The XM-18 has created a dilemma for me

R

Ring

Joined
Jan 27, 2006
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179
I was all set to buy my BM 707 limited edition in D2 and a cricket for a money clip.

But the night before ordering, i saw the XM-18. Egad, what a great looking knife that seems to be purpose built to be tough!

I have put off purchasing for the last week or so trying to decided.

My history is to carry 1 main knife and that's it. Last knife I carried for 8yrs, and still carry even with a broker tip. What ever I need to do, I do with that knife. It for sure will be a user and maybe a little abused if situation calls for it.

To me the XM-18 seems like it will handle just about what ever I could throw at it.

But I balk at the cost and the though of using a $400 knife
 
The XM-18 is a great knife, it is definititly a user. Mine is my camping knife and gets a huge amount of use making fires, cutting tent pegs, cutting rope, ect, Did I say it is a great knife? As far as getting the small one, I would if I could get in touch with Rick. Steven
 
rick is rick-my small has been just about done ,real close to shipping for 2 months or better now-lol

i had a large so i know its worth the wait
 
Well, he is 2hrs away from me, so in theroy I could drive up to see him, but it seems like he travels alot.
 
dont bother him till he finish's my knife-ok-lol

my avatar is a knife with the finish im getting-its not my knife
 
I am still waiting on mine since April. I think that you might have to wait a while.
 
Rick will definitely get back to you. He's busy it appears at the moment but checks in here every so often. I ordered an XM-18 in the first week of August and he told me approximately 6 months until it ships. Having handled this knife, I must say it screams to be used. If your looking to replace your large EDC the XM-18 is an excellent choice.
 
Rick has informed me by email that he is not currently taking any more orders for the XM-18.

He mentioned that he is having some machining issues.

I am guessing that between the orders and his machining issues, he must be way behind.

Looks like I will be getting my BM 707 and the Cricket
 
And at least he gave you a reason. I contacted him around a week ago and was told that he couldn't give me an updated delivery time as he had another project come up that he's been working on. If he had told me about the tooling issues it would have gone a lot farther with me. My original quote was at a month for an XM but it's 2 months late currently. Rick does great work but he really needs to work on his communications with his customers.:o

oil

ps. My original order was finalized(I had made some changes) July 3rd.
 
I have 1 more email from him with a little more detail.

He purchased a new 3 axis cnc lathe that is not working right at high speed. (run out issue) He is currently dealing with the warranty department trying to get it fixed.

From personal experience, it can take a fair amount of time and work to get a new machine setup and to learn to use it right.

This is me ASSUMING here, but I am betting that he purchased the machine to speed up production but has probably been spending some serious time fixing it. Along with knife shows he attends is making it very hard to work on some knifes.

I dont know what lathe capabilities he had before, but if it was manual, I would rather work on the new cnc that turn small precision parts
 
I ordered my XM-18 in August as well...Hopefully a lil after christmas he'll have mine ready.....we'll see.
 
so far his track record on comunication is spotty at best(4-6 day wait for a email reply is far too long)- but most people with talent paint themselves into a corner once or twice-i think he may have gotten too popular after the xm18 and got swamped,then added the small xm and he just hasnt been able to get his head above water-its a partime gig ,he is a firemen full time add in a new machine that wont work-i bet he isnt having much fun making knives,thats the real shame-when a good maker is enjoying what he is doing it shows in the work-

personaly i think he should pass on shows till he gets his ducks in a row- but im not him so my opinion means squat-

he did offer a free tshirt for being late-lol

im not a patient man most times,but my xm isnt a gift that must be there by a certain date so im good so far with the wait
 
I saw Rick at the plaza cutlery show. I was able to see the 3 inch xm-18 in orange G-10. I should have bought it but I walked around to see other knives and it was gone. His machining work is superb.
 
Yep, I've been waiting since April, too. I keep hearing next batch. I guess my question should be; Which next batch?
 
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