- Joined
- Feb 4, 1999
- Messages
- 5,786
Well, I got my two custom kit blades from MadPoet Custom Knives late last week, and here is a synopsis of my initial dealings with Mel so far:
First off, I must say that it has been a pleasure to deal with Mel so far. The knives turned out REALLy well, and instead of putting his custom, fileworked "M" in the spine, he used an "A" for my last name instead! He did this on hi own without request, and it is a cool surprise to say the least! Without my original drawings I cannot compare the knives to the schematics, but as far as I can tell, Mel ground them pretty much exactly as they were drawn. I invited him to make small changes based on his experience, so there are probably minor alterations that leand a lot to the geometry and feel of the knives without being able to tell outright.
It probably took about 1 month from the time I initially contacted Mel with my ideas and when I had the knives in my hand. They are D-2 and professionally heat-treated with high, flat grinds which were finished on a belt to 320 grit for a good initial finish. Mel also included pins and granadillo wood for the handles. There were a couple hitches, but nothing major. The pins holes were drilled for 1/8", but the pins material was significantly smaller. Mel forgot to tell me that he does this on purpose for a variety of reasons, so I went out and bought what I thought was stainless steel and used it instead. I ended up with high carbon steel pin material, and it will have a propensity to rust, so hopefully it won't be too bad. Bluing may help. What I should've done was ask first! Oh well...if worse comes to worse I can remove the scales and start over, although this would take a LONG time! The second hitch is that the bigger of the two knives warped in heat treating. Mel brought this to my attention
, which told me a lot about the way he does business. He also offered to grind and heat treat another one for me, and I should have it in three weeks or so. He told me to keep the warped one and use it for whatever I want. This says a lot about the guy, needless to say! So far I have been incredibly pleased with the services offered by Mel, and his grind work is top notch. At this point I am just afraid I may have screwed up the one with the crappy pins, but if worse comes to worse I can have Mel grind another one down the road for a reasonable price! I would not hesitate to tell people to buy one of Mel's knives (I have one of his finished knives, too), as they are really well-made. A+!
First off, I must say that it has been a pleasure to deal with Mel so far. The knives turned out REALLy well, and instead of putting his custom, fileworked "M" in the spine, he used an "A" for my last name instead! He did this on hi own without request, and it is a cool surprise to say the least! Without my original drawings I cannot compare the knives to the schematics, but as far as I can tell, Mel ground them pretty much exactly as they were drawn. I invited him to make small changes based on his experience, so there are probably minor alterations that leand a lot to the geometry and feel of the knives without being able to tell outright.
It probably took about 1 month from the time I initially contacted Mel with my ideas and when I had the knives in my hand. They are D-2 and professionally heat-treated with high, flat grinds which were finished on a belt to 320 grit for a good initial finish. Mel also included pins and granadillo wood for the handles. There were a couple hitches, but nothing major. The pins holes were drilled for 1/8", but the pins material was significantly smaller. Mel forgot to tell me that he does this on purpose for a variety of reasons, so I went out and bought what I thought was stainless steel and used it instead. I ended up with high carbon steel pin material, and it will have a propensity to rust, so hopefully it won't be too bad. Bluing may help. What I should've done was ask first! Oh well...if worse comes to worse I can remove the scales and start over, although this would take a LONG time! The second hitch is that the bigger of the two knives warped in heat treating. Mel brought this to my attention
, which told me a lot about the way he does business. He also offered to grind and heat treat another one for me, and I should have it in three weeks or so. He told me to keep the warped one and use it for whatever I want. This says a lot about the guy, needless to say! So far I have been incredibly pleased with the services offered by Mel, and his grind work is top notch. At this point I am just afraid I may have screwed up the one with the crappy pins, but if worse comes to worse I can have Mel grind another one down the road for a reasonable price! I would not hesitate to tell people to buy one of Mel's knives (I have one of his finished knives, too), as they are really well-made. A+!
