Seymour/Link handle customer service

daizee

daizee

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 30, 2009
Messages
11,115
Hi All,

A couple weeks ago I bought (posted here) a couple "Link" 28" boy's axe handles from a local Ace hardware. One I put one on the small Warren head, and it's great. The other was thicker all around, including the eye, but had the same sticker.

Anyway, I was getting ready to use the other handle when I noticed two problems:
1) there was a crack running across the kerf which must have been there before it went on the lathe, and it extended down the handle a bit
2) there was a 15-degree twist in the top third of the handle which put the eye out of line.

D'oh!
I ruminated on this for a week or two, and eventually went to the Seymour Mfg company's website and used the 'contact us' form. I explained what I had and the issue, and asked if I could get a replacement or should return it to the store.

Within a day I had an email saying they would replace it free of charge - just send shipping address.
WOW!
I asked for something with grain within 45-degrees of vertical if possible, but luck of the draw would be fine.

It arrived today.
Grain is about perfect. There's a slight offset to the left toward the bottom of the handle, but no twist. I'm going to let it acclimate in the house and see how it ends up in a week or so. This one is skinny like the one I already hung - I was hoping for a thick one. Now I'm starting to believe that the original twisted one was mis-marked in the store and was a full-size 28" handle, not a boy's axe size.

SO I didn't get exactly what I expected, but I do have to give Seymour/Link two thumbs up for customer service. It can't hurt to have a spare handle like this around. You know it won't be long before something that size waltzes through the door...

-Daizee
 
Link makes some fine handles. Granted, not all of them are good, but a lot of them are. I've found that (around here anyway) their DB cruiser and boys axe handles are superb. I have several very nice handles here from them, with no head (s) to put them on :p
I bought another cruiser handle the other day. It is beautiful! It's the only hickory handle that I have ever seen that has blueish hues in it. I think I'm going to hang it on my TT KP that I have.
Heck, I found another very nice one the other day, but didn't buy it... I figured I have enough already :D
 
My experience with their customer service was not so hot. Got a snath from a retailer to preview before committing to buying a case of 'em wholesale and the nibs (side handles) were torqued on by an 800 lb. gorilla and then the excess thread coarsely ground down flush with the top of the nut so the steel burned and the threaded rod "smeared" over the nut so it was impossible to adjust. The blade collar was mounted crooked as well. Sent it back to the retailer for replacement and the next one was just as bad, though the collar was on straight at least. Contacted Seymour at that point and they told me there was "nothing they could do for me." I sent it back to the retailer for refund. Really wish I didn't have to do that.

Likewise they were very closed-minded about my suggestion of making some minor tweaks to their scythes to make them actually work right. They're the last maker of American scythes so their monopoly apparently makes them disinclined to make improvements. But people are going to keep writing off the tool as a piece of crap as long as they keep making it that way. The snaths are ok in terms of their parts, but the assembly sucks. The blades need a few small changes to their curvature and need the tang angled on their grass blades. Not that tough to change and it would go a long way towards making them work like a good American scythe should. I was informed that they had "made them the same way for over a hundred years and weren't going to change it now." BS. I know for a fact that Seymour USED TO put out a very high quality product, and that their snaths and blades were much more sophisticated and with greater variety than what is available today. There's a reason for that, of course, but to imply that they're still making the same product today as they were back then is both arrogant and ignorant.
 
Their website suggests that they were recently bought. Any idea if you had the new or old experience?
 
It was last year if I recall properly. You're right--it does seem as though they were purchased. I'll have to give them a call...
 
bearhunter said:
Link makes some fine handles. Granted, not all of them are good, but a lot of them are. I've found that (around here anyway) their DB cruiser and boys axe handles are superb.
Click to expand...


That's weird. I've been seeing nice cruiser and boy's axe handles from them as well. But I've also noticed that the swells on almost all their handles are on the small side.
 
Square_peg said:
That's weird. I've been seeing nice cruiser and boy's axe handles from them as well. But I've also noticed that the swells on almost all their handles are on the small side.
Click to expand...

Yeah, your defiantly right about that Pegs.
The swell on their DB handles can be a little small.
I should measure the ones I have.
 
The small swell is actually one of the things I really like about Link handles.

Of course, Sequatchie Handle Works (Owned by O.Perry Link) was just about 3/4 mile from my childhood home, so I do have a soft spot for their handles, regardless of swell size. Applied for the night watchman job there when I was in college, but they wanted someone who was gonna stick around for a few years, so I lost out. That made me just about the only male in my extended family to have never worked at that factory (always called simply "the handle factory" by everyone I knew).


-ben
 
It's much easier for the end user to make a large swell smaller than it is to make a small swell larger.
wink.gif
 
could you guys post a url of their website. i can't seem to find the Seymour/Link handle co. on the web.

thanks for your reply

buzz
 
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