Update. KNIFE HAS RETURNED! New Large Inkosi.....Need advice/opinions Please

Man this story really sucks to hear. Been following along and really thought you'd have it by now. Not a large but here is my contribution.
 
It happens. I've been following this post intently as my brand new small inkosi was sent back due to being not at all sharp....before you posted this. Had it for less than a day before I sent it back. They were very nice and told me it would be expedited since it just needed to have the edge touched up and it was brand new. Everything and I mean everything on this knife was perfect. Centered blade / even grinds / even bevels / good lock up / super smooth. Just wasn't sharp. Took a bit longer than 10 days for sure. They mentioned new processes and shot show delays... In the end, I got it back...and it was absolutely perfect. I'm sure yours will be as well! Delays do happen.
 
rob i said:
It happens. I've been following this post intently as my brand new small inkosi was sent back due to being not at all sharp....before you posted this. Had it for less than a day before I sent it back. They were very nice and told me it would be expedited since it just needed to have the edge touched up and it was brand new. Everything and I mean everything on this knife was perfect. Centered blade / even grinds / even bevels / good lock up / super smooth. Just wasn't sharp. Took a bit longer than 10 days for sure. They mentioned new processes and shot show delays... In the end, I got it back...and it was absolutely perfect. I'm sure yours will be as well! Delays do happen.
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I understand completely that delays happen. I am just happy that it's scheduled to be here on Thursday. Glad yours made it back. Thursday will make 28 days since it arrived at CRK's doorstep.
 
Gizler00 said:
I understand completely that delays happen. I am just happy that it's scheduled to be here on Thursday. Glad yours made it back. Thursday will make 28 days since it arrived at CRK's doorstep.
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Mine was about the same length as well. It sucks to have to wait! Hopefully you'll have it back in just a few days.
 
They(the powers that be) really need to train some people in edge grinding. There are several reports of uneven or not sharp edges.
I feel sure they are working on alleviating this issue.
 
gull wing said:
They(the powers that be) really need to train some people in edge grinding. There are several reports of uneven or not sharp edges.
I feel sure they are working on alleviating this issue.
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Do you think that the people that are currently grinding the edges do not know how to do it, or do you think it's such a repetitive process that the "human" is exposed for what they are; Imperfect?
Just curious as you can train a great number of people to do the same thing, but in the end, you get the variable edges.
 
Gizler...another pic to help hold you over. Natural canvas large. It has kicked my Sebenzas out of my pocket since I got it. Not sure if that is the honeymoon phase or will last, but either way it's an amazing knife!

 
gull wing said:
They(the powers that be) really need to train some people in edge grinding. There are several reports of uneven or not sharp edges.
I feel sure they are working on alleviating this issue.
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I think there will always be human error no matter what....but.....at this price point and with their reputation, I would have thought that every knife gets a hard look over for QC before it leaves the shop.

bhyde said:
Do you think that the people that are currently grinding the edges do not know how to do it, or do you think it's such a repetitive process that the "human" is exposed for what they are; Imperfect?
Just curious as you can train a great number of people to do the same thing, but in the end, you get the variable edges.
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I understand human error....but to piggyback on my above comment, I just thought that being crk, there would have been a higher level of QC before going out the door.

einsteinjon said:
Gizler...another pic to help hold you over. Natural canvas large. It has kicked my Sebenzas out of my pocket since I got it. Not sure if that is the honeymoon phase or will last, but either way it's an amazing knife!

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Beautiful knife.



It's scheduled to arrive today! Unfortunately....I teach until 10pm tonight, and UPS usually hits our house last on his route which is around 8pm.

I will be sure to upgrade the thread with photos and info.
 
Gizler00 said:
I think there will always be human error no matter what....but.....at this price point and with their reputation, I would have thought that every knife gets a hard look over for QC before it leaves the shop.



I understand human error....but to piggyback on my above comment, I just thought that being crk, there would have been a higher level of QC before going out the door.




Beautiful knife.



It's scheduled to arrive today! Unfortunately....I teach until 10pm tonight, and UPS usually hits our house last on his route which is around 8pm.

I will be sure to upgrade the thread with photos and info.
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Fair enough..perhaps they should invest in the same machines to sharpen that other companies utilize. Not sure what the right answer is..I just know the result of running or making 10's of thousands of parts. Your eyes gloss over after awhile. It's the same old mundane business, day after day.
Just in case nobody knows this, it's not an unusual practice in machine shops to spot check a particular lot of parts. Grab 5 random parts from 100, then inspect them. It's usually too labor intensive to do 100% inspections.
Not sure how you would test sharpening in a QC environment.
 
bhyde said:
Not sure how you would test sharpening in a QC environment.
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Just a thought as I have absolutely no idea of the feasibility for CRK, but I think Busse makes whoever sharpens the knife sign off on their "Swine Shaving Sharpness Sheet" to hold them accountable to the job. They were getting a lot of complaints years back about their edges and my understanding is this improved things greatly (probably with the inclusion of some additional training, maybe equipment, etc?). Part of this could also be to eyeball the edge to make sure the grind is even.

Again just a thought. If a CRK guy puts the final edge on a few dozen knives a day this may be possible. If it's a few hundred maybe not.
 
bhyde said:
Fair enough..perhaps they should invest in the same machines to sharpen that other companies utilize. Not sure what the right answer is..I just know the result of running or making 10's of thousands of parts. Your eyes gloss over after awhile. It's the same old mundane business, day after day.
Just in case nobody knows this, it's not an unusual practice in machine shops to spot check a particular lot of parts. Grab 5 random parts from 100, then inspect them. It's usually too labor intensive to do 100% inspections.
Not sure how you would test sharpening in a QC environment.
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One thing I did realize throughout this situation is that CRK is definitely a larger company than I realized. When I called and they told me that my knife was in a batch of 70 other knives for processing, I was surprised. I do have an understanding of manufacturing. I realize now that they are large enough to not be able to check every single knife that gets kicked out the door.

Its scheduled to be here today and I can hardly wait to have it in my hands!!!

einsteinjon said:
Just a thought as I have absolutely no idea of the feasibility for CRK, but I think Busse makes whoever sharpens the knife sign off on their "Swine Shaving Sharpness Sheet" to hold them accountable to the job. They were getting a lot of complaints years back about their edges and my understanding is this improved things greatly (probably with the inclusion of some additional training, maybe equipment, etc?). Part of this could also be to eyeball the edge to make sure the grind is even.

Again just a thought. If a CRK guy puts the final edge on a few dozen knives a day this may be possible. If it's a few hundred maybe not.
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I have come to the realization that CRK is a much larger company than I once realized. I was under the impression that they were on a smaller level until last week.
 
Since the knives are hand assembled and hand sharpened (if I understand correctly) 100% QC check IS in fact possible. Every knife is in someone's hands before it gets put in the "complete" pile. Look at what you just did... if it doesn't look right, fix it while it's still in your hands! It's a lot cheaper than dealing with returned knives. It's different if a machine is just stamping out hundreds of parts into a bin all on its own. In that case spot checking is the only feasible option, that's true. I'ved worked for a company where we ran tens of thousands of bottles of product a day. We did hourly reviews but things can slip through in the meantime. With hand assembled products, there is literally a human touching every unit. Errors should be minimal.
 
nbp said:
Since the knives are hand assembled and hand sharpened (if I understand correctly) 100% QC check IS in fact possible. Every knife is in someone's hands before it gets put in the "complete" pile. Look at what you just did... if it doesn't look right, fix it while it's still in your hands! It's a lot cheaper than dealing with returned knives. It's different if a machine is just stamping out hundreds of parts into a bin all on its own. In that case spot checking is the only feasible option, that's true. I'ved worked for a company where we ran tens of thousands of bottles of product a day. We did hourly reviews but things can slip through in the meantime. With hand assembled products, there is literally a human touching every unit. Errors should be minimal.
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Excellent comment! Totally agree. Whatever the definition of a "larger company" is. I doubt that they are even close to quantities like Benchmade, Spyderco and ZT are dealing with and also we should bear in mind that they are dealing with a very small variety of products, which facilitates most of the the production and qc processes.

I think all of you know that I am a hugh fan of CRK and abou what they have achieved. My own collection proves my words, I guess. But that should not lead to the point where I am lowering my expectations. If it turns out that there is an increasing number of knives leaving the shop with uneven edges (which I cannot confirm, but reading from above), I would expect that they undertake something about it. Attention to detail has always been one of the big pros about CRK.
 
nbp said:
Since the knives are hand assembled and hand sharpened (if I understand correctly) 100% QC check IS in fact possible. Every knife is in someone's hands before it gets put in the "complete" pile. Look at what you just did... if it doesn't look right, fix it while it's still in your hands! It's a lot cheaper than dealing with returned knives. It's different if a machine is just stamping out hundreds of parts into a bin all on its own. In that case spot checking is the only feasible option, that's true. I'ved worked for a company where we ran tens of thousands of bottles of product a day. We did hourly reviews but things can slip through in the meantime. With hand assembled products, there is literally a human touching every unit. Errors should be minimal.
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Trust me I completely understand. I am trying to not go deeper into my own feelings on this and start a CRK war on myself here. You are exactly right....they are hand assembled........and should be looked over at every step.

James Longstreet said:
Excellent comment! Totally agree. Whatever the definition of a "larger company" is. I doubt that they are even close to quantities like Benchmade, Spyderco and ZT are dealing with and also we should bear in mind that they are dealing with a very small variety of products, which facilitates most of the the production and qc processes.

I think all of you know that I am a hugh fan of CRK and abou what they have achieved. My own collection proves my words, I guess. But that should not lead to the point where I am lowering my expectations. If it turns out that there is an increasing number of knives leaving the shop with uneven edges (which I cannot confirm, but reading from above), I would expect that they undertake something about it. Attention to detail has always been one of the big pros about CRK.
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I agree. I love CRK, but it does seem to be more of this lately.
 
Well, I decided to check the tracking today.........and much to my surprise...........It showed delivered on my porch. This is very unusual as they always deliver to our house last at the end of the day.

They included an invoice in the box with the knife that stated what they have done. And also an apology at the bottom.

The grind is near perfect now. If you look close there is a minor difference but I am very happy. If it would have come like this when I first got it, I would have never even thought twice about the edge.

Not sure what they did with the Tip, if anything can really be done. Unless they polished off the discolor. But.......its in my pocket and going to get some use.


I cannot lie.........I was growing increasingly frustrated with the situation. But all is good now and I can finally see if I like this thing.





 
einsteinjon said:
Just a thought as I have absolutely no idea of the feasibility for CRK, but I think Busse makes whoever sharpens the knife sign off on their "Swine Shaving Sharpness Sheet" to hold them accountable to the job. They were getting a lot of complaints years back about their edges and my understanding is this improved things greatly (probably with the inclusion of some additional training, maybe equipment, etc?). Part of this could also be to eyeball the edge to make sure the grind is even.

Again just a thought. If a CRK guy puts the final edge on a few dozen knives a day this may be possible. If it's a few hundred maybe not.
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For the record, Busse has the sharpener put a "Sharpened by: xxxx" sticker on their tactical ;) cardboard sheath...the SSSS Swine Shaving Sharp Sheet is just where they tested the edge on the copy paper, no signature on it...

not much different than how you described it Einstein...it is a kind of accountability measure...

but just wanted to be accurate, all good...:)

Giz,

Glad you've been made whole <sort of>...

And you're absolutely correct about the price point and expectations of not slipping thru QC with sloppy edges.

It's still not perfect, however...close, but no cigar...
 
Beautiful knife, glad you got it back! Put that thing to use now, Use it and Love it. :)
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
For the record, Busse has the sharpener put a "Sharpened by: xxxx" sticker on their tactical ;) cardboard sheath...the SSSS Swine Shaving Sharp Sheet is just where they tested the edge on the copy paper, no signature on it...

not much different than how you described it Einstein...it is a kind of accountability measure...

but just wanted to be accurate, all good...:)

Giz,

Glad you've been made whole <sort of>...

And you're absolutely correct about the price point and expectations of not slipping thru QC with sloppy edges.

It's still not perfect, however...close, but no cigar...
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Thanks for the support. Putting it to use immediately.

nbp said:
Beautiful knife, glad you got it back! Put that thing to use now, Use it and Love it. :)
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Thanks buddy. Hope all is well with you.
 
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