Regadless of heart or lung issues, Mr. Livesay has an almost Allen Blade-like history of taking money and not delivering. Unlike Mr. Blade he means to deliver, but very often good intentions are not enough.
I paid in advance back in 1998 or 1999 for an Uji, not a lot of money, but a lot more hassle in getting $50 of order filled than it was worth.
Recently I paid him for a knife he had sold to another customer and then apparently the client backed out - my guess is that the client wanted his funds or the knife. I sent him funds overnight, the knife was shipped over a month later.
I sent him and old Bow Hunting Buddy for a re-handling, he offered to trade me for a new Tac model as the tac handle was what I really preferred anyway, the Tac BHB's were ready "at the end of the month" which is what many Livesay people have heard too many times.
On June 29 or so gave him two weeks publicly at his own forum to come up with my knife or the agreed upon trade. I have seen neither, so again at his forum posted that it is apparently of no consequence that he screws people he does business with.
If he truly has health problems, a few simple emails and phone calls would go a long way and when he was communicating he did have a couple people working with him. I find it very hard to believe that in the past nearly four months a simple laser cut and hardly finished knife cannot be made, or that the original knife sent back, or even a simple message sent out saying that I cannot make this knife until (a reasonable date) with a couple client options.
As for taking money prior to the product being within a reasonable ship time (five business days), I have bought thousands of dollars of high and medium priced hand made or custom knives and never once have I paid for the knife at the time of order, unless the maker or dealer had it ready to go right there and then. It is hard to have people hounding you for their money back if you do not take it up front with no goods or service to immediately follow.
