Well, it seems I'm a bit late to this party, but I'll admit that reading this thread has increased my ignore list by one. (and, it sure isn't Roger P.)
Maybe this has already been posted, but I keep thinking back to some words of wisdom given to me by Jerry Fisk himself. Jerry once told me, "the hardest knife for me to make, is the one I've already been paid for"
Jerry sounds like he must work with a different ethical model than some other folks. Personally, I'm far more likely to get something done quickly if I know someone else's money is in my hands. Not that I wont get something done for you if you don't pay until it's done, but if you give some kind of initial funds to me and I say I'm going to do something, I will do it as quickly as possible because I am more obligated by the fact that I am holding some sort of collateral. These people who are trying to say that once a maker takes a 10-20% deposit for a knife that then it becomes difficult to finish the knife are rather interesting. I can't follow the logic there at all. There is still 80-90% of the money remaining for the maker to obtain, first of all. So even if it's purely a reward based argument and not the least bit morally based, it still stands that the maker has very good incentive to make the knife, as the vast majority of the money has not been obtained. Secondly, any maker with a decent set of ethics is going to realize that the customer has entrusted them with resources and that they need to deliver the goods. If you're the type of guy who takes a 20% deposit and then runs off with the money and no longer has any incentive to finish the project, I'd almost want to say you have some kind of addiction problem. Any normal person is going to see that there is still 80% of the cost of that knife that they can make by simply finishing the knife. This deposit also helps lower the cost of the knives for the customer (If you actually need me to explain why, I can), which is a point nobody has seemed to be willing to address.
The people who keep parroting this "the hardest knife for me to make, is the one I've already been paid for" crap are committing straw man fallacies. The reason being that Kyley never suggested full pre-payment, he said he takes a small good faith deposit. Other people brought that idea into this thread, not Kyley. At one point he did state that a customer VOLUNTARILY paid in full on knives he was ordering, but Kyley merely mentioned this to demonstrate that there are plenty of people who do actually trust him. From what I recall, he said this after certain individuals became hostile. He NEVER requires anything near full pre-payment on a knife.
There's also this convenient forgetting about the fact that his business operates through Youtube, not the forums, and is an almost entirely international business. Very few customers are from his country. Also, very few customers actually call Kyley on the phone because of the costs and hassle involved. The overwhelming majority of orders Kyley gets come through the internet, which creates a very specific situation for him which is simply being ignored in this thread from what I can see. That issue is the fact that he is sometimes contacted by children and other individuals who cannot pay. He has no way to know who is pulling his leg and who isn't. Simply talking to them over the internet doesn't necessarily help and it's extremely time consuming. The best way to weed these kinds of people out in his case is to simply require a good faith deposit. If you don't like it, don't buy his knives. From what he's been telling me the past few months, too many people want them anyway. He has to regularly turn down orders and is actually in the process of reducing his output. The fact that people keep building these straw men to knock down rather than actually reading what is written is very unfortunate.
I've also known him to return deposits on several occasions when people fell on bad luck and had to cancel an order, even after he had started making the knife; something he didn't have to do. In general, he is a person of very strong moral character. Anyone who knows him will tell you this without hesitation. He has demonstrated this very kind behavior time and time again. My point here is simply that he's not some nasty guy who goes around "demanding" full pre-payment and taking people's money. He's demonstrated repeatedly that he is ready and willing to refund deposits even when he doesn't have to. The deposit is more about the good faith gesture and reducing cost for the customer by allowing him to buy in bulk.
I am investing in Kyley so he can purchase equipment and materials. I want to funds in a place where I can watch a craftsman grow. Then again, I have to agree with mindsmirror in that these are probably I have ever used. They may not be pretty but they feel great in hand and an incredible tool. 
