Mike Sastre and River City Sheaths

J

j8mes

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I contacted Mike Sastre back at the end of January to see if he could make a sheath for my Spyderco Ronin. He responded to my email in 2 days. I sent him my knife on February 1, 2005. I have had no communication from him after I sent him my knife and money. I have tried to email him, PM him on different discussion boards, and call him on the phone. He does not respond to emails (yes, I have both emails) or PMs, and his phone does not take messages. After about the second month of no communicaton I did a few searches and found that Mr. Sastre takes a long time to make sheaths. I think that would be acceptable if I had been told at the outset that my sheath would take a couple of months to make, but I have received NO communication whatsoever from Mr. Sastre.

Mr. Sastre's behavior is completely unprofessional. I contacted him because he has a good reputation for making quality sheaths, but his lack of communication and poor business practices completely overshadow his reputation as a quality sheath maker.
 
That Mr. Sastre does indeed make a good sheath, and that he is not very good at communications.

He also seems to bump military to the top of the list, and is overly optomistic about delivery dates.

Hope you get some comms or your stuff soon.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Yup, You will discover Mike makes great sheaths but takes forever to deliver, maintains horrible communication with the customer , and gets written about pretty regularily in GB&U with zero results.

If you go with River City to make your sheaths, expect long delays and complete silence. Just keep watching the mail as it will arrive sometime.

Or you could chose makers like Lifter or Gary Graley. They both are sheath maker extraordinaires, maintain great communication, and deliver their masterpieces on time!!!!
 
He posted on BF reecently. At anyrate you probably have at least 1.5 years to wait, just a guess on my part.
 
That pretty much sums up the experience I had. I eventually got a nice sheath, but the long delay and lack of communications is par for his shop.

Here's a tip - if your phone does not send caller ID info, he will not pick up. It will ask you for a phone number. However, if the call comes in from one of his friends, he will pick up immediately.
 
Unfortunately my original searches on Blade Forums only came up with results on how great Mr. Sastre's sheaths were, and not about his waiting time or his non-exsistant communication. That's why I posted something here, so once again, people will not get ripped off by this guy.

Waiting a year for a sheath is being ripped off by any reasonable definition of "being ripped off" no matter how great his product is.

He certainly answered my email about an order quick enough - now it's like talking to a wall. That's unscrupulous as far as I'm concerned.
 
I've owned a couple of his sheaths and the work was top rate. That said, I'm glad I obtained them by either trading for them or buying them from other forum members. Anyone who runs a business like he does deserves to fail. If sheathmaking, knifemaking, or whatever it is you make, is just a hobby, then say so. At that point, the person waiting for your product can adjust their expectations accordingly. OTOH, if you tell someone that it's a business (part time or full time), and you charge for your product or service, you owe that customer the courtesy of a response, at the very least. :mad:
 
Those looking for a great Kydex sheath should contact forum member Normark. His work is every bit as good as Mike's and he communicates well. He also delivers in a very reasonable time.
 
Normark and I disagree on some issues, but I have heard many good things about him, including his good customer service and great sheath work. When I buy something worthy of a good sheath, I'll contact him first.
 
If you have to wait a year for a sheath it best be made of freaking Platinum!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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