage labor and CNCs in China in the near term or beyond. Nike and Ford don't really compete with their luxury counterparts. If you want to spend ten times as much money on a pair of hand stitched Italian loafers or a Ferrari, Nike and Ford aren't really in the running for your dollars are they?

I also don't really understand this "handmade" debate as it applies to folding knives. I can understand sole authorship and completely made by hand when you're talking about a forged knife, but most of the shots in this thread are being taken at folding knife makers, most of whom don't make their own steel and all of whom require some machined parts. I don't see a clear line...even the guys making their own screws aren't sculpting them by hand, they are machining them. Should all true knifemakers be limited to the use of a hand drill and not those damn drill presses that make things too easy?

If a knifemaker can finish a knife in 15 minutes because the parts he's farmed out or sourced are that good, more power to him as long as he's honest with his customers. I'd think that a knife with 15 minutes of assembly and finishing would let it on with it's appearance though. If not, I look forward to all of the dirt cheap high quality customs to come from China in the future.
 
Shing, you are correct that some production steps are automated, paticularly in the low end kitchen cutlery and some German factories (high end) even have some robots. Howver, it's usually very low tech automation and there are LOTS of people steps in there are well. Parts in a hopper, knives out the other end... not really.

I believe the best automated folder production in the world is done by Victorianox in Switzerland, allthough I have never been in their factory and ain't likely to be there either, as they guard their trade secrets very closely. (As well they should.) I would be all eyes, ears and notepad!

Regarding "handmade" trainers... I guess it depends on if you consider the workers in places like Vietnam, Malaysia, China, etc as "people." I definitely consider them as people and I feel very bad for the conditions under which they often must work. I also consider these factors whenever I make a purchase. Those shoes are made by people sitting all day at a sewing machine sewing one pair after the other. Pure Hell it sounds like to me. The work is done in those countries because the "handmade" part there is cheaper than if it's done in the UK or the EU or the USA. As long as price is all the end consumer cares about, this will continue.

Forgot to mention: The German company Cherusker has purchased on of my folderr designs and it is being produced in China! I have seen two protoytypes and they are working from my CAD design drawings and I can tell, the guys are very capable of doing quality work.

I remember one conversation I had with Ron Lake several years back when he was telling me about a trip he had made to China and visited the workshops where knives were being produced. He was shocked and dismayed that workers were operating dangerous grinders without safety glasses. He said he told the bosses something like goddamit spend $2 and buy the man some safety glasses! Amen, Ron!
 
Mr. Wilkins on your site you say you make handmade custom knives.

However, on this forum you say that much of what you do is assemble machine made parts. Yes you program the machine, but you don't make the parts by hand with either hand tools or powered tools. In addition, you offer multiple knives of the same design, which appears to be somewhat "production" like and not custom. On your chef's knives, switching handle material on a factory made blade doesn't make it a "custom" knife. I can't see how you can claim "handmade custom knives" for your product.

To quote "the machines on which MY big Chef's Knives were ground weighed 24,000 lbs. had twin 30 horse motors and the machine operator had almost 40 years of experience. If they GAVE me the machines it would take me several years to learn to operate them." This is not handmade. This is not custom. What do you do to make these "-MY- big Chef's knives"? Your design for the blade is not unique, however the handles appear unusual, does this make it "yours"? In my mind the man who ground your knives and the company he works for has just as much right to put their name on your chef's knives as you do. There are people on this forum who do grind by hand chef's knives and the ones that do a really good job, have many year's experience in order to get the good flat grind. Go to a the Arkansas knife show and you'll be able to see how a forge, a strong arm and 20 years of grinding experience can get you a flat grind, zero bevel w/o the use of 24000lb machine. To me, your chef's knives appear to be no more "hand made" or "custom" than a Spyderco fixed blade made in Japan.

However, you practice full disclosure, so those who buy your work, if they read, can know how they are made. However, IMHO, they will never be custom nor handmade.
 
brownshoe said:
Mr. Wilkins on your site you say you make handmade custom knives.

However, on this forum you say that much of what you do is assemble machine made parts. Yes you program the machine, but you don't make the parts by hand with either hand tools or powered tools. In addition, you offer multiple knives of the same design, which appears to be somewhat "production" like and not custom. On your chef's knives, switching handle material on a factory made blade doesn't make it a "custom" knife. I can't see how you can claim "handmade custom knives" for your product.

To quote "the machines on which MY big Chef's Knives were ground weighed 24,000 lbs. had twin 30 horse motors and the machine operator had almost 40 years of experience. If they GAVE me the machines it would take me several years to learn to operate them." This is not handmade. This is not custom. What do you do to make these "-MY- big Chef's knives"? Your design for the blade is not unique, however the handles appear unusual, does this make it "yours"? In my mind the man who ground your knives and the company he works for has just as much right to put their name on your chef's knives as you do. There are people on this forum who do grind by hand chef's knives and the ones that do a really good job, have many year's experience in order to get the good flat grind. Go to a the Arkansas knife show and you'll be able to see how a forge, a strong arm and 20 years of grinding experience can get you a flat grind, zero bevel w/o the use of 24000lb machine. To me, your chef's knives appear to be no more "hand made" or "custom" than a Spyderco fixed blade made in Japan.

However, you practice full disclosure, so those who buy your work, if they read, can know how they are made. However, IMHO, they will never be custom nor handmade.
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bs - yousay "Your design for the blade is not unique..."

So I guess that means everyone that makes a Santoku or variation thereof is not a custom maker, right? Also, I don't know about Kevin's heat treat, but I assume that the heat treat and steel quality might be rather different than a knife made in the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. In fact, many makers work with a very limited number of designs, some of which are likely derivative or outright copies (often with permission) of another makers work. Would you classify their work as "custom". Chuck Bybee's detailed post makes it quite clear that "handmade" is usually a fallacious term as well. So what is you point?

You post is essentially a personal attack and pointless to the subject, which is about the Guild rules. Further, you chime in to elevate the term "custom" and "handmade" without differenting their attributes or adding to the aleady detailed discussion. Maybe you should have emailed or PM'ed Kevin directly to insult him.

I think Kevin Jones accurately described earlier in this thread that the terms themselves will never be given satisfactory definitions. To infer that one approach is "superior" and the other approach "inferior" is useless, since it entirely depends on your personal preference and point of view. The attempt to do this (and it has been the subject of countless threads on just this forum) misses the point that the market clearly has room to support a multiplicity of approaches.

I think the point of the thread is that the Guild should promote ethics in this business (already a state goal). Should the Guild promote or ban certain practices, or leave it up to the market?
 
I don't think handmade is superior to machine made or machine made and hand assembled. But handmade is both a physical thing and a mental thing and different experienced differently from machine made.

Its like the difference between going to a concert to see and hear a artist live and hearing the same artist on a hi fi or video. The hi fi may offer a technically superior listening experience compared to a live concert but most fans would go to concerts because they want to experience their heroes perform live.
 
brownshoe said:
Mr. Wilkins on your site you say you make handmade custom knives.

However, on this forum you say that much of what you do is assemble machine made parts.
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Just for the record, Kevin also explains on his site (and not only on the forums) how he makes the parts and the knives.
I have one of his folders and knew how it was made before buying it. I definitely don't regret the purchase, it's a great folder.
If a maker is honest about how he makes the knives, I have no problem with ANY method, from smelting the steel from ore and hand forging to final shape to programming CNC equipment.
 
Hey Kevin! Years ago I was the Foreman for a company called HAC foundries. We made aluminum parts for Cobra Bass Boats, and a few others. Later I ran the plant for Diamond Components. It was a roof and floor truss plant. My father was with Good Year Tire and Rubber for 36 years. So I have a small amount of knowledge of production techniques.

The very discussion here of the differences and the way different people feel about the subject in and of it's self shows that even the casual observer see's a difference. An invisible line if you will. I will give an example of what I mean.

You ask the makers name. I will not mention his or her name for the reasons that I hope will become clear here.

It is being said that in some camps that only the forgers making knives by hand. That stock removal is all going automated. This is just as misguided. It has be stated that people just don't understand how knives are made. Being a maker of over 30 years, I think I have a handle on that as well.

There seems to be two completely different camps of what looks right. There are the hand cut, fitted and blended camp, and the machine cut, fitted, and assembled camps.

Lets look at two different makers styles.

SR Johnson (Known as making some of the cleanest knives on the planet, starts with non-precision bar stock. He surfaces it by hand on a disk sander. Lots of work. Nope, not even a precision grinder. The blades are cut out on a band saw, or the profile is ground out on the grinder. He then traces the lined on the edge where he wants the cutting edge to be, and grinds the blade totally by hand.

The handle scales go thru much the same operation. As does the the guard material. The parts are them cut, slotted, flattened, and angled to all fit together cleanly. This takes many hours of hand work, and hand eye team work. Once the parts are ready to assemble, there is more work to make them all blend beautifully together. These even before the assembly takes place. Some of these trick of the trade have taken decades to master. Some have passed down over the years from cutler to cutler. Once assembled, everything must be ground, sanded, blended, and polished out to not only produce a usable knife, but a treasure for the customer to Cherish of many years to come. Every component must become one of a whole. One flowing solid finale product. A sculpture in steel and wood or bone. No gaps. No defining lines where the two mate. No sharp corners, or unfinished edges. Everything masterfully blended in to a single, solid homogeneous piece of the cutlers art. Such a knife is smooth, and comfortable in the hand. It becomes a part of your soul. It becomes more than a simple tool Something that cuts. It becomes a treasured possession of its owner.

The Tactical craze has opened (Well my computer went down for a while, She's back up, and now it's time for supper. I will continue this later, as it think it is a worthy topic. Mike

Well I finally got back. When the tactical age hit, the gun community had already gone thru what we are experiencing now. Lots of arguments of what a proper gun was. Now proper knife. No one wanted the Black guns at the shows. Now they are more of the Black guns than the traditional ones. Things change. They will change for us as well. High polish is giving away to bead blast. Ivory and stag for plastic, and fiberglass. (Yes that ultra hi-tech g-10 really has been around for decades. It isn't new at all. Just to the knife people.) Finnish has taken a back seat, and finish is not far behind. Does it matter? Probably not. As the buying public loves these knives. When we are at War, Even more so. I have a very good friend that is in the tactical knife making business. He tells me,"Mike, I started making these Grey Turds, and never looked back!" He has been wildly successful. Who am I to disagree with his success. The Grey knives are here to stay. No doubt about it.

What dismay es me is that the accepted level of fit is dropping by the year. I see many threads about how good the fit and finish is on some makers tactical folder. I do get the chance to inspect many of them at shows and the knives held by private collectors. The finish is mostly bead blast. Not much to say about that one way or the other. You either like them or you don't. The fit on the other hand bothers me. They are many times on many makers knives inferior to most factory knives these days. This was one of the areas that separated a true custom, or hand made from the pack. The customer was getting something special. Something he couldn't get down at the local hardware store. Not to mention Wally-world. I am seeing more and more that are terrible. But the saddest thing is that the customers are not seeing a difference. The level of quality demanded by the buyer has dropped so much in the last few years. I todays throw away society, this should not surprise anyone. But when one has spent a lifetime in a field striving for the very best work he or she is capable of, it hurts to see values of craftsmen shrugged off to be replaced with Quicker, Faster, Cheaper, More, More, More. Very sad indeed.

This attitude is leeching into everything. TV's, Shoes, toaster ovens, every Conner of our lives. And it has crept into the Custom knife world. And it is here to stay.

Yes I know that many makers that use CNC, EDM, Auto grinders etc, do so in their own shop. By their own skill and talent. And good for them. But when these parts are farmed out. Ordered by the dozens, OR hundreds. It is production. It is assembled parts. Hand assembled to be sure. But not hand make.

Let me ask you this. You go down to the local Wally-world and by your child a new bike in a box. It says assembly required. You go home, read the instructions, bend a few things to make it fit. May-be even have to file a sharp edge or too. When you get through with the ordeal, you have every right to be proud of what you have accomplished. So will your child. It is after all hand assembled. Now if a bike shop down the road starts buying these same bikes at the store, going to their shop. Assembling them, and re-paint and stencil their name on the bike. Sell them for a grand or two, are these now custom hand made bikes. Would you feel ripped off if you later learned that you just bought a 100. bike for 1500. with only an hour or two in it. I sure as hell would. Especially if I found China under the paint. Make no mistake. It is coming in the custom knife world!!!

Now way you say! DDR has a company that sells Knife kits. Fairly good stuff. Many new folks try their hand at knife making-assembly this way.Are they a true knife maker. Of course not. Nor do they claim to be. Well most don't anyway. But I ask you. What is the difference whether a maker or hobbyist orders the parts from different vendors, or form one source such as Knife Kits.com? Yes I know some of these parts are made over seas. But that question hasn't even been brought up here in this thread. It is yet another issue. Don't kid your self for an instant. There is no difference. Worse yet, is that there are so-called makers assembling such ordered parts, changing the profile slightly, and selling them as their knives. If you don't believe it, order one of knife kits catalogers, and study it. Now go to a major show, or curse the net. You will find them. If you only look.

There is room for all kinds of knives. Made in many different ways. But as always, let the buyer be ware!!!!!!!!!!!
 
brownshoe said:
Mr. Wilkins on your site you say you make handmade custom knives.
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According to my definition of the term. Your definition may vary. I explain how I make all of my knives in two languages so that buyers can know exactly what they're getting.

brownshoe said:
However, on this forum you say that much of what you do is assemble machine made parts. Yes you program the machine, but you don't make the parts by hand with either hand tools or powered tools.
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Ah, I DO NOT say that and in fact your statement contradicts itself. I own and operate my own CNC milling machine and as RJ Martin also states, there is still a LOT of work that goes into building a knife other than cutting out the parts, doesn't matter how they are cut out. I also have a $15,000 bandsaw that I use to cut out a lot of parts. BFD.

brownshoe said:
On your chef's knives, switching handle material on a factory made blade doesn't make it a "custom" knife.
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Again, a totally false stement on your part. My Ktichen cutlery isn't factory blades with handles switched, which is obvious to anyone reading my website for 2 minutes. Normally I hand grind all blades, however I had those blades ground because the edge is 0.3mm down from 4.5mm on a heat treated blank and you need liquid cooled grinders to do that effeciently.

It's about giving the buyer a blade they can use everyday without charging $2000 for the knife. Believe me, the buyers of these knives have been MORE than happy with the perfrmance of the steel and blade design.

Factor producers of cutlery don't use steels like Becut or N690 for their products because the costs of the materials AND the time ned to grind the blades is about 5 times longer than normal cutlery steels.

I don't need to travel to Arkansaw to see wolrd class forged blades. I know a lot of people who do grat work in that area. It's just not what interests me.

If my work is not what interests you, don't buy it. Save your money or buy something else.

If you want to criticize it, I would appreciate your sticking to the facts.
 
Mike, I appreciate your long reply, but without the name of this mysterious Maker who has parts waterjet cut and them screws em together in 15 minites I have to call bullshit on that. It just ain't technically possible and I will be happy to pay a good commision if you can hook me up with any company anywhere in the world that can do this. If some Maker is telling you they are doing this, they are feeding you a pack of fairy tales. If this were possible, then believe me, factories would be doing it. But they're not.

I do agree with the points you are making regarding qulity falling off etc. One reasone for this may be that may Makers having parts made do not understand production size tolerances and how to design a part for production. They may also be failing (or lack the skill) to properly build a folding knife.

But tell your myterious Mister Waterjet Maker they owe you a steak dinner.
 
Arkansaw ?

Sorry I was unclear.

An ABS master smith can forge a good kitchen knife for a lot less than $2000. More than a few makers can do the same with stock removal. My point here is that you can make the type of blade you use a factory to make by using "hand" tehcniques.

My major point is that your shop will never fit the "custom handmade" world of the Guild. Why bother to discuss since your path obviously is not the same as a Guild member? By the way, do you use assistants in your shop? If so, this puts you even farther out of the Guild arena. That does not take away from the quality and marketability of Wilkins knives.

Per your statement "I will be happy to pay a good commision if you can hook me up with any company anywhere in the world that can do this." If you get hooked up would these knives be "custom handmade" too?
 
I like what Guild member (since '73) Mike Franklin (fulltime maker since '74) posts on his website as questions to ask a knifemaker:

Do you grind you own blades? Are they held in your own two hands while grinding?

Do you have parts laser cut? Do you have buckets of parts sitting in your shop?

Is my knife unique, or will the parts on my knife interchange with other knives of this model?

Do you own or use in your shop a CNC machine? Do you have someone else CNC parts for you? If so, what steps are done with it?

Do you heat treat your own blades? If not, who does this for you?

What is the approximate time it takes to make my knife?

Do you “hand fit” any parts of your knives?

How do you figure your prices?

How long have you been making custom knives?

Are you a fulltime maker? If so, since when? Have you received any awards at shows? Have you been featured in any magazines?

Do you guarantee your work?

Are you a member of the Knifemaker's Guild?

Is my knife assembled in another country?

His answer: "Every knife coming out of my shop is 100% handmade by me. There are no laser cut parts or CNC parts, so no two are exactly alike, and parts will not interchange. So. . . if you order or buy a HAWG!, you can rest assured it was made by me..."

Yes I own a Franklin. It was made by stock removal, but I don't consider forging a necessary component to being called "hand-made." It is so "custom" when I showed it to him, Mike recognized it as his "child" but couldn't remember the knife or pattern.
 
brownshoe said:
Arkansaw ?

Sorry I was unclear.

An ABS master smith can forge a good kitchen knife for a lot less than $2000. More than a few makers can do the same with stock removal. My point here is that you can make the type of blade you use a factory to make by using "hand" tehcniques.

My major point is that your shop will never fit the "custom handmade" world of the Guild. Why bother to discuss since your path obviously is not the same as a Guild member? By the way, do you use assistants in your shop? If so, this puts you even farther out of the Guild arena. That does not take away from the quality and marketability of Wilkins knives.

Per your statement "I will be happy to pay a good commision if you can hook me up with any company anywhere in the world that can do this." If you get hooked up would these knives be "custom handmade" too?
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Looks like it's not only my shop that won't fit into the "world of the Guild." But if that puts me in the company of guys like Bob Terzuola and RJ Martin, well, that suits me just fine. They are people who's work I know and admire very much.

The "world" I try and fit into is the world of my customers – who seem pretty happy – and the world of surviving in a VERY tough business – which I've been doing for some years now.

And I've been doing this not by copying other Maker's work or by making historical reproductions or by being dishonest with my custmers but by creating original designs, producing them myself and marketing them throughout the world. Your accusation that I rehandle factory blades is a malicious lie and I can't fathom why you would say it, considering that I do not know you and as far as I know you have never seen or used one of my knives. Whatever your problem is, you know nothing of me or my work. At least the fellow who made the false statement about Mr. Terzuola's work had the decency to appologize when called on it.

In the spring you can pick up one of my Leafstorm folders from Spyderco, they will be "hand making" them in their Colorado facility. I'm pretty proud of that too. :eek:
 
So, among collectors, who cares about the Guild?
Among knifemakers, I guess the members must care about it, how about the others?

:confused:
 
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Must be a language problem, since I can't see where I ever said you "rehandle" anything. Per your statements here and from your website, your kitchen blades are factory ground and the handles are CNC machined. You assemble and do a final grind.

From what I understand of Spyderco's Japanese production, the parts are machine made and the knives are assembled with final fit and grind done by hand. Is that different from what you do? Of course the Japanese knives are not all assembled and ground by one person. That's why I asked if you use assistants. Do you? Is it possible for a knife stamped Wilkens to have not one aspect of its production (other than say final inspection) be done by you?

In Terzuola's case, he produced a folder where he did all the design work and contracted production with him inspecting the final product. He did not call it a Terzuola. He also sold it for about $350.
 
flava said:
So, among collectors, who cares about the Guild?
Among knifemakers, I guess the members must care about it, how about the others?

:confused:
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There were quite a few collectors at the Guild show and at the Gala for honorary members who obviously care about the Guild. The Guild does need to do a better job of advertising that Guild membership is not just a matter of paying your dues and hanging out your shingle but members have been judged by their peers as being worthy of membership, have served a two year probation and have met the quality standards set by the Guild.

There is no reason for anybody to get defensive about how they make their knives as long as they are honest about it. I think we all agree that excellent knives are being made by various methods. There are plenty of shows that are open to all types of knives and manufacturing methods.

I for one think that the Guild should remain an organization for makers of handmade knives or else set up different types of memberships that makes a distinction between handmade and machine made.

It is clear that many of us disagree what "handmade" means. Many of us make the distinction between turning the wheels by hand and milling by eye versus programming a computer to make the moves for you.

I feel that any truly handmade knife will be a one-of-a-kind custom in the sense that even the best maker cannot exactly duplicate his own work while a machine can exactly duplicate unlimited copies. That is part of what makes a handmade knife special to me.
 
The definition of a custom knife as put forward by the Guild is something they established so that they would have guidelines. That definition does not mean that it is the only acceptable way to make a custom knife. It is up to the maker to fully disclose how they make knives, and then it is up to the potential customers to decide if that is how they want their knives made.

In my opinion the Guild has to have guidelines. That means that no matter how broad they make the definition, there are going to be knives that don't fit within those guidelines that some people will feel are custom. Who am I to say that those people are wrong? My definition of a custom knife differs from the Guild's, but my definition is only important to me.

I have seen many photos of knives that were exhibited at the Guild show. Quite a few were artsy, but lots were working knives.

Is the fact that a maker is a member of the Guild important to me? Not at all.

Brownshoe, Arkansaw was a very common way to see the word spelled for many years. That is how Mark Twain spelled it in all his books. Arkansas was officially adopted as the proper spelling in 1881, but there are still those, even some that live in Arkansas, that use the other spelling.
 
brownshoe said:
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Must be a language problem, since I can't see where I ever said you "rehandle" anything. Per your statements here and from your website, your kitchen blades are factory ground and the handles are CNC machined. You assemble and do a final grind.

From what I understand of Spyderco's Japanese production, the parts are machine made and the knives are assembled with final fit and grind done by hand. Is that different from what you do? Of course the Japanese knives are not all assembled and ground by one person. That's why I asked if you use assistants. Do you? Is it possible for a knife stamped Wilkens to have not one aspect of its production (other than say final inspection) be done by you?

In Terzuola's case, he produced a folder where he did all the design work and contracted production with him inspecting the final product. He did not call it a Terzuola. He also sold it for about $350.
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You need to reread your own ignorant posts. The language problem is yours alone. You are even more clueless than I thought. :jerkit:
 
brownshoe said:
Per your statements here and from your website, your kitchen blades are factory ground and the handles are CNC machined. You assemble and do a final grind.
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Again: WRONG. Learn to read. I did not and do not say that!

I do all the work in my shop myself, except when I go get lunch, I don't cook lunch myself. I buy lunch out. OK? The truth is out. I guess those Smiths in Arkandsaw cook their own lunch everyday from vittles they grow in the garden... but I don't do that. I buy lunch out.

Regarding the Kitchen Knives, again to set the record straight...

I design the knife,
select the materials,
make the prototypes,
do the blanks,
have them heat treated by the heat treaters in Berlin who do most all of my blades,
travel to Solingen where the blanks I provide are ground in my presence! for reasons I have clearly stated,
go back home with the blanks and...
surface finish the now ground blanks,
turn the threaded inserts one at a time on my lathe for the grips,
design and make the tooling for the grips,
cut out the grips on the saw and drill the holes,
attach the grips to the tooling,
machine the contours,
hand sand the grips,
attach the grips with screws, bushings and epoxy to the blades,
let the cure,
profile grind the entire knife by hand,
water seal the grips with special oils,
buff grips as needed
touch up the blade finish,
have the blades laser marked (stamped blades may not be used for food service or restaurants),
sharpen the blades and test for cutting,
market and sell the finished product.

The above is the short version, there are other steps but they might only serve to further confuse Brownshu ... not other readers who have had no trouble understanding anyway.

Last but not least: Brownshew be sure and pick up one of the Spyderco Leafstorms when they come out. Like I said – I'll say it again as you seemed to have missed that part – they are being made by Spyderco in the US of A. Not Japan. USA. The country you live in. Handmade. Only hands. No feet. Just hands.

Come to think of it, get two Leafstroms. I make a little money on everyone they sell and as much of a PIA as you've been on this thread, I'd enjoy making some money off you for my trouble... and I sure ain't gonna sell you anything directly. :thumbup:
 
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