Timbo! - Tim Noble - James Noble Knives

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Kiah

Kiah

Pit Bull Appreciation Society
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Known Aliases -

Tim Noble
James Noble
James Niven
Jamie Nunez
Mark Noble
Thom or Thomas Williams
William Rogers
Barry Stone

Forum/Auction site names -

BigMark
Timbo
Timbo!
timbo1
Sweet James
TheNiven
Hunter333020 (Gunbroker)
Thor
Thor2
Thom
TWSmithfield
William Rogers
pitta-pitta
Just Woodward
Barry Stone

Web Sites -

http://jamesnobleknives.com/ James Noble Knives
http://jamesniven.com/ James Niven Knives
http://thomaswilliamsofsmithfield.com/ Thomas Williams of Smithfields
http://owningyourownwood.blogspot.com/
http://ukblades.com (Owner, as well as several different shill accounts, see above)


Any combination or variation of these by an unknown maker should be considered suspicious.



Some info that might need to be brought up in search of an explanation.

When Timbo! (Tim Noble/James Noble) first started posting knives for sale here, I, as most, thought they looked great. That said, I also thought they looked a lot like the imports on Ebay being falsely claimed as "Made in Sweden". Not wanting to jump to conclusions, I figured maybe he just likes that style.

When he listed his 01 hand axes at an awesome price, I was gonna go ahead and put my name on the list and send a deposit, but I did a little research first as he was a new maker. Upon discovering the controversy surrounding him elsewhere, I decided against throwing my name in. As his been posted elsewhere, he has copied pics from other makers and claimed them either suggestively or directly as his own work or that of "an apprentice". While claiming in some places that he is a hobbyist maker who makes the massive quanity of blades he does in his spare time, in others he mentions his "workshops" and "skilled craftsmen".


Thinking this guy sounded shady, I put him on my mental ignore and moved on.

After some happenings Today, I decided to look into it a bit more this evening which made it even more interesting.

I noticed this, which has been posted elsewhere. While it seems odd that a part time maker who apparently sells everything he makes very quickly at an already low price would be looking for distributors, it's really disturbing when coupled with this, that I found this evening.

To me, it looks like Mr. Noble is importing knives in from India and possibly Pakistan and playing our members for fools. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first to apologise, but it certainly walks like a duck, and I thought I would get some thoughts from others here.
 
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I need either existing models with no marks on the blades or new knives that you copy from ones i give you.
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A bit more info. In addition to Big Mark, he also goes by timbo1 and is either the sole owner and maker of JNK or knows nothing about knife making and has only bought from JNK, depending on where he's posting. I'm pretty impressed by his ability to BS so openly actually.
 
Hi gents,
This chap has stirred up a huge amount stuff in the UK forums
Try looking in Britishblades, http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82373
or Bushcraftliving for more detailed stuff
I personally would not buy from him
Take care
Graham

PS Big mark = Timbo = Big Tim = Tim Noble = James noble knives, this guy has more names than anyone I know
 
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I was asked to come to answer some questions here. I'm happy to answer what I can. Although in some respects I would prefer to go into any fine details and personal stuff via a PM to a moderator.

I would first like to say that I have been subjected to a range of personal attacks by some people who run British Blades in the UK, who have been spreading all sorts of rumours around the web about me. The reason for this in my opinion is that I sold some items at cost and undercut the regulars there and this prompted and endless personal assult on me and my little fledgling knife.bushcraft business.

The hatchets made in my workshop were 'priced to sell', as I was trying to build up a reputation and get people to start buying off of me. An Amercian knife maker advised me to sell my first things on forums cheap to get people buying to help me start building a reputation...in the event it has just about destroyed any reputation I had.

Stabber bought one and you can ask him what they are like. They were all individually hand-made. I sold a batch of 20 hatchets in 4.5 hours across four forums and I have had no complaints from anyone about them - apart from two guys who I posted to a bit late as I have had the flu and been in bed for about two weeks.

My little fledgling firm has not made any money - ever. I have only ever sold about 120 items in 4 years and given 10 items away to friends and family. I tried to make my company sound bigger, and add some marketing spin on the website to see if I could make more impact. I also tried to see if I could get some extra items made overseas but didn't know how to find someone that might be able to supply me with some fillers - hence my post...only one company came forward. In the end I got 10 samples of some things that were all utter rubbish...so I wasted $300 on those....but it was a useful learning curve. I was curious to what you could get and what I found was you you got junk. I asked for them unmarked so I could sell them off once I had taken a look.

The hatchets sold here and on British Blades are all totally handmade in my workshop and are marked with JN on the blade and sheath - and are all fine fileworked on the spine in an unusual way...you can check this with Stabber.

Ok so I was trawling around to see what you can buy overseas...I put my hands up...I didn't find anything...and took it no further...if I had a supplier as some people suggest I wouldn't be looking...

The pitch on the Oman site was made after talking to the editor there who I know, as I heard Arabs liked nice knives. I have never ever had any response from the article - ever...not one...not a sniff...again a waste of time but a learning curve.

I work on knives as a hobby with my Son - called James...hence the name James Noble. He is doing it full time and trying to make some money from it...can't say he has made very much but it is a better option than sitting aound the house. You can check the financial reports on James Noble Ltd at companies house in the UK. It has never made any profit - ever...I am just trying to establish something...doing my best so my Son in the end might have a little business making knives and hatchets...and when I retire from the City of London (doing a dull job) I can do what I enjoy.

The name Big Mark is a forum name I used. Not deceive anyone but because on BushcraftUK where I have been a member 3-4 years I was originally Timbo1 but one day I simply couldn't log in. I tried for months and emailed the site - all to no avail. In the end I just re-registered as Big Mark. My middle name is Mark and I am 6'2" - which is big in the UK! THe Moderators at BCUK spotted this and asked me why I had registered twice. I expalained and they said they understood and merged me under one name - Big Mark. British Blades is linked to some extent with BCUK so when I registered there I just kept to the same name...normally nobody would ever know but when my low prices made the guys on British Blades anoyed they looked for anything to pick on. I have had to take my website down to redo it - after they picked it to pieces. This will cost me £3,000 to put straight. They contacted Bill Ackers - the USA knife maker as one or two of his knives were on my site to pretty it up. Bill emailed me to ask what the hell I was doing until I pointed out who I was and reminded him that I bought and sold some of his knives in the early days and the knives shown as an embelishment were ones I had bought off him and then sold on in the UK...he is now fine and we are in regular contact. All of this nonsense has been stirred by the guys at British Blades. I am not the first. They banned Stabber because he wanted the name Stabber as his user name! How mad is that!?

As well as our handmade custom knives I may well add some other items at some stage we didn't make, to try to create a bigger company...probably not knives though as I couldn't find any that were to a high enough quality but perhaps some camping items...I would always state where they were made if this actually ever happened. So far it hasn't.

I am happy to send a hatchet to one of you to see. If you like it and realise it is properly hand made in my workshop give me $95 for it. If you don't like it or this it is anyway not workshop made send it back and I'll refund the postage via PayPal.

This is my hobby and is supposed to be a bit of fun - this British Blades thing has sucked a lot of the fun out of it and you may have noticed I've been making less post recently....this is why...life is too short.

At the end of the day you must decide what you think. If you decide to ban me so be it. This would be sad as I have a lot to learn and there's plenty here to learn and I would like to play a part in the knife making world. I'd love to remain a member...but may avoid selling stuff for a while as it seems to cause a lot of problems...although I can't actually understand why to be honest.

Hope this covers the bulk of the issues?

Happy to answer further questions via PMs on specific points.

Leave it with you guys.

Kind regards

Tim (Occassionally known a Big Mark/father of James)
 
Timbo! said:
The hatchets sold here and on British Blades are all totally handmade in my workshop and are marked with JN on the blade and sheath - and are all fine fileworked on the spine in an unusual way...you can check this with Stabber.

)
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So, are you saying you have just one workshop that is in just one location and ALL the knives that you sell were handmade by only you from scratch and were only made in that same one workshop?
 
All of the knives that I sell on these forums are made in my workshop by either me, my son and occassionally some work is done by a nephew. My uncle is a jeweller and occassionally he does some very detailed engraving in his workshop in Yorkshire...I have looked at other ways of doing things to outsource some bits of work to see if I could speed upmaking batches of things but so far no go. The hatchets were made in my one workshop and are hand marked and made totally individually...no two are identical. Hope this helps.
 
While you can claim deception by proxy on some things, you can't on others. While you may
have removed this after being called on it, Google likes to keep things around for a bit.
This is written by you, on your blog, and then verified by you in the comments.

Link

The knife listed as being made by "your apprentice", was of course not. Unless you are
claiming that J.A. Lonewolf is your apprentice, which you never answered when asked.

The question has also been brought up of whether you are actually using steel from Alabama Damascus as claimed, as some of the patterns don't seem to be made by AD, not to mention the cost. I'd send Mr. Vice a pic to verify, but you've deleted all your attachments and offsite pics. I do see a lot of "Alabama Damascus" blanks being brought in from Asia, though I kinda doubt they're buying billets from Brad Vice. If you are buying from AD, are you buying blanks and putting scales on or billets and forging them yourself?

There is a review here. Are those actually your knives, or pics posted without your knowing? If you actually made those then I'm sorry, but the handles scream Pakistan to me.

I know you were asked this elsewhere, but a pic of you in your shop with a couple works in progress would clear it up and make me eat my words. Your pic is in a few different places on the web, so I know you're not shy. Some may think I'm an asshole for asking such a thing, but considering the deception surrounding you, I think the benefit of the doubt ship has sailed. You can claim that a lot of the ad copy and pics on the web are the work of overzealous marketers, but you've done a bit of fibbing and fluffing yourself.
 
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Yup, photos of his shop and some knives in progress will go a long way.

That's a great way to end most of the controversy.
 
Timbo! Whats the address of your shop ? I presume its in the UK ?

I have many frinds who are makers and its always nice to visit a shop to see how folks do their thing.
It might help clear up a bit if the fog here if you can let someone visit and see your knives being made.
 
I've got to be honest I don't really understand what you are all talking about?

Knife making is my hobby. It's supposed to be fun.

I resign I simply can't be arsed with this BS!

Goodbye:(

Twats!
 
Timbo! said:
I've got to be honest I don't really understand what you are all talking about?

Knife making is my hobby. It's supposed to be fun.

I resign I simply can't be arsed with this BS!

Goodbye:(

Twats!
Click to expand...

I take it thats a no then ? :rolleyes:
 
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