Minor Gripe but , how do you guys deal with this

rebeltf

rebeltf

Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
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Ok , I know this is small in overall scheme of life and I really should not let it ruin my night , but I'm seething over this.

So week before last I order two materials- G10 and plastic spacer - from a company I've ordered from more than once.
The order never arrived , so wednesday I call and ask them about it , turns out my order was never taken, was not in their computer system blah blah , so I'm SOL as far as that goes , thing is I really wanted to do this knife project last weekend.
Well things happen right.

So I order some G10 again from a different company , the salesgirl says that it will indeed be here by friday , I emphasized I was quite pleased because I really want it before this weekend, I mean as silly as it seems that made my night , I was looking forward to this weekend and doing my project.

Well today , no package , nada... I call the company to find out because I'm not a business it was shipped UPS and will be here monday. :mad:

What good does that do me now ? Now my weekend plans are shot and it's really ticked me off.
Trying not to let it bug me but two times with two different companies who have blown it IMO.
I'm telling myself this is not really even a problem , I mean like compared to dying or something , but it's still making me want to punch the wall.

Sooooo my question to you Pro's is how do you handle something like this ? Would you let it bug you or move on , would you do further business with these companies or take your business elsewhere ?
It's not like there are dozens of choices for knife materials , or if there are I'm not aware of them.

Thanks for hearing my blather. :p
 
If I let things like shipping delays and mixed up orders bother me, I would live on antacids.

Here is what I do when the order is important time-wise.
1) Place the order early in the day.
2) Talk to a person who seems to know what they are doing. If unsure, ask for their supervisor.
3) Have the salesperson repeat the order and all shipping details.
4) Call the company the next day and double check that the order has gone out (This is really a good thing to do if you need it on time).
5) Never,NEVER ( unless it is a total emergency) rely on overnight shipping .Plan ahead - order a few days early.
6) Use a business address to receive the package.Someone you know has a business. Shipping is often cheaper to a business.
John Smith- knifemaker
c/o Jones Construction
123..............
7) Have a plan B. Make some more blades to mount the handles on when the G-10 arrives, etc.

Stacy
 
I order materials at least three weeks before I expect to use them. It gives me some running time it the order doesn't show up. Frank
 
I'm with Frank. I've learned the hard way if I want something to order weeks in advance. I ordered from 4 companies that knifemakers use on a regular basis on Monday night. As of today I received one package. The other 3? They all three shipped out today. They were being "processed" on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. When you add up a couple weekend days of non delivery, 3 to 5 days of shipping, and the companies processing days they add up plus add to that sometimes computer glitches and what not come into play.
 
I have at least 15 projects going at once. One or two late orders dont bother me at all. They will get here eventually.
 
change handle materials... make your own G10 / Micarta / Phenolic... go to the fabric store find a course weave nylon, Linen, Canvas and purchace several yards, go to the hardware store, get ya some fiberglass resin and hardner and fiberglass cloth sheets, cover your bench and vice in plastic bags slather the nylon with the resin crush between 2 plastic covered 2x6" boards in your bench vice let set a few days, shape your new handmade phenolic handle... sell knife for 100.00 more for the "Exclusive House G10"... rinse lather repeat


IMHO of course...
 
Stock up. There's a running joke about knifemaker's handle material collections. ;) I can't tell you how much wood and micarta I have stashed! More stuff than I'll probably ever use. When I need one handle's worth of something, I order the "big size." Buy exotic lumber by the board and do your own resawing. eBay is great for this. Cook Woods rocks. Buy the biggest piece of micarta or G10 your supplier sells. And so on.

Order well in advance. Like others, I normally order supplies at least a month before I expect to need them. This is no big deal for me, since I work so slowly! :D I spend way more time "thinking" than I do "doing." Often I'll spend a couple months getting all a project's materials together before I even start it. I'm in a similar situation with a project now; every week I go to my favored hardware store looking for some parts I bought them out of and still need more; every week they tell me they have to have a minimum order for that particular supplier and they'll get the parts by next week...

Finally, one rule of making holds that the most successful projects are those driven by material constraints. "Using what you have" can push invention in unexpected and satisfactory directions you may otherwise never have considered.

"Just in time" inventory practice doesn't work that well for small operations. And most knifemaker's supply companies are small operations too; too often they will run out of something and it may take them months to restock. When you see something that trips your trigger, buy it. You'll use it some day.

Not that any of this helps your current situation. Rest assured, everyone else has had the same experience and the replies suggest how others have learned to mitigate that frustration in the future... Good luck, have fun, work on something else this weekend. :D
 
like everyone else said, maintain your own inventory. see something you like buy enough for 5 or 10 knives, often it is cheaper to buy an entire board of exotic hardwood from a wood dealer than it is to buy a 1 inch by 1.25x 5 inch block from a knife supply website, what you save in a year pays for the tools to cut it up. Between jewelry and knives I always have 10-15 projects running

-Page
 
If you let it bother you it will mess up your whole weekend. I ordered a blower last week. Should have been here wednesday at the latest. Called thursday, was shipped from a different warehouse, will be here fri, called yesterday and it shipped late so now monday. Can't do anything bout it now. Move on to something else.
 
Yea I can relate as can everyone else. The knife material suppliers arn't exactly the same online store I see for tigerdirect.com or any other major online store... nor would I really want them to be. This is still a small community and so while we have grown used to getting an order 2-3 days later, it won't always apply in the knife business.

If it was me and I couldn't move forward on the next step of a knife I was working on, then I would do two things:

Make sure I was absolutly preparred for the next step. I piss myself off when I'm waiting for something and when I finally get it I relize that I was actually missing something else. Also, if you preped, then you might not have to wait till next weekend since prep work always takes longer than the actual work.

Second, if I still had the bug, I would start another knife and see how far I could get. There are so many things I need to learn, like bolsters! And so many different knives I want to make. I have myself busy for a long time and this is just a hobby for me.
 
Screwit!!!!-Fire up the forge and beat the bajeesus outta some steel-it works for me...if you dont have a forge...c'mon over-just a short commute!!!:D
 
#1 = Build up your materials inventory....if it happens it will still irritate you....but will be easier to swallow if you can move on to something else.

But yes, it has happened to me...and I have lost time (fortunately no customers over it) and money because of it.

Wasn't happy...but had no time to fuss with it...had to keep movin'.



#2 = only buy from suppliers you know you can trust...and when you find one that does the job right...only order from them. I do that almost exclusively now...have the same handful of suppliers I get stuff from over and over again. Know exactly what to expect....few surprises.
 
As has been said, try to SLOWLY (as it is costly) build up your inventory. "Stuff" happens, if it is out of your control no use worrying about it.

Give Ann @ Sheffield Knives a call... get most of my synthetic materials from her and she is good to deal with!

Tom
 
i ordered a 1" carbide tiped hole saw and thay told me 4 days. 2 months later i get it. to me its not worth getting pissed over if you know you are going to get it.
 
I know there are some places which work really well and other that dont. I try to send my business to those who seem to meet my schedule best and plan way ahead if I have to business with the others. I know how you feel, sometimes I have made plans 2-3 weeks ahead only to be disappointed
 
Thanks for the ideas folks.

Thing is , if this was wood I would not have been bummed , wood I have plenty of but not G10 , lesson learned. :D


Well at least when it gets here tommorrow ( if :eek: ) I'll have it to work with then , the ol... better late than never. :D
 
I sometimes have the opposite problem.
Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon I sent an email to Greatlakeswaterjet, and he had the layout done and back to me by the evening. I had sent another email to a knife supplier, thinking he would get it Monday. He called me at home this morning ( said he was in the office doing some work) and took the order right then. It goes out in the morning UPS pickup. Got to love those really customer oriented businesses.
Stacy
 
I just try to keep in mind that when my great grandfather wanted something shipped across the country it took months. Even I grew up hearing "please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery". Sometimes I forget how good we have it these days.

-Ben
 
Growing up in Alaska I suppose I'm just used to month long delays.The one I hate is when they tell me they can't mail it because I don't have a street address! How do explain to a concrete jungle monkey that you have to take a boat to get to the post office? It certainly turns one into an excellent scrounge!

I don't appreciate lost orders either though and do most business over the phone, and get their name before you hang up. Good old fashioned relationships with your suppliers beats online shopping hands-down for customer service. Good luck with next weekend.
 
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