My Experience with Gavko Knives

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palonej said:
One more thing WC.......he says he does not do any customizing of old knives.
You are not asking for any custom work. A new blade install is custom work??
Since when?? And how long could it possibly take for him to install a blade??
Ugh. Doesn't sound like business sense is in his vocabulary to me at all.
Again, good luck brother.
Joe
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My thought exactly. Believe me, it took everything I had to not email him back and open that can of worms. I figured that fell under warranty work, I mean blades over time lose material from being sharpened.

I guess if it doesn't make money it doesn't make sense.
 
I'm sure you were biting your tongue at some point!!!
But like you said, you were happy to pay for any work performed.
I don't get it.
At this point, I would not want to deal with the guy at all. At some point you'll stop biting your tongue and say what's on your mind. That won't help anything.
Send Josh a message and let us know how it goes.
Joe

W_cole said:
My thought exactly. Believe me, it took everything I had to not email him back and open that can of worms. I figured that fell under warranty work, I mean blades over time lose material from being sharpened.

I guess if it doesn't make money it doesn't make sense.
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I would hope a maker would support his existing knives, but he has an absolute right to do what he wishes with his time. He neither created the situation you find yourself in or has a moral or ethical duty to solve it. Hopes to the contrary carry no weight.

Have you considered having another maker perform the work you want done?
 
Thomas Linton said:
I would hope a maker would support his existing knives, but he has an absolute right to do what he wishes with his time. He neither created the situation you find yourself in or has a moral or ethical duty to solve it. Hopes to the contrary carry no weight.

Have you considered having another maker perform the work you want done?
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I have considered it and am currently in the process of having it done. I agree, what he does with his time is none of my business. I'm not his mama and he doesn't have to answer to me or anyone else for that matter.

However, his actions showed me that he does not stand behind his customers. Take the money and run type of mentality. Want your knife fixed? Buy a new one. In the knife community reputation is just as important as the knives you make.
 
W_cole said:
This guys making $1000 dollar customs and not even offering replacement blades for them when they're used? What am I supposed to do just buy them and never use them? At some point in their life a knife is going to need a new blade and you're just SOL on getting a new one.
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Absolutely, if a sub 40$ knife which is pinned together can get it's blade replaced by the company who made it why not a 1000$ custom.
Hoyt buck started off with handmade custom knives, and Buck has their famous forever warranty because he belived in standing by his products and keeping them in service as well as the business of their owners.

It's so easy to replace a buck 110 at any Walmart for little money, but if you've become attached to your faithful companion Buck will gladly do their best to make it look new again for a nominal fee.
This custom costs 1000$+ and you can't have it looking new again after years of faithful service ?
He spends such time to craft this blade and has no problem letting it be used up and tossed in the garbage ?
Sounds to me like he doesn't find his blades worthy of replacement parts or real repair.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Absolutely, if a sub 40$ knife which is pinned together can get it's blade replaced by the company who made it why not a 1000$ custom.
Hoyt buck started off with handmade custom knives, and Buck has their famous forever warranty because he belived in standing by his products and keeping them in service as well as the business of their owners.

It's so easy to replace a buck 110 at any Walmart for little money, but if you've become attached to your faithful companion Buck will gladly do their best to make it look new again for a nominal fee.
This custom costs 1000$+ and you can't have it looking new again after years of faithful service ?
He spends such time to craft this blade and has no problem letting it be used up and tossed in the garbage ?
Sounds to me like he doesn't find his blades worthy of replacement parts or real repair.
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Thanks for the support, I agree 100 percent with you. If he can't handle making new knives and doing warranty work on his existing knives due to the lack of time and man power then maybe it's time to expand your operation. People are going to need their knives fixed, that comes with the territory of being a knife maker.
 
Let's say I build a car, then I sell that car and offer a lifetime warranty on it. Let's say that customer brings back the car for warranty service. It's like me telling them "Sorry, even though I COULD fix your car for you, I'm not going to. Because all my time is spent building new cars. That warranty I promised you doesn't mean anything."
 
Sorry for your situation. At least you might have saved your fellow enthusiasts some problems; so thanks. I made a "do not purchase" note in my file.
 
He has the right to refuse to help you, but that doesn't mean it's ok. I was seriously considering getting a Gavko knife, but will not now based upon this incident. Thanks, OP.
 
W_cole said:
I finally found a couple for sale that were used and went ahead and picked them up. One in particular had been resharpened poorly giving it an uneven secondary bevel and a slight recurve in the belly of the blade.

Now I'm no knife maker, but I personally thought the damage done to the blade was beyond repair and by resharpening the blade would remove too much material and leave me a toothpick for a blade.

First I asked if he could swap blades out with possibly a different blade shape, he told me that he COULD do that but wasn't going to because he didn't offer such services.

All I wanted was a new blade to replace the old worn out one.

Am I being irrational? Was that too much to ask from a maker? Would love to hear what y'all think of it.
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As the original post asks for FEEDBACK, yes and yes. There have been different versions of the Mako (including clones from AliExpress), so there might not be a spare blade available for the trashed knife.
Who oversharpened this knife and why would anyone do that to an expensive blade? Was there a heat treatment problem or is it fabricated from AUS-6? Pics, please.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I know he's just a one man operation, but even with the Buck spa treatment they will put a new blade in a 35$ Buck 110 if the original can't be made like new again.
I personally think this is something that should be reasonable for an expensive ( I'm assuming ) custom blade.
Why would he want one of his knives out there as example of what he won't do for his customers.
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That "but" makes no sense whatsoever. He is a one man operation and Buck is a huge operation with tons of manpower and tons of mass produced blades. That is why Buck can do it and he cant. Buck will have a person go grab a new blade out of a box full of them and replace it. This guy would have to make a new one from scratch by himself.
 
W_cole said:
This guys making $1000 dollar customs and not even offering replacement blades for them when they're used? What am I supposed to do just buy them and never use them? At some point in their life a knife is going to need a new blade and you're just SOL on getting a new one.
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At some point in their life a knife does not need a new blade. A well made knife will easily outlive all of us.

Now if you buy a knife that you know somebody has trashed, you got a problem. If it's not cost-effective for the guy to replace blade, then you are out of luck.

If you are willing to pay, and happy with the knife, then why not (or why didn't you) just buy a new one from him? (Instead of buying a reamed one and then having the blade replaced.)
 
As a one man operation, the only thing I can think of is he makes his knives in such small batches maybe he doesn't have a replacement blade for it.
Pretty sure he has his blades water-jet cut for him in small batches and probably just enough for the run he's making.
 
Yes, and then grinds them all by hand. This is the first negative I've ever read of Gavac's work or warranty service, but this seem's like an extreme case of an overly abused knife. This is how he feeds his family and if making a new blade isn't cost effective enough for him to do, I can't blame him. BTW I currently do not own any Gavko's but loved the ones I had.


evltcat said:
As a one man operation, the only thing I can think of is he makes his knives in such small batches maybe he doesn't have a replacement blade for it.
Pretty sure he has his blades water-jet cut for him in small batches and probably just enough for the run he's making.
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newdebate said:
As the original post asks for FEEDBACK, yes and yes. There have been different versions of the Mako (including clones from AliExpress), so there might not be a spare blade available for the trashed knife.
Who oversharpened this knife and why would anyone do that to an expensive blade? Was there a heat treatment problem or is it fabricated from AUS-6? Pics, please.
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I think this post raises some interesting points that, in my opinion, should be expounded upon.
 
This post is lol worthly.

You bought a beat up knife and you knew it. I suspect you probably got a discount of some sort for the condition of the knife.

Now your blaming the maker for not wanting to sell you a new blade for your beatup knife. If the blade takes him 70 percent of the time and he can sell a new complete knife for $1000 would you have been willing to pay $700 for a blade or would you have come in here b*tching that Micheal thinks his blades are worth 700 bucks.

I know a surefire way for you to get a replacement blade, by a new complete knife.
 
marcinek said:
That "but" makes no sense whatsoever. He is a one man operation and Buck is a huge operation with tons of manpower and tons of mass produced blades. That is why Buck can do it and he cant. Buck will have a person go grab a new blade out of a box full of them and replace it. This guy would have to make a new one from scratch by himself.
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I fully understand this but my point was regarding not ability for blade replacement but willingness to.

He may not have extra blades or anything, but he should at least entertain the notion that some of his knives may end up in need of a new blade at some point.
 
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