Rick Hinderer sent Cease and Desist to Youtuber for saying the steel was soft in his knife?

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Insipid Moniker said:
Again, I remain unsure if the C&D was the absolute best route to go, but I know that my lawyer would absolutely destroy me if I went on social media to engage with someone like that if there was even the smallest chance it might eventually become any kind of legal matter.

Sending a C&D leaves you a lot of possible directions to go, entering a statement into the public record directly addressing a competing business that's making statements about your business may actual limit you a hell of a lot more than a C&D will.
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That’s how I see it. Especially if other, less formal avenues were taken beforehand. It’s what businesses do.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Do you think that you could believe that, had Brian Kim not posted the "lack luster" 58.6 HRC figure, this whole thing might have been avoided?

My personal opinion is the issue lives and dies with that. If I had to guess, I'd say that's probably what started the emails to RH, and the emails are how RH likely found out about it.
Without data, it's just another guy blabbing about his opinions.
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So, I am going to use my own, subjective opinion of Rick right now: no, I don’t. RHK may be defending their knives now, but my own personal run ins with Rick have made me realize that he’s a petty, somewhat vindictive individual (IN MY OPINION!).

Objectively, maybe, and here’s why: TK posted his initial video, RHK replied on their FB questioning his machines and acumen. TK then makes another post, then back and forth ensues. The entire leaping off point that triggered TK to continue to press was what he felt was a slight against his integrity and intellectual honesty, when Rick and crew questioned his machine calibration. Without the RC numbers, there’s no one attacking his testing machine or qualifications, there’s no counter or reaction.

Two different answers. One is my opinion, the other is just based on what seemingly was the jumping off point for TK.
 
Quiet said:
This. I don't recall Nich Shabazz saying "the design and execution of this knife is objectively wrong, because I say so."
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He actually did say something like that. He said that (paraphrasing) the flipper tabs on Hinderers are ridiculously large "pocket peckers," among other things. Regardless, you just can't sue someone because they say they don't like your product, or some aspect of your product.
 
3D Anvil said:
Brian isn't a competitor of Hinderer, and he does do Youtube review-type commentary.
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Wait, early you said he was a professional knife maker and modder who did that for a living? Which is true then? If he makes and mods knives for a living as you claimed earlier he is most definitely a competitor of Hinderer's. And if he offers reblades and modifications on Hinderer knives he absolutely has a financial stake in people believing them to be suboptimal.
 
I think, if we’re being objective, we have to remove the RH is known to be abrasive, and TK’s just a nice guy with a YT channel and some science. Barring those things, I think ANY business that saw potential disgrace of their product brewing among the volatile and easily influenced internet throngs which might affect their sales, would have probably have done the same thing. It’s not personal. It’s business. At least that’s how I see it.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Wait, early you said he was a professional knife maker and modder who did that for a living? Which is true then? If he makes and mods knives for a living as you claimed earlier he is most definitely a competitor of Hinderer's. And if he offers reblades and modifications on Hinderer knives he absolutely has a financial stake in people believing them to be suboptimal.
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No, he is a knife maker and he does do reblades, but he's not competing against Hinderer. He has in the past made fixed blade knives, but nothing that competes against Hinderer's survival-type fixed blades. And he doesn't do mods or reblades for Hinderer knives. He only does reblades for Bugouts and Demko AD20.5s.
 
3D Anvil said:
No, he is a knife maker and he does do reblades, but he's not competing against Hinderer. He has in the past made fixed blade knives, but nothing that competes against Hinderer's survival-type fixed blades. And he doesn't do mods or reblades for Hinderer knives. He only does reblades for Bugouts and Demko AD20.5s.
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If he's a knife maker he's explicitly a competitor of Hinderer knives. And if he does that YouTube review style content on a channel which he also uses to promote his work then anything he says there can and absolutely should be interpreted as him speaking on behalf of his business. Claiming he's not a competitor because he makes a different style of knives is disingenuous and false. Both are competing for the same dollars from the same clientele.
 
3D Anvil said:
No, he is a knife maker and he does do reblades, but he's not competing against Hinderer. He has in the past made fixed blade knives, but nothing that competes against Hinderer's survival-type fixed blades. And he doesn't do mods or reblades for Hinderer knives. He only does reblades for Bugouts and Demko AD20.5s.
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I dunno man, knives is knives- all knife makers are competing for impressions and knife money.
Its not as simple as saying, "don't worry, he's not after the Hinderer market".
 
3D Anvil said:
He actually did say something like that. He said that (paraphrasing) the flipper tabs on Hinderers are ridiculously large "pocket peckers," among other things. Regardless, you just can't sue someone because they say they don't like your product, or some aspect of your product.
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I think you can. You may not win but you can try.
 
groundhog-his-hole-62889.jpg


"They're still at it, Ethel."
 
EngrSorenson said:
I dunno man, knives is knives- all knife makers are competing for impressions and knife money.
Its not as simple as saying, "don't worry, he's not after the Hinderer market".
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Come on now. Brian isn't currently making his fixed blades, which were always full customs. He probably made fewer than 30 of them. And his reblades are being done in batches of 20 -- again, full custom. That's not competing with a mass producer like RHK.
 
3D Anvil said:
Come on now. Brian isn't currently making his fixed blades, which were always full customs. He probably made fewer than 30 of them. And his reblades are being done in batches of 20 -- again, full custom. That's not competing with a mass producer like RHK.
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He sells products and performs services in a similar price range in the same industry. He's a competitor by definition. All you're doing is trying to say that because he's a very small competitor he's not a competitor at all, and that doesn't even remotely hold up to scrutiny.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
He sells products and performs services in a similar price range in the same industry. He's a competitor by definition. All you're doing is trying to say that because he's a very small competitor he's not a competitor at all, and that doesn't even remotely hold up to scrutiny.
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Agree to disagree. Gas station knives and Shirogorovs are both knives, but they're not competing for the same market.
 
Always thought RHK should receive a C&D for calling his knives 'flippers' 🤔
 
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