Would this knife be in any way less a demonstration of human ingenuity without this mark? Of course not.
No Joss, it would't, but when I see such a thing in a knife I see a demonstration of human activity, rather than a FLAW, and therefore a sign of his skill level and that this is expected, though not really wanted, in any handmade item. From this point of view I think I can state that this is part of the handmade process, mostly because ALL knifemakers have been there at one given point of their careers.
Warranty against what? Nobody is going to push this knife (or most custom knives) to its limits, so this warranty (fond in many sites of makers and dealers) is kinda meaningless, isn't it? Not to be a jerk, but since you bring that up...
Joss, I have no idea of how other makers make their knives, but the ones I sell through my website are warranted and there were few times that this warranty was used. You will be amazed to see how many people will put their high or mid end knives to use.
Regarding damascus knives, some makers don't diferentialy heat treat their knives because they don't want the temper line to mess up the pattern sight. Those knives might not survive the bend test, but will stand quite a beating if the heat treatment (anealing, hardening and tempering) was done with precision and care.
That all being said, the fact that most collectors don't beat their high end knives, it doesn't mean that a maker just relax on his or her duties to provide the best tool. It's his name on the line and we all know how fast a name can be stained in this business.
We do our job as we are supposed. I am sorry if I sounded rude, in fact I don't mean to. You are one of my first and best costumers, but I feel that if you (or anyone else) have doubts about the quality of our products its imperative that I adress the issue. Anyone with questions is very wellcome to post or e-mail me.
Jeff Velasco
