Tim Britton. Anybody Familiar With His Work?

dadgummit....you guys are ruining my preconceived notion about these forums. I was wrong(don't tell Deb...wife !). Promise I'll stop by more often.... One of my favorite quotes motivates me a lot...."a man will be remembered by the footprints he leaves behind". Not much makes me smile wider than to know that someone is REALLY happy with a knife with my name on it. Slip joints are a fun way of connecting with the past and a HUGE challenge for me.....especially multi blade varieties. Gottago finish a BIG Terminator for a customer....everytime I grind s30v I cuss a lot and but this stuff sure does hold an edge !
 
Tim,
If you are forging your own damascus why not make some for liners? Making it 3/32 and then grinding it to size won't hurt when only removing .030
 
TimBritton said:
I work hard to make an honest, quality product and hopefully represent myself and other knifemakers well. I find it sad that every successful knifemaker I know has been accused of either having someone else make his knives or buying parts from Benchmade, Japan or China. Custom grinders abound....they must be working for someone....NOT ME.
I'm busy making knives in MY shop, by my lonesome....just me. Tommy McNabb and I forge my damascus on his neat presses and other folks (Kenny Rowe & Tree Stump Leather)make my sheaths.
Instead of buying rumors and cheap gossip.....please pick up one of my knives and let it speak for itself....bg42 steel, 416ss liners, the finest pearl that I can hand pick (AAA exhibition grade, always !)and the finest stag I can find , anywhere, any price.
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Mr. Britton,

I remember the original posts WRT the Linville product, and remember your quite defensive responses as well.

There are VERY few knife people that look forward to dragging a maker down….this is, however balanced with expectations of fair value for monies spent, and reasonable customer service.

The Linville post allowed for reasonable questions concerning both materials and methodology of production…because it is/was YOUR company. Now you are doing something different/popular and you state that you are making the product yourself, which I can certainly take at face value….what about materials? How do you ensure that you are getting the grades of stainless steel that you claim to be using?

In addition, are you still a member of the Knifemaker's Guild, and if not, why not?

People love to give makers a “lift”, but they also HATE being taken….so, some honest dialogue and give-and-take can go quite far in forgiving past errors, and starting fresh. This is the cost of doing business in the new age of electronic communication.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Kohai999 said:
Mr. Britton,

I remember the original posts WRT the Linville product, and remember your quite defensive responses as well.

There are VERY few knife people that look forward to dragging a maker down….this is, however balanced with expectations of fair value for monies spent, and reasonable customer service.

The Linville post allowed for reasonable questions concerning both materials and methodology of production…because it is/was YOUR company. Now you are doing something different/popular and you state that you are making the product yourself, which I can certainly take at face value….what about materials? How do you ensure that you are getting the grades of stainless steel that you claim to be using?

People love to give makers a “lift”, but they also HATE being taken….so, some honest dialogue and give-and-take can go quite far in forgiving past errors, and starting fresh. This is the cost of doing business in the new age of electronic communication.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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xxxxxx
 
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martinr said:
mr. garsson, why should you be taken seriously? why don't you buy a knife from tim britton and see for yourself? i live in so cal too and i know there is a lot of hot air here so why do you feel it's necessary to add more?
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1. Why should I be taken seriously? Because of my cool avatar and tattoos, exquisite taste, and knowledge of fine wines, of course!!!

2. No one gets a free pass....if you read the attached posts concerning Linville, that was some pretty bad stuff....you can obviously read, and comprehend the big words.

3. I am considering purchasing a Britton knife....why are you sea lawyering for Mr. Britton?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
STeven's post was on-topic; posts about STeven are not.
(Let's not discuss each other in a knife-related forum, please.)
 
Nan's topic is

"Is anybody familiar with his work? Any comments?"

Obviously Kohai999 is not familiar with his work. Lets hear from some people with real experience.
 
After the other thread STeven is dead on. If you choose to buy knives with misrepresented materials that's up to you. Why not let others decide for themselves based on what really happened?
 
briefly handled some of these Britton knives at Blade...from what I saw,they are very nice....

Materials matter...the more you are "into" knives, the more the materials make a difference....and the question to Mr. Britton was straightforward and direct, without undue prejudice.

As I wrote before, a healthy dialogue should be warranted and welcome here, concerning materials and methods of production...for everybody's benefit... this is not an exercise in self amusement or abusement...

if you want to make this personal because I had the balls to ask some good questions.....all of you should remember, my real name is signed to every post, and am about as visible in the community as anyone, attending quite a few shows annually and introducing myself to many people.

Does that hold true for those negative to my questions?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Bit of clarification please....Linville Knife and Tool Co. is a totally separate and distinct entity from Tim Britton Handmade Knives. Some of you guys seem to want to take the liberty of blurring the two.
Re materials....vast majority of makers buy their materials from suppliers who mark with indelible markers the grade of steel or nickel silver we purchase. Another way of checking as the knife is being put together is drilling or sawing or tapping the material. For instance, I find a huge difference between 303 and 304 stainless....304 eats drill bits and taps like crazy and is harder to saw.
I have bought 30-50 lb. lots of tool steel such as W1 off the back of pick-up trucks at ABS hammer-ins. I am totally dependent on someone else telling me the type of steel and pass this along to my customers. lots of fuzziness here....1084, especially 1084 improved is hard to find right now. NOTHING prevents an unscrupulous vendor from selling 1095 and coding it as 1084. Same goes for parts and accessories such as pivot pins and blade stops.....both should be hardened but much of what is sold to makers is made from 420 or 303, just cause it's cheap and easy to machine.
Someone wanted to know why I am no longer in the Knifemaker's Guild....easy, I resigned. I have had a tough time justifying the expense for a few years now, but stuck around for friends like Gil Hibben, Steve Johnson and Steve Jernigan who asked me not to leave the guild.
As I have seen published on this forum, ours is an imperfect science. Most of us do the best we can with what we have at that moment in time and in an ideal world we wouldn't be overly concerned with whether someone else is getting more press than we are or having mobs at his table when the show opens.
Inevitably resentment will raise its ugly head and lips start flabbering. Thankfully you/we have folks on this forum who will call these malcontents hand and ask insightful questions such as "why is he saying that ?" or how can you comment on his work when you have never met him or seen one of his knives ? Those who struggle to climb the ladder to success often complain about the ladder or work to bring others down....rather than focusing on their own work and cleaning up their acts.
A very close friend and past President of the ABS, Jim Batson seems pleased that I am "reinventing myself". I am....and thanks for welcoming my "new" knives and helping me see the value of communication in this forum. By the way, if you like my work take a look at Mike Zcherny's latest. I signed/sponsored his guild application some years ago and his knives are superb. Got to know Bill Ruple(sp?) at the guild show and he embarassed me with his fluted bolsters and fancy filework. Gotta go back to a small damascus tanto.....anybody buying these things anymore ?? best regards, Tim
 
TimBritton said:
Bit of clarification please....Linville Knife and Tool Co. is a totally separate and distinct entity from Tim Britton Handmade Knives. Some of you guys seem to want to take the liberty of blurring the two.
Re materials....vast majority of makers buy their materials from suppliers who mark with indelible markers the grade of steel or nickel silver we purchase. Another way of checking as the knife is being put together is drilling or sawing or tapping the material. For instance, I find a huge difference between 303 and 304 stainless....304 eats drill bits and taps like crazy and is harder to saw.
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Thanks for the frank and timely responses, and good luck on your venture WRT the slipjoints.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
chuck...I don't have a power hammer or a press. Gotta make small damascus bars with my treddle hammer or weld up billets over at McNabb's with his press. using the press, best I can do is about 1/8" Somebody out there is selling 1/16" or even 3/32" sheets. My educated guess is Mike Norris. I'll try to call him tonite.
 
I would like to add that I purchased a folder from Tim at the Blade Show this year and couldn't be happier. For the price, I felt like I was the one taking advantage of him.
 
I have to say here that I have some very close friends who know Tim well. Very well.
I trust them and what they say, I trust Tim. People get upset, especially when family or anything they are passionate about gets misrepresented in their eyes.

The handle materials that I have seen are top shelf and I stand by what I say when his knives are a bargain when it comes to slipjoints. I have seen and handled quite a few and hope to own a few in the future.
 
martinr said:
mr. garsson, why should you be taken seriously? why don't you buy a knife from tim britton and see for yourself? i live in so cal too and i know there is a lot of hot air here so why do you feel it's necessary to add more?
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Mr. Garsson treats everybody the same way, and pulls few punches. :)

Most of the time he's right, though. Dangit! :)
 
I have had the opportunity to handle Tim's work many times over the years. The first time was a little straight knife that Bob Schrimsher showed me back in the day. (1980 or 81) As always, Nice work! What I saw in that knife was very clean, simple, and modern.

Mike Lovett
 
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Danbo said:
Mr. Garsson treats everybody the same way, and pulls few punches. :)

Most of the time he's right, though. Dangit! :)
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Thanks, Dan.....that really means a lot, coming from you, who is not likely to give compliments!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Tomorrow is my good buddy Scott's Birthday.
He went to the Bladeshow with me,we had a killer time.
Out of all the knives I handled,I picked out one,that I knew was classy enough to give to him as a gift for his birthday.Id like to show it here
This Tim Britton Baby Bullet lockback,with BG-42 flat ground blade & stabilized camel bone scales.The Bolsters are engraved by Jim Small (I think)
My lousy "quicky" pics don't really do it justice,but the crisp action & fantastic fit and finish are evident,in hand
Besides that,Tim is a great knifemaker & businessman ,as well as a good guy all around.I think his knives are really great,at any price,and he certainly is a pleasure to deal with & that means a lot
It was great meeting you in person Tim,at the show BTW,Scott loves this knife! -Vince
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