The Elusive Skookum

D

Dutch253

Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
81
So I have been trying to get in touch with Rod from Skookum Bush Tool but haven't had any luck. I checked out his website but it hasn't been update in quite some time. Has anyone been in touch with him or does he normally take awhile to get back to people? Thanks in advance! I'm chompin' at the bit to get my Skookum on order! (even thought it can take up to a year before its made)
 
I always got a reply in 24h but it's been a few months.
pick2.jpg
 
It took Rod over 12 months to return his first email (of three sent) to me. I was interested in purchasing two of his knives at the time but needless to say I cancelled my order. This may be a second source of income for this gentleman but that doesn't mean that his service should be at the very subpar level that it is. I'd rather give my business to another knifemaker.

He may make a quality knife but his customer service, and ability to respond, is the worst I've ever seen - in any market.

The only time he responded to me was to arrange his receipt of payment.

Sorry Rod.

I did notice that Rod has since recognized this on his website. He has a very nice and informative message posted there for any of his prospective customers. I wish I'd have had the same recognition at the time but unfortunately that wasn't the case...

Message from the website:
With the ever growing pressure from the faithful, I am taking orders again as of
April 1st, 2009.

The backlog is still running 10 months + and will increase quickly with impending future orders.
Please keep in mind I am a small specialty shop and still put the knives together one at a time. The popularity of the MK1 has been overwhelming to say the least and I am doing my best. The time frame I give the perspective customer is an estimate, not a guarantee. I have not always met the expectations of some but one must keep in mind I do not take any money until your knife is finished, therefore patience is respectfully requested. If you order a knife and can't wait any longer and decide to cancel before I finish, I understand. Just give me a heads up so I can move on to the next order without further delay.​
 
I sent him an email about getting a SBT, WITHOUT a scandi grind. I am in earnest when I say, that I think I will get a reply with a "WTF, are you kidding?" response. I am 100% serious though. Very wishy washy on scandi grinds, but I don't keep anything except Moras. Everything is either sold or traded.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I sent him an email about getting a SBT, WITHOUT a scandi grind. I am in earnest when I say, that I think I will get a reply with a "WTF, are you kidding?" response. I am 100% serious though. Very wishy washy on scandi grinds, but I don't keep anything except Moras. Everything is either sold or traded.
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There's any number of nice blades with a similar shape to the SBT w/o scandi grinds so why not just get one of them????

That Fiddlback Recluse is real similar.

IMO if he is having a lot of trouble keeping up with demand why not contract with some knife company to produce the model?
 
hollowdweller said:
There's any number of nice blades with a similar shape to the SBT w/o scandi grinds so why not just get one of them????

That Fiddlback Recluse is real similar.

IMO if he is having a lot of trouble keeping up with demand why not contract with some knife company to produce the model?
Click to expand...

Just heard back from him, we are discussing another grind. He is stressing the scandi grind though. ;)
 
...and got an email back within 2 weeks confirming my order. I'm guessing he's not a great communicator.

That said, there's no cost until your order's ready, and having had a Skookum and having used it to its potential over the past two months, I'm here to tell you (IMHO of course), it's worth both the wait for one at cost (around 2 years), and the premium you might pay (I wouldn't pay more than $50) to get one in the meantime.

I'm planning a review sometime soon, but it truly is a great tool.

Professor.
 
I love mine.

One of my complaints about a lot of scandi grinds is the grind is too steep and the blade too thick.

I believe my SBT is maybe even slightly thinner than 1/8 and with a fairly shallow grind. It can peel a potato, slice bread and do other stuff without getting that "wedge" feeling you get slicing with a lot of scandis.

I have a lot of bushcraft type blades and it's still one of my favorites.
 
I echo your comments 100%.

It's great as a camp kitchen knife, tent-stake hammer (love the pommel plate--one of the best features), woodcarver (best and most efficient scandi I've ever used), splitter via batoning, you name it.

And there's something about the comfort and control of the handle contouring that's really something as well...

Great knife, and probably my favorite fixed blade design of all time, for whatever that's worth :).

Professor.
 
My take: I placed an order well over 2 years ago for a SBT. I was quoted a wait-time of around 12-14 months at the time. Well, 12-14 months went by, and I e-mailed Rod asking about the status of my order. He replied within a couple weeks, and said it would be another 2 months. Ok. Well, that time came and went. Still no word on my knife. I sent him another e-mail, and never heard another word back from him. At this point, I don't want the knife. There are plenty of makers out there who can deign to respond to customers without having to deal with stuff like that. YMMV.
 
Just heard back from him. He said the wait is out to 25, yes TWENTY-FIVE months! IMO that is just insane. I guess I will start looking elsewhere. I was just so attracted to this knife because of the design and how wonderful it felt in the hand. Either that or I'm going to have to keep an eye out for used ones.
 
I never had communication issues with Rod. His wait really isn't that unreasonable either. With today's economy it seems like a lot of maker's wait is shorter. However, Gene Ingram's wait is around 3 years, Bob Dozier is over 1 year and many others have 1+ year waits.
 
Put myself on the list. Can't hurt I guess. We will see if I hear from him down the road. Well, expect a review from me in about 25 months!
 
Dutch253 said:
Oh yeah and he also said that he may be bumping up the price because of "material cost"
Click to expand...

That seems to be the case with all the makers. Seems like knives that were say $150 a year ago are going for 50-75 dollars more. Also the pricing seems to have no relation to how much work is going into them or what the materials are.

I saw two bushcraft knives in the exchange recently. One was beautiful. Everything even the grind polished out and beautiful scales. Another was a nice knife but no polish, the scales were nothing fancey. Like 20 bucks difference between them but the one probably took 3X the amount of work.

I have a lot of customs and bought a new one probably every month or two.
But now a lot of makers are pricing stuff up there and it's been months since I've bought anything new.

IMO generally knives are a poor investment. When the price of a knife starts going over $200 I'm out of the market and using the money for guns which are just as fun but go up in value.

While you may be able to make money on knives by getting in early when they are cheap and then reselling when the price is raised, or charging a premium for something with a wait like a Skookum generally you are better off buying a gun.

Also not sure how everybody elses local economy is but there's no market locally for expensive knives around here, you'd have to go to Bladeforums or somewhere else on the net. But locally it's easy to make money on a gun.

Rant off:D;):yawn:
 
THE BARON said:
It took Rod over 12 months to return his first email (of three sent) to me. I was interested in purchasing two of his knives at the time but needless to say I cancelled my order. This may be a second source of income for this gentleman but that doesn't mean that his service should be at the very subpar level that it is. I'd rather give my business to another knifemaker.

He may make a quality knife but his customer service, and ability to respond, is the worst I've ever seen - in any market.

The only time he responded to me was to arrange his receipt of payment.

Sorry Rod.

I did notice that Rod has since recognized this on his website. He has a very nice and informative message posted there for any of his prospective customers. I wish I'd have had the same recognition at the time but unfortunately that wasn't the case...

Message from the website:
With the ever growing pressure from the faithful, I am taking orders again as of
April 1st, 2009.

The backlog is still running 10 months + and will increase quickly with impending future orders.
Please keep in mind I am a small specialty shop and still put the knives together one at a time. The popularity of the MK1 has been overwhelming to say the least and I am doing my best. The time frame I give the perspective customer is an estimate, not a guarantee. I have not always met the expectations of some but one must keep in mind I do not take any money until your knife is finished, therefore patience is respectfully requested. If you order a knife and can't wait any longer and decide to cancel before I finish, I understand. Just give me a heads up so I can move on to the next order without further delay.​
Click to expand...



Try to put yourself in his shoes. What would you do? He's swamped in orders. He probably has hundreds if not thousands of emails coming in daily, worldwide, asking "how long". His message on his website (see above in big bold print) is pretty self explanatory. No reason to question his business practices or think less of his work because of wait times and communication issues before your name hits the top of the wait list.

It's been my experience that he tries to keep up with his communications but if he put all the time it needed to fulfill every email reply, most of which are "how long until my knife is made", he would no longer be a knife maker but rather a secretary.
Once your name hits the top of his wait list, he emails you and communication is spot-on throughout the transaction including follow-up questions you may have.

He makes a great product that takes some time to finish. That handle and butt plate takes patience and time to get perfect on each blade and he is a stickler for perfection. The sheaths are not quick makes either.

Material prices go up, machines and equipment breakdown and need to be repaired or replaced. A business needs to make a profit to continue on.
As far as pricing, even with the price increase, it's still a bargain to most.
 
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LMT66 said:
It's been my experience that he tries to keep up with his communications but if he put all the time it needed to fulfill every email reply, most of which are "how long until my knife is made", he would no longer be a knife maker but rather a secretary. He makes a great product that takes some time to finish. That handle and butt plate takes patience and time to get perfect on each blade and he is a stickler for perfection. The sheaths are not quick makes either.

As far as pricing, even with the price increase, it's still a bargain to me.
Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with what you say. First there's the butt plate which like you say is added time. Then the sheath which is fairly unique also. Similar priced outdoors blades often don't even come with any sheath. Plus it has the handle bolts and lanyard holes and some makers are getting it down to where they are only using one bolt now to save money.

Also from my work I know that in times of great economic stress when our caseload doubles it is often hard to work on peoples cases because you have so many calls coming in for status.
 
No slight against Rod or any other maker, but I think if your wait time is over a year it would make sense to stop taking orders until you can catch up. I know a lot of makers who do that rather than trying to manage a multi year waiting list.
 
I waited almost 2 years to the day for mine also. Had no comm. probs. with Rod myself, but did get the postponement thing a couple of times. If I could go back , I wouldn't do it again. The Recommendation of Andy Roy's Recluse is a good one. I think that would make a great substitute for a SBT ,even though it's not a Scandi.
I personally think the man is just swamped with orders all the time , and maybe it's too much for him , I dunno. There is a lot of internet hype about this knife , and granted , it is a very well made and functional knife. But after owning one , I've realized it was not the "Holy Grail" bush knife I expected it to be. It was the first custom I've ever purchased. As I live in Mors Kochansky's neck of the woods , and have read his books , when the Skookum came out and there was a connection with that ,I really wanted to have one.
 
2 years in not that long really...place the order, and get on with your life...sooner or later Rod will get you an email asking for money. Its not just a great knife..its my favorite. I have a bunch, and have sold hundreds..its a great knife worth owning. besides..as he makes them one at a time, ho many are going to be out there? Sooner or later, he is gonna quit making them.
 
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